JULY 25, 2023 – The Defense Department expanded the Child Care in Your Home program, formerly known as the in-home child care pilot. The program provides fee assistance for full-time, in-home child care providers. The program expanded from five to 11 locations and now includes lawful permanent residents and family members as possible in-home providers.
The Child Care in Your Home program is like the fee assistance program currently in place for service members using community-based care facilities; however, the child care is provided in the service member’s home. The program covers full-time care for a minimum of 30 hours to a maximum of 60 hours of child care weekly. In this second year, the fee assistance program expanded to eligible families in six new regions with the highest demand and longest waitlists for DOD-facilitated child care. These locations are:
- Colorado Springs, CO
- Seattle/Tacoma, WA
- Jacksonville/Mayport, FL
- Fort Walton Beach, FL
- Fayetteville, NC
- Las Vegas, NV
The fee assistance program remains available in the five original locations. Those locations include:
- National Capital Region
- Hawaii
- San Diego, CA
- Norfolk, VA
- San Antonio, TX
“The Defense Department knows that easy access to high-quality, affordable child care is critical for the well-being of military children and for the peace of mind and mission readiness of their parents,” said Patricia Montes Barron, deputy assistant secretary of defense for Military Community and Family Policy. “The DOD is committed to ensuring that parents can find the quality, licensed care that’s right for their family.”
Stacey Young, director for the office of Military Family Readiness Policy, noted that military families have unique child care needs that must be met, and the department is continuing its efforts to increase the variety of child care options available for military families.
“Child care continues to be available through installation child development centers and family care homes, as well as school-age care programs, and military families now have additional options,” Young said. “In addition to the Child Care in Your Home program, the DOD is expanding provider eligibility in the community-based fee assistance program, Military Child Care in Your Neighborhood-PLUS, to broaden the pool of providers eligible to receive fee assistance on behalf of military families. The department also provides military families with free, online access to a nationwide database of more than a million caregivers through the Military OneSource website. Military families now have an easier way to search for quality, hourly, flexible and on-demand child care that meets their individual needs.”
To learn more about military child care programs, visit the Military OneSource Child Care Resources page.
About Military Community and Family Policy
Military Community and Family Policy is directly responsible for establishing and overseeing quality-of-life policies and programs that help our service members, their families and survivors be well and mission-ready. Military OneSource is the gateway to programs and services that support the everyday needs of the 5.2 million service members and immediate family members of the military community. These DOD services can be accessed 24/7/365 around the world.