Tier Status Determination

My Food Program stores the dates of a tier status determination for family child care homes in order to generate an accurate claim.

Family child care homes without a tier status determination or with an expired Tier I determination will be treated as Tier II. 

If providers with a Tier I Determination by Census or School District are eligible to claim their own children, they need to have a household income form added in addition to the tier status determination.

To add a tier determination:

• Login as a Sponsor Admin User
• Click on the green tab for Sites
• Select the Site to go to the main site dashboard
• Click on "Site Details" on the main dashboard

• Scroll to the "Tier Status" section
• Click on the blue "Add Tier Status" button
• Enter the fields:
• Tier Status (required)
• Tier I Reason (required if Tier I is selected)
• If a provider qualifies by census information, we have added a place to record the percentage of households that qualify for free or reduced-price meals in addition the existing field for Census Block Group or Census Tract
• If a provider qualifies by school district, we have added a place to record the school name, school ZIP code and percentage of households that qualify for free or reduced-price meals in addition to the existing field for School District
• If the provider qualifies based on their participation in a public benefits program, we have added a location for you to track their Case Number.
• If the provider qualifies because a participant is from a household with a case number. If you select this reason, you will be required to enter a case number.
• Census Block, Tract or School District Name (optional)
• Effective Date (required)
• Expiration Date (Required)
• Click "Save"

• In the instance in which a provider is in a Tier I area (Census or School District) and is also authorized to claim their own children because they have completed an income form, you will want to add the income form to the providers' household and select the reason 
• "Provider’s own child allowed to claim because of income verification" or
• Provider’s own child allowed to claim because of Case Number

• In the instance in which a provider is in a Tier II area (Census or School District) and completes an income form to claim their own children, you do not need to add the income form to the provider's household.

We have included the Income Eligibility Calculator on this screen. This will be helpful for sponsors that are qualifying a provider for Tier I rates based on their own household income. When using the calculator, you will need to enter the effective date of the tier determination prior to using the calculator so that it knows which income eligibility rates to use.