License-Exempt Centers

Directors(s) – individual(s) who has the primary responsibility for the daily operations management of the center
Teacher(s) – includes lead teachers, teachers, teacher assistants or teach aides who are employed for compensation on a regular basis
Support Staff – individual(s) who has responsibility in a classroom, working directly with children, on a regular basis
Student workers, part-time employees, substitutes, and migrant/seasonal/summer camp providers

License-Exempt Non-Relative Family Child Care Homes

The primary caregiver is required to complete all trainings. The primary caregiver is the person w ho signs the CCAP application asking to be an approved provider. If the primary caregiver has substitutes or assistants, they are also required to complete all trainings.

Membership to the Gateways Registry to track training completion at: https://registry.ilgateways.com/.
Membership must be renewed yearly.
Within 90 days of approval, complete:
First Aid & CPR
IDCFS Child Abuse and Neglect Mandated Reporter Training
Recertification of these requirements will count toward yearly training requirements below
Complete the Child Development, Health and Safety Basics course or obtain ECE Credential Level 1 Training
Enter your completed trainings in the Gateways Registry and print and keep a copy of your certificates and FA/CPPR Card
Report trainings in the Gateways Registry or turn in certificates to CCRS to be reported.
Six hours of Child Development, Health and Safety training completed yearly

CURRENT license-exempt non-relative providers caring for children prior to July 1, 2022 must complete orientation trainings by September 30, 2022 in order to continue receiving payment for current families after their next redetermination or for any new families.

NEW license-exempt non-relative providers who have started providing care after July 1, 2022 must complete all orientation trainings and enter them into their Gateways to Opportunities Registry within 90 days of approval in order to continue to receive payment for any CCAP families.

Child Care Home Exempt from Licensing (764) – No more than three (3) children may be cared for, including the provider’s own children under 12 years, unless all children are from the same household.

Relative in the home of the provider (765) – Care provided in the home of a relative.  No more than three (3) children may be cared for, including the provider’s own children less than 12 years, unless all children are from the same household.

Non-relative Exempt from Licensing (766) – Care provided in the home of the child. No more than three (3) children may be cared for, including the provider’s own children less than 12 years, unless all children are from the same household.

Relative in the home of the child (767) – Care provided in the home of the child. No more than three (3) children may be cared for, including the provider’s own children less than 12 years, unless all children are from the same household.

If you have never received CCAP payments before, you will need to supply the following to get started:

A copy of your valid Illinois driver’s license or state ID
A copy of your signed social security card
A completed W9 form
A completed Authorization for Background Check Form in addition to everyone over 13 years of age in the household if you are providing care in your home; this form must be sent to you from our office
If you are NOT related to the child you are caring for, you will need to be fingerprinted in addition to everyone over 17 years of age in the household if you are providing care in your home; this form must be sent to you from our office
Documented completion of the Health & Safety requirements detailed above

If you have received Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) payments previously, you may need to update some of the following paperwork:

If it has been over a year since receiving a state payment, you will need to re-submit a W9 form
If you have not completed the proper background check requirements for your type of care, you will need to do so; you will be informed of this by our office
If your name has changed, you will need to resubmit all documentation with your new name

Licensed Child Care Home (762) – Care is provided in the licensed provider’s home. Licensed family child care providers may care for up to eight children, including their own children under 12 years of age, with some limits:

no more than five children under 5 years of age and no more than three children under 24 months;
no more than six children under 5 years of age and no more than two under 30 months;
 up to eight school-age children;
with a part-time assistant, up to four additional school-age children with a maximum of 12 children total; or
with a full-time assistant, up to eight children under 5 years with no more than five children under 24 months.

For more information, please go to the DCFS Sunshine website.

Licensed Group Child Care Home (763) – Licensed group home providers may care for 12 or more children with a full-time qualified assistant with some limits:

up to 12 children under 6 years, with no more than six children under 30 months and no more than four children under 15 months, or up to 12 children between 3 and 6 years old;
up to 12 children between 3 and 5 years of age;
with an additional part-time assistant, four additional school-age children;
with no assistants, up to eight children under 12 years with no more than five children under 5 years old and no more than three children under 24 months; or up to eight children under 5 years old, with none under 3 years old; or up to 12 school-age children.

For more information, please go to the DCFS Sunshine website.

If you have never received CCAP payments, you will need to supply the following to get started:

Copy of your valid daycare license
Rate Certification Form (for Spanish, click here)
A completed W9 form
Documented completion of the Health & Safety requirements detailed above

If you have received CCAP Payments previously, you may need to update some of the following paperwork:

If it has been over a year since receiving a state payment, you will need to re-submit a W9 form.
You will need to re-submit a rate certification form every time you change your rates.
You will need to re-submit a copy of your valid daycare license when anything changes with your licensing or you get an updated one (about every three years).

