Carnegie Mellon University

Child Care Options to Consider

Considerations

  • Nannies are care providers who will come to your home on a scheduled, recurring basis. Some nannies may provide additional services such as light housekeeping and transportation for your child(ren).
  • You will be able to customize your care arrangement with your nanny, so the hours and days they work fit in with your schedule, and so the care your child receives aligns with your beliefs and priorities.
  • In-home child care can also reduce the exposure to illness in comparison to child care centers. If your nanny is sick, traveling or other- wise unavailable, you could experience a short gap in childcare that may be difficult to schedule. (See Interim Care Options for temporary coverage.)
  • Due to the bond that will likely develop between your child and the nanny, changing your in-home provider may impact your child more deeply than a change in daycare would, as they may come to see the nanny as part of the family.

Cost

  • Nanny fees are typically paid weekly or monthly, at the average hourly rate of $25–35/hour.
  • You will likely be required to pay employment taxes for your nanny, based on the wages they earn.
  • If you hire a nanny through an agency, many agencies will assume responsibility for the nanny's employment taxes but will require placement and service fees.
  • Other expenses may include background checks, additional certifications such as CPR and first aid, and costs for raises, bonuses and overtime.

Hiring a Nanny

The process can be lengthy and time-consuming, as it can take time to find an individual you trust to care for your child(ren) and invite into your home. The best way to determine if a nanny is the right fit for your family is generally through an interview, where you can assess the nanny's pedagogy, values and personality. You can search for a nanny using the following resources:

  • Care for Business — Eligible CMU faculty, staff and graduate students have a free premium subscription to care.com, where you can post a job listing seeking a nanny or search for a nanny in your area:
    1. Scroll to the subtitle "Find your right caregiver" on the homepage.
    2. Click the widget labeled "Child Care."
    3. A pop-up window will appear, giving you the choice to post a job description or search local caregivers.
    4. Using the "search local caregivers" option, click the arrow on the toolbar on the top of the screen labeled "Find Caregivers," select "Nannies/recurring babysitters" and enter your zip code. You can also add additional search filters such as hourly rate, availability and experience.
  • Nanny Agency — These agencies partner with professional nannies in your area and create comprehensive profiles for both nannies and families, working to create matches where both parties are happy. The following agencies are not CMU-affiliated, but serve the Pittsburgh area:

Additional Resources

Considerations

  • When you hire an au pair, you are providing room and board to a caregiver from a different country who will typically live with you for at least one year. It is possible to renew contracts after the first year, or to look for a different au pair if the one you selected does not seem to be a good fit.
  • This is a contracted position facilitated by an agency which will help the au pair get a visa and transportation to the U.S.
  • Having a caregiver in your home can reduce transportation issues and provide support during your morning routine.
  • This arrangement provides exposure to the au pair's culture, providing a culturally and linguistically enriching experience for your child.
  • In-home child care can also reduce exposure to illness when compared with child care centers.
  • The loss of privacy can be an adjustment for some families. Many families often forget to consider the emotional investment they will be making when accepting an au pair into their home.
  • Changes to the provider may impact children more deeply than a change in a daycare would, as they may come to see the au pair as part of their family.

Cost

  • Fees usually include an application fee, a matching fee, a program fee, a weekly stipend and about $500 for classes they are required to attend as part of their visa. The total comes to about $20,000 a year for most providers.
  • For the Pittsburgh region, this is comparable in cost for a high-end daycare center for an infant. If you have multiple children, you may find this to be an affordable option. It is typically more affordable than hiring a nanny who lives outside of your home.

