Trusted Caregiver Grants

The application is linked on this page. Also your case manager may send it to you directly once you've talked through your situation together. From there the process runs in five steps. You complete the application and liability form. We confirm the rate and schedule with you and your caregiver by email. Your caregiver completes a background check. We send you an approval letter with the amount, duration, and terms. You set up payment, and funds start moving. Near the end, you and your case manager meet for a short interview so we can learn from what worked and what didn't.

Yes, every caregiver does, including relatives. It's free and you don't pay anything for it. Your caregiver gets a secure email asking for their consent, and results usually come back quickly, this is completed through Checkr. HomeFront Helpers have already completed one, so they can skip this step. All we need from you is their name and email address.

Violent offenses against children or other people mean we can't fund that arrangement. Most other things don't automatically disqualify anyone. Old charges, traffic violations, and non-violent misdemeanors are looked at individually. If something shows up, your case manager will talk with you about it.

Payments go to your family through Melio, our payment platform. You'll get two emails from Melio, one to set up payment and one for tax information. Funds usually arrive within three to five business days once that's done. Payments are scheduled over the grant period rather than sent as one lump sum, which keeps the support lined up with when you actually need it.

Anything connected to your trusted caregiver arrangement. Caregiver wages are the main one, and funds can also go toward supplies, transportation, meals, and activities during care.

No. We don't ask for receipts, itemized spending breakdowns, or proof of every purchase. We do ask that funds go toward the caregiver arrangement described in your application however that may look for your family.

Yes, and plenty of families do, especially when they need coverage across different days or shifts. Each caregiver completes their own background check. If a caregiver is interested in more training and support, and you're in Colorado Springs or the Eglin/Hurlburt area, we can connect them with HomeFront Help.

Stay in touch with your case manager, keep your scheduled check-ins, and keep making progress on your longer-term plan. That might mean submitting a subsidy application, getting on a waitlist, or looking into benefits through an employer. Your approval letter spells out what applies to you. If we can't reach you, payments pause until we've talked and worked out a new plan.

Yes, if a genuinely new situation comes up and you met the terms of your first grant. You submit a new application, and your case manager helps you put it together. A new grant to extend the same situation isn't something we can approve.

These are hardship grants to help your family through a short-term child care gap. They aren't payment for work, and most families won't owe tax on them. We can't give tax advice, so if you have questions, a tax professional or your installation's legal assistance office can help. We do collect tax information from every family before funds are released. Our payment system requires it in order to send money, and as a nonprofit we have to be able to document how charitable funds are used. Your information is used only for that.

Reach out and ask. Care arrangements are messy in real life, and plenty of families we fund didn't think they'd qualify at first. Start a conversation at occproject.org/case-management, or call or text "Help" to (202) 871-3490. Operation Child Care Project is a national nonprofit. HomeFront Help and the Trusted Caregiver Grant are not licensure programs.