Pending Children – When you click Send to Sponsor under the left Food Program tab (and select the claim month) a summary of your claim information will pop up. If any pending children are claimed during the month a yellow highlighted balloon next to the number of pending children will be visible. Before continuing to submit your claim, check your My Kids list for pending children and follow up with the PCI office to see if the enrollments have been received. If the enrollments for the pending children are not received in the PCI office prior to the claim being processed and submitted to MDE you cannot be paid for these meals. There is no option to HOLD or PROCESS your claim in KidKare to wait for missing enrollments to arrive.

Expiring Child Enrollments – Check the enrollment expiration dates for all of your enrolled children to insure you have a valid enrollment for all children being claimed during the current month. This is especially important for any drop in or school age children who may not have been updated during the regular CE update season. Enrollment expiration dates are listed immediately below the child image when you click on the child from the My Kids screen.

Child School Information – You will need to record additional information in the “My Kids” School Details screen especially for your own School Age children and any 4 or 5 year old children who are not attending school starting in September. Select the child, click edit under School Details and choose the appropriate designation under type/level by clicking the down arrow. Note: Attendance at preschool is considered No School for KidKare purposes.

Participates in CACFP – CACFP is the abbreviation for Child and Adult Care Food Program. When enrolling a new child in KidKare there is a box that is automatically checked for participating in CACFP. DO NOT uncheck this box unless the child’s family has declined participation on the CACFP (Food Program). Unchecking this box will prevent this child’s meals from being reimbursed.

School Days Off – When claiming AM snack and lunch for School Age Children make sure to enter the school days off. You can indicate this by clicking the three lines opposite each child’s name when entering daily meal data (and selecting No School or Sick) OR entering the school out days for the month for the child on the calendar. If using the calendar, you will select the “Child” tab, then select the child’s name, then drag the No School or Sick icons to the applicable calendar day(s).

Review Your Claim – We suggest you run or print a "Claimed Foods and Attendance" Report to check over your claim for accuracy and completeness. Select Reports tab > Category – Meals & Attendance > Report - Claimed Foods and Attendance > Select Month > Click Run.

Split Shifts - If you have children eating meals and leaving before other children arrive for the meal making it appear that you are over license capacity, make sure you have meal shift times designated. When entering daily meal data, if you do not have a box for recording “Serving 2” serving times, contact the PCI office to update the serving times on your application. Once updated, you must click the appropriate 1 and 2 boxes next to the child’s name to designate the children present in the home during each meal shift (shift 1 and shift 2). Many children will be present in the home during both of the meal serving times, even though they eat only once.

Claim Summary and Errors - Once your claim has been processed you will be able to review your claim summary and errors letter in KidKare by going to the Food Program Tab, selecting View Claims, choosing the claim month, then clicking the Processed link.

You can also view claims summary and error letters by going to Reports, selecting the "Claims Statements" category, selecting the "Claimed Summary and Error" report, selecting the claim month and clicking "Run". No separate claim letters will be e-mailed or sent via postal mail.

Claims Payment - Once your claim has been processed you will be able to review your claim payment information in KidKare by going to the Food Program Tab, selecting View Claims, choosing the claim month, then clicking the Paid link. See below.

Not Home or Closed - To inform Providers Choice that you will not be home or closed during your normal child care hours, select the "Calendar" tab, then select the "Provider" tab and drag the "Closed for Business" or "Off-Site Meal" icons to the appropriate calendar date. You can then specify the meals you are closed/not home for by clicking the icon on the calendar and selecting the appropriate meals.