Glossary
Family Support Services
Also called: Child Day Care Facility, code 378
Last reviewed September 9, 2026
The one-sentence answer
Disability-related child care for under 24 hours a day, so parents or unpaid caregivers can be away — and the one service in the program whose two official names describe two different things.
What this means for you
Your spending plan will call this "Child Day Care Facility." That name is misleading. The waiver calls the service Family Support Services. DDS bills it under the code name Child Day Care Facility. Same service, two names, and the billing name is the one you'll see on your paperwork.
It does not have to happen at a facility. It can be provided in your child's own home or in an approved out-of-home setting. If you skipped this line item because it sounded like a day care center you didn't want, look again.
The program pays only the difference, not the whole bill. This is the part families miss. The waiver funds the increment above what ordinary child care would cost for a same-age child without disabilities. If typical care in your area runs $60 a day and your child's disability-related care runs $95, the program is looking at the $35 — you carry the ordinary-care portion.
Who can provide it: a licensed child care facility, or an individual. An individual provider needs no state license, but CPR and First Aid training are required. Relatives and legal guardians other than a legally responsible person may provide it — a parent of a minor child or a spouse may never be paid.
For the detail-oriented
Service code 378, in the Health & Safety budget category (356–378).
The naming collision is worth understanding rather than working around. The CMS-approved 1915(c) waiver defines the service as Family Support Services and describes it as disability-related child care. The DDS service code list names code 378 Child Day Care Facility. Both are current and both are official. Any resource that presents only one name will confuse someone reading the other document.
For a licensed facility, requirements run through DSS licensing (H&S Code §§1596.90–1597.621), with Title 22 standards for centers (§§101151–101239.2) and family child care homes (§§102351.1–102424), and an administrator aged 18 or over.
Waiver-derived detail above traces to Sentinel Four's internal COO Brief #1a (July 13, 2026), which states it was verified against the waiver source PDF. That brief is not a primary source. Pull Appendix C of CA.1166.R01.00 directly before publishing. The code number and the DDS code name are separately verified from the DDS PDF and are solid.
Renewal CA.1166.R02.00 is pending at CMS and may modify the service specification is not published.