How to Find Free Childcare and Camp Money

You need to go to work. You're looked at your income and your budget. You've cut back on everything--no more cable television, no more high-speed internet, you never eat out, you buy your clothes at thrift stores, and you've sold everything you can on eBay. Your budget is tapped, the kids need dental care, the car is dying (or dead), and there's no choice: you need to work.

Or, maybe you're a single parent now, and for the first time in years you have to apply for jobs and consider employment outside the home. What will you do with your kids while you're at work?

And then perhaps you have a child with special needs, who needs specific care, and you're not sure how to find money for camp, or for day care, when his or her needs are different from most kids' issues and you need specialty care.

What do you do? If your income isn't high enough to pay for day care, then what's the use in working? And yet many parents find themselves struggling to cover day care so that they can attend college and make a better life for their family; to qualify for government assistance; or simply to get ahead.

The Internet can help you..

It may sound unbelievable, but there are child care scholarship programs out there, and these are programs that are designed to help working families like yours to easy the financial burden of childcare. To find information and apply, take the following steps:

1. Start with government programs. Head Start is the oldest child care/preschool education program administered by the government.

The majority of the services are provided by local non-profit organizations and state agencies. http://www2.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/hsb/ provides general information, plus lots of links for non-profits that are looking to become a Head Start service provider.

The best information for parents who want to enroll their child(ren) into Head Start is at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/hsb/hsweb/index.jsp or visit Child Care Aware ( Toll-free: 800-424-2246) - an affiliated program at: http://www.childcareaware.org for more information about how Head Start services might help your little ones be ready to do their best.
2. Next, use a search engine to see if your state or local government offers child care assistance. In Massachusetts, for instance, many towns offer scholarships for kids to attend preschool; even expensive programs, like Montessori and Waldorf, are covered by these programs. Use a search engine to look for "[your town and state] child care grant" to learn more.

3. IfAre you a full-time undergraduate or graduate student? Contact your college's family services department to ask about child care waivers. Many universities and colleges give vouchers to students who are parents; local preschools take the vouchers as full payment for full-time tuition. You can also use search engines to find colleges that do offer these services, if you're still in the process of choosing a college for school. Imagine getting free child care from one college vs. not getting this service from the other--that's valuable information to have when making your choice.

4. Consider buying a Grant Guide. While some grant guides on the Internet are scams, do your research to see if there is one targeting child care programs. Most information found in Internet eBooks can be found with hours of search engine hunting, while Grant Guides and Day Care Guides cost $19.95 on up. Weigh the options: is your time worth more than your money? Is the eBook a rip-off? Only you can decide for yourself with option is best.

5. Go into a search engine and type "camp scholarship". You will be pleasantly surprised by the number of programs out there. If you have a specific town or area where you need to send your children, type in the name of that town or camp and the word "scholarship." Many camps offer 50% or more off tuition for lower-income families.

6. And, finally, check with the day care, school, or camp you're considering. Many private schools offer partial scholarships. Most camps--especially YMCA camps--offer substantial discounts for lower-income families, or for children who have special needs.

All of these approaches can yield good information to help you with day care issues. Don't let day care problems or financial issues stop you from improving your life; this set of steps helps you figure out how to find subsidized, or free, day care using the Internet.