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Children
Children and Family Services
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Care for Nebraska's children and your business- find important resources to help you prepare and increase quality within your program.

More information about Federally Mandated State Law Now Requires More Comprehensive Background Checks for Child Care Workers will be next week.

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Care for Nebraska's children and your business
Find important resources to help you prepare and increase quality within your program.

​​Important Announcements​
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2025 Child Care Subsidy Rates

Child Care Subsidy rate transitioned to a new rate structure in July 2023. To learn more about billing partial day and daily units:

Questions can be submitted to DHHS.CCSubsidy@nebraska.gov.​
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View the 2025-2027 Subsidy Rate Chart PDF

Subsidy rates are set at the 75th percentile of the Market Rate Survey (MRS) and adjust every odd number year. Rates may be less than the 75th percentile if private pay rates are lower than the Department's subsidy rates.

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​Central Registry Fee Increase

Effective November 1, 2025, Central Registry Background Check fees will increase, from $2.50 to $3.00.  For more information or to submit a request, visit: Abuse and Neglect Central Registry

Central Registry Fee Increase Frequently Asked Questions​


Legislative Bill 856 Frequently Asked Questions

Effective July 1, 2025, a subsidy eligible parent/guardian who is also an employee at a licensed child care program shall be eligible to care for their child(ren), who attend the same program, if attempts at reasonable accommodations have been made. See the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for additional information. 

LB856 FAQ

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DHHS Paying for All Fingerprints for Child Care

Effective May 16th, 2022, DHHS will pay the full cost​ of fingerprinting and processing for all child care providers, staff, and required household members through 2029. 


Federal Mandate Requires National Criminal History Record Checks - Fingerprints for All Child Care Workers 

With the passing of Nebraska Legislative Bill 1185, this requirement now extends to License Exempt and In-Home Subsidy providers. 

Licensed providers can find information through Children's Services Licensing.

License Exempt and In-Home providers can find additional information under Background Checks.

Public LiveScan Fingerprinting Sites can be found on the NSP Fingerprinting website​.

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The School Readiness Tax Credit 

The School Readiness Tax Credit is available to qualifying owner-operators of child care programs including taxpaying individuals, partnerships, limited liability companies, S-corporations and others. The program must have served children through the child care subsidy program during 2025 and be rated a Step 1 or higher in Step Up to Quality.

Applications for the School Readiness Tax Credit can be completed through the Nebraska Department of Revenue (NDOR) Website beginning February 2, 2026, at 8:30 a.m. CT for tax year 2025. ​

2025 Subsidy reports are now available on the Provider Portal. To access the report, log into the portal and select the “Reports" title, located on the Welcome Dashboard. Once that has opened, select the “Tax Credit Report" tile.​

Frequently Asked Questions​



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Child Care Subsidy Program
Phone Number
(402) 471-9152

Mailing Address
P.O. Box 95026, Lincoln, Nebraska 68509-5026

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