Washington DCYF Raising Income Eligibility Threshold & Lowering Copayments For Child Care To Improve Access

On October 1, 2021, the Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) began implementing measures to improve family access to child care through lower family copayments and higher income eligibility for subsidies. Effective October 1, DCYF implemented a new copayment scale that decreases the family share of the cost of child care from the previous 20% of monthly income to no more than 7% of monthly income. The reduction in family copayments from 20% to no more than 7% is anticipated to help up to 3,900 families access affordable, high-quality child care. A second measure will . . .