Child Care
Reliable child care is essential for working families. Finding and evaluating affordable quality care is an important undertaking for your infant to school-age children. The information here is intended to help you in your efforts to assess your needs and understand your options.
There are three primary forms of child care for children newborn through five years:
- In-Home Care: care provided by an individual that you employ to work in your home. Caregivers are available to either ‘live in’ or ‘love out’ and come to your home each day.
- Family Care: A regulated family child care provider takes care of three to six children in their own home or apartment. In group family care, the provider and an assistant cares for seven to twelve children. These settings serve children from infant through school age.
- Center-Based Care: Center-based care is known by several names, including day care center, child care center, early childhood program. These programs often provide a full day of care, generally from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm. Partial-day or school-day programs, often referred to as nursery schools, are also available.
Parents of children beyond newborn-five years may need a school-based program or more information on New York City area schools:
Family and center-based childcare are both regulated by New York City. Because of limited availability of center-based care for children under two, most families rely on in-home or family care. In lower Manhattan neighborhoods, the waitlist for centers average over a year, so if you seek this type of care, you should get on the waitlist early. Centers are accustomed to accepting applications from expectant and adopting parents.