Child Care and Development Fund

Increasing availability, affordability and quality

The Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) is the primary source of federal funding for child care subsidies, parent information and child care quality supports. Programs funded by CCDF are administered by states, territories and Tribes. Funding and support comes from the Administration for Children and Families’ Office of Child Care, through the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act. This funding helps states make improvements in their systems to better serve children, parents and child care providers.

See below for an overview of Minnesota's plan, the work that's being done, and information about funding. We continue to welcome input and feedback at dhs.ccdfplan@state.mn.us.

Overview of Minnesota's CCDF Plan

Overview and work being done
Every three years, states must submit an updated Child Care and Development Fund Plan to the federal Office of Child Care. The plan describes how funds are spent by the state and documents their compliance with federal laws.

2025-2027 CCDF Plan

The department has received conditional approval of its 2025-2027 CCDF Plan, effective Oct. 1, 2024 - Sept. 30, 2027. Creation and writing of the plan, including community engagement and public hearings, was done at the Minnesota Department of Human Services. Effective July 1, 2024, responsibility for all plan administration has been transferred to the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families.

25-27 CCDF Plan

Strategies to support Minnesota families and their young children, and help child care programs and their workforce thrive include:
- Continuing to cover the enhanced child care background study fees until further notice.
- Supporting the child care workforce by offering training, coaching, grants and scholarships to pursue degrees and credentials.
- Helping child care programs improve practices through results-based professional development, coaching and consulting services, and achieving higher standards in Parent Aware, Minnesota's Quality Rating Improvement System.
- Providing resources and information to help parents select child care that meets their family's needs.
- Offering early childhood mental health consultation in child care to fund training for consultants and quality coaches, providing mental health consultation to child care providers in Parent Aware-Rated programs, and evaluating the mental health consultation system.
- Addressing shortages in child care in rural Minnesota communities by working with local partners to assess the gaps in child care in their regions.
- Creating a plan to address the child care supply gaps and carrying out a plan to bridge those gaps.
- Supplementing the funding for the 2024 National Survey of Early Child Care and Education to create Minnesota-specific versions of the nationally available reports. As the only study of this magnitude, it allows us to understand how Minnesota is doing in comparison to national trends, but also uses data from the 2012 and 2019 studies, helping understand the changing landscape of child care in Minnesota.
- Providing grants to enable local sites to develop or expand on whole family (child and caregiver) approaches. The focus is on changing policies, practices, programs, initiatives, funding, governance, data and communications, to increase access for children and families in communities with racial, ethnic, economic, health and education disparities.

Serving families and providers

How are funds used?
- Funds are used to help families with low incomes pay for child care, so they can work, look for work or go to school. The CCDF program helps fund child care assistance for about 23,000 children and 11,000 families each month in Minnesota.
- Funds are also used to support the quality and availability of child care. Minnesota annually reports how CCDF quality funds are expended, including activities funded and what actions have been taken to improve the quality of child care.
- For more information on allowable uses of quality funds, see chapter 7 of the 2025-2027 CCDF Plan, linked at the top of this page.
The annual Quality Progress Report shows the expenditures made for the last federal fiscal year. Follow the steps below to view expenditure reports for the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP):
- Go to the heading Minnesota Family Self-Sufficiency and Health Program Statistics
- Click on Statewide statistics (PDF)
  - The "Minnesota Family Self-Sufficiency and Health Care Program Statistics” report is updated and posted monthly; the direct link changes with each version.
  - This report provides child care historical monthly children and case counts for the past several years and most recent 13 months. It also shows projected state fiscal year expenditures for the next three years based on Minnesota’s most current forecast.
  - This page provides expenditure information for CCAP: Child Care Assistance Program/Total of MFIP/Transition Year/Extension and Basic Sliding Fee.

Funding sources

Funding and support
- The federal government provided Minnesota $172,454,729 in CCDF funds for federal fiscal year 2024.
- States are required to contribute matching and other funds to maximize their federal allocation. State funding along with prior year CCDF funds support child care services.
- States are also required to spend at least 9% of their funds on activities to improve the quality and availability of child care and 3% of the funds must be set aside to improve the quality of care specifically for infants and toddlers. In state fiscal year 2024, Minnesota spent $31,916,934 to improve the quality and availability of child care.
- States must spend at least 70% of the Child Care and Development Fund mandatory and matching funds on families receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families benefits, transitioning from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families or at risk of becoming eligible for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.
- The state spent $283,939,391, including $49,658,000 transferred from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, in Child Care and Development Fund dollars on the Child Care Assistance Program in state fiscal year 2024. NOTE: As of July 1, 2024, the Child Care Services Division has transitioned to the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families.