As part of the application process, all licensed-exempt home providers must submit copies of their Social Security Card and a copy of a photo I.D. (Illinois driver’s license, Illinois state I.D. or military I.D.)

After a parent has been approved for the Illinois Child Care Assistance Program, and has selected you as their child care provider, an approval letter is mailed to both you and the parent. This letter contains important information including:

The length of time the parent is eligible for the program;
The amount of the parent’s monthly co-payment;
The children who are eligible for the program;
The number of days per week that IDHS will pay you;
The daily rate at which you will be paid.

Each approval letter is different—read each carefully because monthly co-payment amounts or eligibility information can change. Divide the co-payment amount by 4.333 if you want the parent to pay a weekly amount instead of monthly.

Each approval letter will list the first and last date that the parent is eligible for child care assistance. Parents are usually approved for 3 or 6 months at a time; however, approval periods may vary based on the length of the approved school or training program they may be attending.

It is very important that parents submit their application for child care assistance as soon as possible. Services can be backdated a maximum of seven days from the date an application is received at the Child Care Resource and Referral agency.

Parents must periodically renew their child care case in order to continue receiving assistance. To do this, the parent must complete a “redetermination” form. This form is mailed to parents the month before their eligibility ends. For example, if a parent is approved through April, he or she should receive the redetermination form in March. If the parent doesn’t return the redetermination form, or if he or she no longer meets the eligibility guidelines of the program, a Notice of Cancellation will be sent to the parent and provider and the case will not be renewed.

As the provider, you are responsible for collecting payment from the parent for any child care provided before or after the dates listed on the approval letter. If you do not receive a new approval letter— with new eligibility start and end dates—you should not expect any further payments from IDHS.

Careful record keeping will make a positive impact on your business, your relationship with parents and the care you provide. The following list of hints and tips have been developed specifically with you in mind:

Have a list of policies or procedures that you want parents to follow and give each parent a copy. Ask parents to read and sign a copy for your files.
Have parents sign a form which lists who has authority to pick up their children.
Have parents sign in each day they bring their children to your home or business and sign out at pick up.
Use a calendar to keep track of which days and times you care for each child.
Make a separate file for each family.
Write the parent’s ending eligibility date on the outside of the folder so you can easily access it.  
Keep the following in each family’s file:
A copy of the parent’s application along with any attachments
The parent’s approval notices
A copy of each monthly billing certificate
Any cancellation notices received
The voucher that comes with each of your monthly checks
Any other forms or notices you receive that pertains to the family
Give the parent a receipt each time a co-payment is paid and keep a copy of the receipt in the child’s file.
Discuss health issues or concerns with each child’s parents. Keep a record of the conversation in their child’s file.
Keep detailed records of all child care expenses. Many expenses, such as supplies and food purchased to feed children in your care, are tax deductible.

It is your responsibility to notify the Child Care Resource and Referral agency when you change your address. The notification of address change must be in writing and signed by you and the parent(s). If your address is not current, your payments may be delayed and you may not receive important notices regarding a parent’s case. Licensed providers must also inform their DCFS licensing rep.

As a condition of eligibility to receive a state subsidy for providing child care services to eligible families, all license exempt child care providers must agree, in writing, to a Child Abuse and Neglect Tracking System (CANTS) check. All persons subject to CANTS checks shall also be screened through the Illinois and National Sex Offender Registries. In addition to these background checks, all license exempt child care providers, except a provider who is a relative of the child, shall complete and sign authorizations for a State and Federal Bureau of Investigation fingerprint-based criminal history record check and submit to fingerprinting, if required, to determine if the child care provider has prior criminal convictions or pending criminal charges that may exclude them from the program.

The monthly “co-payment” is the portion of child care costs that the parent is responsible for paying to you, their provider. It is your responsibility to collect this amount directly from the parent.

Monthly co-payment amounts are determined by IDHS and are based on the number of people in the family, the number of children receiving child care and the schedule of the children in care.

The monthly co-payment amount is listed on the parent’s approval letter. Read each approval letter carefully–monthly co-payment amounts may change! Co-payment changes can occur each time a parent’s case is renewed (redetermined) or if there is a change in the parent’s income, the number of people in the family, the number of children in care, or the schedule of care provided. You will receive a new approval letter anytime a monthly co-payment changes so you know how much to collect.

