Military Child Care
To start:
Create an account to view and enroll on any of the programs.
You can create one account and then include your partner with their own account as part of your family account. Or just share the login credentials with each other.
Waitlist priority categorizations
You will be required to provide proof of employment (LES) for military, or proof of school enrollment
Waitlists can fluctuate depending on your priority ranking. Families come and go as we very well know. This is why they cannot provide a set start date. The only way to see your status is through militarychildcare.com
Programs
CDC
Child Development Center
On or near base. You pay the fee which is based on your total income. These centers provide formula or meals for the children.
If they do not have availability for full time care at the moment, ask about hourly care. They may provide part time hourly care which will require you to have a set schedule but is still a very helpful option. You pay on an hourly basis which is priced at a slight premium compared to full time care.
FCC
Family Childcare
Home daycare centers that run their own business but are partnered with a military installation for their certification.
This is by far the most robust list of locations. You’ll want to take a tour of these locations to see if they meet your needs. Some FCC providers may even reach out to you directly via email if they have seen that you are in need of childcare in their area. I have not used this program but it appears that their fees are setup like that of CDC installations.
More info:
Fee assistance:
MCCYN
Military Childcare in Your Neighborhood
Daycare centers that are part of this program and get a subsidy payment from the base depending on your income category. There is a cap on the amount of assistance you can receive. You would need to pay the difference if you exceed that cap.
There are 2 categories for this program
It seems that Participating takes precedence over Affiliated but I recommend you use these interchangeably as it really depends on your needs.
Waitlisted offers do not go out more than 30 days from your start date. But their approval process can take up to 30 days after their offer.
Once you have a daycare in place along with all the required MCCYN paperwork, note that MCCYN pays in arrears while most daycares require payment in advance. So the daycare may still require you to pay the full tuition for the first month until the arrears payment comes through and they can credit your account.
CCYH
This is a limited (pilot) program to have a childcare worker in your home. You would ultimately be this person’s employer and would need to track taxes as needed and cover expenses for any licensing or safety courses such as CPR as may be required by the military. The military would provide fee assistance depending on your total income and they set a cap on the amount they will assist with.
Sitter City
Ultimately this site is open to the public. But Military One Source points you here as their way to help you find childcare. This is similar to care.com They cover the premium membership cost of this service which is calculated to be $180/year
Here is an article I found on what are the premium membership features. It seems the free version of Sitter City is quite limited. I have personally found two nannies on this platform.