With the help of federal stimulus funds, the State of Georgia, as of June 1, is offering a statewide hotline service for those in need of child care information. It should be a welcome aide to parents searching for affordable, licensed, competent and convenient providers for their children, particularly during the summer months when school is out.

In Georgia, there are more than 3,000 child care learning centers, 250 group day care homes and 5,300 family day care homes licensed by the state Department of Early Care and Learning and the nonprofit organization Quality Care for Children, according to the organizations’ statistics. The new hotline service provides a searchable database for assessing criteria for adequate childcare across the state. Finding a suitable childcare facility is often no easy task, especially in grave economic times when parents have to juggle many competing factors, yet it may be that few families even know this service is now available.

According to Pam Tatum, CEO of Quality Care for Children, headquartered in Atlanta: “Demand for child care in our state is growing and about 64 percent of families have at least one child in childcare. … It’s forcing them to make difficult choices. We want to help those people make the best choice possible.”

During the current economic downturn, many families are turning to friends, neighbors and relatives (even young family members) for child care support. Parents with several children needing day care are particularly vulnerable, which could potentially put children at risk, as parents must go to work to make ends meet while wrestling with a lack of access to affordable and available quality childcare. At the same time, funds for subsidized care for overhead costs, supplies and food have recently been on the decline. Thus, these funds in the federal stimulus package are coming to Georgia at an opportune time.

In light of the above limitations, Tatum underscores the necessity of selecting child care with the utmost care, diligence and understanding of reasonable options. The knowledge afforded by the new hotline, which expects to serve more than 12,000 families, should go a long way toward facilitating good decision-making.

Free hotline information and referral services are available from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. Call toll-free 1-877-ALLGAKIDS or visit allgakids.org.

No child should be left alone or feel he or she is in an unsafe environment. In the words of Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of The Children’s Defense Fund, “If we don’t stand up for children, then we don’t stand for much.”

They are our future, and they deserve the best care available.