Family day care providers, with the assistance of one aide, may care for up to 12 children in their homes. Child care centers and pre-schools provide care in a facility used primarily for child care. Part-time working parents may also become involved in organized play groups. There are a number of ways to locate child care providers. One is to ask your friends, neighbors, and co-workers about their child care arrangements.
Many communities have parent newspapers that have extensive advertising by child care providers.
An example is Parents' Press , which serves the East Bay, San Francisco, and Marin County. These monthly newspapers are distributed free at children's stores and public libraries. Although resource and referral agencies can give you names of potential providers and services that are available in your community, they generally do not visit all child care centers or family day care homes and cannot recommend particular programs or otherwise rate quality - this judgment rests with you. The only child care programs that require licensing are group programs such as family day care or center-based day care. See Child Care Resources, Referral Agencies and Services in Bay Area Counties in this Guide.