Care for Children Receiving Subsidy

About The Subsidized Child Care Program

North Carolina operates a statewide child care assistance program for low-income and other eligible families. This program helps families afford child care by sharing the cost of care. Most parents must pay a fee, depending on the size of their family and their income. More than 100,000 children in North Carolina benefit from this program each year.

Providing Care for Children Receiving Subsidy

Providers who wish to participate in the SCCA Program are required to enroll through the NC FAST Provider Portal, enroll in Direct Deposit with the state’s direct deposit vendor, and sign the Provider Agreement. To be eligible to participate in the SCCA Program, providers must have a rated license of 3 stars or higher; religious-sponsored programs (also known as G.S. 110 - 106) must have a Notice of Compliance letter.

The purpose of the provider enrollment process is to determine if the provider selected by the parent is operating legally and to collect rate information from the provider in order for the provider to be approved for payment. If a provider has not yet provided care under the SCCA Program, the provider will need to visit the LPA in-person with a photo ID and a copy of the Provider’s DCDEE license to verify identity. Information and step by step instructions are available under the Providers tab, click “NC FAST”. 

What Do I Need to Do?

1. Get in touch with your County Child Care Contact to find out information about enrolling in the Subsidized Child Care Assistance Program. Carefully consider the information to be sure that your program is comfortable with the Subsidized Child Care Assistance Program requirements. If not, then you are not obligated to complete the enrollment process.
2. To begin the enrollment process you must obtain a Business NCID and have it linked to the Provider record in NC FAST by your County DSS/LPA. Once you obtain your Business NCID, you should contact your DSS/LPA and provide the NCID so that it may be linked. Once you are linked you will have access to the Provider Portal at http://providerportal.nc.gov .
3. To complete the enrollment process, you must log into the NC FAST Provider Portal to enter in all your facility’s information including shifts offered, days worked, and private pay rates. After entering your information, an approval notice is generated. An approval notice is a document that informs the LPA that a provider is eligible to receive state and federal subsidy funds for child care services. The notice includes your approved payment rate, age range of children, capacity, facility ID number, license number, changes in licensing status, and other information that the LPA must know before paying the provider.  The Provider Agreement is signed electronically via e-signature in the NC FAST Provider Portal. After completing the initial enrollment in the NC FAST Provider Portal, you will re-enroll through the portal annually. The Provider Agreement and Approval Notice PDF’s are available in the NC FAST Provider Portal.

Access and review the new county market rates for Family Child Care Homes and Child Care Centers for 1-5 star licensed programs.