Hiring an Au Pair

  • Care for Business — Eligible CMU faculty, staff and graduate students have a free premium subscription to care.com, which can be used to search for an au pair. The au pairs listed on this site are primarily associated with GreatAuPair USA and Go Au Pair.
    • Scroll to the subtitle "Find your right caregiver" on the homepage.
    • Click the widget labeled "Child Care."
    • At the top left of the page, there will be a bar that says "Find Caregivers" and provides a zip code and search radius filtering option. Select the down arrow next to "Find Caregivers" to see other search options, including au pairs.
  • Au Pair in America — This agency provides intercultural child care for your family. Au Pair in America offers a 5% program discount and waives the application fee for CMU faculty and staff with the discount code 402.
  • Local Agencies — These agencies partner au pairs with families seeking child care services:

Considerations

  • Some families have relatives who are able and willing to care for their young children. These arrangements are often beneficial for families in multiple ways, including strengthening familial bonds and reinforcing cultural norms and language in a way that is not possible to replicate or support in other types of care arrangements.
  • Scheduling for family care arrangements will depend on the availability of your family member. Some relatives may have open availability to help, while others can only help in certain pockets of time.
  • Typically, family members are not trained or certified in child development, so family members may lack some of the skills and knowledge that professional child care workers may possess.
  • These arrangements typically provide fewer opportunities for children to socialize with children their own age.

Cost

The cost of arranging child care with family members varies between different families. Some families provide care without charge, while others establish payment arrangements. However, these arrangements usually result in lower expenses compared to professional in-home care.

Considerations

  • Child care centers provide out-of-home care for children, encompassing a variety of options. The primary distinction lies between commercially operated centers and those run within a private residence.
  • This is a common option for families, and the location of the center often becomes an important part of the selection process.
  • There are many benefits to this type of care, including access to trained professionals who can educate your child and support their development, with clear expectations of care established.
  • This care setting also provides an opportunity for children to gain valuable social skills and learn through a structured curriculum.
  • Licensed child care facilities must adhere to a standard of health and safety protocols.
  • Some potential drawbacks include exposure to illness, less individualized attention in comparison to other forms of care, travel time to go to and from a child care center, and cost.
  • Child care centers typically operate with a regular schedule, with closures and in-service days planned in advance. Many are open more than eight hours per day (for example, 7:30 a.m.–6 p.m.), to accommodate a range of work hours. Scheduling can be a significant factor for families, as there are usually additional fees associated with late pickups and there is no flexibility in operating hours.

Cost

  • The cost of child care can vary greatly based on the number of children enrolled in care, your child's age and the amenities of the program.
  • Child care centers often comprise a significant portion of a family's monthly budget.
  • There are financial assistance options available through your state, county or employer, which may defray some of the expense for qualifying families. See Affording Quality Child Care for potential financial aid supports.

Finding a Child Care Center

  • Child care centers can have waitlists up to a year or longer, depending on the specific program, location and age group. If you are pursuing this care option, starting as your search as soon as possible can increase your chances of getting into the program of your choice.
  • Once you contact a program, there is typically an enrollment process that involves completing documentation, touring the center, and meeting with administrators or educators.
  • Many families prefer to get recommendations from friends and family members who are satisfied with their child care arrangement. There are also resources to help you connect to a program that could work well for you.
    • Family Care Concierge Service — CMU faculty, staff and graduate students are eligible to receive personalized assistance from the university's Family Care Concierge Service. The concierge specialists can help search for child care center options.
    • Allegheny County/Trying Together Child Care Finder — Use this search tool to find local child care programs and filter by location, the number and ages of children you're looking to enroll, and transportation. While most of the featured centers will include full-day care, some may have before- and after-care options available.
    • COMPASS Program Finder — Search for providers in Pennsylvania through COMPASS. This website also has information on financial assistance, early learning program options and the Keystone STARS rating system. While most of the featured centers will include full-day care, some may have before- and after-care options available.

Considerations

  • In a nanny share, a family joins together with another family to jointly pay a nanny to watch all their children.
  • Nanny shares can be more cost effective then hiring a nanny for a single child or household.
  • This arrangement allows for more social interaction for the children and allows parents more control over the environment. The care provided can be structured according to the beliefs and priorities of the participating families.
  • Drawbacks for this type of care include a lack of accountability and supervision of the nanny, and slightly less focus on each child if the group is larger.
  • There is more potential exposure to illness, though not as much as you would find at a child care center. However, it is important to keep in mind that there are often strict cleaning protocols in a center that may not be observed by a nanny.
  • Nanny shares allow for more flexibility than traditional child care centers, but require the schedules of multiple households to be considered, so it is less flexible than hiring a nanny for just your own household. There is also no backup care if the nanny is unable to work on certain days.

