Licensed Before & After School in West Hempstead, NY

Before & After School in West Hempstead

As of August 2026

West Hempstead's child care roster includes 23 providers, all centers, according to New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) licensing data. Combined licensed capacity is 509 children across the 23 providers reporting a figure — the smallest capacity total in this group of cities — averaging about 22 per site. The roster leans heavily toward school-age care, with 2 providers, including SCOPE Education Services, carrying a QUALITYstarsNY rating. CloverMap lists the full West Hempstead roster in one place.

What to know about childcare in West Hempstead

All 23 of West Hempstead's listed providers operate as centers; OCFS licensing data shows no family or group family day care homes registered in the city. That means every option here is a dedicated facility with classroom-based programming rather than an in-home setting, so a West Hempstead search is really a comparison across center size and specialty rather than operating model. It also means families specifically seeking a smaller, home-based environment will need to look beyond the city limits.

Licensed capacity across the 23 reporting providers totals 509 children, for an average of about 22 per site — the leanest average in this cluster of cities. That points to smaller programs overall, which can mean tighter waitlists relative to demand even though the per-site group sizes tend to be more modest, and it also means the total number of citywide seats is limited compared with larger neighboring cities.

Age coverage skews toward older children: 2 providers serve toddlers, 2 serve preschoolers, and 21 serve school-age children, while the data shows no dedicated infant capacity reported in the city. Families with an infant should plan to widen their search beyond West Hempstead, while those needing toddler, preschool, or especially before/after-school care will find real, if modest, local options.

Every provider on this roster is licensed or registered through OCFS, the state agency that sets and enforces child care standards across New York. A license confirms a program has met the state's baseline requirements for staffing, group size, and health and safety practices before enrolling children — a floor, not a ranking, so program style and schedule still merit a direct look.

2 West Hempstead providers, including SCOPE Education Services, carry a QUALITYstarsNY rating, New York's voluntary quality-improvement program, offering a data point beyond the licensing baseline in a city with a fairly small overall roster. Given the limited total capacity and lack of reported infant care, West Hempstead families may want to start their search early and keep neighboring cities on CloverMap in view as a backup, particularly for infant placement.

Even with its smaller scale, West Hempstead's roster is fully documented: every provider carries a reported capacity figure, so families can compare real seat counts rather than guessing at program size from a name alone. That level of detail is worth using before ruling a city out on provider count alone, since a smaller roster can still include the right program for a particular family, especially for toddler and preschool ages.