Reducing the burden of child care assistance applications

The Department of Health and Human Services

The child care assistance program administered by the Office of Child Care (OCC) at HHS helps nearly one million families with lower incomes nationwide pay for child care. Overburdened state, territorial, and tribal public servants are responsible for creating the application, and the process can be complicated for families, which can discourage and delay families receiving the help they need.

To simplify it, USDS partnered with OCC and used human-centered design to create the Guide to Creating a Family Friendly Child Care Assistance Application. The guide and accompanying sample application reduce the burden on state, territorial, and tribal public servants creating the application and reaching eligible families.

Impact

• In 2023, seven states and territories adopted practices from this guide to streamline and reduce burden on families applying for child care assistance
• In July 2023, Health and Human Services and Vice President Harris announced a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that directly referenced this guide to encourage states to streamline eligibility and enrollment processes for child care assistance