Re-Opening of Child Care

Niagara Region Children’s Services is working closely with the Ministry of Education, Niagara Region Public Health and licensed child care programs, both centre and home based, in Niagara to reopen licensed child care under the new operating requirements to ensure the health and safety of children and staff. To ensure physical distancing to help reduce the spread of the virus, the provincial government has set limits on the number of staff and children allowed in child care centres. This means there are a limited number of child care spaces available.

Welcome to the Niagara Region Child Care Registry Site

Getting Started

To complete your application, you must first create an account.

Once your account has been activated, you will need to provide information about you and your family on the application form. The information you provide will be used to suggest child care options. You may place your child's name on as many lists as you choose. The child care provider will contact you when a space becomes available.

Emergency Child Care (End date TBD by Ministry of Education)

Many licensed child care programs, both centre and home based, in Niagara continue to provide emergency child care for school aged children (4 to 12 years) of health care and essential workers up to and including January 24, 2021. For more information on health care and essential workers that qualify for emergency child care.

Under the “Apply to Programs” section of each child’s profile, please make sure your Preferred Start Date is on or after January 4, 2021 and select Emergency Childcare as your Program Time. This will show all programs in your area that are providing emergency child care during remote learning.

Home Child Care

Home Child Care providers are represented in this application by one of two central child care agencies listed below. There are many home-based child care providers in the region, but the application does not list individual programs. If you are interested in home child care, we recommend that you use the manual selection feature to add yourself to the waitlist for the agency.

The home child care agencies are:

Wee Watch
Niagara Region Home Child Care (Priority is given to clients who are receiving fee subsidy)

For more information, including how to apply for assistance with child care fees, please visit www.niagararegion.ca/childcare.

New Details Ontario Childcare Tax Credit

As announced in the 2019 Budget, the province introduced the new Ontario Child Care Access and Relief from Expenses (CARE) tax credit. Please note that this childcare tax credit is now referred to as the Ontario Childcare Tax Credit. This new tax credit will provide about 300,000 families with up to 75 per cent of their eligible child care expenses, and allow families to access a broad range of child care options, including care in centres, homes and camps. Families will be able to claim this tax credit when they file their 2019 income tax return in 2020.

Additional information on the Ontario Childcare Tax Credit is available on the Ontario website:

Ontario Childcare Tax Credit (English)

For assistance with the website, please contact OneHSN Support at 1-888-722-1540 or Support@OneHSN.com, Monday to Friday - 8am to 5pm.