Look, Listen, and Ask: Choosing Quality Child Care Tip Sheets

Choosing a child care program for your child is an important decision. You need to feel comfortable with your choice and be confident that your child is in a safe and caring environment.

When looking for child care, visit each setting in person to make sure the program is the right fit for your child. Visiting allows you to see firsthand how the program operates, what your child will experience during a typical day, and how the teachers interact and work with children. Visiting also allows you to see what the classrooms and play spaces look like and gives you a chance to ask questions.

The Look, Listen, and Ask tip sheets are short tools to help guide your child care program visits. They are designed to help you learn more about the program. There is a tip sheet for each kind of child care setting.

• "Look, Listen, and Ask: Tips for Choosing a Quality Child Care Center"
• "Look, Listen, and Ask:Tips for Choosing a Family Child Care Home"
• "Look, Listen, and Ask:Tips for Choosing Quality Before-School and Afterschool Care"
• "Look, Listen, and Ask: Tips for Choosing a Quality School Vacation or Summer Program"

Here are some additional resources that may be helpful to review before choosing a child care program.

• Your state may provide additional tips about how to choose quality child care on its child care consumer education website. To find your state or territory’s child care consumer education website, select your state or territory and select the “Understanding and Finding Child Care Resources” page.
• "Child Care Aware of America’s "Selecting a Child Care Program" web page provides comprehensive checklists for each type of care setting.
• Many states have child care resource and referral (CCR&R) services that provide information about child care options via phone, in person, online, or email. Most of these CCR&R agencies also have websites with child care information and resources. To find your local CCR&R agency, select your state or territory and review the “Understanding and Finding Child Care Resources” page.