This Act requires that the Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) regulations for Purchase of Care (POC), this state's child care assistance program, provide authorization for a child care provider a child will attend during the summer at any time after January 1 because current regulations do not provide authorization for summer care early enough for families to enroll children in summer camps before camps are full.
This requirement is consistent with existing POC regulations that allow families to have 2 child care providers if child care is needed at different hours or locations or in the event the primary provider is unavailable. Existing POC regulations also allow families to interrupt their child care assistance with a break during the summer without requiring reapplications for care when school resumes in September.
In addition, this Act requires that parent copayments be based on whether the child receives assistance for a full or half day of child care and codifies the following POC policies in existing regulations:
• Parent copayments are determined based on household size and income.
• Children in the custody of the Department of Services for Children, Youth and their Families are eligible for POC assistance.
This Act is effective immediately because under § 10113 of Title 29, amendments that make existing regulations consistent with changes in basic law are exempt from the procedural requirements under the Administrative Procedures Act.
This Act also adds the name of this State's child care assistance program, "Purchase of Care" or "POC" to Chapter 5 of Title 31and makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

Statutes affected:
Original / Not Amended: 31.502, 31.503