Days before the U.S. military unleashed Operation Epic Fury against Iran, the second highest-ranking military officer was touring a new 30,000-square-foot child development center for military children in Arlington, Virginia, and praising the new effort to quickly meet military families’ needs amidst the persistent shortage of child care.
The center – and two others like it in the pilot program under contract with the nonprofit Armed Services YMCA – are being opened with “lightning speed,” said Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Christopher J. Mahoney, at a ribbon cutting ceremony for the center, expected to open by the end of March. The power of the partnership between Armed Services YMCA and the Defense Department helps empower military families, increasing readiness and resilience, he said.
The Arlington center encompasses the third floor of the St. Athanasius Coptic Orthodox Church, located in a civilian area a few minutes from Fort Myer and the Pentagon. It was built out to meet the requirements of the Defense Department, including special ramps on either side of the building to facilitate the evacuation of mobile cribs and buggies.
The first center in the pilot program opened in Norfolk in May 2025 and is at 100% capacity.
The last of the three centers, opening in Virginia Beach this summer, will open just 28 months after the contract was signed. Military child development centers built in the military construction process can take upwards of five years before opening.
Between the National Capital Region and the Norfolk area, the waiting list has grown to about 2,000. The three centers will reduce that waiting list by more than 600, each with a capacity for 216 children. Families can request spots for their children in the centers at www.MilitaryChildCare.com, the portal for requesting all types of military child care. As of publication, 99 families had requested immediate spots at the Arlington center, with 260 requesting care in advance as they plan for the summer moving season.
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Under the pilot program, parents pay the same fee they would at any DOD-run child development center. It’s based on total family income and the same for children of all ages. Armed Services YMCA bills DOD for the difference in what it costs them to provide the care.
DOD provides subsidies for child care in many settings, including their child development centers, where DOD typically covers about 50% of the cost of child care, with family fees covering the remainder.
Care is available for infants up to age 5, with 19 separate rooms featuring age-appropriate learning programs, toys and activities for each. Miniature stationary bikes for pre-schoolers and a sand table with colorful swimming fish and dinosaurs projected from above onto the sand are just two examples.
Among the many features are storage areas for car seats, as well as extra rooms that focus on gross motor skills that can also provide therapy for children.
Diapers, infant formula if requested, meals and snacks, and all other accoutrements, are provided at the child care centers.
The Arlington child development center will be licensed in Virginia and nationally accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Staff members undergo background checks and are trained with the same methods used in DOD child care centers. The center is inspected by local, state and DOD officials on a regular basis.
DOD runs the largest network of child development centers in the world, with 27,000 staff members caring for 172,000 military-connected children every year, said Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Anthony Tata. That includes 739 child development and school-age centers, 148 youth and teen centers, and more than 800 family child care homes, he said.
Yet, he said, “We know there’s a gap in child care … It’s partners like Armed Services YMCA that help close that gap,” Tata said.
DOD is trying to get the persistent 20% rate of spouse unemployment down to the national average of about 4%, he said. “Undergirding all of that is affordable, accessible child care.”
Over the years, DOD and the services have embarked on a number of efforts to increase the availability of child care. Information was unavailable from DOD officials about any other new initiatives underway to address child care shortages, or the number of children on waiting lists overall. There was no timeline available for when DOD expects to decide whether to expand these pilots to other areas.
”There’s no more important time for us to worry about child care than now,” said retired Navy Vice Admiral William French, president and CEO of Armed Services YMCA. That 165-year-old nonprofit has a number of different programs focusing on young enlisted families at its 12 branches and 29 YMCA affiliates serving more than 104 military bases.
“But the one program that has the biggest impact on families is child care,” he said.
Karen has covered military families, quality of life and consumer issues for Military Times for more than 30 years, and is co-author of a chapter on media coverage of military families in the book “A Battle Plan for Supporting Military Families.” She previously worked for newspapers in Guam, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fla., and Athens, Ga.
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