Child Care Fee Assistance is a provincially legislated program that subsidizes the cost of child care so it is affordable for low-income families.



Who is eligible to receive Child Care Fee Assistance?

It is available to families who live in York Region who have:

• children aged birth to 10 years (up to 12 years in exceptional circumstances)
• an assessed financial need
• parents that are employed or enrolled in an education or training program

Requests for Child Care Fee Assistance may be considered to support exceptional needs where health, safety or well-being of a family member is at significant risk.


How do I apply and get on the Wait List for Child Care Fee Assistance?

1. Call the toll-free KIDS LINE for a pre-screening
Call 1-888-703-KIDS (5437), and press option 3. We ask you a standard set of questions about your child care needs and income. Based on the information you provide, we tell you if you are eligible to be placed on the Wait List for Child Care Fee Assistance.

Call the toll-free Child Care Language Line at 1-866-243-9924 if you would like to apply for Child Care Fee Assistance with the support of a cultural interpreter. Free translation and interpretation services are available to families who speak Arabic, Chinese, Italian, Russian, Farsi, Spanish, Tamil, Urdu, or Vietnamese.

Please Note: If you are eligible to be put on the Wait List, you may not be eligible for Fee Assistance. Eligibility for Child Care Fee Assistance can only be determined at an Intake Interview.

2. Wait for confirmation and list of approved child care programs
Once your name is added to the Wait List, you receive a letter in the mail confirming the date you registered and the documents you need to bring to an Intake Interview. You also receive a list of approved programs in your area that provide child care to fee-assisted families.

3. Find a child care program
Choose an approved child care program from the list you received with your confirmation letter, and register your child(ren) on that program's wait list. The child care program's wait list is separate from the York Region Wait List for child care fee assistance.

4. Attend an intake interview
When your name reaches the top of the York Region Wait List, we call you to attend an Intake Interview at a local Family and Children's Services office.


Is anyone given priority on the Wait List?

Families with a net income of $36,000 or less are given priority for child care fee assistance. Priority consideration may also be given to families experiencing exceptional circumstances. These include a single parent at risk of losing employment due to lack of child care or a community agency referral where health, safety or well being of family member is at significant risk.


How is Eligibility Determined?

Eligibility is determined at your Intake Interview using a provincially mandated income test. We tell you how much York Region is committed to pay directly to the Child Care Provider that you have chosen and how much you are required to pay.

Applicants for child care fee assistance must file an Income Tax return annually and provide their Income Tax Notice of Assessment or Canada Child Tax Benefit Notice. Eligibility for child care fee assistance is based on income only. Assets, living expenses and debts are no longer considered.


What is the Income Test?

• Until December 31, 2006, eligibility for child care fee assistance was determined through a needs-based test. This required the ongoing evaluation of several documents such as household receipts and bank statements.
• As of January 1, 2007, eligibility for child care fee assistance changed to a provincially mandated income test.

What is Net Income?

For the purpose of determining eligibility for child care fee assistance, net income is defined as:
• The net income amount on line 236 of the Canada Revenue Agency Notice of Assessment minus any federal Universal Child Care Benefit (UCCB) payment. The UCCB is not used when determining a family's child care fee assistance.

What kind of documents will parents need to bring to verify income?

Parents will need to bring their most recent Notice of Assessment & Income Tax Return. If parents receive the UCCB, they will need to bring their most recent Canada Child Tax Benefit.


How much can families now expect to pay for child care?

• The daily child care cost for a family receiving fee assistance will be based on net income, the age of the child(ren), and the number of days of care.
• Assuming an average family daily child care cost of $ 43.00, the following chart shows what a family receiving child care fee assistance could pay for child care under the income test.

Net Family Income	New daily child care fee for licensed child care for subsidy As of January 1st, 2007
	(Rounded to the nearest dollar)
$20,000	$0
$30,000	$4.00
$40,000	$8.00
$50,000	$19.00
$60,000	$31.00
$70,000	$42.00

Source: Ministry of Children and Youth Services.


Office Locations for Child Care Fee Assistance Intake Interviews

South Services Centre
50 High Tech Road, 4th Floor
Richmond Hill, ON L4B 4N7
(905) 762-1282
Serving: Markham, Thornhill, Richmond Hill, Vaughan

Newmarket Office
55 Eagle Street West,
Newmarket, ON L3Y 8W5
(905) 830-4444
Serving: Aurora, King, Newmarket and Whitchurch-Stouffville

Georgina Office
24262 Woodbine Avenue
Keswick, ON L4P 3E9
(905) 989-1883 or (705) 437-2133
Serving: East Gwillimbury and Georgina

All Adobe Acrobat PDF files require that you have a PDF viewer.
(A free download is available from the Adobe Web site.)

Back to Family and Children's Services
Back to Community Services and Housing