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The purpose of our programs is to assist commanders and families in balancing the competing demands of family life, the military mission, and to improve the economic viability of the family unit.

This site will provide valuable information to Air Force commanders; child development, youth, and community center personnel; and those individuals interested in learning more about AF family member programs. All AF child development and youth programs, regardless of setting, enhance and support children's and youth's physical, social, emotional, and intellectual development. Community center programs serve the Air Force community through a variety of ongoing programs and activities for families, family members, and special groups.

AF Child Development Centers (CDCs) are located at 82 sites throughout the world and provide center-based care for approximately 18,000 children per day 6 weeks to 6 years of age. The purpose of the AF Child Development Center Program is to provide care to children of military and civilian families in a quality developmental learning environment. The Military Child Care Program has been singled out by Congress and the former President of the United States as a benchmark for early childhood programs...

"We now know that children’s earliest experiences, including those in child care, have significant effects on learning and development. I believe that the military has important lessons to share with the rest of the nation on how to improve the quality of child care for all of our nation’s children." President: William J. Clinton April 1997

The Military Child Care Act (MCCA) of 1989 established operational and standardized training guidelines linking training progression to wages earned and career ladders, APF subsidy of programs, goals for accreditation, fee structures based on parental income, parental partnerships, and the requirement for multiple base-level and higher headquarters’ inspections. In the Defense Authorization Act of 1996, Congress codified the Military Child Care Act (MCCA). One of the modifications requires that all programs meet the standards of accreditation.

AF Family Child Care (FCC) programs consist of in-home care provided by licensed or affiliated providers living in government owned or leased housing. These providers are generally spouses of active duty personnel. Currently, approximately 3600 licensed and trained FCC providers are available to provide daily, night, weekend, and unusual hours of care for over 22,000 children 2 weeks - 12 years of age. Providers are required to complete an extensive training program and are constantly monitored for quality to maintain licensing.

AF Youth Programs (YP) provide opportunities for youths to develop their physical, social, emotional, and cognitive abilities and to experience achievement, leadership, enjoyment, friendship, and recognition. Youth programs provide a wide variety of services and activities for children 5 years to 18 years of age including before and after school-age (SA) programs, full day camps during summer vacation and school holidays, youth sports, youth transition, and support services.

AFMC Privacy & Security Statements: This site is intended for the use of the Air Force or other U.S. Military Units only. Do not reproduce or distribute the content of this site to a wider audience without coordination with the information owner and your unit public affairs office. This is a Department of Defense computer system. This computer system, including all related equipment, networks, and network devices (specifically including Internet access) are provided only for authorized U.S. Government use. DoD computer systems may be monitored for all lawful purposes, including to ensure that their use is authorized, for management of the system, to facilitate protection against unauthorized access, and to verify security procedures, survivability, and operational security. Monitoring includes active attacks by authorized DoD entities to test or verify the security of this system. During monitoring, information may be examined, recorded, copied, and used for authorized purposes. All information, including personal information, placed or sent over this system may be monitored. Use of this DoD computer system, authorized or unauthorized, constitutes consent to monitoring of this system. Unauthorized use may subject you to criminal prosecution. Evidence of unauthorized use collected during monitoring may be used for administrative, criminal, or other adverse action. Use of this system constitutes consent to monitoring for these purposes. External Link Disclaimer - The appearance of hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the U.S. Air Force of this Web site or the information, products or services contained therein. For other than authorized activities such as military exchanges and Morale, Welfare and Recreation sites, the U.S. Air Force does not exercise any editorial control over the information you may find at these locations. Such links are provided consistent with the stated purpose of this DoD Web site.