Reach Up Child Only Income Rules Vermont: How the Grant Amount Is Calculated
Whose Income Counts — and Whose Doesn't
The single most important rule for Reach Up Child Only is that the caregiver's income is completely excluded. Your retirement pension, Social Security, wages, disability payments, savings, and property are invisible to ESD when it calculates the child's grant.
The filing unit consists only of the eligible child or children. ESD looks at what the child receives directly:
- Child support payments collected in the child's name
- Social Security survivor or dependent benefits paid for the child
- Any personal earnings the child has
That's the full list. A grandmother on a $2,800 monthly pension qualifies for the exact same child-only grant as a grandmother with no income at all.
Vermont eliminated the asset test for Reach Up in 2026. Savings accounts, vehicles, and property owned by you or the child no longer affect eligibility.
Monthly Grant Amounts (2026–2027)
The maximum monthly payment depends on how many children are in the benefit unit. Chittenden County gets a slightly higher payment due to regional housing costs.
| Children | Maximum Monthly Payment | Chittenden County |
|---|---|---|
| 1 child | $562 | $587 |
| 2 children | $710 | $735 |
| 3 children | $856 | $880 |
| 4 children | $976 | $1,000 |
For households with more than four children, the amount increases by roughly $117 per additional child.
These are maximums. If the child has countable income, that amount is subtracted. For example, a child receiving $300 per month in Social Security survivor benefits in Rutland County would receive $562 minus $300, or $262 per month.
How Income Subtraction Works
ESD takes the basic need standard for the household size, subtracts the child's countable income, and caps the result at the maximum payment amount. A child with zero income receives the full maximum.
Advocates note that the current maximum grants cover less than 40 percent of the calculated cost of basic needs for Vermont families. The grant helps, but it isn't designed to cover everything.
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The Child Support Pass-Through
When Vermont's Office of Child Support collects payments from a legal parent, the first $100 per month is passed directly to you on top of the Reach Up grant. The state retains collections above $100 to offset the grant cost.
If OCS collects more current support than the grant amount for two months in a row, the grant closes and OCS starts sending the full current support amount to you directly.
What Changed in 2026
Two significant changes affect current applicants:
- Reach First was eliminated as of July 1, 2026. Cash assistance is now consolidated under standard Reach Up rules — there's no transitional program to worry about.
- The asset test was dropped. You no longer need to prove limited savings or vehicle value.
Getting the Full Picture
The income rules get more complicated when you're also applying for 3SquaresVT, CCFAP childcare, or Dr. Dynasaur — each program has its own household composition and income-counting methods.
Our Financial Help for Grandparents and Relatives Raising a Child in Vermont guide lays out the income rules for every program side by side, with worked examples showing how the same family's income gets counted differently by each agency.
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