Find before- and after-school care at ChildCareSearch.Ohio.gov

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services and Ohio Department of Education are reminding parents to visit ChildCareSearch.Ohio.gov when searching for before- and after-school care for their children.

Families can search for providers by county, city, ZIP code, program type and Step Up To Quality rating (Ohio’s tiered rating and improvement system, which recognizes programs that exceed minimum health and safety standards and promote children’s learning and development), according to a news release.

Programs listed at ChildCareSearch.Ohio.gov serve children of all ages, including infants and preschoolers. All child care programs in Ohio serving more than six children — or more than three children under age 2 — must be licensed. ODJFS and county departments of job and family services are responsible for licensing and inspecting nearly 3,000 family child care homes and more than 4,000 child care facilities throughout the state.

ODE is responsible for licensing school-age child care programs operated by public schools, educational service centers, community schools, boards of developmental disabilities and chartered nonpublic schools.

Both ODJFS and ODE programs may participate in Step Up To Quality. Starting in 2020, all programs that provide publicly funded child care must participate in Step Up To Quality.