Child Care Relief Comes for Families of National Guard and Reserve Members Serving in Global War on Terror

Operation: Military Child Care to Provide Support for Families of Deployed Guard, Reserve and Active Duty Service Members

Washington, DC - National Guard, Reserve and Active Duty military families with service members serving in the Global War on Terror will begin receiving financial assistance and help locating quality child care in their communities thanks to the launch of a joint initiative between the Department of Defense (DoD) and the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA) announced Thursday.

Operation: Military Child Care (OMCC), which will be administered by NACCRRA, will provide financial relief and assistance locating quality child care for eligible military families who do not have access to the DoD's on-base child care options. The program will serve families and child guardians of National Guard and Reserve Service members mobilized or deployed for the Global War on Terrorism.

"It can be a challenge for any parent to locate affordable, quality child care in their community," said Linda Smith, executive director of NACCRRA. "For the spouse of a deployed Guard or Reserve service member who may now be looking at a reduced income with a larger need for child care support, the process can be even more overwhelming. Operation: Military Child Care will bridge the gap to provide affordable, quality child care options for these families."

The largest employer-supported child care program in the nation, the DoD child care program serves more than 200,000 children. While the program has been hailed as a model of child care quality, a large number of military families, particularly Guard and Reserve, are not located near bases and need to find comparable care in their own communities.

"Child care is among the top concerns we continue to hear from military families across the country," said M.-A. Lucas, director, Army Child and Youth Services. "Deploying Service members worry about the extra child care support their spouses will now need while they are gone serving our country. And Guard and Reserve members called to active duty have the added concern of how their families will afford the added child care they need."

"This program is an essential step in the evolution of how the Department of Defense is reaching out to support the child care needs of geographically dispersed military families who do not have access to the high quality child care services offered on military installations," Lucas added.

The OMCC initiative will be administered by a network of NACCRRA member agencies that will walk families through the process of locating a qualified care provider. Once approved, NACCRRA will provide financial support directly to the provider on behalf of DoD, so that Service members' fees can be reduced.

The amount of financial assistance will vary for each family and will depend upon factors such as total family income, geographical location, military services child care fee policies, available funding, as well as certain family circumstances. Eligible families can call the Child Care Aware hotline at 1-800-424-2246 or go online at www.childcareaware.org for help with applying for the subsidy and location assistance.

About Child Care Resource and Referral: Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies help families find, select, and pay for child care, as well as provide training and support to child care providers and help communities and states meet their child care and parenting needs. Through the Child Care Aware® program, funded through a cooperative agreement with the Child Care Bureau, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, nearly half a million families each year are connected to their community Child Care Resource and Referral agencies through the national hotline and Web site, www.ChildCareAware.org

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About NACCRRA: Child Care Aware® and Operation: Military Child Care are two of NACCRRA's many initiatives to improve the development and learning of all children by providing leadership and support to state and community Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies and promoting national policies and partnerships that facilitate universal access to quality child care. NACCRRA is a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., representing a network of more than 850 state and local Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies across the country. To find out more information about NACCRRA, go to www.naccrra.org