Hawaii Administrative Rules
Title 17 - DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES
Department of Human Services
Chapter 798.3 - CHILD CARE PAYMENTS
Subchapter 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS
Section 17-798.3-2 - Definitions
As used in this chapter:
"Accredited" means a group child care center, group child care home, or family child care home, that is certified by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), the National Early Childhood Program Accreditation (NECPA), or the National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC) to meet accreditation standards.
"Activity" means employment, education, or vocational or employment training.
"Adequate notice" means a written notice that includes:
(1) A statement of the action the agency has taken or intends to take;
(2) The reason for the intended action;
(3) The specific departmental rules supporting the intended action;
(4) The name and telephone number of the person in the department to contact for additional information;
(5) The family unit's right to request an informal review, an administrative appeal, or both; and
(6) Information on the availability of free legal representation, if applicable.
"After-school care" means child care provided after the end of the regular school day during the academic year for eligible children kindergarten age and above who are enrolled in public or private elementary schools.
"Application" means the action by which an individual indicates on a form prescribed by the department a request to receive child care payments.
"Attending" means enrolled and participating in a job training or educational program as defined by the institution, agency, or business that sponsors the program.
"Background check" means a review of a person's background information pursuant to chapter 17-801.
"Before-school care" means a child care provided before the start of the regular school day during the academic year for eligible children kindergarten age and above who are enrolled in public or private elementary schools.
"Benefit month" means the calendar month for which the caretaker is eligible for a child care payment.
"Budget month" means the calendar month(s) from which the child care expense, hours of approved activity and child care need, and income of the family unit are used to compute the payment amount that the family unit shall receive in the payment month.
"Caregiver" means any individual who is responsible for the physical well-being, health, safety, supervision, and guidance of children in child care.
"Caretaker" means an adult, or an emancipated minor, who resides with and is responsible for the care of a child, and who is a birth, hanai, foster, or adoptive parent, guardian, permanent custodian, stepparent, or relative who is related to the child by blood, marriage, or adoption, or a person authorized by the caretaker through a power of attorney valid for a period not to exceed twelve months. The caretaker designation may remain even when the caretaker is temporarily absent from the home as long as the caretaker continues to maintain responsibility for the care, education, and financial support of the child. This includes a foster parent who may not be providing financial support to the child but may be receiving support for the child from a private or public agency. This also includes minor teen parents who are birth parents to the child but cannot apply for child care payments themselves and must have an adult apply on their behalf.
"Child" means any person who has not reached the age of eighteen years, excluding emancipated minors.
"Child care" means those situations in which a person or child care facility has agreed to assume the responsibility for the child's supervision, development, safety, and protection apart from and in the absence of the child's caretaker, for any part of a twenty-four hour day. Child care may be provided out of the child's home by relatives or non-relatives, in the child's home by relatives or non-relatives, in a family child care home, in a group child care home, in a group child care center, or in an exempt centerbased facility.
"Child care facility" means the same as under section 346-151, Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS).
"Child protective services" means social services provided by the department pursuant to chapter 17-1610, to children who reside with their family unit and are:
(1) confirmed to have been abused or neglected, or
(2) confirmed to have been threatened with abuse or neglect.
"Citizen or national of the United States of America" means a citizen of the United States and shall include:
(1) The fifty states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands; and
(2) Nationals from American Samoa and Swain's Island.
"Compliance" means conformity in fulfilling the requirements of this chapter.
"Co-payment" means the family unit's share of the child care expense which is the difference between the maximum payment amount allowed for the type and amount of care up to the department's child care payment rate maximum, and the amount the family unit is determined to be eligible for by the department.
"Corrective payment" means a payment issued by the department in an amount equal to the difference between what a caretaker is entitled to receive by regulation and the amount they actually received.
"Department" means the department of human services or its designee.
"Educational program" means a curriculum that has been established by an institution, agency, or business for the purpose of the development of skills or academic study necessary for an identified occupation.
"Eligibility period" means a period established by the department, not less than 12 months, during which the household may be eligible for child care payments if it meets all of the eligibility requirements.
"Employed" means the caretaker is engaged in a legal activity in exchange for wages or salary for which the appropriate tax withholding and reporting are made.
"Essential person" means a needy person designated by the caretaker to be included in the TANF household that receives a public-funded financial assistance payment, who is ineligible in the person's own right for TANF, who is designated by the caretaker as being essential to the caretaker's well-being, and who performs a service that would not otherwise be performed or that would otherwise have to be purchased if the person did not live in the TANF household.
