Child Care Resources

Staff Senate has gathered this collection of resources to assist staff in exploring child care options.

 

You can search for child care centers on the DCCECE website: https://portal.arkansas.gov/service/ar-child-care-provider-search/

  • Use the search fields to narrow search results, or if you’re looking for an exhaustive list just use the City or County fields to find a list of all centers in your area.

  • If you plan to participate in the Child Care Assistance Program or Essential Child Care Assistance, you will need select “Voucher Participant” to filter your search.

  • You can click on a center name after completing your search to get more information on the center, including contact information, hours, rates and capacity.

 

More information to help you search for child care centers:

  • Arkansas Better Beginnings is an Arkansas Department of Human Services program which evaluates childcare centers and assigns a quality rating of 1, 2, or 3 stars, with 3 stars being assigned to the highest-quality facilities. Childcare centers are not required to seek Arkansas Better Beginnings evaluation. Centers which wish to participate must meet certain criteria to be assigned a Better Beginnings score, and these criteria are designed to ensure that children have safe, happy, and healthy educational experiences, focusing on their physical, socioemotional, cognitive, linguistic, and other areas of development.

  • The Arkansas Department of Health and Human Services has a Child Care Assistance Program available for low-income families. Childcare centers which participate in the assistance (voucher) program are required to agree to the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Program Participant Agreement and must complete a training and exam. Participation in the program allows them to provide child care services to children of families eligible to receive funding. Eligible families select a child care provider from a list of eligible participants. 

 

Arkansas Department of Human Services Child Care Assistance Program

Website: https://dese.ade.arkansas.gov/Offices/office-of-early-childhood/child-care-assistance-program#assistance   

Eligibility

  1. Meet the established income guidelines (PDF)

  2. Each adult residing in the household must be employed at least 30 hour per week, or be enrolled and attending high school, college, GED classes, vocational school or a training program as a full time student. A combination of school and work is acceptable if the individual is involved at a minimum of 30 hours.

  3. Have an eligible child. Our program serves children from birth through 12 years of age.

 

Early Childhood Education and Out of School Time Program Assistance Program Application:

Childcare Assistance Application - English

Childcare Assistance Application - Spanish