Add Delaware CCAP (Child Care Assistance Program)

[hua7450]

Summary

Implements Delaware Purchase of Care (POC) child care subsidy program in PolicyEngine. POC is Delaware's CCDF-funded child care assistance program, administered by the Division of Social Services (DSS). This implementation covers income eligibility (dual FPL/SMI thresholds), copayment calculation, provider reimbursement rates by age group and provider type, and benefit computation.

Closes #7863

Regulatory Authority

• 16 Del. Admin. Code 11000-11004 — Copayment rules (7% cap, waiver conditions), activity requirements, income calculation, phase-out rules, authorization periods
• 16 Del. Admin. Code 11000-11003 — Technical eligibility: activity requirements, child age limits, residency, citizenship, family composition
• 16 Del. Admin. Code 11000-11006 — Provider eligibility, payment structure, absent day policy
• 24 DE Reg 704 (January 2021) — Income exclusion categories, self-employment rules, copayment waiver conditions
• Delaware FFY 2025-2027 CCDF Plan Appendix — 12-month authorization, copay cap at 7%, prospective payment waiver
• POC Billing Guidance (June 2024) — FY2025 reimbursement rate tables (effective July 1, 2024 - June 30, 2027), copay waiver at 150% FPL, absent day policy
• POC Provider Handbook (January 2023) — Child age limits, authorization types, DFS referral exemptions, reimbursement and copayment details
• DSS Child Care Services Page — Current income eligibility table with all FPL thresholds and 85% SMI cap
• 2024 Delaware Child Care Market Rate Survey — 75th percentile market rate data informing state-set rates

Eligibility Tests

Child Eligibility

• Under age 13, OR ages 13-18 if disabled/special needs (under 19)
  • Source: DSSM 11003.3, Provider Handbook p.14
• Must be a dependent in the family unit
  • Source: DSSM 11003.9.3
• Must be a U.S. citizen or qualified non-citizen (reuses federal is_ccdf_immigration_eligible_child)
  • Source: DSSM 11003.4

Activity Requirement

• At least one parent must be employed (employment_income > 0) or a full-time student
  • Source: DSSM 11003.6, Provider Handbook pp.14-15
  • Note: Delaware has no minimum weekly hours for employment — any employment qualifies

Income Eligibility

• Initial eligibility (new applicants, de_poc_enrolled = false): gross monthly income <= 200% FPL
  • Source: DSS Child Care Services Page — table header "Max Gross Monthly Income (200% FPL)"
• At redetermination (enrolled families, de_poc_enrolled = true): gross monthly income <= 300% FPL
  • Source: DSSM 11004.13, DSS Child Care Services Page
• Hard cap: income must not exceed 85% of State Median Income (SMI) at any time
  • Source: 45 CFR 98.20, DSS Child Care Services Page
• Effective income limit: min(FPL-based threshold, 85% SMI)
• Asset test: reuses federal is_ccdf_asset_eligible

Income Counting

• Gross monthly income from all sources (15 countable source categories via adds parameter list)
  • Source: DSSM 11003.9.1, 24 DE Reg 704
• 20 categories of excluded income (excluded by omission from the countable sources list)
• Self-employment net profit counted
  • Source: 24 DE Reg 704

Copayment Structure

Condition	Copayment
Income <= 150% FPL	Waived ($0)
Income > 150% FPL	7% of gross monthly income
Income < 40% FPL (excess burden)	Parameter documented, functionally subsumed by 150% waiver

• Copayment is per family, not per child
• Source: DSSM 11004.7, POC Billing Guidance
• 7% rate effective July 1, 2024 (previously 9%)
• Excess burden waiver parameter (copay/excess_burden_fpl_rate = 0.4) stored for regulatory completeness but not separately wired in formula since 40% FPL < 150% FPL

Provider Reimbursement Rates

Statewide rates effective July 1, 2024 - June 30, 2027. Source: POC Billing Guidance, DSS Child Care Services Page

Age Group	Family Home (weekly)	Center (weekly)
Infant (age 0)	$222.50	$325.00
Toddler (age 1)	$200.00	$290.00
Preschool (ages 2-5)	$200.00	$255.00
School Age Full-time (6+, >= 4 hrs/day)	$160.00	$190.00
School Age Part-time (6+, < 4 hrs/day)	$100.00	$135.00

