Who is eligible?
Early Head Start is for pregnant mothers and children ages birth to 3. Families must meet federal ACF income guidelines. Ten percent (10%) over-income families may be accepted according to selection criteria outlined in the recruitment policy. This is a decision of the Program Management Team. If there are enough income-eligible families, over-income families do not need to be enrolled. Foster care and homeless children are automatically eligible. To maintain regulation guidelines, 10% of the children enrolled have a diagnosed disability.
Notice
Since the 2000-2001 program year, Traill, Steele, Griggs and Nelson counties have been declared as “Medically Underserved.” This is a program term meaning due to limited resources, the distance to travel to attain needed resources, plus the hardships are facing rural communities; more than just low-income families can benefit from the Early Head Start and Head Start programs.
Based on the medically underserved declaration, Early Head Start and Head Start can enroll one over-income family for every eligible family enrolled. The program will still place income eligible families into the enrollment opportunities first, but the possibility is there for services to be provided for even more children and families.