1. Eligibility Recruitment Selection Enrollment Attendance
ERSEA Training
Eligibility
Recruitment
Selection
Enrollment
Attendance
This will be one of the shorter ERSEA trainings I have ever done due to how well staff have done over the past year with ERSEA. There will be a lot of information, but I won’t be spending a lot of time discussing specific details.
If you have questions at any time, go ahead and ask. But I have provided Post-It notes at each table for you so that if you don’t feel comfortable asking the question out loud, you can write it down and then post it on the wall and I will gather them during the break.
Each of you have a packet of handouts. On the very top is a copy of our new application that will be used for I will not have a slide today that will cover questions on the application so I put a copy in your packet so you will have a chance to look over it and ask any questions that you have. It has not changed this year.

2. Eligibility
The only two requirements that must be met for a child to be eligible for Head Start is age and income.
A parent must produce an immunization record or exemption because of state requirements
You cannot require anything additional before enrolling the child or to keep the child enrolled.

3. Age
To be age eligible for Head Start, a child must be 3 or 4 years of age by October 1.
If a child will turn 3 after school begins but on or before October 1, he is also age eligible and may be enrolled and begin in August even though he will only be 2 years old at that time.

4. Age
If a child turns 3 after the October 1 deadline, he can still be age eligible for Head Start in the following two ways:
If the child has a disability, he can be enrolled on or after his 3rd birthday.
If the program does not have other children available to enroll, a child without a disability can be enrolled after his 3rd birthday. (Permission from Grantee Office must be granted)
It is often times better to enroll an overincome child instead of a PIR age 2 year old.
Even if a child has a disability, that does not necessarily mean he will be enrolled. An example would be if a child had a disability but the family was overincome. In this situation, if the program was already serving at least 10% disability children, then this child would be behind income eligible children on the waiting list.
Remember, a disability does not guarantee enrollment in Head Start.

5. Verifying Age What can be used to verify the age of a child?
Birth Certificate
TANF List
Hospital Certificate
Letter from:
Community Based Services
Health Department
Immunization Certificate
Possibly Others
Which ever item you use to verify birth should be kept in the child’s folder with the exception of the TANF List. The Immunization Certificate is kept in the Health portion of the child’s folder so there is no need to also put it in the Enrollment part.

6. Income
90% of the children that are enrolled in a program must have a total family income that is below the national poverty guideline.
Only 10% of the children enrolled can have family incomes above the poverty guideline.
We cannot cross the 10% overincome line at any time, for any reason.
What this slide does not show is that a child’s family income could be up to 30% above the poverty guideline and still be viewed as income eligible and would not count in your “Overincome” count. I didn’t put that on the slide because it would be confusing to anyone trying to read and understand what I meant.

7. Family Income
Income means the total cash receipts before taxes from all sources from the Primary & Secondary Caregivers of the child’s family.
You would not count the income from any other family member other than the PC & SC
If the child has a sibling living in the house and working at McDonalds, that income would not count.

8. Family Income Income includes: Employment wages Cash earnings
Unemployment checks
Alimony payments
Child Support
Military pay
Income from rental property
Social Security payments

9. Family Income Income DOES NOT Include: Food Stamps Tax refunds
Compensation for injury
Sale of property
Gifts
Webster’s defines a gift as “something transferred from one person to another without compensation”.
What is the definition of a “gift”?

10. Family Income
What documentation can be used to determine the income of a family member?
Individual tax forms such as a 1040
W-2 forms
Pay stubs
Documentation from the court system (alimony, child support, etc.)
Proof of public assistance (TANF, SSI)
Letter from employer
If using a tax form, remember that you must take the “Gross” amount. So for instance, if the parent brought in their 1040 tax form, you would not use the AGI which is the Adjusted Gross Income.
If the parent uses pay stubs for income verification, they must be for a consecutive month no earlier than the preceding month of the interview. It should not be check stubs older than the preceding month.
The last resort for income documentation is a signed statement from the parent.

