Childcare is the bane of any mother’s existence. A friend shared that statement with me long before becoming a Mom and it’s stuck every single time I find myself in a childcare pickle. Thankfully, military families have a handful of incredible resources at their fingertips to help mitigate the issue (you can read more about some of those HERE on Military OneSource), and one of my personally used favorites is Child Care Aware of America (CCAoA).
What is CCAoA?
An organization that broadly works to help families get quality and affordable childcare. More specifically, CCAoA partners with the military and the Department of Defense as a whole to support military families through fee assistance.
Ok, but what’s that mean for me? More simply it means that if your installation is located a pretty long drive from your house and/or there is a huge waitlist for your kiddo to get care at the installation facility, you can use this as an alternative and still keep it fairly affordable.
Woah…you just said “fairly affordable”…
Yes, I did. The most financially friendly childcare option will most likely always be the facilities on your installation. While CCAoA does a great job reducing the cost of community child care through its fee assistance program, it doesn’t necessarily bring the cost down to what it would be at your installation. Definitely something to consider as you weigh your childcare options.
Who can it help?
Eligibility varies by branch – you can find more on eligibility for your specific branch HERE.
How do I sign up?
Wouldn’t you figure, signing up also varies by branch, but the CCAoA page does a great job walking you through step by step what you need to do to get started HERE.
Please note you do have to be on the local installations waitlist to be eligible for the CCAoA financial assistance.
What are the pros?
- Large discount on the standard rate of community childcare
- Option to choose a daycare
- Potentially a closer location to your home vs an installation option
- Technology options available in community facilities that are not typically available on installations
- Smaller wait lists
- Facility options are increased for Guard families
- Does apply to self-employed milsos
What are the cons?
- Hard to get in contact with CCAoA team
- Confusing application process and website
- A lot of paperwork to complete the application process
- Providers might charge more than the market due to the military community
- Not all community facilities accept CCAoA
- Navigating the qualifications (example: distance from home address to nearest installation facility)
- Not available overseas
- Subsidy amounts are set nationwide and do not adjust for higher cost-of-living areas
- Does not cover in-home care
