Advancing the Effective Use of Child Care Subsidy Funds

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Child Care

Program Integrity Solutions Research and Evaluation Technical Assistance

Challenge

Between 2011 and 2016, new federal legislation increased states’ accountability requirements related to the use of subsidy funds for child care. The Office of Child Care (OCC) recognized that states, territories, and Tribes needed more support to satisfy Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) requirements.

Solution

OCC contracted with us through our subsidiary, WRMA, to launch the National Center on Subsidy Innovation and Accountability (NCSIA). This center provides state, territory, and Tribal CCDF Lead Agencies across the United States with technical assistance (TA) on the effective use of federal child care subsidy funds.

After receiving NCSIA support, agencies have:

Reduced barriers to child care subsidy access
Come into compliance with their CCDF Plans
Increased subsidy eligibility income limits
Improved the safety of children
Reduced error rates
Improved the accuracy of payments and detected fraud

NCSIA eLearning courses and PowerPoint templates

Media and Communications for NCSIA

Explore the e-learning modules and resources we’ve created for NCSIA.

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2011

Year OCC first awarded the contract to WRMA

Serving CCDF Lead Agencies in

50 states, 5 territories, and DC

1,199

Instances of TA provided in 2024-25 (up from 990 in 2023-24)

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Technical Assistance

WRMA’s 10 NCSIA TA liaisons work closely with subject matter experts – and with OCC and Child Care Technical Assistance Network colleagues – to deliver individualized subsidy TA tailored to each Lead Agency’s needs. Our NCSIA team provides TA, resources, and toolkits on a wide range of topic areas aligned with OCC priorities related to the use of child care subsidy funds.

Administrative Subsidy Support and Innovation Solutions Team (ASSIST)

We provide intensive TA through the ASSIST project, launched in partnership with OCC in 2025. ASSIST helps states develop solutions to complex challenges that require innovation and systems change. Participating agencies have focus areas like expanding child care options and reducing child care costs for families.

Promoting Informed Child Care Choices (PICC)

PICC is a series of professional development modules that help subsidy staff foster more successful interactions with families who need child care. Our NCSIA team updated the PICC modules, developed a train-the-trainer package, and facilitates onsite trainings for states, territories, and Tribes.

Staffing Solutions

In 2024, the OCC Monitoring contract expanded, requiring WRMA to rapidly increase capacity to accelerate monitoring visits and meet federal mandates. Our staffing specialists quickly added monitoring liaison roles and onboarded new team members to meet the increased demand.

Relevant Resources

Explore tools and materials our team developed on behalf of this project.

Note: Each link leads to an external website.

Office of Child Care website page for Comprehensive Background Checks

Advancing the Effective Use of Child Care Subsidy Funds

Challenge