State Child Care Assistance Policies 2010: Virginia

•    Income eligibility limit: In 2010, regions in Virginia set the income limit for a family of three to qualify for child care assistance between $27,468 a year (150 percent of poverty, 40 percent of state median income) and $45,780 year (250 percent of poverty, 67 percent of state median income).¹

•    Waiting list: Virginia had 9,670 children on the waiting list for child care assistance as of February 2010.

•    Parent copayments: In 2010, a family of three with an income at 100 percent of poverty ($18,310 a year) receiving child care assistance paid $152 per month, or 10 percent of its income in copayments. A family of three with an income at 150 percent of poverty ($27,465 a year) receiving child care assistance paid $228 per month, or 10 percent of its income in copayments.

•    Reimbursement rates: In 2010, Virginia’s reimbursement rates for child care providers serving families receiving child care assistance were below the federally recommended level—the 75th percentile of current market rates, which is the level designed to give families access to 75 percent of the providers in their community.
o    Reimbursement rates, depending on age group, are between the 35th and 40th percentile of market rates for center care and between the 25th and 40th percentile for family child care.

•    Tiered reimbursement rates: In 2010, Virginia did not pay higher reimbursement rates for higher-quality care. 

•    Eligibility for parents searching for a job: In 2010, Virginia did not allow parents to receive child care assistance while searching for a job.

¹The state has different income limits for different regions of the state. In 2010, for a family of three, the state had four separate regional income limits: $27,468, $29,304, $33,876, and $45,780.

Source: Karen Schulman and Helen Blank, State Child Care Assistance Policies 2010: New Federal Funds Help States Weather the Storm (Washington, DC: National Women’s Law Center, 2010). These data reflect policies as of February 2010, unless otherwise indicated.