392 NAC 3-009
Any payment that a client pays privately to a provider does not apply to a client’s fee.
Example: Mom has two providers. She uses one during the week who is signed up with the Department and to whom she owes a monthly fee of $100. On weekends, she uses a different provider who is not signed up with the Department; she pays this provider $50 a month. Mom’s $50 payment is not applied to her $100 fee.
Determining Which Children to Include:
Example 1: A mother has 2 children. Her fee is $80 for each child. Therefore, the family fee is $160. This would be applied to the total cost of care, not to each individual child’s care. If child 1 has $60 worth of care and child 2 has $200, the total $160 fee would be applied to the total child care bill of $260. The fee for child 1 would not be reduced to $60.
However, if might be more economical for Mom to pay privately for child 1.
Example 2: A father with 2 children has a fee of $70 for each child. The younger child has a monthly bill of $385. The older child has a monthly bill of $70. Therefore, if Dad pays privately, his total child care bill is $455 a month. If he receives Child Care Subsidy for both children, his total monthly fee would be $140. Since the older child will probably have days when school is out and he will need care for a full day, it would probably pay Dad to receive assistance for both children. However, he has the choice. He can pay privately for the older child if he wants and receive assistance only for the younger child. Then his fee would be $70.
Example 3: A mother with 2 children has a fee of $140 for each child. The younger child has a total monthly cost of $210. The older child has a total of $45 a month. Therefore, Mom’s total child care bill is $255 and the monthly fee is $280. It is in Mom’s best interest to pay privately for the older child and receive assistance for the younger child only.
Example 4: A father with 3 children has income of $2,200. His fee is $100 for one child, $200 for 2 children, and $300 for 3 children. His oldest child uses only $25 worth of care a month. His second child uses $75 worth of care. His youngest child uses $300 worth of care a month. If Dad receives Child Care Subsidy for all 3 children, his total expense would be $312. If Dad drops out the oldest child and pays the $25 worth of care privately, his total expense would be $25 plus the fee for 2 children, $200, for a total of $225. If Dad receives Child Care Subsidy for his youngest only, his total expense would be $200 ($25 private pay for his oldest, $75 private pay for his second child, and a fee of $100 for his youngest). Therefore, this is the best option for Dad.
Example 5: A two-parent family has 3 children so the family size is 5. The family has arranged care at no cost for 1 child; the family size is 5 but the family is assessed a fee for only 2 children.
Example 6: Applying the Fee to Two Providers
A mother has 3 children. Her fee is $60 for each child. Two children go to one provider and the third child goes to a second provider. The cost of care for the first 2 children is $300 so all of the family fee of $180 can be obligated to the first provider.