Colorado program
Help paying for a sibling's child care
Colorado's county child-care assistance program can help pay for care for other children in the family.
What it is
Colorado's county child-care assistance program can help pay for care for other children in the family.
Time at the hospital can make care for siblings hard to arrange. CCCAP pays part of a sibling's child care for a family under the income line while a parent is in an approved activity such as work or study. Each county runs its own list, and some are frozen, so the first call is to yours.
Eligibility rules
- CCCAP generally serves children under 13 and certain children with special needs under 19. The county confirms the applicable age, activity and continuing-eligibility rules.
What you get
- Help with part of an eligible sibling's child-care bill.
What the help includes
- The county sets the family share and approves eligible child-care arrangements. The program does not promise every child-care bill is covered.
If you decide to apply
- Ask the hospital social worker to help check CCCAP with your own county, including whether your work, education or other activity qualifies and whether the county is taking new families.
- Describe the sibling's care needs and your work or caregiving schedule, with the hospital's help documenting admission dates.
Your county human-services office
After you ask
- The county confirms whether applications are open and reviews your family circumstances. Local funding availability matters.
Good to know
Each county runs its own list and can freeze new places; ask yours whether it is taking families and whether time at the hospital counts as an approved activity.
Other details
- This card concerns help with sibling care, but your answers here alone does not establish the county's approved activity or all child-age requirements.
- CCCAP normally supports child care tied to approved work, education or another allowed activity. Your county confirms whether hospital caregiving, an exception or another resource fits. It also checks the sibling’s age, income, family fee and whether enrollment is open or waitlisted.
Official sources
- Boulder County - Child Care Assistance Program
- Colorado Department of Revenue, Income Tax Topics: Earned Income Tax Credit
- Colorado Department of Revenue, Colorado Earned Income Tax Credit
- IRS, Earned Income and Earned Income Tax Credit tables, 2025 tax year
- Colorado Department of Revenue, 2025 individual income-tax instructions
- Arapahoe County, Child Care Assistance, income table effective October 1, 2025; county example, not statewide rule
- Adams County: Child Care Assistance Program; county-only availability
- El Paso County Human Services: CCCAP waitlist effective April 20, 2026
“Could CCCAP help with care for our other children during hospital visits, and would our schedule meet its rules? What would we still pay, and could you help us decide whether to apply?”
Why I’m asking: I want reliable care for the other children without making the household budget harder to manage.
More background and detailed requirements
Additional program information and published rules
Who does what
The three parts, side by side. The agency decides; nobody on this page does.
You
Ask the county whether it is open and how caregiving is treated.
Your social worker
The county decides and sets the family share.
The care team
The hospital can confirm the admission dates.
- Who decides
- The county human-services office.
- Ask your social worker
- “Is there help with child care for my other children while I am at the hospital with this one?”
How to apply
First step: Call your county human-services office and ask about the Child Care Assistance Program.
- Ask your county whether its child-care programme is open and whether hospital caregiving counts.
Where it starts: Ask your county about the Child Care Assistance Program.
What to gather
- Household income
- The ages of the other children
How long: Unknown; it varies by county.
What a yes looks like
An approved provider and a family share you pay.
What a no looks like, and the next move
Ask whether the county is frozen or whether it was the activity test, which are different problems.
Watch out
- One county is frozen; that is not the whole state. Ask yours.
- Whether hospital caregiving counts as an approved activity was not established.
The numbers and the rules
The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 11, 2026.
What it is worth
County help with child-care costs for siblings. Availability and income rules differ by county.
Covers: Help with the cost of child care for other children in the household
What it costs the family: A family share is usual; the amounts were not retrieved.
The eligibility facts, as published
- Income
- unknown: the current household income cells were not retrieved
- County
- Availability differs by county
The trap: Whether sitting at a child's hospital bedside counts as an approved activity for the programme was not established. Ask your county directly rather than assuming either answer.
Where I read this
- Boulder County - Child Care Assistance Program — Boulder County, read September 10, 2026