Paying for child care in Missouri: the Child Care Subsidy Program and its waitlist

Missouri pays part of the child care bill for families who qualify, through the Child Care Subsidy Program. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education runs it out of its Office of Childhood, and the payment goes toward care while a parent works, looks for work, trains for a job or goes to school.

Who qualifies

The state lists three conditions, and a family has to meet all of them:

You have a child from birth to age 13, or a child with special needs, or a child receiving protective services.
You need child care so you can work, search for work, take part in job training or attend school.
Your household income is at or below 150% of the federal poverty level. The federal poverty level is a yearly income figure the federal government sets for each household size, and 150% of it means one and a half times that figure.

The waitlist that started in March 2026

On March 1, 2026, Missouri started a waitlist for new applications. A family that applies on or after that date may go on the waitlist if there isn't funding to serve them right away.

Children in foster care, children receiving preventive services through the Children's Division, and children in protective services don't go on the waitlist.

For other families, the state orders the list by the date the application came in and then by priority group, in this order:

Children with special needs who meet the state's criteria
Children experiencing homelessness
Households with income below 100% of the federal poverty level
Families with income above that line

When an application comes off the waitlist, the state sends an email and puts a message in the parent portal of the Child Care Data System, the state's online system for the program. Because the list is ordered partly by date, the date your application arrives is part of what decides your place, and keeping your contact information current in the portal is how the notice reaches you.

How to apply

You can apply online through the Child Care Subsidy Parent Portal at childcare.mo.gov. You can also mail the paper application to:

Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Office of Childhood, Child Care Subsidy PO Box 480 Jefferson City, MO 65102

If you'd like to talk it through with a person, the Missouri Childhood Resource and Referral Call Center is at 573-415-8605, where a Community Support Specialist answers questions about the program.

Finding child care near you

The subsidy pays toward care at a child care program, and the programs themselves are different in every county. Nexus Point Family Foundation built a resource map that sorts local programs by county, with child care as one of its categories, so the programs in your county show up together.

Your next step

Open the Nexus Point resource map, click Missouri and then your county, and look at the child care entries to see the programs near you with their phone numbers and hours.

Sources

Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Child Care Subsidy Information for Families: https://dese.mo.gov/childhood/child-care-subsidy/families. Supports the three eligibility conditions, the 150% of poverty limit, the online portal, the mailing address, and the 573-415-8605 call center.
Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Child Care Subsidy Waitlist: https://dese.mo.gov/childhood/child-care-subsidy-waitlist. Supports the March 1, 2026 start, who may be waitlisted, the three exempt groups, the date-then-priority ordering and the four priority groups, and the email and portal notice.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, ASPE, Poverty Guidelines: https://aspe.hhs.gov/topics/poverty-economic-mobility/poverty-guidelines. Supports the plain explanation that the poverty guideline is a yearly income figure set by household size.
Nexus Point Family Foundation, Resource Map: https://nexuspointfamily.org/resources. Supports that the map sorts programs by state and county and lists child care as a category.