California child care assistance, CalWORKs Child Care and free transitional kindergarten (2026)

Who runs subsidized child care in California: county welfare offices, APPs and contracted centers

Where you apply depends on whether you receive CalWORKs, California’s TANF cash aid:

• CalWORKs Stage One is run by your county welfare department and starts when you begin receiving cash aid. It is an entitlement, so eligible families are not waitlisted ⁠⁵⁠³.
• CalWORKs Stage Two (C2AP) is run by Alternative Payment Program (APP) agencies once the county decides your situation is stable. It is also an entitlement. You can use Stages One and Two until you have been off cash aid for 24 months ⁠⁵.
• CalWORKs Stage Three (C3AP) takes over after those 24 months. It depends on available funds and continues until your income goes above 85% of SMI or your child ages out ⁠⁵. Senate Bill 792 corrected the Stage Three statute to match the 85% limit used by every other program, effective January 1, 2026 ⁠⁸.
• California Alternative Payment Program (CAPP) vouchers are for low-income families who are not on CalWORKs. APPs operate in every county. They pay the provider you choose, which can be a center, a licensed family child care home or a license-exempt relative, friend or neighbor ⁠⁴.
• Contracted slots at General Child Care and Development (CCTR) centers and Family Child Care Home Education Networks (CFCC) are held by the provider. You apply to each center directly. These programs follow Title 5 rules, which set smaller child-to-adult ratios than ordinary licensing ⁠³⁠⁴.

Migrant programs (CMAP and CMIG) serve families who move for agricultural work. The Emergency Child Care Bridge Program gives time-limited vouchers to foster families in the 47 participating counties ⁠³.

Where the FY 2026-27 ceiling lands for your family

CDSS updates the ceiling every July 1, using state median income figures recalculated by the Department of Finance. For FY 2026-27, CCB 26-17 sets the limit at 85% of SMI. The monthly figures are $7,119 for a family of one or two, $8,054 for three, $9,636 for four, $11,178 for five and $12,720 for six. They apply to families certified or recertified on or after July 1, 2026 ⁠¹. Unlike many states, California uses 85% of SMI both at entry and while you are enrolled, so there is no lower entry tier ⁠⁶.

You can also qualify without an income test. California counts you as eligible if you receive CalWORKs cash aid, are experiencing homelessness, have a child receiving protective services or at risk of abuse or neglect, or have a household member enrolled in a means-tested program such as CalFresh, Medi-Cal, WIC or Head Start ⁠³⁠¹. Families who qualify through another program are ranked on the waiting list by the income they reported on that program’s application ⁠¹. Family assets must be no more than $1,000,000 ⁠⁶.

Family fees capped at 1% of income, and who pays nothing

Since October 1, 2023, Welfare and Institutions Code §10290 has said that a family fee cannot exceed 1% of adjusted monthly income. Families below 75% of SMI pay nothing. The fee is one flat monthly amount based on enrollment, not attendance. Certified need under 130 hours a month gets the part-time fee, and 130 hours or more gets the full-time fee ⁠²⁠⁶. The FY 2026-27 schedule took effect July 1, 2026 ⁠².

Scroll the table sideways to see every column.

The 75% figures and dollar caps are estimates from the published 85% ceilings. Your APP calculates the exact fee from CDSS’s Family Fee Schedule.

The following families pay no fee ⁠²⁠⁸:

• Families receiving CalWORKs cash aid
• Families of children in the Children with Severe Disabilities program (CHAN)
• Families whose children receive protective services, for up to 24 months (SB 792 extended this from 12 months)
• Families experiencing homelessness, in counties with approved policy flexibilities

Your fee is set when you are certified and recertified. It cannot go up during the eligibility period, even if you ask for fewer hours ⁠².

The federal requirement that capped copays at 7% of income was repealed by the May 12, 2026 CCDF final rule ⁠⁹. California’s 1% cap is written into state law, so the repeal does not affect families here ⁠². One cost the cap does not cover: if your provider charges more than the state’s reimbursement ceiling, you pay the difference ⁠⁶.

No hours minimum: the need California asks you to document

California’s CCDF plan sets no minimum number of hours of work, training or school ⁠⁶. You must show a need for care, and any of these counts ⁠³⁠⁶:

• Paid work or self-employment
• Looking for work
• Vocational training, apprenticeship or English as a Second Language classes
• High school equivalency or college coursework
• Seeking permanent housing
• Parental incapacity
• Homelessness
• Protective services

Authorized hours can include travel time and study time, and sleep time for parents who work overnight. Care based on education is limited to six years in total from the start of services ⁠⁶.

Once certified, you are eligible for at least 24 months. You only have to report changes if your income goes above 85% of SMI or you move out of state ⁠⁶⁠³. Families eligible because they are looking for work also get the full 24 months ⁠⁶.

