What Parents Should Look for in a Child Care Program
Publications and resources to help when looking for child care.
Tips and Resources
Work-Life Services understands the importance of evaluating and choosing a quality caregiving situation for your child. We recommend the following publications produced by the New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS). OCFS offers brochures containing tips, resources, and checklists of important information to look for during your visit. To go to the OCFS website where you can download the brochures, use the links below.
- For Infant and Toddler Care - As You Think About Child Care, OCFS Pub. 1115B
- For 3-5 Year Old Care - As You Think About Child Care for Your Infant or Toddler, OCFS Pub. 1115C
- For School-Age Child Care - As You think About Child Care for Your School-Age Child, OCFS Pub. 1115D
- Additional OCFS Resources
QUALITYstarsNY
QUALITYstarsNY is a quality rating and improvement system for child care programs which includes a rigorous evaluation of the learning environment, family engagement, staff qualifications and experience, and management leadership of a child care center. Work-Life Services encourages all State Network Child Care Centers to participate in QUALITYstarsNY, which provides parents with easy-to-compare information about the quality of local early learning and development programs to help make the best choice of care for their child.