Overview of Placement Activities

This topic highlights some of the tools you can use during the placement process, including

• Icons: to help you quickly identify important information about a request including:
  • Combat-Related Wounded Warrior icons: to identify the status of CRWW requests (e.g., if Installation Commander approval is needed)
  • IAT icon: to determine if any action is needed to support the child’s placement
• Comments: to learn more about a child or to add comments, as needed, based on actions you have taken
• Children on the Cusp: to ensure children within 30 days of the next age group or age range can be placed directly into the older age group if they are first in sequence for that age group, rather than placing them into the younger age group and transitioning them soon after enrollment
• Duplicate households: to understand what action to take if you think you have identified a duplicate household

ICONS

Requests may contain one or more icons (e.g., IAT, Comments) to help you quickly identify important information related to a request. You will see an onscreen legend that provides information on what each icon means. The chart below summarizes additional information for each icon visible on one of the placement activity pages (e.g., Make Offer, Manage Placement List, or View Waitlist).

COMBAT-RELATED WOUNDED WARRIOR APPROVAL

To qualify as an Active Duty Combat-Related Wounded Warrior (CRWW), the sponsor must be in active duty status and require hospitalization, extensive rehabilitation, or significant care from a spouse or care provider and require full-time child care. Prior to receiving an offer for care, (a) the sponsor must confirm on their household profile that they meet the definition, (b) an authorized program user at the installation must obtain approval from the Installation Commander to prioritize the family as an Active Duty Combat-Related Wounded Warrior, and (c) an authorized program user must update MCC to document they have received Installation Commander approval. Review Combat-Related Wounded Warrior Eligibility and Approval Process to learn how a sponsor identifies themselves as a CRWW and about the process to review and update the sponsor’s status in MCC.

IAT

The purpose of the IAT is to help CYP staff accommodate the special needs of children and to assist programs in securing the necessary support and resources to make appropriate accommodations for their care. When families create a household profile, they are required to answer the question:

• Is there any information that we need to know to support your child’s participation in the program (for example, medical, learning or behavioral needs)?

If a family provides information in response to the question, the IAT icon will display next to the child’s name on the waitlist. This icon does not necessarily mean that an IAT is required. Review your waitlist on a regular basis to monitor requests with an IAT icon and determine what, if any, additional action is needed based on your Service’s guidance.

If you collect additional information from the family, you can add your comments as an IAT note. Notes added by you and other program users are not shared with parents, but are available for other program users with requests for the same child. For step-by-step instructions on how to view and add IAT notes, review View and Add Comments or IAT Notes.

COMMENTS

The Comments section contains comments made by the family when a request is submitted. You can add comments and choose to share (or not share) these comments with other programs that have a request from the same family. You are encouraged to add comments to (a) track communication with families, such as attempts to contact the family and the outcome of each attempt (e.g., left message, etc.), (b) document when action is taken on their behalf (e.g., accept or decline an offer, cancel a request), and (c) share information that is relevant and helpful to other programs when making offers and/or understanding more about the child, the family, or the family’s child care needs.

While you can view the comments made by families and by other program users, families cannot view these comments. For step-by-step instructions on how to view and add comments, review View and Add Comments or IAT Notes.

CHILDREN ON THE CUSP

The Make Offer List includes children on the cusp (i.e., within 30 days) of the age group or age range of the described space as of the date care is available. These same children display on the Make Offer List for their current age group as well. For example:

• When space is described for toddlers, which is defined as children from 24-35 months, children approximately 23 months but not yet 24 months of age will be included and flagged as on the cusp. These same children (23 months old) will also be included when describing a space for pretoddlers (18-24 months).
• When space is described for the custom age of 18-24 months, children approximately 17 months but not yet 18 months will be included and flagged as on the cusp. These same children (17 months old) will also be included when describing a space for 12-18 month olds.

This allows program users to place a child on the cusp directly into the older age group if they are first in sequence for that age group, rather than placing them into the younger age group and transitioning them soon after enrollment.

Any child on the cusp will be flagged using a star in the Age Group at DCA column. 

Program users must always make offers to the first child in sequence for the identified space, regardless of whether that child is on the cusp. Out of sequence offers are not authorized for children on the cusp. Therefore, the person making the offer must follow these business rules:

• If the child sequenced first for a younger age group is a child on the cusp, you must make an offer to that child.
• If the child sequenced first for an older age group is a child on the cusp, you must make an offer to that child.
• If a child on the cusp is sequenced first for BOTH the younger and older age groups, you should work with the family to determine which placement is best. Note: You will not know if the child is sequenced first on both lists unless you generate the Make Offer list for both age groups, which you only need to do if you have a space available for both. Once you make an offer for the preferred placement, the child will no longer appear on the Make Offer list for the other age group.

If you make an offer to a child on the cusp and the family does not think it’s a good fit for their child, the family can defer the offer. See Help Families Respond to an Offer for details on deferring an offer.

If, during enrollment, you learn that the child is not developmentally ready for the older space, you should follow your existing internal procedures to determine how best to support the child (e.g., engage the inclusion action team).

DUPLICATE MANAGEMENT

MCC prevents a family from creating a duplicate request; however, you may see duplicate households in the system that look like duplicate requests on your Waitlist or Make Offer screen. For instance, if you see a child with the same or similar name, the same date of birth, and two or more requests for the same program and care option, this may be due to a duplicate household (e.g., the same request was placed in each household).

You can help minimize duplication of data and keep the system up-to-date by notifying the MCC Support Desk of potential duplicates as they are identified. Duplicate management is a complex process that may involve transferring requests from one household to another, backdating requests, updating contact information, or making other updates to the household profile and account on behalf of the family. The Support Desk is responsible for investigating all potential duplicates, contacting families when needed to confirm household and request details, and removing duplicate household profiles from the system. When sharing a potential duplicate household with the Support Desk, provide the sponsor’s first and last name and the primary email associated with each household.