Cost

  • For a single child, this option is generally be more affordable than individual nanny care and most child care programs, but may end up being comparable to some home-based child care programs.
  • For multiple children, this could be an economical option.

Forming a Nanny Share

Nanny cares can be set up with families you know and have prior relationships with, or they can be set up with families who do not know each other. There are resources available to help as you seek out families interested in forming this type of group.

  • Care for Business — Eligible CMU faculty, staff and graduate students have a free premium subscription to care.com, which allows you to post availability for a share group or search for groups that need additional members. This service also provides 15 days of subsidized backup care where care.com will send a nanny to your house for days you need coverage.
  • Nanny Lane — This website allows you to search for nannies in your area, post a profile indicating that you would like a nanny share, and search the profiles of other families to see who might want to join a group. This website is not associated with CMU.

Additional resources

  • In a family care share, families group together and engage in mutually supportive childcare arrangements where parents take turns caring for all of the children.
  • There are no professional caregivers involved in this scenario, which will typically see the children rotated between households on a regular basis.
  • The benefits of this arrangement are the increased social attachments children can develop with an extended group of people, and the affordability.
  • Considerations include limits on consistency of care, which is important for children's development since they need consistent expectations and reliable caregivers in order to feel emotionally secure. There may also be varying levels of understanding of child development, as the parents involved may not have a background or training in the field.
  • Scheduling for this type of arrangement tends to be more flexible than that of a typical child care center. However, it requires taking the scheduling of several households into consideration, and possibly accounting for a regularly changing commute. If one of the families cannot participate due to illness, travel or other circumstances, it may require last-minute care rearrangements.

Cost

There is no upfront cost for this arrangement, making it very affordable. However there may be financial impact in terms of time spent on caregiving instead of employment.

Forming a Care Share

Family care shares can be set up with families you know and have prior relationships with, or with families who do not know each other.

Care for Business has resources to help you find other families interested in forming this type of group. Through the Care for Business benefit, eligible CMU faculty, staff, and graduate students have a free premium subscription to care.com, which allows users to connect with other families looking to set up family group. Care for Business also includes 15 subsidized backup care days, where care.com will send a caregiver to your house for days you need coverage.

Considerations

  • To accommodate work schedules, families may need care outside of school's operating hours. Before- and after-school care covers brief periods of time either in the morning or afternoon to meet this need.
  • Programs are often offered through the schools, but there are also outside programs that provide this type of care.
  • Some programs may provide homework assistance, games and activities, or academic enrichment.
  • Transportation can be an issue if care is not provided at the school or along the bus route.
  • There is limited flexibility, as most offerings follow a set schedule in morning and afternoon. If the program is affiliated with a school or district, then it is likely also closed when schools are closed. You will need to find another arrangement to cover holidays, summer breaks and other closures.

Cost

As with other types of care, costs can vary. The price for before- and after-care may be lower than other arrangements, as it typically only encompasses a brief period of time.

Finding Before- and After-Care

Your child's school is the most direct and common way to access before- and after-care. If your school does not offer this type of care, the following resources may be helpful:

  • CMU's Family Care Concierge Service provides personalized assistance to faculty, staff, and graduate students.
  • Community Organizations such as the YCMA and The Boys and Girls Club may offer before- and after-care. These groups may partner with schools in the area to align their schedules with school hours, and also arrange for buses to stop by their facilities.
  • Allegheny County/Trying Together Child Care Finder enables you to find local child care programs and filter by location, the number and ages of children you're looking to enroll, and transportation. While most of the featured centers include full-day care, some may have before- and after-care options.
  • COMPASS Program Finder provides a search as well as information on financial assistance, early learning program options and the Keystone STARS rating system. While most of the featured centers include full-day care, some may have before- and after-care options.