UCSF Child Care Services

Welcome to UCSF Child Care Services

UCSF Child Care provides high-quality early childhood services to over 296 children of University students, faculty, and staff at four award-winning, nationally-accredited centers. Our staff, comprised of early childhood educators, is committed to supporting parents in balancing their family, school, and work needs. Our customers, parents who are studying or working at UCSF, gain peace of mind while their child spends their day in a safe, happy, creative, and nurturing environment.

We are committed to respecting each individual–staff, parent/guardian, and child–by understanding each family’s individual needs. We believe that children learn best in an environment that is child-centered. Trained teachers provide daily experiences that stimulate cognitive, social, and emotional growth and development. Our centers are designed to support, nurture, and enhance all areas of children's development. All children are regarded as individuals of equal worth and value, who come to us at their own developmental level, and who bring with them a unique mixture of family background, life experience, cultural values, learning style, and distinctive ways of being in the world. Early Care & Education (ECE) professionals foster the development of children, and create a strong foundation for lifelong learning by providing developmentally appropriate education and quality care, support for families, and resources for the campus community.

The Marilyn Reed Lucia Infant/Toddler Center will reopen later this year, and will serve 24 infants and toddlers at the Parnassus campus. Our Kirkham Child Development Center, also at the Parnassus campus, opened in January 2010 and serves 72 children, ages 24 months to five years.

There are 116 slots for infants through Pre-K age at our Laurel Heights campus, and an additional 84 slots for infants through Pre-K age at our Mission Bay center. The Laurel Heights and Mission Bay Centers are operated by Bright Horizons, a third-party vendor; Laurel Heights carries the Marin Day School teaching legacy through this affiliation with Bright Horizons. Marin Day Schools, established in 1981, is dedicated to giving each child the very best start in life. The "World at Their Fingertips" developmental, anti-bias, and multicultural curriculum is child-centered, hands-on, experiential, project-based, and fun!

New Photo Archive

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Guide to UCSF Child Care Services

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Child Care Centers

Offering different locations to better serve you.

Parnassus Campus Laurel Heights Campus Mission Bay Campus

Online Application

Your Options

UCSF families have a choice of submitting a completed Wait Pool application electronically or downloading it and submitting by US Mail or fax. If you choose to submit your application electronically from this web site, you are required to send the application fee (check) by US Mail to the proper location. Upon receipt of both the completed University Child Care Wait Pool Application and the $75 registration fee, the day the check is received will be the official date of your entry into the Wait Pool. It is best to double check that the check is received by contacting the center which you have identified as your first choice.

There are no additional charges to apply to more than one UCSF Child Care Wait Pool. In addition to your identified first choice, any center in which you placed a Y for Yes will also receive your information, and your child will be entered into the Wait Pool there as well. You only pay the registration fee once.

Your child will be placed according to age group, date of the registration, and date your placement is needed. As your child ages, he/she will be moved to the appropriate age group, according to the date of the registration and the date care is needed. The aging-up process will not affect your child’s place on the wait list.

Registrations for unborn children are accepted, as long as a due date is specified. We cannot record your date of application until you have a due date. If you are adopting a child, you may request a care date based on the anticipated date care will be needed. It is recommended that adoptive families enter the Wait Pool after they receive their letter of confirmation from the embassy or agency.

When a space becomes available, the Child Care center will notify you using the information provided on the University Child Care Wait Pool Application. It is up to each family to notify the center of any pertinent information changes, such as address change, phone/e-mail changes, early birth, change in affiliation, etc.

You will have 48 hours to contact the center, to either accept or refuse the space. Contact should be made in writing or through e-mail. Because space may become available at any time, there is no guarantee that it will be on the exact date you want care to begin–it could be sometime prior to or after your chosen date. If we notify you to offer the space(s), you will have the right to refuse, and you will retain your space in the Wait Pool.

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Child Care Referrals

We provide referrals to licensed family day care homes, child care centers, and preschools, as well as information on after-school and summer programs and other related family services.

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Upcoming Events

For more information, click on a link below.

2009-2010

Parent lectures schedule 2009/10

2/17/10

College Prep Workshop: 11th graders and parents

3/17/10

College Prep Workshop:9th &10th graders and parents