The purpose of military child care is to support the mission of the DoD by serving DoD-affiliated families so that they may fulfill their military or DoD-related duties. Per DoDI 6060.02, military child care programs must serve the highest priority DoD families first to ensure the most mission-critical families receive access to military child care. DoD has assigned priorities to each military family type (defined below) to ensure that programs meet this requirement.
Military family type is the eligibility categorization for military child care that is comprised of the following elements:
- Sponsor type (e.g., Active Duty Military, DoD Civilian, etc.), and
- Spouse status (e.g., working spouse, student spouse, spouse seeking employment, non-working spouse), if applicable.
Families select their sponsor type and spouse status when they create an MCC household profile and update it, as needed, when there are changes to their sponsor type, marital status, or spouse status. MCC uses this information to create a military family type for the household that automatically ties to the appropriate DoD-assigned priority.
For a complete list of all priorities, refer to the see the Military Family Type tip sheet.
WAITLIST SEQUENCE
To help programs meet the DoD requirement to serve the most mission-critical families first, MCC generates an automated waitlist sequence for each request for care submitted. MCC uses the following aspects of a request to calculate waitlist sequence:
- DoD Priority Assigned to the Family’s Military Family Type
- RFC Date: The date the family placed their child on a program’s waitlist (i.e., the date a family submitted a request for care).
With few exceptions, program users must make offers for care in order of waitlist sequence. During the offer process, once you describe your program’s available space in MCC, the system generates a Make Offer/Request Interview screen that displays all requests that qualify for the space in order by waitlist sequence.
Since MCC uses military family type in its sequence calculation, a change in military family type could affect a request’s waitlist sequence.
NOTE: Since military family type is tied to DoD-determined priority for care, program users must verify a family’s sponsor type and spouse status before they may enroll a child in a military child care program to ensure the family has been prioritized correctly and offered care in the correct waitlist sequence. If the program user finds that the family’s sponsor type and/or spouse status was incorrect, and it affects the request’s waitlist sequence once the program corrects it in MCC (i.e., the family’s request is no longer first in sequence), the program user must withdraw the offer and offer care to the next request in sequence on the waitlist. See Manage Enrollment for instructions on what actions to take in MCC if the family’s military family type is incorrect.
SPACE AVAILABLE
Although eligible for military child care, families with DoD contractors, Other Federal Employees, or Military Retirees (including retired Wounded Warriors) as sponsor types, as well as any military family type with a non-working spouse may only access military child care on a space available basis, after all families with higher priority on the waitlist have been served.
WAITLIST EXCEPTIONS
MCC accommodates waitlist exceptions including (a) priority exceptions that modify waitlist sequencing; (b) family type exceptions that grant eligibility to otherwise ineligible families; and (c) locally managed exceptions that allow installations to authorize out of sequence offers based on local priorities.
To add a waitlist exception to MCC, a memorandum of understanding (MOU) or memorandum of agreement (MOA) must be submitted by the Service Representative. At a minimum, the MOU/MOA must contain the following:
- Installation(s) where the waitlist exception exists
- Description of family type and/or affiliation for which the exception exists
- Priority to which the family should be assigned, including spouse status (e.g., working spouse, spouse seeking employment, student spouse, spouse not working), if applicable to exception
- Relevant program type(s) (e.g., CDC, FCC, SAC)
- Expiration of MOA/MOU
Service Representatives should contact the Program Support Desk to request the creation of a waitlist exception in MCC and provide Support Desk staff with a copy of the MOU or MOA.
SUPPLANTING POLICY
Priorities are used for more than just placement from the waitlist; they also inform which families can be supplanted. To improve military members’ access to child care, the Office of the Secretary of Defense directed changes to policy that include supplanting lower priority patrons when necessary. Under the new policy, lower priority families enrolled at a facility-based program may receive written notification that their child will be disenrolled in 45 days to accommodate a higher priority family. If supplanted, families can reapply for care.
What family types can and cannot be supplanted?
Family types that cannot be supplanted include:
- Child Development Program Direct Care Staff
- Active Duty Combat-Related Wounded Warriors
- Single/Dual Active Duty Military/Coast Guard
- Single/Dual Guard/Reserve on Active Duty or Inactive Duty Training Status
- Active Duty Military/Coast Guard with Full-Time Working Spouse
- Guard/Reserve on Active Duty or Inactive Duty Training Status with Full-Time Working Spouse
Family types that may be supplanted include:
- Active Duty Military/Active Duty Coast Guard with a part-time working spouse, a spouse seeking employment, a student spouse, or a non-working spouse
- Guard/Reserve on Active Duty or Inactive Duty Training Status with a part-time working spouse, a spouse seeking employment, a student spouse, or a non-working spouse
- DoD/Coast Guard Civilians
- DoD Contractors
- Other eligible patrons (Deactivated Guard/Reserve Personnel, Other Federal Employees, and Military Retirees)
For more details about supplanting, review the Military Family Types and DoD Priority – Supplanting Matrix handout.
