Field Operations Memo 2004-21 - Homeless Child-Care Services for EA Homeless Recipients

Sep 17, 2026

Executive Office of Health and Human Services Department of Transitional Assistance issues Field Operations Memo 2004-21, describing the Homeless Child-Care Voucher Program and procedures to process child-care requests for EA homeless recipients. The memo explains eligibility, service-need substantiation through employment/education/training and housing-search or shelter-based activities, and how CCR&R agencies calculate total hours including travel. It specifies authorization pathways using paper Child-Care Authorization forms or copies/modifications of existing ESP authorization, notes no backdating, and requires AU Manager/Homeless Coordinator data entry within set timeframes.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLetters

FormatPDF

Pages6

Reading Time2 min

AccessFree to download

Overview

Eligibility and service-need requirements

Activities for homeless families

Authorizing child-care services

Payment and referral requirements

Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services Department of Transitional Assistance 600 Washington Street y Boston, MA 02111 MITT ROMNEY RONALD PRESTON Governor Secretary Field Operations EA Recipients KERRY HEALEY JOHN A. WAGNER Lieutenant Governor Commissioner Field Operations Memo 2004-21 May 3, 2004 To: Transitional Assistance Office Staff From: Cescia Derderian, Assistant Commissioner for Re: Homeless Child-Care Services for Overview The Office of Child Care Services (OCCS) has developed a Homeless ChildCare Voucher Program to provide child-care services to homeless EA families. This memo describes how to facilitate the processing of child-care requests for EA homeless recipients. This change is effective immediately. The Child-Care procedures in Chapter XII, Section B of the User’s Guide will be updated soon. Child-Care Services for Homeless Families For families to be eligible for the subsidized child care through the Homeless Child-Care program, they must meet OCCS’ income eligibility requirements (EA families meet the income requirements) and have a substantiated reason (service need) for needing child care. Child-care services are available to a child, infant through age 12, or through age 16, for a special needs child. DTA homeless families satisfy their service need requirement by participating in an employment, education or training activity or by showing that they participate in any one of the following additional activities: • up to 20 hours per week of housing search activities when required by DTA, the Housing Assistance Program (HAP) or the Family Shelter Program; • a combination of housing search activities required by DTA, HAP or the Family Shelter Program and another activity listed below equal to 20 or more hours per week; Child-Care Services for Homeless Families Activities for the Homeless Family Full-time or Part-time ChildCare Services Authorizing the Child-Care Services • up to five hours per week for counseling sessions, meetings with social workers and assigned activities within the shelter; • up to five hours per week for parenting workshops or training sessions; • up to five hours per week of travel time between the activities approved above and the child-care program if the parent is responsible for transportation; and/or • up to five hours per week of travel time between the activities and the child-care program if the parent is responsible for transportation or between the activities and the shelter, if the child-care program is responsible for transportation. To determine the total number of hours for the service need, the Child-Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) agency will add the hours needed for travel to the hours for the activity(ies) . The CCR&R will be responsible for arranging the appropriate full-time or part-time child care for the family. • Homeless families that have a service need of 30 hours or more per week are eligible for full-time child care at a Child-Care Center. • Homeless families with a service need of at least 20 hours per week but less than 30 hours per week are eligible for part-time child care at a Child-Care Center. Note: Homeless child-care services will not be authorized for less than 20 hours per week. Families are never referred directly to the vendor, they must first go to the CCR&R. Depending upon their income level, homeless families may be required to pay a co-payment for the child-care services. The system-generated authorization will not be issued for an EA activity. There are two ways to authorize child-care services for a homeless family: • If the family does not have an existing ESP child-care authorization, a paper child-care authorization, the Child-Care Authorization (BEA/CCA Rev. 5/2004) form (Attachment A) must be completed; or • If the family has an existing ESP child-care authorization, a copy of that ESP child-care authorization is used to

FAQs

What program does Field Operations Memo 2004-21 cover?

It covers the Homeless Child-Care Voucher Program and how to facilitate processing of child-care requests for EA homeless recipients.

How is service need for homeless families determined?

Families substantiate service need by participating in employment, education, or training activities or by completing specified additional activities; CCR&R adds travel hours to activity hours to determine the total service-need hours.

What are the two ways to authorize child-care services?

If no existing ESP child-care authorization exists, complete the paper Child-Care Authorization form. If an existing ESP authorization exists, use a copy to indicate extra activities and modify it when needed to reflect the total child-care picture.

Sep 17, 2026

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