211 service expanding to child care

MIDDLETOWN — The Middlesex United Way has early learning as one of our focuses. We work with all other United Ways within Connecticut to help fund the 211 hotline and their new and improved website.

The 211 service connects residents with services ranging from housing, substance abuse and mental health treatment, transportation, and child care, among others.

The United Way of Connecticut is proud to announce some great improvements made to help connect families with child care, a necessity often overlooked as a major barrier to employment and financial independence.

The Connecticut Office of Early Childhood, the agency responsible for the oversight of child care and youth camps in Connecticut, in partnership with United Way of Connecticut’s 211 Child Care, announced the launch of an enhanced search tool which now makes detailed inspection information of child care programs, including youth camps, easily accessible to parents and other interested parties.

The 211 Child Care statewide resource and referral service will now offer families detailed program offerings and licensing and inspection information all in one place. United Way of Connecticut has expanded the 211 Child Care online search tool to incorporate this information to further assist families in selecting quality care for their children.

Accessible at 211childcare.org, the program helps parents find and learn more about licensed home and center-based child care providers, and youth camps in Connecticut. For providers, the lookup tool will increase their visibility to the public and improve their ability to connect with and enroll families.

This tool helps families search for:

A provider/program by name or location

Programs that serve specific age groups

⏩ Programs with fees, hours, quality indicators, etc., that match their needs

⏩ See any violations cited by the OEC over the past five years

⏩ View OEC inspection reports and provider’s corrective action plans

The OEC routinely inspects child care programs to ensure the standards Connecticut has set are being met. The results of these inspections are being made more accessible so OEC is more transparent with information that is publicly available, but currently difficult to access. For parents, it can help them make better informed choices about services for their child.

The tool is part of a larger effort to emphasize the value of licensed care in Connecticut, and help parents find licensed child care more easily. OEC and UWC 211 Child Care communications with parents emphasize that child care providers regulated by the state are safe, nurturing places for children to learn and grow, and that licensing demonstrates a commitment to the safety and well-being of Connecticut's children.

For questions about the licensing and inspection, please contact OEC’s Licensing Help Desk at 860-5004450. Questions about the tool itself can be answered by calling 800-505-1000.