Welcome to the
Office of Child Care and Family Resources

In keeping with the African proverb that says, "It takes a village to raise a child," parents often seek the insight and counsel of relatives, friends and professionals during their child-rearing years. Campus parents face the challenge of balancing the complex demands of work and family and student parents have the additional pressure of class work and degree completion. All are likely to need assistance with looking for resources and developing networks. Whether you need to locate child care, have questions about financial assistance or are in need of advice about child management or early education training opportunities, our office is here to help. We work directly with the 4 campus and 2 affiliated centers (through contract) that serve our campus families and provide a range of other supportive programming and services.

We hope that you'll find the information and resources in this site to be of assistance and we welcome your call or email with questions as you develop a system of care and support for your family.

The OCCFR reports to the School of Education and the Vice Chancellor of Administration and works with a variety of campus and community advisory groups.

The UW-Madison Campus Child Care System

The School of Education is the administrative home of the Office of Child Care and Family Resources (OCCFR).   The office also reports to the Vice Chancellor of Administration on fiscal issues and works with a variety of campus advisory groups including the University Child Care Committee, the Committee on Women in the University, the Student Services Finance Committee, the Child Care Tuition Assistance Program advisory board and other campus and community groups who all contribute to service development and provision.

The OCCFR is the administrative unit, authorized by the Provost’s Office, that is responsible for developing and coordinating early education and care programs and  services on campus.  The OCCFR also works collaboratively with other UW system early education centers.     

The programs listed on this web site are affiliated with the University of Wisconsin-Madison early education and  care system, comprised of 6 centers,  and a number of other support and education programs. OCCFR  hosts monthly meetings with the Campus Director’s Consortium (known as 3C’s) and bi-annual meetings with the UW System Directors Group for the following purposes:   development of  new services,  quality improvement, setting and recommending policy, review and coordination of  procedures that are guided by best practice, teaching and research,  professional development and a variety of other endeavors that impact the manner in which UW Madison and the UW System  meet the needs of the campus families that we all serve. Our collaboration ensures, to the best of our abilities that our programs work together for the benefit of campus families. The OCCFR staff visit sites often to observe classrooms and curriculum; however, they do not serve in an accreditation or licensing role. Additionally, the OCCFR reports cumulative data to a wide variety of campus advisory groups for the purposes of service and policy review, delivery and development.