Families who have evacuated from areas affected by Hurricane Katrina may be eligible for child care benefits. The federal Administration for Children and Families has issued a guidance document that directs states to use the flexibility of the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) to provide child care assistance to families affected by federal or state declared emergency situations. In addition, Governor Taft has issued an Executive Order authorizing the department to take action that will assist families affected by Hurricane Katrina in meeting their needs for child care and other services.

Evacuees are individuals who have left a location in Alabama, Louisiana or Mississippi that has been affected by Hurricane Katrina. The affected areas include:

Alabama

Baldwin, Clarke, Choctaw, Mobile, Sumter, and Washington Counties

Louisiana

The parishes of Acadia, Ascension, Assumption, Calcasieu, Cameron, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Iberia, Iberville, Jefferson, Jefferson Davis, Lafayette, Lafourche, Livingston, Orleans, Pointe Coupee, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. Helena, St. James, St. John, St. Mary, St. Martin, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Terrebonne, Vermilion, Washington, West Baton Rouge, and West Feliciana

Mississippi

Adams, Amite, Attala, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Claiborne, Clarke, Clay, Copiah, Covington, Forrest, Franklin, George, Greene, Hancock, Harrison, Hinds, Itawamba, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Jefferson Davis, Jones, Kemper, Lamar, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Leake, Lee, Lincoln, Lowndes, Madison, Marion, Monroe, Neshoba, Newton, Noxubee, Oktibbeha, Pearl River, Perry, Pike, Rankin, Scott, Simpson, Smith, Stone, Walthall, Warren, Wayne, Webster, Wilkinson, and Winston Counties

For CDJFS Staff:

Evacuees will be eligible for protective child care as described in paragraph (P)(2) of OAC rule 5101:2-16-30 Program Eligibility Requirements for Publicly Funded Child Care Benefits. Protective child care allows for eligibility without regard to the income of the caretaker. Katrina evacuees will be considered homeless for purposes of eligibility and the ninety day limitation for eligibility is waived. The family may be eligible for protective child care for up to six months.

Funds received by an evacuee from sources such as an emergency relief agency, from a state or federal aid program or from Ohio's Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program will be disregarded. The CDJFS should accept any verification that is available from the family; however in the absence of available verification, the CDJFS shall accept self-declaration as verification.

The requirement that a caretaker be engaged in employment, training or education can be met for up to six months by activities that the caretaker is engaged in that will stabilize the family's living situation.

For Child Care Providers:

Evacuees will likely not have health records for their children. Therefore, the child health information required by OAC rules 5101:2-12-37, 5101:2-13-37 and 5101:2-14-26 governing licensed child care facilities and certified type B homes, that requires verification of immunizations is waived for ninety days. The Ohio Department of Health has supplied the attached form to be used by child care providers to document the absence of an immunization record for children coming from the hurricane affected areas. The caretaker should complete all enrollment information and child health record data with as much information as possible. Children should be observed for communicable diseases daily upon arrival. Admittance, observation and discharge policies regarding communicable diseases should be followed. (OAC rules 5101:2-12-33, 5101:2-13-33 and 5101:2-14-30).

Children are not eligible for Early Learning Initiative (ELI) services unless all the eligibility requirements of that program are met.

The department is required to track child care benefits authorized to evacuees of Hurricane Katrina. CCIDS/3299 will incorporate tracking by creating codes specific to families determined eligible for child care services due to evacuee status. Further information on CCIDS/3299 data entry will be issued via separate instruction.

If you have any questions regarding this letter, please contact the Bureau of Child Care and Development, County Monitoring and Technical Assistance Section at (614) 466-3822.

Attachment

Click here to view the Emergency Provisional Enrollment for Victims of Hurricane Katrina.