When it comes to how parents actually learn about child care, government directories and websites rank near the bottom. Instead, 47 percent say they found their child care arrangements from someone they personally know, such as family, friends, or other parents in their neighborhood (Figure 13). The second most common source of information, used by 28 percent of parents, was an internet search, underscoring the importance of making government programs easy to find and navigate online.
Top Sources Parents Use to Find Child Care Figure 13 Figure 13: Sources of Information
47%
Personal networks
28%
Internet search
17%
Online groups
Saw the program in my neighborhood
17%
Child development professionals
15%
Community networks
12%
8%
Government directories or websites
8%
Print advertisement
8%
Social media creators/influencers Digital advertisement (e.g. social media ads) Other
7%
5%
0%
10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
Notes: Source: Robin Hood Source: Survey of 4,306 parents and caregivers of children ages 0-5 living in New York City; conducted by NORC for New America’s New Practice Lab and Robin Hood, March 31-April 20, 2026. Note: Based on responses from 3,070 parents who regularly use some form of nonparental child care. Parents were asked how they found or learned about the arrangements they currently use for their children under six and could select all response options that applied. Child development professionals are a particularly common source of information for lower-income parents and those parents whose children either have or are suspected to have developmental delays or disabilities. Higher-income parents are significantly more likely than lower-income parents to have learned about their current arrangement through online groups, their personal networks, searching online, and from seeing the program in their neighborhood.
THE 2026 NEW YORK CITY PARENT SURVEY : WHAT CHILD CARE PARENTS WANT 27
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