Child care can be costly. There are resources available for military families to relieve some of the financial burden. If you don’t have access to on-base child care, apply for military child care fee assistance, which will provide a stipend to your child care provider, reducing your monthly bill.

Here are the steps to apply for child care fee assistance:

Step 1

Sign up at MilitaryChildCare.com for the on-base child development center (CDC) waitlist. If there is not a CDC at your location, you will need to contact Child Care Aware of America to request an exception.

Step 2

Visit ChildCareAware.org to check your branch of service’s requirements. On the same site, identify a child care provider in your area who is eligible to receive the military’s fee assistance. If there is not a provider nearby, contact Child Care Aware of America to request an exception.

Step 3

Apply on ChildCareAware.org. If you receive an email offer of fee assistance, follow the instructions in the email to accept that offer at MilitaryChildCare.com. This is time sensitive!

Step 4

Child Care Aware will send you an email packet with instructions to complete a profile through the Fee Assistance Enrollment Portal. You will provide the name and tax ID number for the child care provider in the portal.

Step 5

Child Care Aware will contact you via email for next steps.

Child Care Aware of America Contact Information

Call: (800) 424-2246, 8 a.m. – 7 p.m. EDT, Monday-Friday

Email: militaryinfo@childcareaware.org

Chat: Military and DoD families can request a chat with a fee assistance specialist through their online application. Visit the Fee Assistance/Respite page to find the information, application and log-in page for your branch of service.

MilitaryChildCare.com Contact Information

Call the Help Desk: (855) 696-2934

Email: FamilySupport@MilitaryChildCare.com

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