Free child care offered to Guard, Reserve members

Dick Benoit

Thursday, July 29, 2004 | 8:49 a.m.

A nonprofit organization dedicated to helping families find quality child care is working to provide such care free of charge to Reserve and National Guard members on rest-and-recuperation leave from Iraq.

The National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies launched Operation Child Care in May. To date, more than 5,000 child-care providers have signed on to provide at least four free hours of child care to reservists and guardsmen.

"Child-care providers who meet state and local child-care regulations will provide four or more hours of free child care so that service members can attend to family business or take their spouses out for a date," according to a news release on the program.

Three major commercial chains that specialize in child care -- KinderCare Learning Centers, Bright Horizons Family Solutions and LaPetite Academy centers also have signed on to provide free care. KinderCare and LaPetite are each providing one full day of child care free of charge to eligible service members. Bright Horizons is providing two days of free child care.

Linda Smith, executive director of the child care referral association, said the idea for Operation Child Care came out of a discussion she had in October with an official who oversees child-care centers for the Army. The two were discussing circumstances facing troops in today's high-paced military.

The following week, Smith pitched the idea to a group of state child-care referral specialists meeting in Chicago and got an overwhelming response.

"They all wanted to support it," she said in a telephone interview with American Forces Press Service.

Volunteer providers are spread through communities across the country.

Reserve and Guard members who are seeking care for their children can find local providers through Operation Child Care's Web site at: http://www.childcareaware.org/en/operationchildcare/

The site also includes tips on how to choose the best child and a list of things to consider before calling to request care.

In brief