Licensed Toddler Care in Fairfield, CA

Toddler Care in Fairfield

As of August 2026

Family child care homes make up the majority of Fairfield's child care roster, 67 of 110 licensed providers, compared with 43 child care centers, about 61 percent home-based. Infant and toddler coverage is strong, each reaching 69 percent of providers. Combined licensed capacity totals 3,231 children. All providers are licensed through the California Department of Social Services' Community Care Licensing Division (CCLD), and CloverMap organizes Fairfield's full roster for parents to browse.

What to know about childcare in Fairfield

Fairfield's 110 licensed providers lean home-based, with 67 family child care homes against 43 child care centers, about 61 percent of the roster. That mix means Fairfield families searching broadly will more often find smaller, residence-based programs than large center facilities. Parents new to licensed child care often assume one format is inherently better, but the right fit usually comes down to a child's temperament and a family's daily logistics: center hours may align more predictably with a standard work schedule, while a family child care home can sometimes offer more flexible drop-off and pickup arrangements.

Licensed capacity across the 110 reporting providers totals 3,231 children, averaging about 29 per provider, on the lower end for this batch, consistent with a roster weighted toward smaller family child care homes. It's worth remembering that a licensed capacity figure describes how many children a provider is permitted to enroll, not how many openings exist on a given day. Actual availability shifts constantly as children age out or families relocate, so this citywide number is best used as a planning benchmark rather than a guarantee of a specific opening.

Age coverage runs deep in Fairfield: infants and toddlers are each served by 76 providers, 69 percent, 94 providers serve preschool-age children, 85 percent, and 73 providers, or 66 percent, serve school-age children. For families mapping out care across several years, knowing which providers serve multiple age bands up front can simplify the search considerably, since a single provider that follows a child from infancy through the preschool years spares parents the work of re-searching and re-enrolling at each stage.

Every Fairfield provider is licensed through the California Department of Social Services' Community Care Licensing Division. CCLD licensing sets uniform baseline staffing, group-size, and safety requirements for family child care homes and centers alike. A license is not a ranking or endorsement of one provider over another; it simply confirms the operator has met the state's threshold requirements to legally operate. Parents researching further should treat a CCLD license as a baseline credential, then judge day-to-day fit through a tour, a conversation with staff, and their own sense of the environment.

With homes making up most of the roster, Fairfield parents should find family child care homes readily available, while a center like A PLACE 2 GROW represents the smaller pool of classroom-based alternatives. CloverMap lets Fairfield families filter by format, capacity, and age group served. Starting a search by deciding on format, then filtering by the age group a child currently needs, tends to narrow the list to a manageable number faster than browsing every listing one by one.