We offer a host of helpful tools for families in need of child care, including access to the LOCATE: Child Care resource and referral service, free premium membership to Care.com, backup care, and preferential admission relationships with our child care center partners.
Finding Child Care
Licensed Child Care in Maryland
Our LOCATE: Child Care partnership allows you to receive individual counseling to assess your child care needs and then be matched with available services in Maryland.
Once you’re registered, you’ll be matched with available services, and receive referrals to registered family child care providers and licensed group programs, as well as follow-up assistance until placement is found. LOCATE also provides materials on specialized child care options and services, federal income tax credits for families, and Maryland state financial assistance programs.
Services Offered
LOCATE’s database includes all Maryland-registered family child care providers and licensed group programs, such as full-day centers, preschool and Head Start programs, public pre-K programs, private kindergartens, school-age programs, summer programs and camps. Read more on the LOCATE website, or follow the steps below to register and request service.
Enhanced information and referral services include:
- Direct access to information about all registered and licensed child care programs throughout Maryland
- Confidential, individual counseling and assessment of child care needs to match those needs with available services
- Referrals to child care providers with immediate vacancies or potential future openings
- Service for families whose children have cognitive, motor, medical, or social challenges, including behavior
- Information on choosing the best child care for your situation
- Materials on specialized child care options and services (nanny and au pair agencies, transportation services, etc.), federal income tax credits for families, and financial assistance programs in Maryland
- Follow-up assistance until placement is found or all resources are exhausted
How do I register?
Complete and submit the LOCATE: Child Care Registration Form. LOCATE Corporate Enhanced Referral Service will contact you as soon as possible. You may also contact LOCATE at 1-800-999-0120, or LOCATEcorporate@marylandfamilynetwork.org.
JHU Partner Centers
JHU partners with three high-quality Baltimore-area child care centers that give admission and wait list priority to JHU faculty, staff, and students, and scholarships are available for eligible families to help pay for tuition. We also have relationships with other quality centers that offer wait list priority to Hopkins affiliates.
Care.Com Premium Membership
Considering hiring a caregiver to provide child care in your home? You can either identify and hire an in-home provider yourself or use a professional in-home placement agency.
Care.com Premium Membership from Care@Work
Care.com is an online family care platform that connects families with caregivers, including those who provide in-home care. Detailed profiles, references, and background checks are a few of the services Care.com provides to help you find and select the best care available. All full-time JHU faculty and staff get a free premium membership to Care.com’s online platform as part of their benefits package. Care.com also handles JHU’s requests for backup child care and eldercare.
You receive a free premium membership with unlimited access to the Care.com, which is the largest online community for care. (A savings of $145 a year.) With this membership, you can enjoy all the privileges that come with a premium membership:
- Find help for regular and planned care needs for child care, adult and senior care, pet care, housekeeping, and tutoring
- Search detailed profiles that include experience, availability, reviews and ratings
- Post jobs detailing your family’s needs for child, senior, pet, home and more — all care in one place
- Background check options available
- 24/7 access via desktop, mobile web and Care.com App
Quick Tips:
- How to post a job on Care.com or search for a caregiver in your zip code to care for children, adult loved ones, pets, tutors and more
- Use Expert Assistance to skip the search and receive personalized guidance to find a regular caregiver (register to activate your benefit, then call 1-855-781-1303)
- How to access Care@Work’s safety center for best practices on hiring safely
- Use the keyword “Hopkins” to identify Hopkins-friendly providers
- Click the link below, create your account using your JHED ID, select the type of care you need, then “I want to search on my own,” to post a job or hire local caregiver.
You have an obligation to the IRS and state tax agencies to report wages paid to certain in-home providers. Please review the resources below to understand your responsibilities.
Expert Assistance from Care@Work
Expert Assistance through Care@Work is available to search and find the right care for your loved ones.
One of Care.com’s Care Specialists will conduct a needs assessment based on your requirements for care, budget, and any other important details. From there, the specialist will post a job on your behalf, review the results and applicants to provide you with the best options.
Use expert assistance to help you find: nannies and babysitters, tutors, pet sitters and groomers, housekeepers, personal assistants, special needs caregivers, errand runners, and more.
How does it work?
- Enroll and login to your account in the Care@Work app or online.
- Call 1-855-781-1303, ext. 4 or email expertassistance@care.com to connect with a Care Specialist and get started.
*Expert Assistance is a taxable benefit at the supplemental rate
Komae Cooperative Care
Komae is a cooperative childcare app that provides a flexible child care management option. Komae enables parents to identify and vet families with similar parenting styles and COVID-19 protocol practice to build their pod for shared childcare and education.
- Parents can swap Komae points by the hour as a way to manage and coordinate care for their children.
- You will receive an initial balance of points to receive care from others in your community, and you will receive additional points by caring back for another fami
- These services are cost-free to you.
- If you are someone who needs to receive more help than you’re available to offer, you can purchase extra points through Komae.
- If you are someone who serves others more than you need care for yourself, Komae offers quarterly point cash-ins where you can use your earned points to purchase family-forward products and gift cards.
Additional information can be found on the Komae Website and in this User Guide
To get started, download the Komae app to your phone, create your account , and join the Hopkins group.
Johns Hopkins does not endorse Komae, its services, its partners, nor any sitters arranged through Komae. We present this service solely as a convenience for the consideration of our members. Use of Komae and its services are subject to Komae’s Terms of Use.
Other In-Home Care
You have an obligation to the IRS and state tax agencies to report wages paid to certain in-home providers. Please review the resources below to understand your responsibilities.
The Nanny Network provides screened, vetted, and committed caregivers to families in the Baltimore, Washington, and Northern Virginia areas. Specialists work with families with full- or part-time, permanent, or temporary needs, including by fulfilling JHU employees’ backup child care and eldercare requests submitted through Care.com. Johns Hopkins University employees get a 20% discount on the retainer fee for a permanent nanny search, or receive a 20% discount on the temporary membership fee.
Au Pair in America provides intercultural live-in child care that’s a flexible and enriching experience for the entire family. Johns Hopkins faculty and staff receive a discount of up to $500 off program fees. It is free to apply, free to search for au pairs, and free to set up a consultation with a matching expert or local community counselor.
Cultural Care Au Pair provides live-in care with screened young adults coming from more than 20 countries around the world. JHU employees applying for the first time will have their $75 application fee waived. Eligible employees also receive $500 off the program fee when signing up to host an au pair for 30-plus weeks.