"Exempt after-school care" means child care provided by a before and after-school care facility legally-exempt in accordance with chapter 17-800, after the end of the regular school day during the academic year for eligible children kindergarten age and above who are enrolled in public or private elementary, middle, or secondary schools.
"Exempt before-school care" means child care provided by a before and after-school care facility legally-exempt in accordance with chapter 17-800, after the end of the regular school day during the academic year for eligible children kindergarten age and above who are enrolled in public or private elementary, middle, or secondary schools.
"Exempt provider" means a person or facility providing legally-exempt child care, in accordance with section 346-152, HRS. It also includes all adult household members when child care is provided in a private residence that is not the child's residence, all staff employed at a child care facility, any volunteers or substitutes who provide care for children for ten hours or more per week, and any other individuals who have unsupervised access to children in care.
"Experiencing homelessness" means the following:
(1) Lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence;
(2) Are sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason, are living in motels, hotels, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative adequate accommodations, are in emergency or transitional shelters, are abandoned in hospitals;
(3) Have a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings;
(4) Are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train station, or similar settings; or
(5) Are migratory children (as such term is defined in section 1309 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965).
"Extended filing period" means the additional ten days that households are allowed to submit required information or missing verification to justify continued child care eligibility. See section 17-798.3-18(a) (1) (C).
"Family child care home" means any private residence at which care is provided at any given time to six or fewer children, as defined in section 346-151, HRS.
"Family unit" means the caretakers and their minor children who reside together in the same household and whose needs and income are considered in determining eligibility for, and the amount of, child care payment.
"Federal fiscal year" means a period beginning October 1 and ending September 30.
"Federal Poverty Guidelines" or "FPG" means the poverty guidelines for Hawaii that are established in the Federal Register by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the authority of 42 U.S.C. § 9902(2) and cited in the Child Care and Development Fund Plan for State of Hawaii that is approved by the Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, pursuant to C.F.R. §§98.14 to 98.18.
"First-to-Work" or "FTW" means the work programs administered by the department for recipients of TANF.
"Full-time care" means child care provided for eighty-seven hours and more per month, except for before-school and after-school care.
"Gross income" means all non-excluded earned and unearned income as specified in this chapter.
"Group child care center" means a facility, other than a private home, at which care is provided, as defined in section 346-151, HRS. The term may include nurseries; preschools; parent cooperatives; drop-in child care centers; before-school and after-school programs; holiday, intersession and summer care for eligible school age children; or other similar care settings that are established to provide group care to a child for any part of a twenty-four hour day and is license-exempt or licensed by the department. For the purposes of this chapter, group child care center shall also include "infant and toddler center" in which child care is provided to children ages six weeks to thirty-six months of age in a group child care center care or group child care home and is licensed under chapter 17-895.
"Group child care home" means a facility which may be an extended or modified private home, at which care is provided to seven to twelve children, as defined in section 346-151, HRS.
"Hanai" means a child who is taken permanently to be reared, educated, and loved by someone other than the natural parents at the time of the child's birth or early childhood. The child is given outright and the natural parents renounce all claims to the child. The natural parents cannot reclaim the child except for the death or serious injury of the hanai parents
"Hawaiian-medium center-based care" means any group child care center, as defined in section 346-151, HRS, with programs taught solely in the Hawaiian language that promote fluency in the Hawaiian language and is licensed by the department in accordance with section 346-162, HRS.
"Home-based child care" means department-registered family child care home providers, and legally-exempt care providers, including care by relatives, in any private residence.
"In-home care" means child care provided only to the eligible children in the family unit by an exempt provider in the home of the eligible children who require care in the absence of their caretakers due to a qualifying child care reason.
"Infant" means a child six weeks old up to and including twelve months old.
"Intersession care" means child care provided at breaks during the academic year for eligible children kindergarten age and above who are enrolled in public or private elementary, middle, or secondary schools, including summer care and holidays.
"Job training" or "vocational or employment training" means an organized training program (including community college and university education) established by an institution, agency, or business for the purpose of the development of skills or academic study necessary for an identified occupation.
"Legally-exempt care" or "exempt care" means child care which is exempt from licensure or registration by the department under section 346-152, HRS.
"Limited English proficiency" or "LEP" means limited ability in speaking, reading, writing, or understanding the English language by a person whose native language is a language other than English or by a person who lives in a family or community environment where a language other than English is the dominant language.
"Minor" means a person under eighteen years old.
