Finding Quality Child Care in Georgia

This post is sponsored by Everywhere Agency on behalf of GEEARS: Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students. However, all thoughts are my own.

When Red turned 3, I needed a break. I was still working as a professional costume designer for several Atlanta theatres, and toting a wiggly toddler around wasn’t very easy as I traipsed through the fabric stores. Child Care was needed, and I had so many questions. How do we know which daycare is best? Should it be education based, play based? Are they meeting basic licensing standards? Are they nearby? My list of queries was endless. After making spreadsheets and arranging countless interviews with local Atlanta establishments, we finally found the perfect spot for our family, but I sure wish it had been easier. We needed more resources to help find quality-rated child care near us!

As Scarlett grew old enough to need child care during the day hours (Red has since graduated to elementary school… how did he grow up so quickly??), I steeled myself for the new search. We had moved to a new home and were therefore far away from our old Atlanta preschool, which meant the search for a new facility was looming. As our preschool search process repeated itself, I wish I had known about the Quality Rated Child Care tool. It would have been easier not only to see all child care locations in my area but to have an insight into each of them!

 Search for Child Care in Georgia

When you click to use Quality Rated’s free search tool, you’ll find it easy to organize the child care options by price, distance, services, and even by star-rating, if you choose. I searched for child care programs that aligned with our driving routes to Red’s school, our gym, and major areas for our errands. The tool helps me, as a parent, assess each school’s program, safety reports, hours, prices, credentials, and even seek out transportation options.

After honing your search, the best Georgia child care options for you will pop up in a list, with a map as you can specify a location or zip code. The results will list all licensed and license-exempt child care providers to give you a comprehensive overview of what’s available to you. Hopefully, it will be easy to select a few schools that you are interested in interviewing!

You should know that Quality Rated schools are independently evaluated by credentialed early-childhood experts to ensure that they follow best practices. That means that child care facilities rated at 1-, 2-, or 3- stars in the program are committed to continually improving both the physical locations as well as the education they provide your children. See Red down there? I’m convinced that his early preschool time instilled a love of reading that will never be extinguished. A strong education program in his preschool was important to me!

Print a Child Care Checklist and Worksheet

After you’ve searched through the Quality Rated search tool, organize your list of child care choices. Make appointments or choose visitation dates to interview, tour and see the daycare facilities. Then, print out my Choosing Childcare Checklist and Worksheet, which is pretty comprehensive. Bring a copy when you visit a daycare center, so you know what to ask. Then, compare and contrast your answers. Had this worksheet been around when I was choosing child care for my kids, I would have felt more prepared! Instead, I had to hold question and answers in my brain, which was hard when visiting three or more facilities. This resource makes it easier to review all the information and decide on a facility that’s right for your family!

Is Your Child Care Center Quality Rated?

I went through the steps to find our school in the rating tool, simply searching by name. I reviewed the findings, and was very happy in our choice! Should I have found something that caused questions, I would easily have the knowledge to move forward. After all, these little kiddos of mine may drive me crazy from time to time, but I love them dearly. Getting the best care and education for them that I possibly can is very important to me! Have you heard of Quality Rated? What do you consider when making a child care choice?  You can click here to see if your child care center is rated!