CalWORKs Child Care Stages 1, 2 & 3 in California (2026)

CalWORKs pays for child care in three stages, with no break in care between them: your county welfare department pays the provider in Stage 1, and a local Alternative Payment Program (APP) agency pays in Stages 2 and 3. You get in by qualifying for CalWORKs cash aid, and child care is approved together with that aid. After aid stops, care continues for up to 24 months and then moves to Stage 3 while your income stays at or below the limit for keeping care ($8,054 a month for a family of three in 2026-27). Send your county worker a written child care request today, no later than 30 days after your provider's first day caring for your children, so the provider gets paid in full.

Who runs each stage

Stages 1 and 2 are an entitlement, so every eligible family gets care, and Stage 2 agencies keep no waiting list. Stage 3 runs on yearly state funding: a family enters when a funded space is open, and Stage 3 agencies take families in as they time out of the earlier stages.

Who qualifies and what the county approves

To get in, your family first qualifies for CalWORKs cash aid. For applications on or after July 1, 2026, the applicant income test uses the Minimum Basic Standard of Adequate Care: $1,960 a month for a family of three in Region 1 counties and $1,859 in Region 2. Our CalWORKs cash aid guide has the full test. The $8,054 figure is the limit for keeping care after cash aid ends.

Care covers children up to their 13th birthday. A child with exceptional needs or a severe disability stays covered through age 21 with an individualized education program (IEP) plus a physician's or licensed psychologist's statement, or proof of SSI/SSP. You get care for work, for any Welfare-to-Work activity such as school, training or job search, and for family needs such as housing search, domestic violence or mental health counseling, and court and medical appointments.

The county authorizes 24 months of full-time care (25 or more hours a week) unless you ask for part-time; before January 2025 the authorization was 12 months. A 12-year-old at certification gets at least 12 months. You are excused from Welfare-to-Work appointments until you have found a provider who accepts county payment. In a two-parent family, the county pays only for hours when neither parent is available. A parent counts as unavailable while working or sleeping after work, in a county-approved activity, or limited by a condition a doctor verifies.

Who can be your provider, and what the provider gets paid

You choose the provider: a licensed center, a licensed family child care home, or a relative, friend or neighbor. The county or APP agency pays the provider directly, at the provider's own rate or the regional market rate ceiling, whichever is lower. The ceiling is set by county, type of care and the child's age, and a license-exempt provider's ceiling is 70% of the family child care home ceiling. You pay anything the provider charges above it.

In Los Angeles County, the full-time monthly ceiling for a child aged 2 through 5 is $1,253.26 at a center, $1,006.20 at a licensed family child care home and $704.34 for a TrustLine-registered relative, friend or neighbor. Find your county in the state's reimbursement ceiling tool.

Pay follows the hours on your certificate, regardless of attendance, through July 1, 2028. Stage 2 and 3 agencies pay within 21 calendar days of a complete monthly attendance record or invoice signed by you and the provider.

TrustLine for relatives, friends and neighbors

A relative, friend or neighbor gets paid once registered with TrustLine, the state's fingerprint background check registry. Grandparents, aunts and uncles of the child are exempt and sign the Declaration of Exemption from TrustLine Registration and Health and Safety Self-Certification (CCP 1). Once a Stage 1 provider registers, the county pays for up to 120 days, counting from your child care request date or the first day of care, whichever came later. The 180-day pandemic limit is over: CDSS told counties in April 2026 to apply 120 days. A provider who never registers receives nothing.

Care in your own home

All three stages pay for a license-exempt caregiver working in your own home. You become the employer, responsible for at least the state minimum wage, Social Security and Medicare taxes and workers' compensation insurance, plus unemployment taxes in some cases. Stage 2 and 3 agencies approve in-home care once you sign a self-attestation accepting those duties. If an agency says its vouchers cannot pay for care in your home, point to Child Care Bulletin 22-13, which directs Stage 2 and 3 agencies to authorize it once you sign.

Moving from Stage 1 to Stage 2, then Stage 3

The county starts the move to Stage 2 when it decides, under its own definition, that your work or Welfare-to-Work activity is stable, or when you are leaving cash aid, and a Stage 2 agency has funding for you. Stage 1 keeps paying until that agency confirms your enrollment. The new agency keeps your certified schedule and any family fee, sends you written notice with your case manager's contact information, and gives you a new 24-month authorization.

