High quality early childhood care and education has a great effect on the lives of children and their families. The Virginia Department of Education works with all of the Commonwealth’s birth-to-five early childhood care and education and out-of-school time providers to support quality experiences for Virginia’s children.

Child day programs are defined as regularly operating service arrangement for children where, during the absence of a parent or guardian, a person or organization has agreed to assume responsibility for the supervision, protection and well-being of a child under the age of 13 years for less than a 24-hour period.

The following center-based and home-based program types will find information to support their operations on this site:

• Licensed Child Day Centers
• Licensed Family Day Homes
• Voluntary Registered Family Day Homes
• Religiously-Exempt Child Day Centers
• Certified Preschools
• Local Ordinance Homes and Centers
• Exempt Filing Sites
• Licensed Family Day Systems

For information on Virginia Preschool Initiative (VPI), Early Childhood Special Education, or Head Start/Early Head Start, visit the Virginia Department of Education Early Childhood Care & Education website.