Early Childhood Education and Family Services Portal

NewMexicoKids Resource and Referral

Important Notice!

Effective May 1, 2022, ECECD expanded the eligibility for child care assistance to 400% and the copayment waiver to include all families that are eligible for child care assistance through June 30, 2023, subject to budgetary considerations. During this time period, ECECD will pay all copayments directly to the providers and will include those copayments in ECECD’s monthly provider payment.

Click here to learn more about the new waiver!

Please note: If your family does qualify for Child Care Assistance, you will need to let your Eligibility Coordinator know which program you have chosen so that the payment can be sent directly to that program.

Ready to find a provider? Use our Search Portal below and select “Child Care” under Type of Care or call us at 1-800-691-9067 for a customized referral with one of our Family Specialists.

To apply for ECECD Child Care Assistance you have three options:

  1. Visit one of our statewide local ECECD Child Care offices.
  2. Apply online. This website will allow you to complete an online application and enable you to upload required documents. Applying through this website will also allow you to track the status of your application.
  3. Download the application and submit with all required documents to ChildCareAssistance@state.nm.us or you can contact us at our local offices to email/mail the documents to you.

If you have already submitted the Child Care Assistance application, please call 1-800-832-1321 or email ececd.aie@state.nm.us for questions.

Search for early childhood services in the state of New Mexico. Services include Home Visiting Programs, Center and Home-Based Child Care, Early Intervention Programs, Head Start and Early Head Start, New Mexico PreK, and Special Education Preschool.

Advanced filters are available after you enter your search. 1

Mario's Search

The State of New Mexico wants to ensure that families have all of the relevant information they need to make an informed decision when choosing care for their children, including access to criminal background information. Any in-home child care provider licensed or registered by the state has at minimum undergone a Child Care Health and Safety Orientation, CPR/First Aid training, a background check for every adult living in the home, and an inspection. Please use the following look-up tool to make sure that the in-home care provider you are considering is licensed or registered with the New Mexico Early Childhood Education and Care Department. You can also use the state and national databases at the bottom of the page to check the criminal background of any provider you are considering. To learn about the Mandatory COVID Response Training, visit the NMELS.

Note to Families: If the in-home care provider who you are considering for your family does NOT appear in this database, please call 1-800-691-9067 for more information about child care in your area or use the Early Childhood Services Search tab on this page.

Note to Providers: If you are licensed or registered with ECECD and your name is not listed in the database, please call 1-800-691-9067 so we can make an update. If you would like to become a licensed or registered in-home provider, please click here.

Mario Archuleta was barely three years old when, on October 11, 2002, his child care provider purposely scalded his hands with hot water after a toileting accident. Mario spent two weeks at the UNMH burn trauma unit. Doctors removed skin from his thighs to graft to his hands during a five-hour operation. He spent a year in rehabilitation. His child care provider pled guilty to second degree child abuse and neglect and was sentenced to nine years in the penitentiary.

To help other families avoid the pain and trauma that their family experienced, Mario’s parents asked that the State of New Mexico establish a database of registered child care home providers who have obtained background check eligibility, under the relevant background check regulations. They also asked that parents have access to other state and national databases to check on their provider’s background. You can access these databases below.

For more information on selecting child care providers, read the Parent’s Guide to Selecting Quality Child Care.

To search for child care for your child, please click on the Early Childhood Services tab on this page.

To apply for Child Care Assistance to help pay for child care, please visit Am I Eligible.

Search by Name and Zip Code

The Early Childhood Education and Care Department (ECECD) registers or licenses child care homes in accordance with the regulations found here.

  • The provider provides child care in his or her home.
  • 6 hours of training in the field of early care and education is required each year for registered home providers.
  • 12 hours of training in the field of early care and education is required each year for licensed home providers.
  • A Child Care Health and Safety Orientation and CPR/First Aid training is required prior to providing care. Learn about the COVID Mandatory Response Training here.
  • The provider must obtain a background check* before they can be approved as a registered or licensed home provider.
  • Household members and/or any person who spends significant time in the household, as reported in the background check application, must undergo a state database screen before the home is approved to provide care.
  • The home must be inspected prior to approval to provide care and regularly inspected thereafter. To access licensed provider inspection reports, click here.
  • The State of New Mexico does not allow more than four non-resident children in a registered (non-licensed) home and up to six non-resident children in a licensed home per adult caregiver. See the state regulations for more details.
  • A registered or licensed in-home provider is eligible to receive Child Care Assistance funding from the state and can register with a food program sponsor to receive Child and Adult Care Food Program reimbursement.

