Department of Children, Youth & Families

The Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) is the main way that Washington state gets federal money to help pay for child care. This funding helps make child care more affordable for families, supports better payments for providers, and makes the system easier to use.

CCDF Plans

Every three years, the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) must submit a CCDF Plan. This plan is the state’s application for CCDF funding. It explains how the money will be used and how DCYF follows federal rules.

The plan includes programs like:

Working Connections Child Care subsidy program
Early Achievers quality rating program
Child care licensing

Child Care and Development Block Grant

The Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 2014 updated CCDF for the first time since 1996. It was a big change to improve how the program works. To learn more about the law, visit the Office of the Administration for Children & Families.

Recently, new CCDF rules were created to:

Lower child care costs for families
Increase payments to providers
Make it easier to quality for help

To learn more, visit the Office of the Administration for Children & Families website.

Questions?

If you have questions regarding CCDF, the Plan, or the Cost of Quality Care and Market Rate Study Reports, please contact Matt Judge, Federal Initiatives and Collaboration Administrator, at matt.judge@dcyf.wa.gov.

If you need assistance finding benefits and resources, please visit the Getting Help webpage.