Childcare while job hunting, what worked? - 5 months and counting

I have 6 kids and I need to interview and work without a sitter. Any experience at all would help. I looked into subsidies but the forms are long. How long did subsidies take?

Thanks for writing this out. I went through something close to it last year, and it settled down once I kept a simple log of every call and form.

Our county's childcare assistance took about 20 weeks to approve, but it covered most of the cost.