New Jersey Administrative Code › Title 10 - HUMAN SERVICES › Chapter 15 - CHILD CARE SERVICES › Subchapter 9 - CO-PAYMENTS › Section 10:15-9.1 - Co-payment

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 14, July 15, 2024
(a) All families eligible to receive child
				care services from the DHS administered programs shall pay a fee toward the
				cost of child care services except as in CPS. This fee is termed a
				co-payment.
(b) A co-payment scale
				established by the DHS shall provide for some level of contribution by most
				parent/applicants receiving child care. The co-payment scale shall consider
				family income, family size, hours of care needed, and number of children in
				care. If more than two children in a family are receiving child care services,
				no co-payment shall be required for the third and subsequent children in the
				family. The Client Income Eligibility and Co-Payment Schedule for Subsidized
				Child Care Assistance or Services set forth as the chapter Appendix shall be
				revised on an annual basis through a notice of administrative change published
				in the New Jersey Register. The co-payment chart calculation is based on the
				Health and Human Services (HHS) Poverty Guidelines, which accounts for last
				(calendar) year's increase in prices as measured by the Consumer Price Index.
				The HHS Poverty Guidelines is updated and published annually in the Federal
				Register as a General Notice. The co-payment is a portion of family income that
				is paid by an eligible family toward the cost of child care that provides for
				cost sharing by families that receive Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF)
				child care services. The amount of the required co-payment is based on a
				family's gross annual, income, family size, hours of care needed, and the
				number of children in care.
(c) By
				the adoption of a Statewide co-payment scale for child care service programs
				provided to families, the programs seek to require that all eligible families
				receiving child care service program benefits be assessed and/or pay a portion
				of the cost of care based on household size and income.
(d) Each DFD contracted child care center
				shall establish a written policy concerning co-payments and their collection.
1. The policy shall include time frames for
				any denial, suspension or termination of service, consistent with the formal
				policy adopted by the child care agency.
2. The policy shall be explained and a copy
				of the policy shall be provided to the parent/applicant at the time of
				assessment.
3. The policy shall be
				implemented in a uniform and consistent manner.
4. The policy shall specify all terms and
				conditions for the following practices, if applicable:
i. Disposition of any co-payments that are
				collected in advance and held in escrow;
ii. Refunds due to any error made by the
				agency in co-payment computation that has resulted in overcharges to the
				parent/applicant; and
iii. Payments
				for any co-payment that is owed to the child care agency resulting from:
(1) Errors in co-payment computation due to
				any misrepresentation or misinformation; or
(2) Co-payments that are in arrears involving
				a child care agency that has elected not to terminate services to the parent
				who was delinquent with their payments or who was unable to pay due to
				extraordinary circumstances.