Exceptional Assistance Measure for Integration into Childcare

The Exceptional Assistance Measure for Integration into Childcare (the EAM) provides financial assistance for subsidized educational childcare providers in addition to the Integration Allowance. It covers all or part of the remuneration for the additional hours of assistance needed by a child with a disability, compared to other children of the same age.

This measure is in addition to the services offered by the health and social services network and the services that a childcare provider may fund through the Allowance for Integration into Childcare (the Integration Allowance) included in the operating subsidy.

The subsidy is a last-resort assistance measure. You must first ensure that:

• individual, adapted interventions have been carried out and the means set out in the integration plan have been implemented;
• a coordinated process has been instituted with partners to address the child’s needs, or an individualized plan addressing the child’s needs has been drawn up;
• an individualized, inter-sector service plan showing that all the means available to childcare providers (resources, programs measures and coordination) have been deployed to address the child’s needs and support integration into childcare is, ideally, in the process of being drawn up or has already been produced, where relevant to the child’s situation.

To be eligible, you must:

• be a subsidized childcare provider;
• be receiving the Integration Allowance for the child on whose behalf you are applying, and have the necessary administrative documents, namely:
  • the report by a professional or the attestation from Retraite Québec;
  • a childcare integration plan drawn up within the last year.

You can obtain funding for all or some of the additional expenses generated by the hours of assistance needed for a person to support and accompany the child.

Specifically, the measure must be used solely to pay for direct services provided to the child on a daily basis, for the number of hours of assistance accepted by the Ministère. Expenses are admissible only if they relate to the remuneration of the person providing assistance.

Application periods are:

• from June 1 to October 24, 2023, for renewal with or without changes; or
• from August 15 to October 24, 2023, for a new application. 

You must apply online through your childcare facility’s file, which may be accessed via the Online Services page of the Ministère de la Famille. 

Exceptionally, starting on October 25, 2023, new applications may be submitted until May 31, 2024. An educational childcare provider that submits an application during this period may have to show that it was unable to do so during the general period for applications.

Beyond this exceptional period, the only applications that will be accepted are those for children newly registered at the childcare facility between June 1 and August 15, 2024, who specifically require assistance for integration. These applications will not be processed until the end of August 2024.

Please note that if a child for whom the subsidy has already been granted moves to a different facility, you may apply at any time during the year.