11. Family Income
What documentation can be used to determine the income of a family member?
It is not acceptable to use a letter or statement from another agency, such as Community Based Services, to verify income.
We have this rule because their view of what is and isn’t income may be different than ours

12. Correctly using the “0” income form
When a parent is determined to have “0” income for the previous month and the 0 income form is used, any amount listed on the form should not count as income on the Eligibility Verification form or on COPA.

13. Family Income
Do you know how to determine who would be listed in a child’s family and whose income should be counted?
If the staff person does not know how this is determined, they should not be doing the application.
This is one of the most confusing things that we deal with in Head Start.

14. Eligibility
One of the most important things that the interviewer (staff) must know is the Head Start definition of family:
Family means all persons living in the same household who are supported by the income of the parent(s) or guardian(s) of the child enrolling or participating in the program, and related to the parent(s) or guardian(s) by blood, marriage or adoption.

15. Eligibility Scenarios
The following are some examples of possible scenarios an interviewer may be faced with when trying to determine family income:

16. Eligibility Scenarios
John & Cathy come to fill out an application for their son Nate. They tell the interviewer that they have an older son that is married and does not live with them. How many would be in the family?
3 - The older son would not count because he is not living in the household.

17. Eligibility Scenarios
A mother comes to fill out an application for her son Donnie. She says that her and her husband recently divorced and they decided to split up their twin boys, Donnie and Ronnie. Ronnie now lives with her husband in an apartment just across the road from her house. How many should count in Donnie’s family?
2 – The mother and Donnie

18. Eligibility Scenarios
A married couple comes to fill out an application for their son. The father states that he worked as a coal miner until 2 months ago when he was fired for stealing. He says that he is currently drawing unemployment wages. The mother states that she works at the airport. Obviously, the mother’s income should be counted. But what should the interviewer use to verify the father’s income and how should it be calculated?
Only the unemployment proof for 1 month. It should be multiplied by the number of pay periods for one year. (i.e. Pay stub for 2 week period would be multiplied by 26)

19. Eligibility Scenarios
Betty comes to fill out an application for her daughter Linda. She says that she is divorced from Linda’s father and got married again last month to a doctor in Hazard. She also has another child that she adopted two years ago. How many are in the family?
4 – Betty, Linda, the other child and the new husband
Should the interviewer calculate only a month of the husband’s income or the previous 12 months?
The previous 12 months

20. Eligibility Scenarios
Kellie arrives at the center and wants to fill out an application for her two nephews. She provides documentation showing that she is the Foster Parent for both boys. She says she works part time but does not have any check stubs with her. How many would be in the family? Should the interviewer ask Kellie to bring her check stubs back at another time or should she just write down the amount Kellie tells her?
Both children would be families of “1”. Since the children are in Foster Care, no other income verification is needed.

21. Eligibility Scenarios
Tina and Rocky live together but are not married. They have one child together, Pete. But Rocky also has two other children that live with them that are from his first marriage. Tina comes to fill out an application for their son Pete. How many are in the family?
What if Rocky was filling out an application for one of his other children. How many would be in the family? 4
5 – Even though Tina and Rocky are not married, he is still Pete’s biological parent. This means that his other kids would also count in the family.

22. Eligibility Scenarios
A foster parent named Wanda and her 17 year old foster child, Annie, arrive at the center. The foster parent says that they have come to fill out an application for Annie’s child. Wanda states that Annie and her child live with her (Wanda) and Annie does not work. Whose income should be counted and how many are in the family?
Ask the questions:
Who should be filling out the paperwork for this child? Annie
Could Wanda have come alone to fill out the application for this child? No
2 – Annie and the child. Since Annie does not work, her income would be “0”.

23. Eligibility Scenarios
A father comes to fill out an application for his son. When asked about his income, he tells the interviewer that he has been working at Wal-Mart for the past 3 months. He also says that he worked at Arby’s for the previous 5 years before taking the job at Wal-Mart. How should his income be calculated?
It can either be last year’s tax forms or the interviewer can take his Wal-Mart income for 1 month and multiply by 12.

24. Eligibility Scenarios
Jill comes to fill out an application for her daughter. She tells the interviewer that she doesn’t work and that her mother pays all of her bills including the rent for her apartment which totals $1,200 per month. Should Jill be asked to fill out a “0” income form? Should the family income be $1,200 or should it be $0.00?
Yes, the parent would need to fill out the “0” income form. According to the scenario, she does not have any income because the money she receives is a “gift”.

