Choosing childcare may be one of the most important decisions you make; as a parent you want the very best for your child. It is also a significant financial decision and one that requires you to plan ahead as the best childcare providers often have waiting lists. Once you have found the right childcare provider that will meet your child's and your family's needs you begin the enrollment process.
Many employees at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and its affiliates (i.e., Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and University of Washington) choose Hutch Kids Child Care (HKCC) as their childcare provider. Priority for enrollment is given to families with a child (sibling) currently enrolled at Hutch Kids, then to FHCRC / SCCA employees, and finally to non-FHCRC / SCCA employees with FHCRC affiliation (i.e., UW employees).
The first step toward enrollment at Hutch Kids is to add your child's name to the waitlist by submitting an Enrollment Application and the application fee. When an application is received a "Receipt of Application" is sent to the family. It is our recommendation that families get on the waiting list as soon as possible. Families are eligible to submit an application after they have received confirmation of their pregnancy or as soon as adoption paperwork has been submitted. Adding your name to the waitlist does not guarantee enrollment of your child, but it is the only way a placement will be offered to a family.
The waitlist is used to enroll new families when a vacancy occurs (i.e., a family withdraws from the program). When a child's enrollment is terminated, HKCC must take into consideration the age and developmental abilities of the remaining children in that classroom before contacting families on the waitlist. Only families on the waitlist with a child of the appropriate age to fill the vacancy will be contacted; therefore, a family may be on the waitlist a very short time before they are offered a placement while others are never contacted. An infant vacancy, for example, is filled with the first infant on the waiting list within the age range of the remaining children in that classroom. Children enrolled in each infant classroom differ only slightly in age so the first infant on the waitlist (i.e., age three months) is not necessarily the child to be enrolled because the vacancy is for a child nine months old and it is not developmentally appropriate for him/her to be enrolled in that group.
The waitlist is also used to enroll new families during our annual transition when we know that many vacancies will occur because the oldest children are "graduating" and leaving Hutch Kids. At this time of year, which is typically early summer, once the oldest children have gone to Summer Camp or left the center the remaining children transition to their new classrooms. This often causes vacancies throughout the center, especially in the infant classrooms. When it is determined which vacancies have been caused by transitions the waitlist is reviewed and placements are offered to families with children of the appropriate age (range) to fill each vacancy. An infant placement would not be offered to an 11-month old infant if the child were to remain in the infant room until the transition scheduled for the following year because that would not be developmentally appropriate.
A list of Frequently Asked Questions is also available. If you have additional questions not covered there, please contact Nancy Myles at (206) 667-5983 or email nmyles@fhcrc.org.
