Tennessee Child Care Payment Assistance Provider Enrollment

Getting a Tennessee daycare license and enrolling in the Child Care Certificate Program (CCAP) are two separate processes. The license is mandatory if you serve five or more unrelated children. CCAP enrollment is optional — it lets you accept state subsidy payments for eligible families, but it comes with administrative requirements that some providers decide are not worth the revenue.

What CCAP Is

CCAP is Tennessee's Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) voucher system, administered by TDHS. It reimburses licensed providers for serving low-income families, foster children, and participants in the Smart Steps program. The reimbursement goes directly to you as the provider, not to the parent.

Enrollment requires a valid TDHS child care license. License-exempt providers (four or fewer unrelated children) do not qualify.

Current Reimbursement Rates

Rates vary by provider type, county tier (Top Tier vs. Lower Tier, based on population and per capita income), and child age. Effective October 1, 2025:

Family Child Care Home Weekly Rates

Group Child Care Home Weekly Rates

Top Tier counties include the 20 counties with the highest populations and per capita incomes — Davidson, Shelby, Knox, Hamilton, and Williamson among them.

What Changed in October 2025

Following a $44.5 million reduction in Tennessee's CCDF discretionary award, TDHS made significant adjustments:

• Eliminated rate differentials for toddlers, child care deserts, distressed counties, and non-traditional hour care
• Maintained the 15% differential for infants and children with documented disabilities
• Introduced a 5% income-based co-pay for approved families, with exemptions continuing for Families First, Early Head Start partnership, Mental Health and Substance Abuse, and DCS categories

The co-pay change means you must account for and collect each family's assessed 5% income-based co-pay; it is not a flat 5% of the reimbursement rate. This is the administrative burden that makes some providers reconsider enrollment.

Star Quality Bonus Payments

After one year of licensed operation, TDHS evaluates your facility on a quality scorecard:

• Score of 80–89: 15% bonus on top of base reimbursement rates
• Score of 90–100: 20% bonus on top of base rates

At the 20% bonus level, a Top Tier family home provider caring for one infant earns $240/week instead of $200 — an additional $2,080 per year for that single child slot. State-funded CCR&R quality coaches can help you target the scorecard areas where your training hours and environment setup will have the most impact.

Additional bonuses:

• Disability differential: 15% bonus for children with verified special needs
• Infant care differential: 15% bonus for children aged 6 weeks to 13 months
• Non-traditional hours: no separate rate differential after the October 1, 2025 changes

Attendance Documentation

Tennessee requires digital attendance records for CCAP compliance. Providers must use approved electronic attendance verification (EAV) systems to log exact parent sign-in and sign-out times. Failure to produce verifiable digital logs during a state audit can trigger immediate payment recoupment and program termination.

Paper sign-in sheets still satisfy your general TDHS licensing requirements, but they are not sufficient for CCAP audit protection.

How to Enroll

Enrollment is handled through the One DHS Portal after your license is issued. Your TDHS Program Specialist or Licensing Consultant can direct you to the enrollment forms. The process adds your facility to the provider directory that families search when they receive a CCAP certificate.

The Tennessee Home Daycare Licensing Guide walks through the CCAP enrollment decision — including a revenue projection worksheet that compares private-pay rates against CCAP reimbursement at different enrollment mixes — so you can decide whether the administrative overhead is justified by the potential revenue.

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