Neither you, nor the parent, should adjust the monthly co-payment. If you think that an adjustment is necessary, you or the parent should contact your local Child Care Resource and Referral agency for help with the next steps.

How and when you collect the monthly co-payment is between you and the parent. All payment arrangements should be agreed upon before care starts.

The monthly co-payment amount is deducted from the payment you receive from IDHS. If you don’t collect the monthly copayment from a parent, you will not receive full payment.

If a parent has more than one child care provider, only one provider will collect the monthly co-payment. If you have been assigned to collect the monthly co-payment, the amount will be printed on the approval letter you receive. If you are not assigned to collect the monthly co-payment, nothing will be deducted from your child care payment from IDHS. There will be no co-payment amount listed on your approval letter.

You may find the following suggestions for collecting monthly copayments helpful:

Collect the entire co-payment at the beginning of each month. Set a schedule for when payments are due—and stick to it!
Ask for a one-week deposit. This way you will always be ahead in collecting the co-payment.
Keep, and give, receipts for all co-payments made by a parent.

Payments or “rates” are determined by IDHS based on whether you are a child care center, licensed home provider or license-exempt provider, and the age of the child. Your daily rate is also based on the number of hours a child is in care:

Full-day rate: child is in care 5-12 hours per day.
Part-day rate: child is in care less than 5 hours per day.
School-age rate: school-aged child in care less than 5 hours per day while school is in session.

Make sure you discuss these rates with the parent before you begin care. It is illegal to bill the state a higher rate than you charge your private paying parents.

A licensed child care provider or license-exempt child care center must notify the Department or its Agents of their published payment rates by completing a Rate Certification Form (for Spanish, click here) whenever one or more of the following conditions apply:

annually, for a Site Administered Child Care Provider upon renewal of a contract;
upon a change in licensing status (i.e. a change from license-exempt home provider to a licensed day care home provider);
to report a rate change that does not exceed the current CCAP rate.

IDHS will pay you for the days and times you provide care while the parent is working, attending an approved school or training program, and traveling to and from the providers’ location to work or school.

The number of days per week that a parent is approved for will be on his or her approval letter. The number of approved days is based on the parent’s work and/or school schedule and check stubs that the parent submits with the child care program application.

It can take 4 to 8 weeks for you to receive your first payment. After you receive your first payment, regular payments will come on a monthly basis around the middle of the month after care was provided. Your first payment takes longer because your name and social security number need to be recorded with the Illinois Office of the Comptroller before any payments can be made.

To do this, the CCR&R will mail you a W9 tax form. The sooner you complete and return your W9 form, the sooner you can get paid. Mail the completed W9 form to your CCR&R. They will make sure it gets to the Illinois Office of the Comptroller.

After the Illinois Office of the Comptroller has your information on file, the CCR&R can send you your first billing certificate. This is the form that tells IDHS how much to pay you.

Typically, payment for child care services that you provide in one month will arrive in the middle of the following month—about three weeks after the CCR&R receives the completed billing certificate. To make this process easy to understand, we’ve highlighted the five steps:

STEP 1 – You receive a billing certificate.

You’ll receive a monthly “Child Care Certificate” in the mail for each family you care for. Centers receive a “Center Certificate Report” listing all the families together. This should arrive during the last week of every month.

STEP 2 – You and the parent complete and mail the certificate.

On the Child Care Certificate, you’ll be asked to write in the number of days during that month that you cared for each child. You and the parent must make sure the correct number is listed for each child. There will be a space for both you and the parent to sign. Centers receiving a Center Certificate Report are not required to submit parent signatures. After the last day of the month, mail the certificate or enter the payment by phone by using the IVR Telephone Billing System.

STEP 3 – Your payment information is “entered.”

After your certificate is received at the CCR&R, your payment information will be entered into a state computer system.

STEP 4 – Payment is “vouchered” through IDHS.

The Department of Human Services processes your payment information and forwards it to the State Comptroller’s office.

STEP 5 – Office of the Comptroller prints and mails your check.

Please note that neither the Child Care Resource and Referral agency nor IDHS issue checks. In addition, payments can be made by direct deposit or on the Illinois Debit Card.

Although we do our best to make sure that providers are paid in a timely manner, your payments could be delayed if:

You do not complete and return the W9 tax form as soon as possible;
You do not notify the CCR&R when you change your address;
Your billing certificate is not complete or if it is not signed in ink;
You ask to be paid for more days than a parent is eligible;
Your mail is undeliverable because your name is not on your mailbox;
The CCR&R does not have your apartment number and your check is returned by the Post Office as “undeliverable”

IDHS has a toll free number providers can call to find out payment information. If you have a touch-tone phone, you can call (800)804-3833 to find out if your payment has been entered by the Child Care Resource and Referral agency and mailed by the State Comptroller. This toll free number is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

You can also get payment information by visiting the State Comptroller’s Vendor Payments site.

