How to Find Daycare in a New City

Finding daycare in a new city involves a series of steps that allow you to narrow down your possibilities. Beginning with general research prior to your move, and continuing with more specific inquiries after your arrival in the new area, you can find the ideal daycare for your child. Read on to learn how to find daycare in a new city.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Decide what is important to you. First narrow your choices based on setting. Daycares break down into the general categories of a home care or a school/center setting. Decide whether you prefer licensed centers, or licensed and accredited centers. Or, perhaps you are comfortable with an unlicensed "babysitter" situation.

2. Narrow down a location you prefer. Perhaps you would like your child close to your new home. Or, perhaps you would like a childcare close to your work in case of emergencies.

3. Put your Internet research skills to use. Keeping your established care parameters in mind, visit websites where you can research some centers in your target area. For example, you may want to visit the state's licensing department website, which may allow you to view a center's licensing records. Another site to visit would be a local mothers forum or message board.

4. Call the centers you would like to investigate further. Ask pointed questions about their staffing, policies, curriculum and fees. Use this information to further narrow your choices down to three to four centers.

5. Visit the finalists upon your arrival in your new city. Base your final choice on your visits.

Tips & Warnings

• Go with your gut. When you visit the centers in person, you'll probably have a gut reaction to the environment and teachers. Trust yourself.
• If you visit a center, visit all the rooms that your child may use in the future, not just the age group they are in at the present.
• Just because a center is not accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), the organization in charge of accrediting centers, doesn't mean it isn't a top-notch facility. Many smaller centers find the accreditation process expensive and time consuming, and elect not to pursue it.

Resources

• National Association for the Education of Young Children