The Head Start Eligibility tab houses the Head Start-specific selection criteria and eligibility information that is initially entered when adding a child record. This is the family, financial and employment information that determines eligibility and priority for a Head Start enrollment slot. The HS Eligibility tab also provides a spot for recording special circumstances experienced by a child during his/her enrollment.

You can add a new eligibility verification record or select an existing record. The eligibility record includes detailed information about the family at the time of enrollment and includes a scoring system to ensure you are serving children with the highest need for services.

The eligibility verification record includes a completion and verification date. Once the record is verified, it cannot be edited. To edit, you will need to delete and re-add the record. Note: not all users have permission to delete data from ChildWare. If you do not have permission to delete, seek out the help of someone from your agency/site to discuss if this data should removed.

Directly below the Eligibility Verification section on the HS Eligibility tab is the Special Circumstances area, where significant family circumstances should be recorded. It is very important to record Special Circumstances as they become known because these events are included in the end-of-year Program Information Report (PIR) required by the Office of Head Start.

Click the ‘Add Special Circumstances’ button to create a new record.

The Circumstance drop-down contains significant events or crises that a child may experience, though an ‘Other’ option allows  users to record circumstances that are not included in the list.

Based on the circumstance chosen, additional fields will appear to record date and other applicable details if follow-up is necessary. As an example, after choosing the ‘Homelessness’ option from the Circumstance menu, two date fields appear to record the effective date of homelessness and the date housing was acquired.

Just as it is important to record special circumstances for Head Start children as they occur, it is equally important to update special circumstances as situations improve or change. For example, the PIR will report not only that a child experienced homelessness during that program year but also if the homelessness need was addressed and resolved within the program year.

After adding the special circumstance details, click ‘OK’ to save.