*A Background Check for an in-home child care provider consists of a review of available state criminal histories. Beginning in 2001, the background check also includes a screen of New Mexico’s child/adult abuse/neglect database; these are reviewed to determine whether disqualifying information exists. Background check eligibility is determined by and in accordance with criteria set forth and promulgated at Title 8, Chapter 8, Part 3 of the New Mexico Administrative Code, Governing Background Checks and Employment History Verification.

Other Important Criminal Databases

The Early Childhood Education and Care Department (ECECD) registers and licenses child care homes in accordance with the regulations found here.

Note for Families 3

Whoops!


Our PreK Map is undergoing an update and will be available and better than ever on Monday, March 28th. If you are looking for a PreK program in your area, please use our Early Childhood Services search, and filter by type.

Safe Sleep! Are you looking to get a Safe Sleep Baby Kit for your expecting family or infant? Please use our search to find a Home Visiting program near you to sign up for a Safe Sleep education session to get this free, no obligation resource! Once you enter your address, you can narrow your results down to only Home Visiting programs by using the quick filter. Find out more about the program.

Looking for the COVID-19 Provider List and Table? Click here

Need a customized referral with a Family Specialist?
Please call our office at 1 (800) 691-9067. The call will be personalized to your specific needs. It takes approximately 15 minutes to complete and referrals will be given to you via an e-mail or over the phone. Calls are returned Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5 pm.

Welcome

To Our All-In-One Early Childhood Services Portal

Find Services

Use our search feature above to find child care resources in your area.

Filter Results

Use the quick filter or advanced filters to find the right service for you and your family.

Save and Export

Save your search results and export them as a PDF for easy access on and offline.

Learn More

About New Mexico's Early Childhood Education And Family Services

Child Care and Early Education

Child Care in New Mexico is a broad category of care for children ages 0 up to 13, depending on the individual program. Child Care includes services like child care centers, in home child care, Head Start, and PreK programs. Child Care in New Mexico is monitored by the Early Childhood Education and Care Department, which is in charge of licensing and registration of child care providers.

Read more
Home Visiting

New Mexico provides a coordinated continuum of high-quality, community-driven, culturally and linguistically appropriate home visiting services that promote maternal, infant, and early childhood health, safety, development, and strong parent-child relationships. Home Visiting helps families to: gain knowledge regarding child development, connect with community support services, discover ways to support learning through play and interactions, receive emotional support through challenges associated with raising a child, and access support to get out of dangerous or unhealthy situations.

Read more
Developmental Programs

IDEA / Developmental Programs are used to help families who are concerned about their child's development or for families who have identified developmental delays in their children.

Read more
1 NewMexicoKids.org and the University of New Mexico Early Childhood Services Center does not store private information you enter into our site. We do not store complete address information when you search. We do store city, county, and zip code information to better improve our services. We do track how many searches our system receives in a given time period and we may store device information like IP address for spam protection, analytics, and verification.
2 A Background Check for a direct provider of care in a Registered (Non-Licensed) Home consists of a review of available state criminal histories. Beginning in 2001, the background check also includes a screen of ECECD’s child/adult abuse/neglect database; these are reviewed to determine whether disqualifying information exists. Background check eligibility is determined by and in accordance with criteria set forth and promulgated at Title 8, Chapter 8, Part 3 of the New Mexico Administrative Code, Governing Background Checks and Employment History Verification.
3 The databases listed here do not guarantee that a provider who has obtained a background check will not commit an abusive act in the future. Parents should always observe prior to enrolling their child and should occasionally drop in unannounced to monitor the daily operations of the program.