Be patient and don’t panic. Certificates are mailed from Springfield and take 5-7 days to arrive. If you don’t receive a billing certificate, it may be that the parent’s eligibility period has ended.

If you don’t receive a billing certificate by the last day of the month that care was provided during, your Child Care Resource and Referral agency can mail you a new one. Make sure your name is on your mailbox and that you notify them any time you change your address.

Yes. When you file your taxes, you are required by law to report all child care payments to the IRS as earned income. Taxes cannot be taken out of the checks you receive. If you are paid at least $600 within a calendar year, you will receive Form 1099-misc. stating the child care income you earned for the year. You should receive your Form 1099 by February 15th.

It’s a good idea to set aside money each month for taxes that may be due at the end of the year. You may be responsible for quarterly tax payments, or eligible for the earned income tax credit. For general tax information, and to see if you qualify for the earned income tax credit, you can call the IRS at (800)829-1040 (TDD/TTY (800)829-4059).

Providers will receive Child Care Certificates at the end of each month to report the days they provided care in the previous month. Providers must either complete this form and mail it to our office or enter their information via the IVR Telephone Billing System.

Payments can take up to 30 days to be received once a billing is entered.  A payment is not considered late until it has been over 30 days. Payments can be tracked on the State of Illinois Comptroller’s website.

Options for payment include:

paper check (which is the default form of payment for all providers)
direct deposit (set up by the provider by calling (217)557-0930
state-issued debit card (payments are available immediately; set up by the provider via completing this form (for Spanish, click here)

The IDHS Child Care Telephone Billing system is an alternative to mailing the Child Care certificate to the local Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) agency at the end of the each month. The Telephone Billing system will help you get your payments quicker.

If you call the IDHS Child Care Telephone Billing system instead of mailing a certificate to your local CCR&R –

The information gets into the system faster
No mail delays in getting information to the CCR&R
The payment information may be entered 7 days a week, 24 hours a day
You get immediate confirmation that your payment has been entered

How to get started:

All licensed homes and license-exempt home providers of approved cases will be mailed a Child Care Telephone Billing Agreement form
Mail the completed form to your local CCR&R

Learning the system:

You will be mailed instructions on how to use the system and practice certificates to enter
Call the number listed on the instructions and enter the practice certificate information
After you have completed the practice certificates successfully, you will be able to bill for child care over the phone

Your password:

After IDHS has confirmed that you have successfully completed the practice certificates, you will be mailed a letter that includes your payment password

Keep this number/letter for your records
Do NOT share or give your password to ANYONE!

What you need:

You will need the following items before you call in your billing information

Your SSN or FEIN
Your password
The Child Care Certificate with all information completed, including a signature by both you and the parent

Calling the system:

To submit your billing information, dial (800)787-9316.
TTY callers may dial (800)787-9318 to access the system.
The billing system is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

Entering information:

You may enter information either by using the phone key pad or by speaking the information
If you reply using the phone key pad, you must complete the ENTIRE process the same way
If you choose to speak, the system can be accessed in either English or Spanish
Speak slowly and clearly
Call from a quiet room

Speaking to the system:

Use the phone handset instead of a speaker phone or hands-free headset
Use a land line (regular phone) instead of a cell phone
If you must use a cell phone, call from a stationary position with a strong signal
Speak only the requested information (If asked to say “account information”, do not say, “I would like account information” or “account info”, say “account information”.)
If you are having problems, are calling from a noisy location, or do not have a good connection, use the touch tone keys on the phone instead.

Verifying your SSN:

The Billing system will ask for your Social Security number (SSN).  Be sure to use the same number you indicated on the Child Care Application and W-9 form and enter your:

Social Security Number (SSN) or
Federal Employers Identification Number (FEIN)

The system will confirm your SSN is on the State’s computer system.  If the number is not correct or is not listed on the computer system, you must contact your CCR&R.

Entering your password:

The system will also ask for your password.  This is the number that is located on the IDHS letter you received when you applied.

Lost/forgotten passwords:

If you have lost or forgotten your password, or would like to change it for any reason, you must call the Telephone Billing system.  You will receive a new password letter in the mail with your password information.

