Scholar Fund is collecting the information we need to assess your eligibility for both the Best Starts for Kids Child Care Subsidy and the State’s Working Connections Child Care (WCCC) program.

If you are eligible for WCCC, you cannot receive the Best Starts Subsidy.  We understand that some of this information is sensitive and where possible, have made these questions optional.  We identify questions where your information will never be shared with King County or other government agencies connected to your name.

Best Starts is committed to expanding access for families who have experienced disproportionate barriers in accessing child care. Some of the questions we ask help us better understand who we are serving with the child care subsidy.For more information about our privacy policy, see: Privacy Policy (scholarfundwa.org)

There is no activity requirement for Best Starts for Kids Child Care Subsidy.  We ask about your activities to assess your family’s eligibility for Working Connections.  If your family is eligible for Working Connections, you must use that subsidy.

No. There is no citizenship or legal residency requirement to apply.
The following families, who meet all other eligibility requirements, are encouraged to apply:

• Families with one or more undocumented members
• Refugees
• Asylum seekers
• COFA migrants
• DACA recipients

Yes. Eligible applicants without permanent housing are encouraged to apply. We will offer other ways to verify that your family lives in King County.

Yes. Because those who receive SSI or SSDI are not eligible for Washington State Working Connections Child Care Subsidy (WCCC), you are eligible for the Best Starts Child Care Subsidy, provided your household meets all other eligibility requirements.

• If you are eligible for or receiving the State’s Working Connections Child Care subsidy, you are not eligible to receive the Best Starts subsidy.
• For all other child care funding sources (for example Goodwin Connections, a scholarship from a child care provider etc.), if you are selected for Best Starts for Kids, we will pay the child care provider what we determine to be your rate and the other funding source may pay the balance owed to the provider, if there is any.

Being on the waitlist means that you have submitted your eligibility form for the Best Starts for Kids Child Care Subsidy program, but due to high demand and limited availability, we cannot immediately offer you funding. We will notify you when funding may be available.

The wait time will vary. We will notify you when funding may be available for your family.

Yes, if you need to update or correct an error on your eligibility form, please reach out to our Family Access and Support team by call or text at (206) 208-6865 or an email at support@bskchildcare.org

We will notify you via email and text message when funding may be available for your child. At that time, you will be invited to submit the full application, requiring verification of your residency and income.  Please ensure that your contact information is up-to-date and check your notifications regularly for updates from our team.

Yes, we encourage you to explore other child care assistance programs that may be available to your family. Being on the waitlist for our program does not affect your eligibility for other programs.

While we cannot guarantee a specific timeline for getting off the waitlist, you can ensure that your eligibility form and contact information are complete, accurate, and up-to-date. This will help our team contact you as efficiently as possible when funding may be available.

For the purposes of this program, your “household” includes the following people:

• Yourself
• Children under the age of 18 that live with you (regardless of child care need)
• 18 year old children who live with you and are still in high school; and
• Up to one other adult who lives with you and fits one of the following descriptions: a) your spouse, b) your domestic partner, or c) your significant other with whom you have a child.

For the purposes of this program, the following people are not counted in your household size:

• Boyfriend, girlfriend or significant other with whom you do NOT have a child
• Grandparents or other adult family members who live with you
• Children 18 and older who are no longer in high school
• Your children’s biological parent, if that parent does not live with you.
• Adult dependents
• Roommates

Each parent/guardian should submit a separate application for their family.

Your gross monthly income includes all income, before any deductions or expenses, earned by yourself and up to one other adult who lives with you and fits one of the following descriptions- your spouse, your domestic partner, or your significant other with whom you have a child.  Please also include any income from disability, unemployment insurance, child support, alimony etc.

Because this is a new program, we do not yet know how many families will apply.  Submitting an eligibility form will NOT guarantee you receive child care funding.  There may be more families interested than we have funding to serve.  We will contact you by text and email if you are selected to complete a full application by the end of September 2022.
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The selection process is NOT first-come, first-served. We will be using a lottery system to make selections by the end of September. Eligible applicants not selected in the first round will remain in the selection pool, and as spots become available, will have regular opportunities for selection.

Those families selected in the first round will likely receive a subsidy that can start November 1st.  We will not pay for child care used before the subsidy starts.  If you use care before November 1st, you will be responsible for paying for it.

A selected family’s subsidy rate will be calculated by a number of factors, including age of each child needing care, family income and household size.  The amount per child will be shared with the family after they have been selected to fully enroll in the program.

Scholar Fund will pay the determined amount directly to the child care provider on a monthly basis.  Any part of the bill not covered by the Best Starts Subsidy will be the responsibility of the family.

Eligible applicants who are not invited to complete an application for the subsidy will automatically remain in our selection pool.  We anticipate spots opening up over time so it will be possible to be selected months after filling out the eligibility form. If you are not selected, we will send you a list of other resources that may be able to support you with the cost of child care.

Text or call us at 206-208-6865 and someone can help you fill out the application over the phone.

If your household submits multiple eligibility forms by mistake, Scholar Fund (Scholarship Junkies) will be able to identify that multiple applications from the same household were submitted. You will not be disqualified.

The non-profit organization Scholar Fund is responsible for collecting the information you voluntarily submit on the online application for the Best Starts for Kids Child Care Subsidy. Scholar Fund has instituted appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure your information. Scholar Fund does not voluntarily share your personal data without your permission and except as outlined in its Privacy Policy. This includes your personal data being shared with the King County Department of Community and Human Services for audit purposes.
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You can access Scholar Funds Privacy Policy here (English only).

Scholar Fund deploys appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the personal information you provide, including to help prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy, and ensure the correct use of personal information. Further, Scholar Fund does not share personal information with third parties except in limited circumstances as outlined in the Scholar Fund Privacy Policy.

When appropriate, Scholar Fund only shares aggregate and anonymized information with third parties so as not to include personally identifying information. For example, Scholar Fund will submit periodic reports to the Best Starts for Kids Child Care Subsidy Program, but such reports will only include your data at an aggregate-level in de-identified format, including ZIP code of residence, service outcomes, and demographic information.

Personal information will only be retained for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, there is an ongoing legitimate purpose to retain the data (such as contractual obligations or identity verification), or to comply with legal or auditing requirements.

In order to reduce fraud and avoid duplicates, Scholar Fund has developed several mechanisms to screen and check applicants to spot discrepancies, which includes a thorough application review process, spam filters, and address verification. Scholar Fund personnel may also contact applicants via phone or text if application issues are detected.