Licensed Toddler Care in Whittier, CA

Toddler Care in Whittier

As of August 2026

Whittier's 113 licensed child care providers split nearly evenly, with 58 family child care homes and 55 child care centers. Combined licensed capacity reaches 3,769 children, averaging about 33 per provider. Preschool coverage extends to 81 percent of the roster. Every provider is licensed through the California Department of Social Services' Community Care Licensing Division (CCLD), and CloverMap lists Whittier's full roster for parents to compare.

What to know about childcare in Whittier

Whittier's child care roster is close to evenly split between formats. Of 113 licensed providers, 58 are family child care homes and 55 are child care centers, a near-even balance that gives families a genuine choice rather than one format dominating the search. 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.

Combined licensed capacity across the 113 reporting providers is 3,769 children, averaging about 33 per provider, a mid-range figure typical of a roster balanced between centers and 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 in Whittier is solid: infants and toddlers are each served by 65 providers, 58 percent, 91 providers serve preschool-age children, 81 percent, and 71 providers, or 63 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.

All Whittier providers are licensed through the California Department of Social Services' Community Care Licensing Division. CCLD licensing applies the same baseline staffing, group-size, and safety standards to centers and family child care homes. 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.

Because the format split is so close, Whittier parents can weigh a program like BROADOAKS SCHOOL OF WHITTIER COLLEGE, THE against a comparable number of family child care homes without either option being in short supply. CloverMap lets Whittier 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.