Child Care and Schools
If you have a child, you'll need to know about New York City schools and child care.
New York City Schools
The New York City public school system is pretty complicated. Fortunately InsideSchools.org, a project of The Center for New York City Affairs at The New School, has extensive information to help you understand the system and provide help with finding a school for your child. Begin with their helpful New to New York City Schools. Then use their school finder to understand schools by neighborhood. This may also help in determining where you choose to live. Elementary school children typically go to their local school. Middle school children may go farther afield and high schoolers have many schools to choose from.
Private nurseries and schools can be very expensive.
Child Care
Reliable child care is essential for working families. Finding and evaluating affordable quality care is an important undertaking for your infant to school-age children.
There are three primary forms of child care for children newborn through five years: in-home, family care, and center-based care. Family and center-based child care are both regulated by New York City. Because of limited availability of center-based care for children under two, most families rely on in-home or family care. In lower Manhattan neighborhoods, the waitlist for centers average over a year, so if you seek this type of care, you should get on the waitlist early. Centers are accustomed to accepting applications from expectant and adopting parents. New York City offers many child care services. In addition, ChildCareCenters.us is a large searchable database for both family (home) child care and center-based care.
In-home care is care provided by an individual that you employ to work in your home. Caregivers are available to either 'live in' or 'love out' and come to your home each day.
Family Child Care
A regulated family child care provider takes care of three to six children in their own home or apartment. In group family care, the provider and an assistant cares for seven to twelve children. These settings serve children from infant through school age.
Infant and Pre-School Center-Based Programs
Center-based care is known by several names, including day care center, child care center, early childhood program. These programs often provide a full day of care, generally from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm. Partial-day or school-day programs, often referred to as nursery schools, are also available.
School-Age Center-Based Programs
Care is provided for children before and after school hours. Some programs also provide care during school vacations and holidays. Summer camp is included in this category.
Sometimes you just need someone who can care for your child during a particular moment and you need a babysitter. This organization also provides ways to find a sitter, but please note that its inclusion here does not indicate New School endorsement.