Hellobee Boards

My state, Maryland, has a child care resource network that's managed by the state department of education. You can search for licensed child care providers on its website. I found a woman who lived near me, met her, read recommendation letters she provided and got a great impression. I wasn't sure about in-home daycare, but both DH and I felt good about her.

A co-worker of mine found her in-home provider on care.com, but I didn't have much luck with that site. Good luck!

I got a list of them from our city's government office -- there's one that specializes in Community Services. The person who gave it to me has a kid in daycare so she made notes about where her son goes, as well as about the places she visited in person or talked to over the phone. Then I cross-referenced with Yelp.

I went through the state list and they were all booked. I asked one of the ladies if they had any recommendations and she suggested her friend, Terri. Terri isn't licensed (hence isn't in the system) but we LOOOOVE her. So, word of mouth basically. A lot of them are unlicensed here (a max of 4 kids is legal in my state) and they are tough to find

Word of mouth through a neighborhood parenting board

@anagram This should help, depending on where you are: http://www.nj.gov/humanservices/dfd/programs/child/ccrr/

CCR&Rs can refer for in-home, centers, part-time preschools, after-school care, etc. A little bit of everything!

Low-income families can use the services to see if payment assistance is available as well, but the service should be available free to anyone of any income level.

Word of mouth + listserv.