Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP)

The Illinois Department of Human Services' CCAP program serves children age 12 and under as well as children ages 13–19 who are physically and/or mentally incapable of self-care or under court supervision.

Source of definition: Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS)

Latest data: FY2024 (July 1, 2023–June 30, 2024) 

CCAP data are only available in Excel spreadsheets provided below, not through a search on the IECAM database. The spreadsheets have separate tabs for each of the available geographies.

Geographic regions: These data are available by state, county, Birth to Five Illinois region, school district, Chicago community area, municipality, township, state House district, state Senate district, and congressional district.

Number of children receiving assistance by family location and provider location

IECAM reports data on the number of children whose families received assistance from IDHS for their child care in two ways: by location of the family’s home and the location of the child care center or home where the child received service.

The numbers of children are reported in the following age groups:

• Age 1 and under
• Age 2
• Ages 3 and 4
• Age 5
• Ages 5 and under

These data report the number of children who received services at any time during October. A child is determined to have received services in October if a payment was made to the child care center or home within three months.

Some child care centers or homes that served children who were living in Illinois are reported as being outside Illinois. This may be for one of the following reasons:

1. Children and families may receive assistance for services from centers or homes outside Illinois. These are typically in communities just outside Illinois. For example, a child living in Rock Island may receive child care services in Davenport, Iowa.
2. Children and families who were living in Illinois and received services within Illinois, but they moved out of state before receiving their final communication from IDHS.
3. The child care center may be in Illinois, but the address reported for the center is that of an administrative office in another state.

These children are counted in the state total for Illinois but are not reported in any of the geographic regions (e.g., county). Therefore, the sum of the number of children served in all instances of a region (e.g., all counties) does not add up to the total number of children served statewide.

For privacy reasons, CCAP data on the number of children who received services are not reported for areas in which more than 0 and fewer than 10 children received services.

Number of centers and homes receiving payment

The number of centers and homes that received payment from IDHS for providing child care, according to the location of the child care center or home at which the service was provided to the child.

Data are reported for four center/home types:

1. Licensed child care centers
2. License-exempt child care centers
3. Licensed family child care homes
4. License-exempt family child care providers