USING THE EBT CARD FOR CHILD CARE

Narrator: This video will show you how to use your Access Oklahoma, or EBT, card at the child care center or family child care home your child goes to. Every day when you drop off or pick up your child you'll use your EBT card to check your child in and then later to check your child out. This card is how OKDHS records the attendance of children in child care centers and homes, so that providers can be paid. 

It is your responsibility to make sure that every time your child goes to child care you swipe your EBT card so providers can be paid on time. As an EBT cardholder, it is your responsibility to carry your card with you and to swipe it properly. You will swipe your card every time your child goes to and leaves child care. 

First of all, let's look at the EBT or Access Oklahoma Card. Some of you may already have an EBT card because you are receiving food benefits. If you already have an EBT card, then you'll swipe the same card for child care. Before you can swipe your card for child care, it must be linked to the child care system. The workers here at the OKDHS Human Services Center will link your card. Do not leave before your card has been linked. If you don't already have a card, you'll get one today. It's easy to use. We'll show you how. 

Your card will come with a paper sleeve. It's a good idea to keep your card in this paper sleeve; it helps to protect your card from being damaged. On the front of your card you'll see your name and a long number. This number is your account number. This is how OKDHS keeps track of who you are, and how you use your card. 

Now here's some important information that you need to know. Never give or loan your EBT card to anyone including people at your child's care center or home. If you do give your card and PIN number to your provider there will be consequences. Your card will be canceled and you'll have to go back to your OKDHS Human Services Center to be issued a new card. In the meantime, you may be responsible for paying for child care. 

Now let's take a look at the machine that you'll use to swipe your card. We call this machine the point of service, or POS, machine. At the top is a small screen that will flash messages about what the machine is doing. The messages that show up here will guide you through the steps while you check your child in or out. 

Before you can use your card you'll need a PIN. PIN stands for personal identification number. A PIN is a number you get to choose, and will enter into the POS machine every time you check your child in or out. Make your PIN easy to remember because you'll need to know it every time you use your card. Your PIN is private information that only you should know. Never give your PIN to your child care provider. 

Besides your PIN you will also have an assigned number for each child in your family. If you do not know the assigned number, the EBT Specialist can write this number on the paper sleeve that holds your card. If you have more than one child in child care, you'll have to key into the machine a separate number for each child you are checking in or out. 

Before we go on please be sure you understand this: the screen at the top of the point of service machine will always tell you what it wants you to do next. It is your responsibility to follow the steps listed on the screen. When you follow the steps through the process, the message that comes up on the screen will either read approved, pending, or denied. If you get a denied message go ahead and keep swiping, so your child's attendance is recorded in the POS machine, then tell your child care provider and contact your worker at your human services center to work the problem out. Your child care provider has been told that OKDHS will not pay for denied swipes. In fact your child care provider has the right to make you pay for the days when your account displayed the denied message. 

If you get a denied message, you must contact your worker as soon as you notice a problem. Remember to keep swiping your card even when you're receiving these denied messages. Once the problem is corrected you must re-enter the information for the dates in question by doing what we call a previous check-in and a previous check-out. We'll show you how to do all of this in just a minute. 

Now here's another item that you need to know. You may be paying a copayment for your child care. If so, make sure you get and keep a receipt when you pay your copayment. If you ever have to change child care providers in the middle of a month, you will call your worker. You may need to show the receipt to the new provider to show that you paid your copayment to the first provider. 

Okay keep all of that in mind and let's see how the card actually works. This is Sara. She just began using the Access Oklahoma EBT card for her family's child care. Each morning Sara checks her children in with her card. Remember if you forget your card or fail to swipe, you may be denied care for that day or be responsible for paying the provider yourself. 

