Section 50.210  Child Care

a)         To the extent resources permit, the Department shall provide child care services:

1)         to parents or other relatives who are working outside the home;

2)         to parents or other relatives who are participating in employment, training, or education programs outside the home that are approved by the Department; and

3)         to teen parents to enable them to obtain a high school degree or its equivalent.

b)         The term "parents" and the phrase "parents or other relatives" refer to applicants for or recipients of child care services.  They include a child's custodial biological or adoptive parent, stepparent, legal guardian, or caretaker relative within the fifth degree of kinship.

c)         Family means the applicant, his or her spouse, and the biological or adoptive children or stepchildren of the applicant or his or her spouse under age 21 living in the same household.  Family must also include the child for whom care is requested, the child's dependent blood-related and adoptive siblings, and the child's and sibling's parents living in the same household.  The applicant may include in his or her family other persons related by blood or law to the applicant or his or her spouse living in the same household if they are dependent upon the family for more than 50 percent of their support.  The applicant may include in his or her family a child of the applicant or his or her spouse under age 21 who is dependent upon the family for more than 50 percent of his or her support and who is a full-time student away at school, provided he or she has not established legal residence outside the family household.

d)         Teen parent means parents through age 19.

(Source:  Amended at 28 Ill. Reg. 6895, effective April 23, 2004)