V

Vouchers and Contracts: Refers to forms or mechanisms of payment that income eligible families can use to help pay for child care. Vouchers are issued to eligible families to pay for any legal child care they select that accepts state payments-including unregulated Informal Child Care, Family-based Child Care and Center-based Child Care. By contrast, contracts are pre-negotiated arrangements made between jurisdictions and child care centers and/or networks of family child care homes to provide subsidized care to blocks of eligible children that they enroll.