CCAP Provider Enrollment Alaska

What CCAP Is

The Alaska Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) — also called Parents Achieving Self Sufficiency (PASS) — helps eligible families pay for child care while parents work, attend school, or participate in job training. When you enroll as a CCAP provider, you can accept these subsidized families. The state pays you directly for authorized care, minus the family's sliding-scale co-payment.

Enrollment is optional. You don't need to participate in CCAP to hold a child care license. But if you want access to the full pool of families looking for care in Alaska — especially in lower-income communities — CCAP enrollment significantly broadens your customer base.

Eligibility

You must hold a valid child care license to enroll as a CCAP provider. License-exempt providers (those watching four or fewer unrelated children) cannot participate. Approved relative providers have their own pathway and can receive CCAP payments without a full license.

The Enrollment Process

Step 1 — Submit Form CC41. The Licensed Provider Child Care Assistance Application goes to your regional CCAP administrator. Alaska divides administration across two organizations: Alaska Family Services handles the Central, Coastal, and Anchorage regions, while thread Alaska manages the Northern and Southeast regions.

Step 2 — Complete billing training. Before you can submit payment requests, your facility administrator must complete mandatory CCAP billing and system training through the regional office. This covers the attendance tracking, billing forms, and documentation standards the state requires.

Step 3 — Begin accepting authorized families. Once enrolled, families with CCAP approval bring a Child Care Authorization document specifying their authorized hours, their co-payment amount, and the state's maximum payment rate for your area.

How Billing Works

At the end of each calendar month, you submit a billing report (Form CC78 — Request for Payment) to your regional CCAP office. The state pays you directly for the authorized care hours, minus the family's required co-payment. You collect the co-payment from the family yourself.

The state reimburses up to a maximum rate schedule set by the CCPO. If your private tuition rate is higher than the state's maximum, you can charge the family the difference — but you need to explain this clearly before enrollment begins.

The PASS Categories

CCAP processes assistance through four categories:

• PASS I — Families receiving Alaska Temporary Assistance Program (ATAP) cash benefits
• PASS II — Low-income families transitioning off ATAP who are working, in training, or in school (valid up to 12 months)
• PASS III — Low-income working families not eligible for PASS I or II
• PASS IV — Children in protective services under the Office of Children's Services (OCS)

Family co-payments are calculated on a sliding scale based on household size and income, ranging from 1% to 9% of gross monthly income. The co-payment is charged once per family, covering all enrolled children.

A family of four currently qualifies with an initial household income at or below $7,372 per month (85% of Alaska's State Median Income). Senate Bill 95 authorized raising this to 105% of SMI, but the expansion is pending federal approval and the 85% ceiling remains active.

Administrative Realities

CCAP participation comes with documentation requirements that a private-pay-only operation doesn't face:

Attendance records — Daily sign-in and sign-out sheets with exact timestamps and legible parent signatures (or a digital system generating audit-ready logs). Federal CCDF audit requirements make these non-negotiable.

Overpayment risk — If you bill for hours a child didn't attend or for periods after a family's authorization changed, the state issues an overpayment notice. Under 7 AAC 41, you're financially responsible for repaying overpayments.

Payment timing — State payments arrive after you submit monthly billing, not in advance. Cash flow can be unpredictable if authorization changes or billing corrections delay processing.

Financial Strategy

Smart providers limit the percentage of subsidized slots in their program to maintain financial stability. A common approach: reserve 2–3 slots for CCAP families and fill the remaining capacity with private-pay families whose payments arrive on a predictable schedule.

Your parent handbook should state clearly that parents are responsible for full monthly tuition if their CCAP authorization is delayed, suspended, or denied. This protects you from gaps between when authorization ends and when you find out.

Our Alaska Home Daycare License guide includes a CCAP enrollment decision worksheet that models your revenue under different subsidy-to-private-pay slot mixes.

See more Alaska guides →