Child Care Support In Their Own Neighborhoods (NAPSA)—Child care is one of the leading concerns and expenses for a majority of families with young children. The need for affordable child care is even greater for America’s military families facing deployment, who experience the overnight loss of a spouse’s parental support. Many military families, particularly Guard and Reserve, live too far from a military installation for on- base care to be an option. As a result, many of these families look to local providers within their civilian communities for child care. Recognizing the need to extend support for quality child care options into the communities where military members areliving, the Department of Defense recently launched two new programs to work in coordination with civilian child care providers. Operation: Military Child Care and Military Child Care in Your Neighborhood help military fami- lies (Guard, Reserve and active duty service members) find and pay for child care directly in their own communities. The program was launchedas a joint effort with the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA). “When a military service mem- ber with children deploys for duty, the remaining spouse really becomes a single parent overnight,” said Linda Smith, Executive Director for NACCRRA. “It can be a struggle emotionally and Two new programs arehelping to provide affordable child care for the children of service members. financially for these families. These programs step in to assist these families with child care options and expenses at a time when they’ve never needed it more.” Both programsare designed to help families find licensed child care if they don’t already haveit, as well as pay for it. Operation: Military Child Care lends support to families of deployed Guard, Reserve, and Active Duty Service Members.Its sister program, Military Child Care in Your Neighborhood, provides assistance to geographically dispersed Active Duty Service Members to find care directly in their own communities. Eligibility for both programs will depend on a family’s total income, as well as its location. To learn more about these programs and to sign up, please call 1-800424-2246 or visit online at www.childcareaware.org for help applying for the subsidy andlocation assistance. Content provided by NACCRRAand the Department ofDefense.
