Technical Bulletin #11r-v4

I.INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this Bulletin is to clarify questions and issues related to the Tribal grantee reporting requirements.  Submission of annual reports is a requirement for all grantees who receive Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) dollars.  Additional information for Tribal Grantees also can be found in Technical Bulletins #12, #13, and #14 on the Office of Child Care (OCC) website.

This Bulletin addresses some of the most frequently asked questions about reporting responsibilities and processes received by the National Center on Child Care Data and Technology (NCDT).  Staff have responded to these questions via phone, fax, e-mail, and in-person at Tribal conferences.  Information summarized in this Bulletin is grouped into six sections which also include references to related on-line resources:

• Reporting requirements
• Report Preparation and Submission
• Specific ACF-700 Data Elements
• Common Reporting Errors
• ACF-700 Quality Assurance
• Resources for Additional Help

II.REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

Question: Exactly what reports do I have to submit?

Answer: Following the award of a CCDF grant, grantees must submit three different kinds of reports each year.  A financial report (ACF-696T) describes expenditures of the grant funds.  The ACF-700 report summarizes data about the children and families served and the services provided.  The Supplemental Narrative, which accompanies the ACF-700, asks grantees to describe in greater detail their services, new and emerging issues, and creative ways they have addressed those issues to remain responsive to family child care needs in their communities.  Reports represent activities that have taken place throughout the fiscal year (October 1 — September 30). Each of these reports is due by the end of December each year.

Additional guidance.

Question: Is there a specific form that I have to use to submit the reports?

Answer: Financial information must be entered onto the ACF-696T form.  Program data must be entered onto the ACF-700 form.  There are specific questions to respond to, but no specific form for, the Supplemental Narrative.  Review additional information and copies of the program report forms.

III.REPORT PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION

Question:  Where and how do I submit my reports?

Answer:  Data reports (ACF-700) are submitted on-line on the OCC data submission website.

Supplemental Narratives should be submitted on-line via a link on the ACF-700 Report submission site.

Those Tribal grantees that have NO access to an Internet connection may send a hard copy of the ACF-700 data report and the Supplemental Narrative Report to the Regional Program Managers with a second copy to NCDT. 

Financial reports (ACF-696T) are submitted on-line .

Regional OCC Staff
NCDT (formerly CCARC)
ACF-700 Submission Site
OLDC Submission Site

Question:How do I submit the ACF-700 on-line?

Answer:  The Tribal Reporting page on the OCC’s website has information about, and a link to, the ACF-700 data submission site.  You need a user name and password to log into the site and enter your data.  To obtain a user name and password, contact the National Center on Child Care Data and Technology by e-mail or by phone (1-877-249-9117). Once you have an account allowing you to submit your data, you can use that same account every year.  You do not have to request a new user name and password annually. When you submit your annual data on-line, it is advisable that you notify your ACF Regional Child Care Program Manager that you have met the reporting requirement.

Question: Some grantees use the “Child Care Data Tracker” to prepare their ACF-700 report.  What is the Tracker?

Answer:  The Child Care Data Tracker is software that the Office of Child Care developed and provides to Tribal grantees to help them record and manage the information that is required for the preparation of the ACF-700 form.  The Tracker is a case management tool that allows grantees to maintain case-level information about the families and children they serve and the services they provide.  In addition to automatically generating the ACF-700 report from the family and provider records you have entered, Tracker functions include preparation of vouchers/certificates, preparation of mailing labels, and generation of a variety of other management reports.

Review additional information about the Tracker.

Question: Do I have to use the Tracker?

Answer:  The use of the Tracker software is not required.  Grantees decide how they will best be able to maintain all of the information that is necessary for calculating the annual summary information about the families and children they serve, and the services they provide.  It is important to note that even though the ACF-700 is an annual report that is due only one time each year, it relies on information that has been collected throughout the year and calculated on a monthly basis.  Using the Tracker can greatly facilitate this process because it does the required calculations for you.

