How to Apply for Child Care

Applying for Child Care is easy. No face-to-face interview is required. Once you are determined eligible, you only need to reapply once a year and report any changes to your case within 10 days.

Applications are processed in the order they are received, once you have provided all necessary verification documents.

How to Apply

Check your eligibility

Visit the State of Ohio's eligibility calculator. This calculator allows you to put in details about your household, family and income and checks for eligibility.

Check Eligibility

Gather documents

As part of your application process, we will need documents to verify the following:

The name and address of a licensed child care provider/program of your choice;
Copies of citizenship or Qualified Alien status verification for each child needing care (e.g. a copy of a birth certificate or I9 immigration form);
Proof of employment showing the past 30 days of income and/or;
Proof of enrollment in an approved school or training activity;
Proof of household size;
You also may be asked to verify physical custody of your child(ren) (i.e. custody papers, school verification).

Apply online

This takes about 10 minutes if you have your documents ready.

Apply for child care assistance

Important! When you create your account, check the box to get text or email notifications about your application. This will alert you faster than a mailed letter about issues with your application.