Apply for child care

Find a licensed child care provider

When looking for a child care service provider, families should consider:

• Their child’s age
• The location of the child care
• The child care’s hours of operation
• Their preferred type of licensed child care
• Their child’s needs

Licensed child care can provide families with increased access to services and supports, including:

• Children’s Inclusion Support Services (CISS) for children with special needs
• Child care fee subsidy
• Fee reductions through the CWELCC system

Learn more about the benefits of licensed child care.

You can complete an application for licensed child care using a computer or mobile device.
Do you need access to a computer to complete your application? View this map to find all computers available to the public.

Create an online account

1. Use the Ottawa Child Care Registry and Waitlist (CCRAW) to start your application profile.
2.  Choose “sign up and create a free OneHSN account”.
3. After you enter your email address, you will receive an email to create a password for your account.

Start your application for child care

Enter your and your child’s information 

1. Login to your new CCRAW account. Enter your personal details like your name, address, and your contact information. Add information like the location of your school or workplace. This will help the waitlist find child care programs near you.
2. Select “Save” once you are done entering your information.
3. Enter your child’s information. Complete your child’s profile by entering information like their name and date of birth.
4. If the child is not born yet, you can enter your child’s due date as the date of birth and select the option “this date represents my child’s due date”.
5. Choose your preferred start date for child care and select the days of the week that you expect you will need child care.
6. If you have another child that needs child care, click on “Save and add another child” and repeat this process. Repeat until all children needing child care have been added 
7. If you do not have another child to add, click on “Save and Continue to the Next Step.”

Children with Special Needs

Complete the special needs section in the CCRAW if your child has additional needs you would like to share with a provider. This section is not mandatory but can help providers prepare to support your child.

1. If your child has a special need, select all the options that describe your child’s additional needs such as “speech concerns” or “emotional concerns”.
2. Select “continue” to go to the Special Needs consent form. This information will be shared with the providers you have applied for.

Child Care Fee Subsidy

If you need help to pay for the cost of child care, select “I need help with my day care costs”.

Learn more about Child Care Fee Subsidy, find out if you are eligible and how to apply. You can apply for a child care fee subsidy anytime. However, the City can only determine your eligibility once you have a child care space at a CWELCC-enrolled program.

Note: The child care fee subsidy program is different from the CWELCC system, which also helps to reduce fees for children 0 to 6 years old.

Choosing licensed child care programs

1. Use the filters to help with your search. You can set the filters to show you the types of programs you may be interested in including home-based or centre-based, or specific languages like English or French.
   Note: The CCRAW will show you programs that your child is eligible for. The options that will appear first are those that are closest to the address that you entered earlier. 
2. When you find a child care program that you would like to apply to, click on the “apply” button beside the child care Provider name. You can apply to up to nine centre-based programs and five home-based child care programs.
3. You will be asked to rank your programs in order of where you would like to go most.
   • The program you pick as number one should be your favourite choice and the program set as nine should be your least favourite choice.
   • Please note: Ranking your choices is important because it will make sure your child stays on the waitlist for your top choices even if they get placed in another program. There is no guarantee that a space will become available at your top choice.
4.  You will receive a confirmation email once your application is complete. Your selected child care programs will be notified about your application.

Register your child in a program

1. If a spot becomes available for your child, the child care program will contact you. They may contact you by email or by phone. The child care program will provide you with a registration package.
2. If you receive an offer to register your child at a program, you will remain on the waitlist for any programs that you have ranked higher than the program that your child has been offered a space for. For example, if you receive a spot at your second choice option, you will be kept on the waitlist for your first choice.
3. Review or edit your application at any time by clicking on “home” where you will receive a summary of your child care applications and can remove a program or change the order of your rankings.

Waiting for a child care space

You may not hear from child care providers until a space becomes available for your child. Currently, more families are trying to get licensed child care spaces than there are spaces available. Because of this, it may be a long wait to get a child care space. The City recommends that your family apply for child care as soon as you can. You may also need to have a backup plan in case you don’t get a licensed child care space by the time you need child care.  Learn more about other child care options.

After getting a licensed child care space 

Complete your registration 

You will receive a registration package to complete. Your child care provider will provide a copy of their parent handbook with information about the child care program, their policies, program fees and daily schedule.

Update your Ottawa Child Care and Waitlist profile  

If you have applied for other child care programs that you are no longer interested in, log in to your Ottawa Child Care and Waitlist  profile and remove them from the list of programs you have applied for.   

Help with your application

To get support with your application questions email: ChildrensServices@ottawa.ca 

Employment and Social Service Centres

Visit one of the City’s four Employment and Social Services offices to access a computer.

Offices are open Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 4 pm.

Central

370 Catherine Street, 1st floor (near Bay Street)

East

2339 Ogilvie Road, 1st floor (Beacon Hill Shopping Centre)

West

100 Constellation Drive, 2nd Floor (near Baseline and Woodroffe)

South 

2020 Walkley Road (near Conroy Road)

Technical Support

For technical support with your application, email: Support@OneHSN.com or call 1-888-722-1540.

Phone

Call 3-1-1 Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 4 pm and follow the prompts.

Language (1 for English, 2 for French)
Select 4 for Social Services and Child Care
Select 2 for Child Care
TTY Line 1-800-855-0511