How to Find Child Care for Your Little City Kids

Live Baltimore offered a free workshop, “Daycare 101: Finding Child Care for Your Family,” (also in Spanish) as part of our resources for Baltimore City families with children. Here’s what all Baltimore City families should know about finding child care:

Q: What are the benefits of enrolling my child in an early education setting? 

A: The first five years of a child’s life are crucial for brain development and for building strong foundations of educational, emotional, and social skills. Enrolling your child in a high-quality early childhood education program helps them develop social connections, practice emotional regulation, nurture a lifelong love of learning, and prepare them for school. 

Q: What different child care settings are available? 

A: Families have many different options that depend on your family’s preferred schedule, location, budget, transportation, and philosophy. You might consider: 

• • • Family Child Care: more flexible care, located in the caregiver’s home 
    • Child Care Centers: year-round, fixed schedules in non-home settings such as churches, synagogues, schools, or buildings 
    • Nursery Schools: part-time educational programs for children in the years before kindergarten 
    • Public Pre-K: a state-funded program for eligible 3- and 4-year-olds through the local public school system 
    • Community-based Pre-K: state-funded program for eligible 3- and 4-year-olds run by private local community organizations, including family child care providers and child care centers 
    • Early Head Start and Head Start: federally funded programs to support income-eligible children from birth to age five 

Q: Where can I go to research child care options? 

A: The Maryland Family Network’s LOCATE: Child care tool is a free, confidential referral service designed to help families find regulated, high-quality child care. You can filter by location, schedule, and cost. The service is updated continuously. 

Q: What should I look for when touring a child care provider? 

A: A Caregiver’s Guide to Choosing Child care, developed by The Maryland Family Network, offers many tips for families as they visit potential providers. The guide suggests that families should observe interactions between caregivers and children; the cleanliness and safety of the environment; the child-to-provider ratios; daily routines (that should always include play!); and communication between the program and families.  

Q: What quality control measures are in place to ensure child care providers are following the law and maintaining high standards? 

A: Maryland EXCELS is the state’s quality rating and improvement system for child care and early education programs that meet nationally recognized quality standards. EXCELS rates the quality of child care and early education programs on a scale of 1 to 5. Programs are not required to participate in Maryland EXCELS, and many high-quality programs choose to opt out of it. 

Q: What is the Maryland Child Care Scholarship? 

A: The Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) administers the Child Care Scholarship (CCS) to help eligible families pay for high-quality child care and early education programs. Due to limited available funding, the program currently has a waitlist. 

Q: Where can I receive additional support in finding child care? 

A: The Baltimore City Child Care Resource Center (BCCCRC) at The Family Tree serves as the hub for issues relating to the care and education of young children in the City of Baltimore. Contact BCCCRC’s Family Resource Specialists if you need help finding or paying for quality child care: Nea Abrams can be reached at 667-355-9780 or nabrams@familytreemd.org and Delaney Pickard can be reached at 410-889-2300 or dpickard@familytreemd.org. They also operate a 24/7 Parenting Helpline: 1-800-243-7337.