Resources for child care available
ICTV has focused on several aspects of child care over the past weeks. In doing so, we’ve compiled a short list of resources for families looking for child care in Itasca County.
The following resources are available to help in the search:
The Minnesota Department of Health’s website provides a licensing search tool that allows people to search by name, location, and license type (family child care, center, etc.). This is a comprehensive statewide list that includes details about each provider including address, license status and renewal dates, as well as capacity, type of setting and any compliance issues.
Child Care Aware of Minnesota offers a free online search tool to choose from more than 12,000 licensed child care and early education programs in Minnesota that are part of the Parent Aware program. The tool allows families to adjust criteria like location, hours of operation, and ages served (0-12) to get customized results based on needs. Licensed programs can also share current openings and rates to help simplify the search.
Parents can also specifically search for centers and preschools, family child care or Head Start programs and the list generated will show Parent Aware rating, distance from home, license, schedule, rates and openings. This tool will only give results for providers who are Parent Aware certified.
Parent Aware also offers a downloadable guide for Finding Child Care for Families. The guide offers steps for choosing care, questions to ask programs and things to look for as you visit child care programs. It also has additional information about child care and links to useful resources.
This online resource hub for northern Minnesota families was created by a collective of local organizations including Itasca Area Schools Collaborative, EARLY Edge, Community Education, Itasca Public Health, the Itasca County Family YMCA and Minnesota North – Itasca Campus. The guide lists a variety of local services and activities that support growing families, from child care and women’s health, housing and transportation to outdoor fun, adult education and tutoring.
The Minnesota Department of Children, Youth and Families has extensive resources for families looking for childcare. The department’s website has information on everything from finding child care and early learning opportunities to paying for them. From this website, families can apply for the Child Care Assistance Program.
Minnesota’s Child Care Assistance Program helps pay for quality child care for eligible parents, stepparents, legal guardians and other caregivers if they meet income limits and other requirements such as attending school, searching for work or working toward an employment plan. To apply, Itasca County families should contact the Itasca County Health and Human Services Financial Assistance Division at 218-327-5548.