IV.SPECIFIC ACF-700 DATA ELEMENTS

Question: Which children and families should be reported on the ACF-700?

Answer: Children and families should be counted if they meet CCDF eligibility requirements and receive direct child care services paid for at least partially by Tribal CCDF funds.  Direct child care services may be provided through a certificate or voucher, a grant or contract with a child care provider for services, or in a tribally-operated center with operational costs funded by CCDF.  Children and families should not be counted if the CCDF grant paid only for quality activities or indirect activities, like improving the nutritional value of lunches, training staff, or teaching reading skills.  In these cases, CCDF did not pay for direct child care services.

If the direct child care services are partially funded by Tribal CCDF and partially funded by another source (such as non-CCDF Tribal funding), these children and families should still be reported on the ACF-700.  In this case, the Tribe should indicate the use of non-CCDF funds and identify the funding source(s) in the “Comments” field of the ACF-700 report.

Question:In Section 3, how do I report a child’s age during the reporting period?

      Answer: The age of the child is reported as of the end of the report period (i.e. the age of the child on September 30 for a fiscal year) or the date the child exits from the CCDF program.

Question: In Section 3, which line do I use if a child is one year old?

Answer: All children receiving services fit into one and only one age category.  Note that the categories are intended to be non-overlapping.  The first category of 0 up to 1 year does not include exactly 1-year old children.  An exactly 1-year old child should be counted in the category 3b (1year up to 2-years).  Likewise, a child that is exactly 13-years old should not be counted in either category 3g or 3h, but in category 3i (13 years and older).

Question: In Section 3, how do I record information if a child is receiving care in more than one type of program?

Answer:  For each age category, you should count the total number of children that are receiving each type of care regardless of whether that care is full-time or only part-time.  For example, one child may receive care in a licensed center from 8:00-3:00 (7 hours), and receive care from a licensed family home provider from 3:00-6:00 (3 hours).  This child should be counted under both Column J and Column L.

When you record information about children receiving care in more than one care type, the rows may not add across to equal the total in Column A.  Column B-L should be equal to or greater than Column A.  Column A should represent an unduplicated count of the number of children served in each age group meaning that each child should be counted only once in this column.

Question: In Section 4, which line do I use if a parent is both working and in a training program?

  Answer: Count only the activity (i.e., work or training) in which the parent spends the most time and is the primary reason for needing subsidized child care.

Question: In Section 6, how do I report CCDF subsidy amount if we are operating our own child care program?  We really don’t “pay” ourselves for child care in the traditional sense.

Answer: You can calculate and report the amount that your program spends for direct child care services for each CCDF-eligible child in your Tribally-operated center.    Line 4 in the ACF-696T form requires you to indicate how much of your mandatory, discretionary, and base amount funds you have spent for direct child care services.  These three numbers from the ACF-696T report can serve as the basis for your calculation.  See the ACF-700 Report Guide for detailed guidance. It is likely that you will have to coordinate with your fiscal staff to obtain accurate numbers.  In addition, Technical Bulletin #14: Reporting Clarifications for Tribally Operated Centers, provides additional reporting guidance specifically for Tribal grantees operating their own Child Care Center.

ACF-700 Report Guide

696T Report Guidance

Technical Bulletin #14

V.COMMON REPORTING ERRORS

Question: Is Section 4, number of children receiving child care services based on reason for care, a count of children or a count of families?

Answer: Section 4 is a count of children, not families.

Question: Is Section 7, number of children receiving child care services from families with certain income categories, a count of children or a count of families?

Answer: Section 7 is a count of children, not families.

Question:  Is Section 8, number of children receiving child care services by different types of payment to providers, a count of children or a count of families?

Answer: Section 8 is a count of children, not families.

Question: What values must add up on the ACF-700 form?

Answer: There are several categories of numbers that must balance when they are added up.  If the numbers don’t balance, it is likely that some children either were counted twice or were left out.   Specific data checks are detailed below.