"Monthly gross income limit" means eighty-five per cent of the State Median Income for a family of the same size.
"Net value" means the value of the assets after subtracting all liabilities.
"Non-recurring lump sum" means income that is not normally repeated or a cumulative amount received or available to be received by an individual.
Educational loans, grants or scholarships shall not be considered as non-recurring lump sums.
"Overpayment" means the amount of payments issued to a caretaker for a benefit month that is in excess of the amount which the caretaker is eligible to receive. It also includes payments that are not used for their intended purpose.
"Part-time care" means child care provided for less than eighty-seven hours per month, except for before-school and after-school care when it is provided for less than 45 hours per month.
"Payment month" means the calendar month in which the child care payment is issued.
"Physical or mental incapacity" means a physical or mental condition that prevents a child from doing self-care, as determined by a State-licensed physician or psychologist.
"Physician" means an individual licensed by the State for the practice of medicine.
"Power of attorney" means a legal instrument authorizing another to act as one's agent or attorney-in-fact.
"Preschool" means a department-licensed group child care center or group child care home that provides services for children ages two years to six years old.
"Primary residence" means the single residence designated as the child's home.
"Prospective budgeting" means computation of the child care payment based on the worker's best estimate of the child care expense, child care need, and caretakers' activity hours and gross income that will exist in a calendar month. The best estimate shall be based on the worker's reasonable projection of future circumstances based on the family unit's past and current month's circumstances.
"Provider" means any individual eighteen years and older, caregiver, facility, agency, or organization, including exempt center-based providers, and their adult employees, including volunteers and substitutes, who provide direct care, supervision, and guidance to children apart from and in the absence of the child's caretaker for part of a twenty-four hour day. Providers are regulated by the department to provide child care or are legally exempt from child care licensure or registration by the department under § 346-152, HRS.
"Relative" means related by blood, marriage, adoption, or hanai.
"Report month" means the calendar month that the simplified report form is due.
"Reside with" means an eligible child living in a home or family setting with the child's eligible caretaker.
"Responsible household member" means a reliable adult, included in the household, who can provide accurate information about the household's circumstances.
"Restored benefits" means the child care benefit issued to a caretaker whenever benefits for a prior period are not issued because of an error by the department.
"school age" means the chronological age of a child who is eligible to enroll in elementary, middle, or secondary schools,
"self-employed" means an individual:
(1) Is not subject to discharge from his or her job by another person;
(2) Reports income to the Internal Revenue Service and the State as a self-employed person;
(3) Meets social security requirements as a self-employed person and pays employer's and employee's share of social security taxes; and
(4) Is not considered an employee of an agency or organization.
The individual must also generate income equivalent to twenty hours per week multiplied by 4.3333 weeks multiplied by State minimum wage at the time of eligibility and redetermination as having an eligible employment activity as self-employed.
"simplified reporting" means the reporting requirement for caretakers who receive child care payments to provide information in the report month to determine continued eligibility as specified in section 17-798.3-18, and report changes as specified in section 17-798.3-17 that occur during the eligibility period.
"simplified report form" means the report that a caretaker is required to complete for eligibility redetermination.
"state fiscal year" means a period beginning July 1 and ending June 3 0.
"state Median Income" means the official guidelines issued yearly in the Federal Register by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families under the authority of 42 U.S.C. § 8621, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981. States are given discretion by the United States Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to utilize a median income from any particular year, if not from the current year, as long as the states indicate in their Child Care Development Fund (CCDF) State Plan the year used and the dates on which eligibility limits became or will become effective.
"Temporarily absent" means a period of up to ninety days when the caretaker is not residing in the home with the child as a result of employment or job training commitments.
"Temporary Assistance for Needy Families" or "TANF" means the federal and state financial assistance and non-assistance programs administered by the department under 42 U.S.C. §§ 601-619 and section 346-14, HRS.
"Temporary change in activity" means a period of less than three months when the caretaker ceases to participate in any of the allowable activities specified under section 17-798.3-9(b)(3).
"Timely notice" means when the department mails a notice of adverse action at least ten calendar days prior to the effective date of the action.
"Toddler" means a child over twelve months old up to and including twenty-four months old.
"Transitional child care" means a program designed to provide child care payments for eligible families that terminated TANF financial assistance or non-assistance payments sponsored by the department to enable them to maintain self-sufficiency.
"Underpayment" means the amount of payments issued to a caretaker for a benefit month that is less than the amount which the caretaker was eligible to receive.
"Very low income" means gross income less than one hundred Descent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines.
