by Ren Johns, PDX Waitlist founder

The First Questions to Answer When Looking for Child Care

If the process of finding child care is stressing you out, know that I have been there - I found child care for my first child just two weeks before I was supposed to go back to work. It was so frustrating but inspired me to dig deep into all things child care in this community. 

The good news - finding care isn’t that hard if you know what you’re doing. Here’s what I’ve learned in helping hundreds of families find care over the past 6 years. A special thanks to Bridgetown Baby’s Nurturing Circle Community for sharing their questions to help guide this piece! 

What type of care do you need? 

The first step is getting clear on your must-haves and your nice-to-haves. What is your budget? Which hours do you need and how many? How far a commute are you open to? When do you want your child to start care? Often these are fairly set, so that’s what you’re going to use to guide your search. Pro-Tip: Focus on these must-have items first and then use the other parts of your wishlist (Montessori training, organic food) to decide among places/people with availability to avoid narrowing options too soon. 

What’s your Budget? 

While all child care is expensive there’s a pretty big difference in cost between nanny and group care. Nannies for one child in the Portland area range anywhere from $18 - 30/hr depending on the level of experience and training you’d like. For 40 hours a week of care, that’s over $3000/mo before you add taxes (which you are legally required to pay and add about 10% on top). The most expensive infant daycare in the city is around $2100/mo for the same schedule, with the low end around $1250/mo for licensed in-home care. 

If all of that sounds beyond your budget, there are certainly ways to decrease your cost - consider fewer days a week of child care; take part in a nanny share where you split the nanny’s time with another family; or consider an au pair, a live-in caregiver from another country here as part of a cultural exchange program. Whatever you decide, figuring out what you can afford per month is a critical step to being able to move forward. 

What schedule do you need? 

A second really important thing to know is when exactly you need care. Group care, by which I mean daycare and preschool, is mostly available roughly 8-6 (with shortened hours during COVID), Monday through Friday. Places certainly exist that offer care outside that range, but there aren’t as many. Most group care providers are going to want you to have a consistent schedule - if you need two days each week, they generally want it to be the same two days. If your schedule varies or your work evenings and weekends, hiring a nanny, hosting an au pair, or even engaging family support may fit best. 

How soon do you need to start to find daycare?

You’ve probably heard that waitlists for daycare in this town are long and you’re right - pre-COVID waitlists were running 9 mo - 2 years for kids aged 0 - 2, and for a bunch of reasons that I outlined in this article for PDX Parent, they are super long right now. However, there are around 150 places in Multnomah County that keep waitlists and over 730 providers. That means that if you’ve got your heart set on a large center in central Portland, you’re almost guaranteed to have to wait, but also that there are many in-home providers with little to no waitlist or even with openings right now. That doesn’t mean they are bad; these small sites are just often under the radar of parents. So take heart, there’s always something out there! 

To give yourself the best odds for daycare, start as soon as you know you’re going to need care - it’s always better to spend time waiting when you don’t need care then when you do. Also, ask about when the site does their enrollment. The most common times for child care enrollment are Sept. and January, and some providers only do enrollment once a year. If you need to start outside of those common times, ask if a provider does rolling enrollment or not. Pro Tip - If you need care in 3 months or less, that is an urgent child care situation and you don’t have time for waitlists. You just need to reach out directly to a provider to ask if they have any openings for when you need to start. This is a volume game - expect to need to reach out to 20 to 40 places to net yourself the 3-5 with openings that you will choose between. 

Does that mean I’ve already missed the boat for preschool!?!?

If this is making you panic about finding preschool, don’t - there is a huge licensing ratio shift at age 3 from 1 adult to 4 kids to 1 adult to 10 kids, so there are lots more available spots. If you start the fall before the year you want your child to begin preschool (e.g if you wanted them to start in Fall 2022, you’d research options in Oct./Nov. of 2021), you’ll have plenty of choices. Even if you don’t start that early, in non-COVID times you can typically find a solid preschool spot within 1-2 months. 

How soon do I need to start to find a nanny? 

If you’re hoping for a nanny or au pair, the time table is much shorter. Nannies are available at any time and you typically need to start looking for them 1-2 months before you want them to start. Ideally if you’re looking for a nanny share family, it’s nice to have them onboard before that, but it can happen at the same time as well. Au pairs require a bit more lead time than nannies because you are getting a visa, buying plane tickets, etc., but typically you can make it happen within 2-4 months. 

Where do I look? How do I know if a provider is any good? What do I do to transition in? 

Y’all, that’s not a blog post, it’s a series! Here’s my free cheat sheet on finding child care with all the links I use when finding daycare, preschool, and nannies for my private clients. And here’s my free FB group where I share tips on finding care each week. And if you’re interested in getting my help in your search, whether that’s teaching you to find care in my membership program (with a 20% discount for Bridgetown Baby Families!) or just running a search for you, reach out and let’s talk! 

Ren Johns is a mom of 2 kids in NE Portland and the founder of PDX Waitlist. You can find out more about her consulting services here. Get her weekly tips on Instagram or Facebook!