The Office of Child Care (OCC) is pleased to share a Federal Register notice announcing that a 60-day public comment period is now open for the proposed application for disaster relief funding provided in the American Relief Act, 2025 (ARA). The Federal Register notice and a copy of the draft Program Instruction (PI) that includes the application can be found on the OCC website. This PI is not yet final since the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is required to solicit public comments under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) before publishing the final version.

The ARA provided $250,000,000 in disaster relief funding to OCC to distribute to eligible states, territories, and Tribes. This funding was in response to the consequences of major disasters and emergencies declared pursuant to the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.) that occurred in 2023 and 2024. OCC will request information from eligible Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Lead Agencies interested in receiving these funds. OCC will use the information received to inform decisions about distribution of funds and plans to award these funds by September 30, 2025.
In compliance with the requirements of PRA, ACF seeks public comments on this proposed application until March 18, 2025. In addition to comments on the draft PI, ACF is soliciting public comments on whether OCC should (before receiving Lead Agency applications for funding) establish funding ranges for the size of grants based on certain factors and, if so, what those ranges and factors should be.
In addition to the link above, a copy of the draft PI can be obtained by emailing infocollection@acf.hhs.gov. All requests should be identified by the title of the information collection. Comments are due within 60 days of publication and should be submitted by sending an email to infocollection@acf.hhs.gov.
In Case You Missed It
OCC published several data summaries and reports on our website in recent days, including:
CCDF Administrative Data
These data tables summarize the most recently published administrative data that describes the characteristics of children and families receiving CCDF and the services they receive, as reported by states and territories (on the ACF-800 and ACF-801).
This biennial report to Congress, required by the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act, describes CCDF services.
This annual report describes how CCDF Lead Agencies prioritize services for children from families with very low income, children with special needs, and children experiencing homelessness.
American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act Child Care Stabilization Fact Sheet
This fact sheet provides final data describing the impacts of the ARP Child Care Stabilization funds.
This report describes how CCDF Lead Agencies used the $10 billion in supplemental CCDF funding provided by the CRRSA Act.
American Relief Act (ARA), 2025 CCDF Non-Disaster Supplemental Allocation Tables
These tables list the amount of non-disaster CCDF funding received by each state, territory, and Tribal Lead Agency under the American Relief Act of 2025 (ARA), which included $250 million of CCDF discretionary supplemental funding.
Grant Year (GY) 2023 Pre-Final Allocation Table for States and Territories
This table lists the amount of CCDF funding received by each state and territory in grant year 2023.