25. Handout the sheet “Family: Who Gets Counted?”

26. Child Income
For our purposes, a child only has income in one particular situation. What is it? The only time a child will have income is when he is in Foster or Kinship Care. In this situation, the interviewer does not need to see any other income from the family other than the amount received for this child.

27. This procedure no longer applies
Child Income
For our purposes, a child only has income in one particular situation. What is it? If the parent or guardian tells the interviewer that the child is a Kinship Care child but she doesn’t receive money for him, then he cannot be considered a Foster Child and is not automatically eligible.
This procedure no longer applies
We have always used the procedure of only considering a child as Kinship if the family is actually receiving money for that child. But that has now changed because Kinship Care, as we have known it, has been done away with.

28. Child Income
For our purposes, a child only has income in one particular situation. What is it?
We will now consider a child as Kinship/Foster as long as the guardian can produce a statement from an agency showing this to be true, even if he/she does not receive money.
Here is an example of what the statement may look like:
We will now consider a child as Foster as long as the guardian can produce a statement showing this to be true.

30. This is just an example of what one might look like if they receive money.
If the parent does receive money for the child through Foster care, you should still put it on COPA. The EV form should match COPA.

31. Determining Homelessness

32. Determining Homelessness
The McKinney-Vento defintion is what programs must use to deterimine homelessness.

33. McKinney – Vento Definition of Homeless
The clarified definition of who is considered homeless is addressed. Section 725 (2) and (6) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Assistance Act state:
The term “homeless children and youths’-
Means individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence…: and
(B) Includes-
children and youths who are sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason; are living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative adequate accommodations; are living in emergency or transitional shelters; are abandoned in hospitals; or are awaiting foster care placement;
children and youths who have a primary night-time residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings…
children and youths who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings; and
migratory children who qualify as homeless for the purposes of this subtitle because the children are living in circumstances described in clauses (i) through (iii).
Ask them how many received a copy of the McKinney-Vento Act. How many still have that copy in their classroom.
There is a copy in your packet
When a family is homeless at enrollment, we need to know which ones found a home while their child was enrolled. So, when a family goes from being “Homeless” to not being homeless, you will need to do the following:
On COPA, go to the Family Data Sheet.
Change the “Current Housing” to Rent, Own, or Other (whatever the case is) and then list the “Current Housing Date”. Keep in mind that the Current Housing Date must be within the school year to show that they did get housing after the child was enrolled and before they left our program.
Then, change the “Previous Housing” to Homeless.
If you do those two things, COPA will give the correct information on report 999 (PIR) and we will know which homeless families got help during the year. Please make those changes for this year.

34. Indentifying Homeless Families

35. Scenarios
A mother and her daughter are living in a hotel while their house is being built. The mother tells the interviewer that they sold their trailer and decided to stay in the hotel for the next 6 months until the house is finished. The manager of the hotel is a friend of the family and is giving them a discount on the room. Is the family homeless?
No. The family is staying in the hotel by choice and has not been forced there due to economic hardship.

36. Scenarios
A father and mother come in July to fill out an application for their son. During the interview, the father mentions that he hopes the weather cools down soon because their air conditioner stopped working and their trailer gets very hot. He states that it gets so hot that they have to leave the windows open all night just to be able to sleep. Does this make the family homeless?
No. Though the air conditioner would definitely make life easier for the family, the fact that they do not have one would not make them homeless.

37. Scenarios
A mother and her child are living with her parents. She tells the interviewer that she and her son lived in an apartment until three months ago when the rent became too expensive. So at that time, they moved back in with her parents and plan on moving into a low income apartment when one becomes available. Is this family homeless?
Maybe. It could be looked at as a “homeless” family because economic hardship forced the family to move in with relatives. But the family has been there for three months and if the interviewer feels that it is a stable situation, this may not be a homeless family.

