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Support for Families

Child care information and resources are available to help military families stay mission ready.

A uniformed service couple sit with their children in a child care center

How to Request and Manage Care

With an MCC account, you can explore child care and fee assistance options worldwide and place unlimited requests for care. Just follow these four simple steps. It’s that easy!

    Create an Account

    Select “Create an Account” at the top of this page. Once you create an account, you will set up a Household Profile that stores key information about your family and allows you to conduct a customized search for military child care and fee assistance programs.

    Search for and Request Child Care and Fee Assistance

    Your MCC account gives you access to the full range of military child care programs. Request care as soon as you know your duty station and tentative arrival date to get on the waitlist. You can search multiple locations and submit requests for all the military child care options in your search area that meet your care needs.

    Manage Your Requests

    Log in to MilitaryChildCare.com to update or cancel your requests for care. Notifications about your requests, including offers for care when space is available, will be delivered to your preferred email address and posted to “Time Sensitive Actions” in your MilitaryChildCare.com dashboard. 

    Update Your Household Profile

    If your household information changes, log in to MilitaryChildCare.com to update your profile. Keep your sponsor and spouse information current to help programs quickly confirm if you are eligible for care. Also, keep your email address up-to-date so you do not miss any important messages.

Transferring to a New Duty Station? Pilot Program Reimburses Families for Travel Costs of a Designated Person to Provide Child Care

Starting October 1, 2024, if child care isn’t available within 30 days of your Date Care Needed (DCN) at your new Permanent Duty Station (PDS), you may be eligible for reimbursement of travel costs for a designated person who will care for your children. Reimbursement is provided through a congressionally authorized pilot program through 30 September 2027.

Read about how the program works, eligibility, and how to apply.

Learn More

Improve Your Chances of Receiving Care

Choosing child care is an important decision that can take time. To improve your chances of receiving care, you can:

  • Place requests as soon as you know your next assignment, even before you receive orders.
  • Review the Anticipated Placement Time (APT) estimates and submit requests for programs with an APT that most closely matches your need.
  • Request multiple programs, including Family Child Care (FCC) providers.
  • Select “Any Provider” associated with the FCC Program rather than requesting individual providers. Requesting “Any Provider” adds you to the waitlist for all FCC providers in your search area.

To learn more about how your place on the waitlist is determined, how APT is estimated, and what you can do to get the care you need, watch this informative video.

Watch Video
Navy father in uniform with young child hugging his leg at Child Development Center

Child Care and School Programs

Military families like yours can access a range of child care and school programs. Click on a program name to learn more about the program and how it is designed to support military families.

Family Eligibility & Priority

The purpose of military child care is to ensure that eligible military and DoD families have the support they need to be mission ready. To ensure the most mission-critical families have access to military child care, DoD assigns a priority for care to each family type and uses this when placing children into care.

Read about eligibility requirements, family types, and the associated priority guidelines set by the DoD and how these factors are used to determine your child's placement on the waitlist.

Learn More

Family Resources

Searching for child care can be exciting and fun with the right tools. Here you can find resources to assist with finding quality child care and supporting your child to grow and thrive. If you don’t see the information you are looking for, go to Military OneSource for additional resources.