Introducing CareLuLu

Any parent who has ever looked for child care knows how stressful and time consuming it is. That’s not surprising given that you’ll be entrusting your child to another person, often a complete stranger. About 44% of new mothers return to work within the first 3 months of giving birth and 64% return to work within the first year, thus requiring child care. Despite such high numbers, there are few child care resources made available to new moms and parents. So where do you look?

The hardest challenge is not knowing where to begin. Many turn to Google, or to friends living in their area. But every family is different and has its own specific needs, whether it’s budget, hours, teaching philosophy, or some other specific service they need for their child.

When I decided to return to work, I also had to find child care for my 2 daughters. I had a list of criteria, nothing extraordinary, yet not all child care centers offered the things I was looking for. I expected to find a website or an app that would help me, but all I found were directories with a list of centers. There was little information available, so I ended up calling dozens of places asking the same questions, over and over again. After visiting 16 centers, my husband and I finally settled on the one!

Realizing that finding the right child care was no easy task for most families, we decided to create a resource to help. We built CareLuLu to be the most convenient way for parents to find a daycare or preschool that fits their family’s specific needs. At CareLuLu, we do the homework for you! We ask child care providers all the important questions parents want to know and enable parents to do a personalized search to easily identify preschools that offer the services you’re looking for.

So how can you, a DC Urban Mom, benefit? Well let me give you an example… Are you interested in accredited schools only? Or, perhaps you are looking for language immersion programs? Or maybe you only need part-time care? Or do you require a peanut-free environment because your child is allergic? No need to call dozens of centers asking the same questions over and over again, simply select the appropriate search filter for “accredited,” “immersion,” “part-time” or “peanut-free” (just like you would enter criteria on Kayak) and you will see only those schools that fit your needs. We have nearly 40 filters to choose from!

With CareLuLu, parents can avoid the hassle of searching through dozens of websites or spending hours on the phone in search of child care. DCUM readers can find all the information in one place, including tuition, photos and verified reviews by other parents. It’s also very easy to compare the schools you like, contact them and book a tour. Most importantly, we make sure to list only licensed providers, so you don’t have to worry about whether the safety or caregiver’s training meet the standards. Being licensed indicates that the child care provider has received the proper training and operates in a safe environment that undergoes regular unannounced government inspections. For home-based family child care, it also means that the caregiver and all the adult members of the household have undergone a background check.

When people hear the name “CareLuLu”, they often think it’s French, maybe because my husband and co-founder Patrick is French. Or, they think we chose it because it sounds fun and playful. There’s actually a real meaning behind it: “Lulu” is an English word which means “an outstanding or remarkable person or thing.” We thought that name was perfect since our goal is to help parents find remarkable care for their little ones. And yes, we also think it’s cute! :)

If you’ll be looking for child care or preschool, I hope you’ll use CareLuLu to save you time and headaches, and if your kids are already in child care, please do other parents a favor and let your provider know that they can create a free profile on CareLuLu (and leave a review for them!)

I’d love to hear your thoughts on our website and learn how we can improve. Please shoot me an email and show your support to a fellow DC Urban Mom by following CareLuLu on Facebook&, Twitter, and Pinterest!

For more articles on child care and what to look for, check out our Blog :)

Evgeniya (Jen) Usmanova is Co-founder & Mom-in-Chief at CareLuLu