First Sara looks at the screen at the top of the machine. When itÆs ready for her to check in it says "Please swipe card." Sara swipes her card through the slot on the top of the POS machine. The screen says, "Enter PIN." Sara enters her PIN. She chose to use the house number of the address she lived at when she was a child because she knew that was a number that she would always remember. Keep in mind that you will choose your own PIN number so you should use a number that you will always remember. Your PIN number always has to be four numbers but it's only for you to know. Never give or tell your PIN to anyone including people at your child's child care center or home. 

Sara now presses the green enter button. Now the screen says, "Select attendance type." Sara selects the number one button; this button is also the button that you use to tell the machine that you are checking children in to the child care center or home. Next the screen asks for the person number. Remember each child has been assigned a number, which you or the EBT Specialist can write on the paper sleeve of your card. Sara has two children and sheÆs checking both of them in, so she presses three for Anna, presses enter, and then presses four for Monica, and presses enter again. Now Sara presses the enter button once again to send the information. Each time you press your last child's number, you must press enter again to end the transaction and send the information. In just a few seconds the screen shows the word "Approved." Please wait for the approved message. If you don't see the word "approved," or get a message of "denied," remember to tell your child care provider and call OKDHS. Besides "approved" or "denied," you might see the word "pending" on the screen. If you see "pending" it's okay, donÆt worry about it. However if you see "Pending different provider," you need to contact your worker. After everything has been entered and the machine displays the approved message, a record of Sara's check-in is printed. The paper receipt stays on the machine for the child care staff. ItÆs that easy. 

The next thing we want to look at is checking your children out of child care. So let's pretend that Sara left the child care center, worked all day, and now is coming back to pick up the girls. To check out, Sara swipes her card through the POS machine. The screen tells her to enter her PIN, Sara presses in her PIN, and pushes the enter button. Now the screen reads, "Select attendance type." Sara presses the number two which tells the machine she wants to do a check out. Just like the number one button is to check in, the number two button is to check out. Now the screen asks for the person number, and Sara pushes three for Anna presses enter, and then pushes four for Monica and presses the enter button. Then she presses enter again to end the transaction. After a few seconds the screen says "Approved." The machine starts to print and Sara knows that she has checked her girls out for the day. See it's just as easy to check out as it is to check in. 

Once again, remember not to share your PIN with anyone, including the people at your child's child care center or home. It's very important for you remember to bring your card with you every time you drop off or pick up your children. If you show up without your card your child care provider has the right to refuse to provide care for that day or to demand payment directly from you. If you do not swipe your card to check in and check out for each visit, your provider may charge you for that day's child care. 

Now, even with your best efforts there may be an occasional day when you miss checking your child in or out. If that ever happens to you there is a way to go back and make up the check in and out with the simple process called previous check-in and previous check-out. Be sure to ask your child care provider what their policy is on allowing you to do a previous check-in and previous check-out. Most providers will allow you to do this every once in a while, as long as you do it no more than ten days after the missed date. However some providers may demand that you pay them the money yourself until they receive payment from OKDHS. Let's look at an example of a previous check-in and previous check-out. 

Sara remembered that she missed checking her girls in and out earlier in the week, so she's going to do it today. Sara swipes her card, the screen reads "Enter PIN." Sara presses her PIN and pushes the enter button. Next the screen reads "Enter attendance type." The number four button is also used to tell the machine that a previous check-in is being entered. Sara presses the number four button, now the screen reads "Enter date." Sara enters the date that she missed to do the previous check-in. The date has to be punched in with two numbers for the month and two numbers for the day. Since Sara's entering information for August 9th, she will have to press 08 09. ThatÆs 08 for the month of August and 09 for the 9th day. Now Sara presses enter and the screen reads "Enter time." Sara remembers that she had an early meeting on August the 9th and dropped the girls off at 7:45am. Here again you have to use two numbers for the hour and two numbers for the minutes, so she presses 07 for the hour and 45 for the minutes. Then she pushes enter and the screen reads three for am or six for pm. The number three button is also used to tell the machine that you mean am, and the number six button also means pm. Sara pushes the number three button and the machine knows that she is entering a previous check in for August 9th at 7:45am. Next the screen asks for the person number. Sara enters three for Anna, pushes enter then four for Monica, then pushes enter. She pushes enter again to end the transaction. In a few seconds the screen says "Pending" and the machine starts printing the receipt. Previous in and previous out swipes will always show as pending and do not require a call to your worker. 

