Child Care Choices: An Overview of Early Learning and Care Settings

Finding child care that is affordable, safe, and developmentally appropriate is critical for children and families alike. Children experience both short- and long-term benefits from quality early learning, which sets them up for success as they enter school and beyond.

For a majority of families with young children, child care is an economic necessity while they work or attend school. As families navigate their unique circumstances, choice and access as it pertains to child care settings is imperative.

People may use different phrases – including daycare, early learning, child care, preschool or pre-K – to describe the various settings, programs, and opportunities that support young children, but the commonly made distinction between ‘care’ and ‘education’ in early childhood is a false one. Since children are born learning, anywhere they are receiving care is a place for learning, regardless of the physical location or what it is technically called. Quality early learning and care can occur in any number of settings, including publicly or privately funded early learning centers, schools, community spaces, religiously affiliated buildings, in a child’s home or someone else’s home and other settings. Likewise, care can be provided by professional caregivers, family members, and other trusted individuals.

This resource provides a broad overview of the settings where children go while they are not in the care of their parent(s) or guardian(s) before they enter the traditional K-12 school system. The settings outlined here are not mutually exclusive, as families often piece together multiple forms of child care to meet their individual needs. This diverse landscape of options is referred to as a mixed-delivery system because there are numerous programs and funding sources that work together to care for children. Parents make decisions about where to place their children based on a combination of factors, including cost, location, hours of care needed, individual needs of the child, culture, values, and more.

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