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.

Note: If you are unable to use the CCRAW portal or need assistance creating your account, contact 1-888-722-1540.

2.  Select “Sign Up."
3. Select “Register."
4. Enter your email address, and select “Register now”. You will receive an email to create a password for your account.
5. Open your email inbox and click on the message from OneHSN. Select the hyperlink in the message. This will take you to the “Set Password” screen.
6. Follow the prompts to create and confirm a new password. Select the “Set Password” button.

Start your application for child care

Existing Users

1. Login to your CCRAW account using your email address and password.

My details

1. Select the “My details” tab and enter your personal details. The information you provide will help the waitlist find child care programs near you.

Note: If your family is in a family emergency shelter, leaving a family emergency shelter, and/or fleeing abuse, select the option under “Socio-Economic Factors."

2. Select “Save” once you are done entering your information.

Child profile

1. Under the “My Children” tab select “+ Add a child."
2. Enter your child’s information:
   • First name
   • Last name
   • Date of birth 

Note: 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."

• Gender
• Primary Language
• Your relationship to the child
• school board
• Select if child is school aged
• School (if applicable)
• Declare Indigenous ancestry and/or francophone status, if applicable

Additional information

Children with special needs

1. If your child has any special health or developmental needs, select the button under “Additional Information”. This section is not mandatory but can help service providers prepare to support your child.
2. Check all the boxes that describe your child’s additional needs and provide more details in the comment box. If your child has other needs that are not identified in the boxes, select “Other Concerns” and describe your child’s needs. This could include speech concerns or emotional concerns.
3. If your child has a special needs diagnosis, select “Please list any relevant diagnoses that your child has” and provide details about the diagnosis. 
4. Once you have added your child’s additional information, select “Continue to special needs consent form” and complete the form that will appear in a new pop-up window. To save a copy after completing the form, select “View signed consent."

Fee subsidy

1. If you need help to pay for the cost of child care, select “I need help with my day care costs." There will be additional information at the end of these steps to help you complete a child care fee subsidy application.

Note: The child care fee subsidy program is different from the Canada-Wide Early Learning Child Care (CWELCC) system. The CWELCC system reduces fees for all families with children attending CWELCC-enrolled programs; the fee subsidy program provides financial assistance to families who cannot afford child care.

2. Choose your preferred start date for child care.
3. Select the days of the week that you need care.
4. If you have another child that needs child care, click on “Save and add another child” and repeat the steps for Child profile and Additional information. Repeat until all children needing child care have been added.
5. If you do not have another child to add, click on “Save and Continue to the next Step.”

Program Selection

1. Choose the options from the pop-up window or use the filters at the top of the page to help with your search for a child care Provider. You can set the filters to show you the types of programs you may be interested in, program times or specific languages. Based on your preferences you can also select the following options
   • “Show existing child care applications only”
   • “Show providers with vacancies”
   • “Show programs my child is currently eligible for”
   • “Favourites”
   • “Participating in the national child care system (CWELCC)”

Note: 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 provider with a vacancy that you would like to apply to, click on the “Apply” button in the bottom right corner. This will take you to more information about the child care provider.
3. To save a provider for later, select the heart in the upper-right hand corner to add to favourites.
4. If applicable, check the boxes “Sibling enrolled at child care provider” and/or “I am willing to accept a space prior to my preferred start date”.
5. Under “Programs”, you will find the program that your child is eligible for. Ensure that the correct “days you are looking for care” are selected. Once confirmed, select “Apply”. If you do not see the “Apply” button, select “More information”.
6. Select the “X” in the top right corner or “Back to map” button to return to the list of programs.
7. Repeat steps 1 to 5 to apply to additional programs.  

Note: You can apply to up to nine centre-based or school providers and five home child care providers. 

Location prioritization

1. Once you have selected “Apply” for all the programs you are interested in, select, “Next Step” in the bottom right corner. Rank your programs in order of where you would like to go most. The program you pick as number one should be your first choice. If you need to reset the priority levels select “Clear priority."

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 accepted to another program. There is no guarantee that a space will become available at your top choice.

2. When you finish ranking the programs, select “Continue” to complete your application. On the next screen you will see a “Success” message and a summary of your applications.
3. You will receive a confirmation email once your child care application is complete. Your selected child care programs will be notified about your application.
4. If you selected that you need help with day care costs, on the Summary page, select “Save child information & apply for subsidy” to continue to the fee subsidy application. For steps on how to complete the fee subsidy application visit the Apply for child care fee subsidy page.
5. Important: A family must secure a child care space at a CWELCC-enrolled child care program before a family can be assessed for child care fee subsidy eligibility.

Making changes to your application

1. To make changes to your application, log in to your CCRAW account and select the tab “Summary of my child care applications”. On this page you can change the order you had ranked programs and the preferred start date.
2. If you would like to remove an application, select the garbage can icon.

Waiting for a child care space

You may not hear from child care service 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, there 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 do not 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

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.  
2.  If you accept a space, you will remain on the waitlist for any programs that you have ranked higher than that space in your list of programs you wanted to attend. For example, if you receive a space 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 “Summary of my child care applications” where you will receive a summary of your child care applications and can remove a program or change the order of your rankings.

Complete your registration

You will receive a registration package to complete. Your child care service provider may 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

By email

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

In person – 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 (in the Beacon Hill Shopping Centre)

West

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

South

2020 Walkley Road (near Conroy Road)

By phone

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

1. Select your preferred language (1 for English, 2 for French)
2. Select 4 for Social Services and Child Care
3. Select 2 for Child Care

TTY Line 1-800-855-0511

Technical Support

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