The phrase “military readiness” often is used to refer to physical fitness and mental acuity, but there is another factor that impacts active-duty troops and their ability to achieve peak performance: family life. And a crucial component to “family fitness” is having adequate child care options. 

The U.S. Department of Defense recognizes that affordable and accessible childcare is critical to the success and well-being of military parents, and the DoD currently offers an array of child care programs designed to serve military families. Indeed, the DOD operates the largest employer-sponsored child care program in the United States, serving approximately 200,000 children of servicemembers and DOD civilian employees. 

“Access to child care directly affects mission readiness, morale, and retention of defense personnel worldwide,” states the DOD website. “For this reason, the Department of Defense is committed to connecting military and DOD-affiliated families to quality, affordable child care programs.”

The DOD operates an online portal, MilitaryChildCare.com (https://militarychildcare.com/), that can help families in any service branch find and request military-operated child care worldwide.

There are a number of different child care options available to military families through the DOD, allowing families to select the proper type of care for their child’s age and family schedule. Care types include full-day care, part-day care, school-year care, summer camp, extended care, 24/7 care, and hourly care. Within these basic care types, there are also multiple options, including:

Child Development Centers (CDCs) provide child care services for infants, pretoddlers, toddlers, and preschoolers. They operate Monday through Friday during standard work hours, and depending on the location, offer full-day, part-day, and hourly care.

Family child care is provided by qualified child care professionals in their homes. Designed for infants through school agers, each FCC provider determines what care they offer, which may include full-day, part-day, school year, summer camp, 24/7, and extended care. Some FCC providers offer flexible operating hours and can adjust their hours to accommodate requests from parents.

24/7 Centers provide child care for infants through school age children in a home-like setting during both traditional and non-traditional hours on a regular basis. The program is designed to support watch standers or shift workers who work rotating or non-traditional schedules (i.e., evenings, overnights, and weekends). While other families may use a 24/7 Center if space is available, priority is given to sponsors who require 24/7 care.

School age care is facility-based care for children from the start of kindergarten through the end of the summer after seventh grade. This program type operates Monday through Friday during standard work hours. SAC programs provide both School Year Care and Summer Camp.

Eligibility and priority for child care services are determined by family type, to ensure that the most “mission-critical” families receive access to military child care. The priority order is as follows:

Priority 1B: Single/Dual Military and Military with a Full-Time Working Spouse

1. Active-Duty Combat-Related Wounded Warrior
2. Single/Dual Active-Duty Military/Coast Guard
3. Single/Dual Guard/Reserve on Active Duty
4. Active-Duty Military/Coast Guard with Full-Time Working Spouse
5. Guard/Reserve on Active Duty with Full-Time Working Spouse

Priority 1C: Military with a Part-Time Working Spouse or Spouse Seeking Employment

1. Active-Duty Military/Coast Guard with Part-Time Working Spouse or Spouse Seeking Employment
2. Guard/Reserve on Active Duty with Part-Time Working Spouse or Spouse Seeking Employment

Priority 1D: Military with a Spouse Enrolled Full-Time Student Spouse

1. Active-Duty Military/Coast Guard with Full-Time Student Spouse
2. Guard/Reserve on Active Duty with Full-Time Student Spouse

Priority 2: Single/Dual DoD Civilians or DoD Civilian with a Full-Time Working Spouse

1. Single/Dual DoD or Coast Guard Civilian
2. DoD or Coast Guard Civilian with Full-Time Working Spouse

Priority 3: Space Available

1. Active-Duty Military/Coast Guard or Guard/Reserve on Active Duty with Non-Working Spouse
2. DoD or Coast Guard Civilian with Spouse Seeking Employment
3. DoD or Coast Guard Civilian with Full-Time Student Spouse
4. Gold Star Spouse
5. Single/Dual DoD Contractor or DoD Contractor with a spouse who is Full-Time Working, Seeking Employment, or a Full-Time Student
6. In no order of precedence:
   • DoD or Coast Guard Civilian with Part-Time or Non-Working Spouse
   • DoD Contractor with Part-Time or Non-Working Spouse
   • Deactivated Guard/Reserve Personnel or Inactive Guard/Reserve in a Training Status
   • Other Federal Employees
   • Military Retirees

Legislative Efforts Seek To Expand Military Child Care

Although there are myriad child care options available to military families, there have been chronic staff shortages leading to substantial wait times for families. In 2023, for example, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said there were more than 12,000 children on waiting lists for military child care, and staff shortages of more than 3,900 caregivers. 

Bipartisan legislation was introduced in 2024 in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives to increase pay for military child care staff, and to improve the access of members of the armed forces and their families to high quality early child care opportunities. As yet, no legislation has passed.