Child Care Choices

A woman and two young girls are sitting at a table, playing with toy animals. The woman, wearing a red shirt, is engaged with the children, while one girl in a polka-dotted shirt and another in a yellow shirt hold animal figurines. The table is full of toy animals, including a giraffe in the foreground.

Early Care & Education

Child Care Choices is an innovative public health strategy that provides parents with information about how to access early care and education (ECE) services, trains LA County staff on how to help families access ECE, and provides ECE payment vouchers to families living in low-income and justice-impacted communities.

Overview

Child Care Choices helps families increase access to child care and payment assistance. The strategy is funded by Care First Community Investment (CFCI). Child Care Choices has 3 primary goals:

Strengthening Services: Training for LA County staff on ways parents can find child care and payment assistance in subsidized care.

Results:

529 LA county staff trained from 9 departments
386 community agency staff trained from 84 agencies
92 % of LA County/community agency staff report increased confidence in supporting families in navigating child care.

Supporting Children: Child care payment assistance for families living in South Los Angeles and Central Los Angeles.

Results:

194 LA County children have received voucher to pay for child care

Increasing Awareness: Campaign to promote early care and education programs that are free and low-cost for families.

Results:

77,602 families visited childcarechoiceslacounty.org to connect with child care resources.

For more information regarding the Child Care Choices training, please contact Alejandra Berrio at (213) 753-6500 or aberrio@ph.lacounty.gov.
For more information regarding the Child Care Choice voucher program, please contact Ida Legesse at (213) 752-9175 or ilegesse@ph.lacounty.gov.

Training

Los Angeles County has a wide range of publicly funded early care and education services. Child Care Choices is conducting free training for staff across LA County on the early care and education system.

The training provides information on:

The benefits of early care and education programs
Types of care available for children
Ways to connect to early care and education programs
Tips on how to select child care

Interested in learning more about how to connect with child care programs in LA County?

You can schedule a training session for your team by contacting Alejandra Berrio at aberrio@ph.lacounty.gov.

Payment Assistance

Child Care Choices Voucher Program

The Child Care Choices Voucher Program, provided through Crystal Stairs, helps families in Los Angeles County access quality child care and early education with the goal of reducing justice system involvement for Angelenos most at risk. Eligible households may qualify for free child care if they live in zip codes 90052, 90058, 90059, 90002 or have been impacted by the justice system.

To learn more, visit https://www.crystalstairs.org/child-care-choices-program/.

Campaign

Child Care Choices is a campaign created to help families understand and access early care and education (ECE) options available across Los Angeles County for children from birth to age 12. Developed by the Los Angeles County Office for the Advancement of Early Care and Education (OAECE), in collaboration with the Child Care Alliance, First 5 LA, the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE), and local Resource & Referral agencies, the campaign offers trusted, practical information about the types of child care available and how to get help paying for it. Whether you’re just starting your child care journey or exploring new options, Child Care Choices gives you the information you need to make confident, informed decisions for your family.