Elements 3a through 3g, (total # children ages 0-13) = Element 3h

Element 3h, Column A represents the total number of children being served who are between birth and 13 years.  Numbers reported in 3a through 3g should add up to and equal 3h.  The following example displays only Column A of the ACF-700 form.  The same rule applies to all of the columns for each of the care types.

Elements   3h + 3i, (total # children receiving services) = Element 2b

All children receiving services are either below age 13 (category 3h) or at or above age 13 (3i).  Therefore the sum of categories 3h and 3i must equal the total number of children served as reported on line 2b in column A.  For each care type — Columns B through L — the same rule applies.

Element 4a through 4f, (total # children receiving services by reason for care) = Element 2b Column A

All children should be receiving services for one of six reasons, so these six numbers should equal the total number of children served as reported on line 2b, in Column A.  Note that the counts are children and not families.  If a family has four children, three of whom are receiving services because the parent is working, these three children should be included in the counts for Element 4a.  The child not receiving subsidized services should not be counted anywhere in the ACF-700 form.

Element 7a through 7d (total # children receiving services by family income as related to poverty level) = Element 2b, Column A

All children are from families that fall into one of the four income categories, so these four numbers should equal the total number of children served as reported on line 2b, in Column A.  Note that the counts are of children and not families. 

For example consider a single parent in your program with four children (this would be a family of 5), three of whom are receiving services because the parent is working.  If this family has an income that is less than the amount stated in the current poverty guidelines, they would fall in category 7a (below poverty threshold).  Even though the 4^th child that is not receiving services is included when determining poverty level, this child is not included when counting the total number of children who received services. HHS poverty guidelines are updated annually and are available on line.

Note that there are separate poverty guidelines for the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia, and for Alaska and Hawaii.

Element 8a through 8d (total # children receiving services by payment type) = Element 2b, Column A

All children are served by providers whose payments fall into one of the four payment types reported on lines 8a-d, in Column A. For each care type — Columns B through L — the same rule applies.  Note that the counts are of children and not families.

VI.ACF-700 QUALITY ASSURANCE

It is the responsibility of each Tribal grantee to ensure that the information being reported on the ACF-700 accurately represents the families and children you serve, the providers you pay, and the services your CCDF grant supports.  Each Program Administrator should review the data prior to submitting the report to OCC.  Some questions to ask yourself as you review your report include:

• Is every field complete?
• Have you answered the right question —i.e. counted children or families as specified?
• Is every number a whole number (no decimals or fractions)?
• Are all of the counts in Column A unduplicated counts?
• Are the numbers entered in the right column, indicating accurate care types?
• Are the numbers entered on the right row?
• Have you calculated your averages correctly?  Remember most averages should represent one child for one month.
• Does the report make sense?  Does the information seem to accurately represent your program activities over the past year?

The information you provide to OCC becomes a part of the biennial Report to Congress — an official document which is used to help guide policy decisions and budgetary considerations.  It is important that the story you tell about your CCDF child care program is accurate.

VII.RESOURCES FOR ADDITIONAL HELP

If you have other questions or need more information about the ACF-700 report or the Child Care Data Tracker software, there are two primary resources for additional help — your Regional Office Child Care Program Manager, and the National Center on Child Care Data and Technology (NCDT).

The Office of Child Care (OCC) is represented by staff in each of the ten administrative regions across the country.  You should contact your Regional Office if you have questions regarding your Child Care program policy or operations.  Contact information for the Regional Offices can be found on the OCC website.

NCDT works with the OCC to provide technical assistance to all of the Tribal, Territory, and State CCDF Grantees with matters related to the required CCDF data reporting.  You can reach NCDT Monday — Friday, 9:00 am- 5:00 pm prevailing Eastern Time by:

Phone (toll-free): 1-877-249-9117
E-mail: ccarc@childcaredata.org
Fax: 301-816-8640
Mail: 2600 Tower Oaks Boulevard, Suite 600, Rockville, MD 20852