Tips for balancing your military & family life with child care you can trust

2022-08-03T15:30:58-04:00

Balancing a military career with the needs of a family is always challenging. It's even more challenging if you can't find affordable, quality child care.

To help military families find child care that is convenient, open when you need it, and within your budget, The Defense Department and Military OneSource have established a website, MilitaryChildCare.com that serves a portal to a wide range of resources and services that can assist you in finding the best program for your children's needs.

With MilitaryChildCare.com, you create an account and maintain a household profile that you can access at any time from any location. Once created, your household profile enables you to conduct a customized search of the full range of military child care options that meet your needs.

By streamlining the child care search and request process, MilitaryChildCare.com makes it easier for you to understand and evaluate your child care options and make better decisions about your child's care.

Tips for leveraging MilitaryChildCare.com
- If you are expecting the birth of a child, adopting a child, or a Permanent Change of Station start researching and planning right away.
- Visit MilitaryChildCare.com and review all the guidance on how to create your household profile, search for and request care, and explore all the options for programs, service providers, and assistance with fees, etc.
- Use the Military Child Care Locations search engine to find providers at your installation · Learn more about the in-home Child Care Pilot to determine if this might a good option for your family's needs.
- You can search for care and place requests as soon as you know where you will be stationed and the anticipated arrival date, even before your orders are issued. This can reduce delays in the date child care can start.
- Know if you are eligible to request child care. Eligibility is determined by a sponsor's DOD affiliation. Eligible sponsors include active duty military and Coast Guard personnel, DoD Civilian employees, National Guard/Reserve component military personnel on orders, active-duty combat-related wounded warriors, gold star spouses of military members who died from a combat-related incident, and those acting in loco parentis for the dependent child of an otherwise available sponsor.
- In order to match you with programs that best fit your needs, you must complete a separate child care search for each of your children.

How much will my child care cost?

Each branch of service issues parent fee guidelines for its Child Development Centers (CDC), School Age Care (SAC) programs, 24/7 Centers, and Family Child Care (FCC) providers based on DoD fee guidance. Fees are based on Total Family Income (TFI) and apply to all children who attend the program on a regular basis. For more information on fees contact the program directly. Having exceptional and affordable child care enables you to focus on your mission and military career while knowing your children are being supported in their growth and education. It also will reduce the friction that can occur when your spouse is attempting to meet all the demands of raising children when you are on deployment.

Begin your search for the best available and affordable child care today. Visit MilitaryChildCare.com to create your profile.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 3 at 2022 3:45 PM

2022-08-03T15:45:15-04:00

Thanks for the post.

Response by SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL made Aug 4 at 2022 1:54 PM

2022-08-04T13:54:31-04:00

thanks for sharing

Response by SrA Ronald Moore made Aug 10 at 2022 5:21 AM

2022-08-10T05:21:22-04:00

As far as hell is concerned,do we have Peacekeepers there at AL-Tanf, garrison, and they was attacked on August01/22 and 5 Soldiers was killed and A host of others are there at the Syrian International Hospital having to pay 1000’s of Dollars to get medical attention when the Camo is giving bad treatment there and almost cut the leg off of a female soldier, and will not let soldiers come back to the USA, and the Army not paying them any money, as a note they are being made to work for free, One or more soldiers been over there and force to stay, even after injuries, And their Officers taking advantage over them and Theyhavr to take pics or erotic positions and These pics are sold on Face book and messenger and WhatsApp, indirectly by sending female Soldier’s pics Of nude unfavorable snapshots , their their Officer Tells them they can not leave until they give 3000$ and Then when that happens, they do not release them, and are female officers taking pics of other female soldiers and Taking most of their money

Response by SFC David Reid, M.S, PHR, SHRM-CP, DTM made Aug 19 at 2022 9:34 PM

2022-08-19T21:34:05-04:00

This is long overdue for military families.