Address verification:

The Child Care Payment will be sent to the address listed on the certificate; however,

If the address on the certificate is not correct, you must change it on the certificate, complete the billing information (including both signatures), and mail it to the CCR&R.
If the address needs to be changed, you cannot use the Telephone Billing system.

When to bill:

The system will ask if you would like to enter a certificate for any of the past four months that have been approved but not yet billed.
You cannot enter information for a service month before the end of that month.
The earliest you can bill is 6:00 a.m. the first day of the following month (after service occurred). 

For Example: You cannot enter billing for the month of March until 6:00 a.m. on April first or later.

Peak hours:

The system’s phone lines may be busy during peak hours – between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.
To avoid a busy signal, call before 6:00 a.m., after 5:00 p.m. or on the weekend.

The first case:

After you have selected a month, the system will state the first case name.
The system will ask you for attendance information for each child you are approved for from the first family

Eligible days:

If you are a licensed provider, you will be asked to confirm the total number of full-time and part-time days the child was eligible for care, during the month of service.
The number of approved eligible days are listed on the Child Care Certificate that was mailed to you for the month.

License-exempt providers:

License-exempt providers will not be asked about eligible days.
License-exempt providers will only need to enter the number of days a child received care.
If the child attended more days than the number of eligible days, the telephone system cannot be used.

Increasing days:

To increase the days, you must complete and mail the paper certificate, noting the change in eligible days and the reason for the change

(For example: Increasing the  eligible full-time days by 1 due to a school holiday.)

Decreasing days:

If the child was eligible for fewer days than approved, licensed providers must enter the new number of eligible days in the system at this time

(For example: If the child stopped attending your program before the end of the month, you may reduce the number of eligible days.)

Attended days:

The system will ask both licensed and license-exempt providers for the number of full-time and part-time days the child attended.
This will be repeated for each child approved in this family.

Last month of care:

After you have entered information on the last child approved for this case, the system will ask if you are still providing care for the family.
If you are not, you must enter the last day care was provided.

Information review:

The system will then review the information that was entered – the month of service and the number of full-time and part-time days entered will be confirmed.

Additional families:

If there are additional families approved whose billing information has not yet been entered, the system will ask about the next family.

If not, the billing process is complete for this month.

Additional months:

If the provider is approved for earlier months that have not been entered yet, the billing process will start again for each of those months.
After all months are completed, or if the provider chooses to skip those months and enter them at a different time, the call will end.

The Child Care Certificate:

If you complete the billing by phone, DO NOT mail the certificate to the CCR&R
Both you and the parent must sign the certificate and all information on the certificate must be complete.
You MUST keep the certificate for five (5) years.

Tracking payments:

You may track the status of payments through the IDHS Payment Inquiry Line at 1 (800) 804-3833. 
TTY callers may dial 1 (877) 434-1082 to access the system.
The Payment Inquiry Line is updated every day at 4:00 p.m.
Please wait two (2) working days after entering billing information before checking your payment status.
The Payment Inquiry Line tells you when a payment was entered (either through the telephone billing system or by the CCR&R), when the payment was approved (vouchered) by IDHS, and when the Comptroller’s office will mail the check to you.
You may also determine the status of a check (also called a warrant) by visiting the Comptroller’s website at http://www.dhs.illinois.gov/ppi/

Click on the “Vendor Payment” button on the far, left side of the screen
Enter your Social Security Number (SSN) and click the OK button
Click the “Payments” button
Scroll to the bottom of the screen and click on the “Find Warrants” button
Information will show for all checks written to you for the current fiscal year (July-June).
The warrant number, zip code it was mailed to, date it was issued, check amount, and the status (Date Cashed – if already cashed, or Outstanding – not yet cashed) will be listed.

To be notified by mail if a parent’s case is approved, renewed, canceled, denied or if additional information is needed to start or continue the parent’s child care assistance.
To be notified by mail of any changes in monthly co-payments or in the number of days that you are eligible to be paid.
To receive friendly and professional customer service.

To notify your Child Care Resource and Referral agency if you move.
To notify DCFS when you move if you are a licensed provider.  
To make sure that your child care certificate (billing form or report) is complete, includes the correct number of days the child(ren) attended and if required, is signed in ink by both you and the parent every month.
To keep a written record of the days and hours that you provide care for each child and to bill the state for only those days and hours.
To read the approval letters you will receive from the state so that you know the amount of each parent’s monthly copayment, your pay rate, and the number of days per week that you are eligible to receive payments.
To collect each parent’s assigned co-payment every month.
To report all child care payments, including parent co-payments, to the IRS as earned income.
To keep the number of children in your care within your legal capacity.