Now, Sara has finished a previous check-in, Sara also needs to check the girls out for August 9th so, she needs to do a previous check-out for that day too. Sara waits for the screen at the top of the machine to read "Please swipe card." Sara swipes her card. Now the screen reads "Enter PIN.ö Sara enters her PIN and presses enter. The screen now reads "Select attendance type." The number five button is used to tell the machine that a previous check out is wanted. Sara presses the number five and now the screen reads, "Enter date." So Sara presses 08 for the month of August and 09 for the date August 9th. She presses enter and the screen displays "Enter time." She presses 0515 for 5:15, presses enter and the screen reads, 3 for am and 6 for pm. The number six button is used for pm, so she presses six. Now the screen asks for the person number. Sara presses three and enter for Anna, then four and enter for Monica. She then presses the enter button again to end the transaction. She waits a few seconds and the screen says "Pending." Remember previous in and out swipes will always show as pending and do not require a call to your worker, and sheÆs finished. 

Finally, if you work overnight shifts and use child care during the night, we need to go over one more thing. Because your child is spending the night in child care and the date changes from one day to the next at midnight, the POS machine has to be told that the child was in care when the date changed. Let's check in with Sara again. Sara's been moved to the overnight shift at work and her girls are now spending each night in child care. When Sara comes to pick the girls up she follows a different procedure to check them out from an overnight stay. She checked the girls in at 9:15pm the night before which was August 14th. She is picking them up at 5:30am the next morning which is August 15th. First she swipes her card, now the screen says "Enter PIN," so she punches in her four digit PIN and presses enter. Now the screen reads "Select attendance type." She pushes the number seven button that tells the machine Sara wants to do an overnight check out. The screen then asks for the person number. Sara presses three and enter for Anna, and then presses four and enter for Monica. She then presses the enter button again to end the transaction. In a few seconds the screen says "Approved." Keep in mind that if you check your children out before midnight there's no need to use the number seven, that's all there is to it. 

So we've seen Sara go through a check-in, a check-out, a previous check-in, and a previous check-out, an overnight check-in, and an overnight check-out. It's pretty simple and now you're just about ready to use your Access Oklahoma EBT card for child care. But, there are a few more things you need to know. 

No matter how well you take care of your card sometimes they simply wear out. You'll know if this happens because your card wonÆt read in the machine when you swipe it. If this happens or if you lose your card 
you'll need to go to your OKDHS Human Services Center and get a new one. 

Another thing we need to talk about are the days when you need to have someone else pick your children up from child care. To make it possible for someone else to pick up your child, you'll need to know about authorized representatives. When you canÆt pick up your children an authorized representative is someone who picks them up for you. Authorized representatives must have their own card and PIN. You cannot loan your card to someone else to pick up your children. You may choose one person you want as an authorized representative. Your authorized representative can never be your child care provider or anyone who works at the child care center or home. Authorized representatives must have their own card and PIN. You cannot loan your card to someone else to pick up your children. You will be issued one card on your account and your authorized representative will be issued another card on your account. Your card and your authorized representative's card are the only cards that will be linked to your account. If you have somebody besides you or your authorized representative pick up your child, then you'll have to do a previous check in and out later, okay? 

Remember never give, loan, or sell your card to anyone. You should never tell anyone your PIN. Never leave it with the people who work at your children's child care center or home, and never tell your PIN to your child care provider or any employee who works there. If you do any of these things with your Access Oklahoma Card it is considered fraud and there are penalties. 

I hope we've been able to help you understand how to use your Access Oklahoma EBT card for child care. Please practice all the things weÆve shown you before you leave today. 

Thanks for watching.