MCCYN-PLUS Child Care Assistance for Military Families

All licensed/registered child care providers and programs in New York State are now eligible to become approved providers for military families applying for federal military child care fee assistance under the Military Child Care in Your Neighborhood-PLUS (MCCYN-PLUS) program. Child care providers that are licensed/registered-only are encouraged to take the next step in improving and sustaining high quality care by joining QUALITYstarsNY, New York State’s Quality Rating & Improvement System for early childhood programs.

As of September 25, 2023, the Military Child Care in Your Neighborhood-PLUS (MCCYN-PLUS) program has launched in New York State to increase the availability of child care options for the state’s military families. MCCYN-PLUS extends eligibility for the federal military child care fee assistance program to all licensed/registered child care programs in New York State.

The MCCYN-PLUS expansion in New York State impacts more than 48,000 military families across the state who will now be able to choose from among 15,000 state-licensed/registered child care programs that are eligible to become approved providers. This federal assistance helps families cover the cost of child care and  increases payments to child care providers by raising the federal rate cap per child per month to $1,800.

Military families can search for and select an approved child care provider through the Department of Defense’s (DOD) request-for-care website MilitaryChildCare.com.

Learn More

What is MCCYN-PLUS?

The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) relies on community providers to meet the demand of child care when military families are unable to access care on a military base. The MCCYN program was created more than 15 years ago to offer assistance to reduce the out-of-pocket expense for military families using community child care providers. However, under MCCYN, the child care providers must be nationally accredited and this sometimes means families have limited choices.

The MCCYN-PLUS program was launched as a pilot in 2019 to expand eligibility for the child care assistance program beyond accreditation. New York is the first state approved to qualify licensed/registered-only community providers for participation in the military fee assistance program through MCCYN-PLUS.

Becoming an Approved Provider

State licensed/registered early childhood programs in New York are now eligible to become an approved MCCYN-PLUS provider. You do not need to be currently serving military families to join MCCYN-PLUS.

When you become an MCCYN-PLUS-approved program, your business name will be searchable on the DOD request-for-child-care website, MilitaryChildCare.com, when military families become eligible for military fee assistance.

If your program was already MCCYN-approved before the launch of MCCYN-PLUS in New York, your status will automatically change to a MCCYN-PLUS-approved provider eligible to serve military families needing child care services.

MCCYN-PLUS Programs Encouraged to Join QUALITYstarsNY, New York State’s Quality Rating & Improvement System

The DOD encourages all child care providers that are licensed/registered-only to take the next step in improving and sustaining high quality care by joining QUALITYstarsNY, New York State’s Quality Rating & Improvement System (QRIS) for early childhood programs.

Programs participating in QUALITYstarsNY receive access to:

  • Individualized support from a Quality Improvement Specialist with expertise in early childhood education and program management
  • Professional development opportunities and scholarships for staff to pursue early childhood degrees and credentials
  • Data-driven assessment to inform Quality Improvement Planning
  • Developmentally-appropriate learning materials and furnishings
  • And more!

Regulated child care programs in all settings can join QUALITYstarsNY and there is no cost to participate and access QUALITYstarsNY’s resources and support.

Added benefit of joining QUALITYstarsNY as an MCCYN-PLUS program:

MilitaryChildCare.com indicates which child care programs are participating in their state’s QRIS. Military families searching for child care are able to see which programs in their area have made the voluntary commitment to improve the quality of early education they provide by joining QUALITYstarsNY.

QUALITYstarsNY programs should be aware that their program information, such as program name, website, physical address, and phone number, is shared with Military Child Care and will be listed on their website. You may receive communications from MCC requesting more details.