Where can I look for child care?

Finding Child Care
Some employers offer child care. If your employer doesn’t, he or she may be able to refer you to businesses in the area that do. You might be able to sign up as a non-employee, if there is an opening for your child.

You can also contact Child Care Aware, at 1-800-424-2246 or www.ChildCareAware.org, for child care services. This group can put you in touch with your community’s child care resources and referral agencies. The agencies can give you a list of licensed child care providers.

Child Care Aware has information you can use to find good, safe child care. Here are a few resources:

Types of child care
Checklist of questions to ask child-care providers
Checklist to measure the quality of child-care providers
Child-care finder

Also check in with your state or county human services departments. They have lists of licensed child-care providers. Another resource is the National Network for Child Care. It lists child-care information by state.

Child-Care Tax Breaks

If you (and your spouse) are working, you can claim a tax credit for the costs of paying someone to care for your child. A tax credit is the best type of tax break. It is better than a tax deduction in that a tax credit lowers your tax liability dollar for dollar. Be sure to save your receipts for child-care costs—you’ll need them when you file your income tax. To qualify for the child-care tax credit, pick up IRS Form 2441 from your local library, call the IRS form distribution center at 1-800-829-3676 and request the form, or visit www.irs.gov. Generally, if your child is 12 years old or younger, and you’re working (or looking for work), you’ll qualify for the credit.

Paying for Child Care
You may be able to pay for child-care expenses with pre-tax dollars through a flexible spending plan at your work. Flexible spending accounts are known by several names: 125 plan, premium only plan, flex plan, flexible benefit plan, and so on. They all work the same way, though. You set aside money in this account through payroll deduction, then use it to pay for child-care costs. Using pre-tax dollars to pay for child care is like getting a 15 percent (or more) discount on child-care costs.

Normally, you agree to put a fixed amount of money into a flexible spending account. But you need to make a realistic estimate of your annual child-care costs. If you don’t spend the full amount of what you put into the account by the end of the year, any money left over is lost.

Some state or county human services departments offer help to pay part of your child-care costs. Contact your state or county human services department for details. You can find contact information for these departments on their Web sites or in the government pages of your telephone directory.