WHAT IS 4Cs’ SUBSIDY PROGRAM?

4Cs’ Subsidy Program provides vouchers to families with low income to help them pay for child care. Families can use 4Cs vouchers with any child care provider, as long as they are licensed or legally-exempt, and remain in compliance with the program policies.

HOW DO I BECOME A PROVIDER IN THE 4Cs’ SUBSIDY PROGRAM?

A child care provider must be requested by a parent in our subsidy program to initiate the process. A 4Cs staff member will contact the chosen provider to enroll them into the subsidy program.

HOW DOES THE PROCESS WORK?

When a family is approved for services from 4Cs, they select the child care provider they would like to use. 4Cs will reach out to the provider to explain the program and start the setup process. Required documents (listed below) are provided as needed and collected for review and verification. Once approved, a financial agreement is put in place so that payments for child care can be made.

WHAT DOCUMENTS ARE REQUIRED TO BECOME A PROVIDER IN THE SUBSIDY PROGRAM?

The required documents are specific to the type of care provided. Documents are divided into those produced by the provider and those that have been developed by 4Cs. In the coming weeks, we will begin posting the 4Cs documents to our web-site as they are formatted, updated, and/or translated. Click on a link below to see the documents list by type of program/care:

Licensed Center
License Exempt Center
Licensed Family Child Care Home
Unlicensed In-Home Care provided by a relative
Unlicensed In-Home Care provided by a non-relative
Unlicensed Outside Home care provided by a relative
Unlicensed Outside Home care provided by a non-relative

CAN I BE SET UP AS A PROVIDER IF NO FAMILY REQUESTS ME, OR IN ADVANCE OF A FAMILY CHOOSING TO ENROLL IN MY PROGRAM?

Not at this time. Once a provider is chosen by a family and enrolled in our program, an agreement needs to be put in place to allow subsidy payments to be made directly to you. The agreement cannot be executed ahead of time and the information used for this agreement must be current and verified. Having as many of the documents ready to submit to 4Cs when chosen for services will greatly expedite the certification process.

HOW LONG DOES THE PROCESS TAKE?

The length of time necessary to enroll a provider varies widely depending on a number of circumstances. It can be in as little as 3 days (or less) if everything is in order (e.g. all needed documents are received and accurate) or take weeks if there are issues with missing or incomplete information. 4Cs makes every effort to enroll providers as quickly as possible.

WHAT CAN SLOW DOWN THE PROCESS?

Not submitting documents or submitting incomplete or unsigned documents which will need to be resubmitted. Trustline clearance may take weeks or months and 4Cs is unable to activate a provider without this if required.

I AM ALREADY IN 4Cs’ DATABASE, WHY CAN’T I TAKE CHILDREN?

You may be in 4Cs’ Resource & Referral database, which is used for child care referrals to families, but this is a different database which does not have all the required information needed to participate in the subsidy program.

I WAS A PROVIDER IN THE SUBSIDY PROGRAM YEARS AGO. CAN YOU JUST REACTIVATE ME?

Inactive provider files are kept for 3 years. If you have not been an active provider for more than 3 years, you will need to resubmit the documents listed above. If you have been active recently, you will be asked to verify that the information we have is still current and required to update it if necessary.

WILL 4Cs REFER FAMILIES TO MY PROGRAM?

4Cs Resource and Referral Department provides families with a list of child care providers that meet a family’s chosen criteria. It is the right of each family to utilize the provider of their choice and 4Cs cannot show preferential treatment towards any provider(s) over any other provider(s).

HOW CAN I GET ON 4Cs REFERRAL LIST SO FAMILIES CAN RECEIVE INFORMATION ABOUT MY PROGRAM?

Our Resource and Referral (R&R) staff are available to assist you, and can help you to get on our referral list of providers for families. 4Cs R&R staff are available Monday to Friday from 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. at (650) 517-1460 (English) and (650) 517-1461 (Spanish). 4Cs utilizes a third-party, live translation service to converse in all other languages. (Advance notice is helpful.)