Our Child Care Referral Policy

When parents call BANANAS for child care referrals, we try to give them the widest possible selection of child care providers. We believe that parents are best able to choose and evaluate child care for their children because parents know their children's needs better than anyone else.

We provide referrals by telephone or in person during our referral hours:

Monday, Wednesday & Thursday: 9:30 am - 4:30 pm
Tuesday: 9:30 am - 8:00 pm
Friday from 9:30 am - 1 pm

Call 510.658.0381 or come by our office at 5232 Claremont Avenue, Oakland, CA 94618.

We don’t provide on-line referrals because we believe that facts and figures alone are not very helpful. Good referrals involve listening to the particulars of each family’s situation, being creative in finding possible options, guiding parents with choosing tips and empathizing with parents’ natural anxiety about finding the best for their children.

Looking for child care is hard work. No one else can do it for you. We urge parents to do lots of comparative shopping and to give themselves plenty of time to visit and evaluate programs.

Responsibility for selecting and employing a child care provider rests with each parent. We cannot guarantee the quality of the providers in our files; we have no authority to monitor, investigate or revoke licenses. We urge parents to carefully interview and check references before leaving a child in care. Families have the right to check the complaint history of licensed child care providers with the State of California’s Department of Social Services, Community Care Licensing Division, 510.622.2602.