• Special needs: 5% rate increase across all categories
  • Source: POC Billing Guidance
• Full-time vs part-time determined by childcare_hours_per_day >= 4 (only affects school-age children)
  • Source: Provider Handbook pp.24-25
• Weekly-to-monthly conversion: weekly_rate * 52 / 12

Benefit Calculation

benefit = min(actual_expenses - copay, max_reimbursement)

Where:

• actual_expenses = spm_unit_pre_subsidy_childcare_expenses (monthly family child care costs)
• copay = 7% of gross monthly income (waived if income <= 150% FPL)
• max_reimbursement = sum of per-child weekly rates (by age group and provider type, with 5% special needs increase if applicable) converted to monthly

Result floored at $0. Source: standard CCDF benefit formula, consistent with RI CCAP and NH CCAP implementations.

Not Modeled

Requirement	Reason
No minimum work hours specified (REQ-007)	No threshold to encode — any employment qualifies
DE residency (REQ-014)	Handled by defined_for = StateCode.DE
No copay increase during 12-month period (REQ-018)	Temporal constraint, not simulatable in static model
DFS referral exempts financial/citizenship (REQ-020)	Not simulatable — administrative referral process
POC Plus provider billing (REQ-028)	Provider-side differential billing, not a family benefit
10 absent days/month reimbursed (REQ-029)	Attendance-based, not simulatable
12-month authorization period (REQ-030/031)	Temporal constraint
90-day job search allowance (REQ-032)	Temporal constraint
Priority categories for waitlist (REQ-033)	Administrative process

Known Gaps

• REQ-030 Graduated phase-out (200-300% FPL): The redetermination.yaml parameter is set to 300% FPL (hard cutoff for enrolled families). Regulation specifies a graduated phase-out for families whose income rises between 200-300% FPL at redetermination. Currently modeled as a binary eligible/ineligible at 300% FPL — no graduated copay adjustment or tiered reduction exists. This is functionally conservative (more families remain eligible than under a strict 200% cutoff).
• REQ-017 Excess burden waiver: The copay/excess_burden_fpl_rate parameter (0.4) exists for regulatory completeness but is not referenced in the copay formula. The 40% FPL threshold is a subset of the 150% FPL waiver and requires net income after shelter/utility deductions (not currently modeled). No impact on results since 40% < 150%.

Files Added

policyengine_us/
  parameters/gov/states/de/dss/poc/
    age_group.yaml
    age_threshold/
      child.yaml
      disabled_child.yaml
    copay/
      excess_burden_fpl_rate.yaml
      rate.yaml
      waiver_fpl_rate.yaml
    full_time_hours_per_day.yaml
    income/
      countable_income/
        sources.yaml
      fpl_rate/
        initial_eligibility.yaml
        redetermination.yaml
      smi_rate.yaml
    rates/
      center.yaml
      family_home.yaml
      special_needs_rate_increase.yaml
  variables/gov/states/de/dss/poc/
    de_child_care_subsidies.py
    de_poc.py
    de_poc_age_group.py
    de_poc_copay.py
    de_poc_countable_income.py
    de_poc_enrolled.py
    de_poc_maximum_weekly_benefit.py
    de_poc_provider_type.py
    eligibility/
      de_poc_activity_eligible.py
      de_poc_eligible.py
      de_poc_eligible_child.py
      de_poc_income_eligible.py
  tests/policy/baseline/gov/states/de/dss/poc/
    de_poc.yaml
    de_poc_activity_eligible.yaml
    de_poc_age_group.yaml
    de_poc_copay.yaml
    de_poc_eligible.yaml
    de_poc_eligible_child.yaml
    de_poc_income_eligible.yaml
    de_poc_maximum_weekly_benefit.yaml
    integration.yaml

Totals: 14 parameters, 12 variables, 9 test files

[codecov]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 100.00%. Comparing base (d8084e1) to head (91068c5).
⚠️ Report is 30 commits behind head on main.

Additional details and impacted files

@@             Coverage Diff              @@
##             main     #7865       +/-   ##
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+ Coverage   71.81%   100.00%   +28.18%     
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  Files        4084        12     -4072     
  Lines       58886       174    -58712     
  Branches      288         0      -288     
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- Hits        42288       174    -42114     
+ Misses      16583         0    -16583     
+ Partials       15         0       -15     

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