915 NH CHILD CARE SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM CRITERIA (FAM)

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To be eligible for the NH Child Care Scholarship program:

●       each child for whom the NH Child Care Scholarship is requested must:

o    be a resident of New Hampshire; except for children of migrant workers who qualify as homeless because they are living in circumstances described in the McKinney-Vento Act;

o    reside in the same household as the parent/caretaker relative/legal guardian who is requesting NH Child Care Scholarship; and

o be a U.S. citizen, or a noncitizen who meets FANF criteria for non-citizen eligibility. See PART 305, CITIZENSHIP;

●       the gross monthly income of the household must not exceed 85% of the State Median Income (SMI). See Part 935, GROSS MONTHLY INCOME LIMITS; and

●       each parent or cohabitating adult who shares a common child, caretaker relative and their spouse, or legal guardian and their spouse requesting NH Child Care Scholarship must be engaged in one or more of the following activities:

o    employment;

o    actively seeking employment (job search);

o    a recipient of NHEP or FAP and participating in a mental health or substance misuse treatment program

o    participating in a post-secondary training or educational program which is preparatory to employment;

o    participating in one of the following basic education activities: high school, high school equivalency or General Educational Development (GED)/HiSet, Adult Basic Education (ABE), or English as a Second Language (ESL); or

o    participating in NHEP activities approved on the EP or meeting NHEP program compliance requirements, such as attending classes, appointments, interviews or workshops.

Exceptions:

An individual who is employed solely as a license-exempt child care provider is not eligible for NH Child Care Scholarship, unless the child care provider is caring for a child in the child’s own home and the employer will not allow the child care provider to care for the provider’s own child(ren) simultaneously with the employer’s child(ren).

NH Child Care scholarship is not available for NHEP orientation.

Note: When a parent is working for/employed by an DHHS enrolled child care provider and their child attends the same program, NH Child Care Scholarship payment will be allowed to that provider. This would only apply to child care centers or licensed family group providers, where the parent is an additional child care giver to the DHHS enrolled child care provider, even though the parent may be caring for their own child during part of the day.

A two-parent family is eligible when one parent meets the criteria above and the other parent is disabled to the extent they are not able to care for and supervise their children.

For a two-parent family household, require a signed and dated statement from a physician or licensed mental health professional that describes the parent’s condition. The statement must specify that the parent is unable to care for a child because of the disability and the expected duration of the disability. Approval for a disability related benefit is not a substitute for this statement. For chronic non-changing disabilities, verification is required only once. For all others, verification is required annually.

Children in a single parent household are not eligible for NH Child Care Scholarship if the single parent is disabled and not participating in an approved activity.

References: He-C 6910.03(af); He-C 6910.06(b); He-C 6910.07(a), (b), (e), (f),(h), (i), (k), (l) and (r); He-C 6910.08; He-C 6910.09(k); RSA 161:2,XII; RSA 167:80,IV(b) and (i)