Income ranking, not first-come: how APP and center waiting lists move

California has no statewide waiting list. Each APP and each contracted center keeps its own list and must enroll in the order set by Welfare and Institutions Code §10271 ⁠¹⁠⁶:

1. Protective services first

   Children receiving child protective services, or at risk of abuse or neglect with a written referral from a legal, medical or social services agency, are enrolled first ⁠¹.

2. Lowest income next

   Other families are ranked using CDSS’s FY 2026-27 Income Ranking Table. The lowest gross income for the family size goes first ⁠¹.

3. Tie-breakers

   Among families at the same income level, a family with a child with exceptional needs goes first. Next comes a family whose primary home language is not English, then the family that has waited longest ⁠¹.

The Income Ranking Table does not apply to CalWORKs Stages One, Two or Three ⁠¹. In 2021-22 the state committed to adding about 200,000 slots, and about 94,600 new CAPP slots were added in 2021-22 and 2022-23. Assembly Bill 113 (Chapter 248, Statutes of 2026) adds $186.4 million for about 20,700 more CAPP slots from October 1, 2026. CDSS is allocating them in proportion to the waitlists each APP reported ⁠⁷.

Quality Counts California ratings when you choose a provider

California’s quality rating and improvement system is Quality Counts California (QCC). It is funded by First 5 California in partnership with CDE and CDSS ⁠¹⁵. Ratings are not set by one state scale. County and regional consortia rate programs against a tiered matrix (the “quality continuum framework”) built around common tiers shared statewide ⁠¹³. State Preschool sites must be rated. Other licensed providers, including those paid with vouchers, join voluntarily ⁠¹⁵⁠⁶. California does not pay higher subsidy rates for higher-rated providers ⁠⁶. A QCC rating therefore tells you about quality, not about how much of the cost your voucher covers. QCC’s county pages list local participating programs ⁠¹⁵.

Free transitional kindergarten and the California State Preschool Program

Transitional kindergarten. TK is fully phased in. For 2026-27, every school district that runs a kindergarten must offer TK to all children who turn 4 on or before September 1, 2026, regardless of income or immigration status. It is free ⁠¹⁰. TK is optional. Not every school site offers it, but a district may not put an age-eligible child on a waiting list ⁠¹⁰. Children in TK can still use subsidized before- and after-school care, including part-day State Preschool where hours allow ⁠¹⁰.

California State Preschool Program (CSPP). CSPP serves eligible 3- and 4-year-olds in part-day and full-day classes ⁠¹³. Families with income up to 100% of SMI can enroll (roughly $9,475 a month for a family of three by our calculation from CCB 26-17). Families up to 15% above that limit can enroll in a lower priority group ⁠¹¹. Children with an active IEP or IFSP can also qualify ⁠¹¹. Some CSPP sites can also enroll children under neighborhood-school eligibility. That applies in areas served by public elementary schools where at least 80% of students are counted in the state’s unduplicated pupil percentage, a count of low-income students, English learners and foster youth ⁠¹⁴.

Part-day CSPP is always free. Full-day CSPP uses the same rules as other programs: no fee below 75% of SMI and a cap of 1% of income above it ⁠¹². Families also get 24 months of eligibility as long as the child stays age-eligible ⁠¹¹.

Getting a voucher or center slot in your county, step by step

1. Start with the right office

   If you receive CalWORKs cash aid, ask your county welfare department for Stage One child care ⁠⁵. Otherwise, contact your local Child Care Resource and Referral (R&R) agency (1-800-KIDS-7933). It will list the APPs and subsidized centers near you ⁠⁴.

2. Get on every list that fits

   Apply to your APP for a CAPP voucher and to each CCTR center or State Preschool you would accept, because each keeps its own list ⁠⁴⁠¹.

3. Gather documents

   You will need ID or proof of California residence, your child’s birth certificate, and pay stubs or an employer letter. If you study, bring a class schedule from your school. Also bring proof of all income and of who lives in the household ⁠⁶. Families experiencing homelessness can sign a declaration under penalty of perjury and start care right away, then have 30 days to provide records ⁠⁶.

4. Watch for the Notice of Action

   The agency must mail or deliver a decision within 30 calendar days of the date you signed the application ⁠⁶. If no slot is open, you are ranked on its waiting list ⁠¹.

5. Choose a provider and keep in touch

   Pay any fee in advance as the agency directs. If you have no contact with your provider or agency for 30 consecutive days, you can be disenrolled for abandoning care ⁠²⁠⁶.

6. Appeal a Notice of Action you disagree with

   Parent appeal rights are in 5 CCR §18118 and the sections after it ⁠⁴. For a fee change, you have 14 calendar days from a hand-delivered notice or 19 days from a mailed one, and care continues while the appeal is decided ⁠². Questions about appeals go to [email protected] ⁠⁴.

7. Enroll in TK separately

   Register with your school district for any child who turns 4 by September 1 ⁠¹⁰.

See child care assistance in other states or other help in California.