Strategy

Child Care Finder

What is it?

Child care finders are online tools that help parents find child care providers that best fit their needs. Most tools have filtered search options allowing families to search by location, licensing status, quality rating, and setting type. Wonderschool is an online platform that helps parents and child care providers. The goal of Wonderschool is to increase access to high-quality child care. Parents can use the search tool to find care for their children. Wonderschool also supports providers in starting or growing their child care business. It offers a suite of tools for providers, including a website builder, lead and enrollment management, attendance tracking, social media marketing, finance management, and parent communications. Child care Nashville helps families searching for quality child care in Middle Tennessee. Similarly, the Tennessee child care finder is a search tool for parents looking for child care across all of Tennessee. 

What is the evidence base?

The process of searching and paying for child care can be challenging for families, especially for low income families. Family characteristics such as work schedules, transportation availability, and income influence the type of child care needed. Access to information about child care options is critical for families. A centralized platform with comprehensive information, such as a child care finder, can be very useful for families searching for care. Useful child care finders include information about the supply of programs, desired capacity, licensed capacity, estimated vacancy, geographical location, setting type, availability of child care assistance, quality ratings, ages served, special education services, languages spoken, and hours of operation. 

• Banghart et al_2021_Supporting Families’ Access to Child Care and Early Education: A Descriptive Profle of States’ Consumer Education Websites
• Chaudry, Henley, and Meyers_2010_Conceptual Frameworks for Child Care Decision-Making