For Preschool – 3 or 4 by September 30th of the current Program Year. Early Head Start – 6 week old.
Once you have applied, you can begin gathering the following documents and wait for a Family Advocate to contact you: Birth Certificate or Birth Letter, Proof of Income, Proof of Residency and a valid Govt issued I.D.
No worries, Family Advocates will make several attempts to contact all families to obtain the necessary documents (documenting each attempt). However, applications can not be processed without our having received all of the verifying documents and will receive an incomplete application status if all attempts to obtain documents has failed. Families are not considered for enrollment until all documents are obtained and verified.
A family must live in one of the serving cities of the HRCAP/HS-EHS Programs (Hampton, Newport News, Portsmouth, Chesapeake and Norfolk). Any city outside of these cities, the family can be referred to a HS in that city. Visit www.headstart.gov for Head Start locations.
Once all request documents are submitted and verified, families are wait-listed. Being waitlisted allows you child to be considered for enrollment as slots are available.
Students are pulled off the waitlist as slots are available. The waitlist is constantly changing and is based on a point system by need not first come first serve.
Each application is assigned eligibility points based on the HS Eligibility Criteria. Families are put on the waiting list from highest score to lowest.
Yes, once all the slots have been filled, Family Services will send out Waiting List letters.
Yes, up to 10% of enrollment slots are allocated for children with a diagnosed disability.
No worries—our Head Start (HS) program can enroll up to 10% of children from families whose income is above the federal income guidelines, and up to 35% of children from families whose income falls between 101% and 130% of the federal guidelines.
HRCAP partners with the local school divisions and child care partners. This information will be shared when you receive the waitlist letter.
Please begin potty training your preschool student. Head Start teachers will work with you and your child on helping your student to become potty trained.
All HS applicants falls within one of the three income categories. Always Apply!
HS requires current legal court papers or documents from DSS in order to verify a child’s custody.
Students are zoned bases on your zip, however, a child may be zoned for more than one center but will be placed to the center closest to the home address until that center is filled.
Hours may vary depending on the center. Please verify hours with a Family Advocate.
HS has limited transportation and is based on slot availability (all HS centers are not transportation center).