One Point of Entry Portal

Every family deserves easy access to child care and supports. And every child care provider deserves a simple, streamlined way to manage their program.

Why we’re doing this

Connecticut’s early childhood system should make it easy for families to find and access the care and support they need. Families often have to search multiple websites, fill out the same information repeatedly, and navigate different rules depending on the program. Providers face similar challenges, spending valuable time managing paperwork across multiple state systems.

That’s why the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood is developing a one-entry portal—to bring everything together in one place.
This effort responds to the recent legislation and the recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Panel on Early Childhood, but most importantly, it’s driven by a simple goal:

Connecting families to providers who can meet their needs

By creating a single, connected access point, we can make it easier for families to find and afford care, for providers to manage their programs, and for the state to better understand and meet community needs.

We want to hear from you as we design the portal. Join us at an upcoming zoom session!
Las dos sesiones serán en inglés y español.

How the portal will help families

• Allows families to easily search for and compare child care options
• Helps families find out if they can get financial support for child care
• Gives OEC real-time data on family needs, so we can respond quickly to demand

How the portal will help providers

• Allows providers to enter information once and share it across multiple state systems
• Reduces duplicate reporting and administrative burden
• Improves efficiency

Building on the work of the Blue Ribbon Panel

The portal stems from key recommendations in the Blue Ribbon Panel Report on early childhood:

• Maximize existing resources by aligning systems, reducing barriers, and strengthening partnerships
• Build better data systems to track needs and outcomes across the state

The portal will not only help families and providers directly. It will also give policymakers the information they need to improve services.

What’s next?

Building the portal will take time and big investments from the state. But we see it as a key step in simplifying Connecticut’s early care and education system.

Our work is just beginning right now. But soon, we plan to offer ways for everyone — families, providers, and more — to give feedback. In addition to our feedback form, we plan to have:

• Feedback forms
• Town hall meetings where you can share your opinions
• Webinars where we share our progress

As the project moves forward, we’ll announce updates on this page.