When your 24 months after cash aid run out, you move to Stage 3, and the Stage 3 agency pays your provider from the first of the month after you time out. In Stages 2 and 3, an income-eligible family reports one change during the 24 months: income above the limit for its family size, within 30 days.

Family fees and income limits for 2026-27

Families on cash aid pay no fee. After aid ends, a family with adjusted monthly income below 75% of state median income pays no fee, and any fee is capped at 1% of adjusted monthly income. The 2026-27 fee is a flat monthly amount: $62 for full-time care (130 or more certified hours a month) at the first fee level, up to $71 at the income limit, and $31 to $35 for part-time care. A fee can rise only at recertification, never during your eligibility period.

Check your own numbers in the state's family fee calculator. If your pay swings month to month, you can hand in up to 12 months of income records for the agency to average.

What to do today

1. If you are not on aid yet, apply for CalWORKs at BenefitsCal or your county social services office.
2. Give your county worker a written request, either the CalWORKs Child Care Request Form (CCP 7) or a dated letter, listing each child, the activity and its hours, and your provider. Keep a copy.
3. To find a provider, call 1-800-KIDS-793 for your local child care referral agency.
4. For a relative, friend or neighbor, start TrustLine the same week: the provider gets Live Scan fingerprints, and the county enters the application online. A grandparent, aunt or uncle hands in the CCP 1.
5. Check the approval notice (NA 832): dates, each child's hours, rate and reimbursement limit. Call your worker the same day about any error.
6. Tell your worker before you change providers, except in an emergency, so the new provider gets approved and paid.

Where it splits

If you left cash aid within the last 24 months and have no child care, ask your county social services office which agency runs Stage 2 in your county and apply there. The agency acts within 30 days and pays only from the date it certifies you, so apply before care starts.

If you took a lump-sum diversion payment, ask the county worker who approved it to refer you to your county's Stage 3 agency. When Stage 3 has no funded space, Stage 2 can take you.

If you never received CalWORKs cash aid or diversion, Stages 2 and 3 are closed to you. A household member on Medi-Cal, CalFresh or WIC counts toward eligibility for the state's other subsidized care, which you apply for through an APP agency (see California child care assistance). Head Start or Early Head Start is another route if your child has not started school.

Your leverage when something goes wrong

• Stage 1: ask for a state hearing within 90 days of the notice at acms.dss.ca.gov or 1-800-743-8525. Ask before the change date on the notice, and your child care continues unchanged while you wait.
• Stages 2 and 3: request a hearing with the agency within 14 calendar days of receiving the notice; the action stops until the appeal ends. Appeal a losing decision to CDSS within 14 days, and CDSS decides within 30 days.
• A new or higher fee in Stage 2 or 3: appeal within 14 days of a hand-delivered notice or 19 days of a mailed one, and care continues during the appeal.
• Stage 1 provider pay: the county keeps paying even in a month your child skips care, as long as you both sign the attendance sheet.
• Keeping Stage 2 or 3 care: 30 straight days with no contact with your provider or agency counts as abandoning care, and the agency disenrolls you. Fees turn delinquent 7 days after the due date; care ends 14 days after a delinquency notice unless you pay or offer a reasonable repayment plan, which the agency must accept.

Call legal aid if the county sanctions you over an activity you missed for lack of child care, or to get a representative for a hearing. The hearing page of your notice lists local groups.

Child care request letter

To: [Worker name], [County] CalWORKs, Case No. [number]

I am requesting CalWORKs child care starting [date] for [child's name, age] and [child's name, age]. I need care while I [work / attend school or training / take part in my Welfare-to-Work activity] on [days] from [start time] to [end time]. My provider is [name], a [center / licensed family child care home / relative, friend or neighbor], phone [number]. Please send me the Notice of Action approving my child care.

[Your name], [phone], [date]

Today

1. Send the child care request to your county worker and keep a dated copy.
2. Start TrustLine for a relative, friend or neighbor, or the CCP 1 for a grandparent, aunt or uncle.
3. If you left aid in the last 24 months, apply with your county's Stage 2 agency.

Next comes the Notice of Action (NA 832) with your approved dates, hours and rate. After a move to Stage 2, the new agency writes with your case manager's name and the same certified hours.