38. Scenarios
A husband, wife, and their two children are staying in a camper at a local camp ground. Are they homeless?
They also tell the interviewer that they have a home in South Carolina but they stay in Kentucky during the week so the husband can work at a nearby construction job. The couple tells the interviewer that they cannot stand to be apart all week so the whole family travels with the father when he works construction jobs away from home. Now are they homeless?
No. The family has a home and is making a choice to stay in the camper as a convenience.

39. Scenarios
A mother tells the interviewer that she and her daughter were living alone in a house. But last month, her brother lost his job and so his family of 4 (2 adults, 2 kids) were forced to leave their apartment and the mother allowed them to move in with her and her daughter. Does this make the mother and daughter a homeless family?
No. The mother has legal rights to the house she is living in and economic hardship has not forced her to seek other living arrangements. Though the living arrangement has changed and possibly became uncomfortable, it happened by the mother’s choice and she could evict her brother’s family at any time.

40. Scenarios
During the recent ice storm, a tree fell on a family’s home and damaged the roof. The father tells the interviewer that the damage is significant and the family is staying with relatives until the roof can be fixed. When asked by the interviewer about whether the roof is leaking, he said it is not leaking but his wife was so scared after what happened that she refuses to let the family return to the house until several other nearby trees are cut down to make sure this never happens again. Is this family homeless?
No. The house is still there and in livable condition. The reason they are staying with relatives is by choice.

41. Alternative recruiting methods
Recruitment
Recruitment happens all year long. How do you find your kids?
Group Activity:
Alternative recruiting methods
If there is one message that you take away from this training today, I want it to be the seriousness of effective recruiting. Some of you have the luxury of just opening the doors and there will be enough parents show up wanting to fill out applications for their children. But for most of you, it takes much more effort.
Have them get in groups at their tables and come up with strategies on how they could do effective recruiting that does not include ads on tv, radio, or newspapers.

42. Selection
Though only a few people in our program actually make a decision on enrolling children, it is important for all of us to know what determines whether a child should be enrolled.
Let’s look at a waiting list and decide which children should be enrolled based on different scenarios.
Have them stay in groups for the next activity.

43. Put people in groups. Tell them that they have 3 waiting list handouts in their packet and a page with 3 scenarios. Read all 3 scenarios and as a group, decide which children should be enrolled.

49. Enrollment
Full enrollment must be maintained at all times. However, full classrooms do not.
Head Start does not enroll children on a first come, first serve basis.
Once you’re in, you’re in.
Just because you may lose a child from your classroom does not mean that there is an opening in that classroom. The slot may be filled in another classroom.
Once you're out, you’re out.

50. Additional Questions
How long can a child remain on the waiting list without needing reverification?
12 months
note: When considering a child for enrollment or reenrollment, if it has been more than 12 months since income was verified, a new application and eligibility verification form must be completed.

51. Additional Questions
Where should the original child enrollment applications be kept?
In the office Enrollment Folder
note: The classroom folder should contain either a copy of the enrollment application or a printed COPA application.

52. Additional Questions
When a child is eligible for their 3rd year of Head Start, should a new application be completed?
Yes. A 3rd year child must have a new application and Eligibility Verification form completed. Income must be reverified.

53. Additional Questions
Should you print the COPA “points page” and put it in the child’s folder for a returning child?
No. The points page should only be printed and put in the child’s folder when the child is enrolled.
note: A new points page should be placed in the folder each time the child enrolls. For instance, if he withdraws and reenrolls, a new points page would be added to his folder. If a child is enrolled at the end of a school year and returns for the second year, you do not print another points page.

54. Additional Questions
If a mother tells the interviewer that she is separated from her husband, do we need to see court papers showing legal separation before excluding his income from the family?
No. We accept the current situation and if the parent says the father is not in the home, the interviewer will accept that as the truth.
If questioned, give the example of a mother going to a Domestic Abuse shelter only 2 days ago. Would we still need the father’s income????? No.

55. Additional Questions
If a family receives certain public assistance, their age eligible child is automatically income eligible for Head Start. Name the public assistance programs.
TANF (K-Tap) or SSI

56. Additional Questions
If during the application process, a child is determined to be “homeless”, does the parent still need to produce income verification?
No.