Childcare while job hunting, what worked? - what worked for you?

My hours will change when I find a job and childcare is my biggest worry. I do not usually post, so bear with me. I looked into subsidies but the forms are long. How long did subsidies take?

Libraries and community centres run free activities that gave me a couple of hours.

Keep everything in writing and save the confirmation numbers. It made the follow-up calls so much easier.