LEWISTON – Parents who need evening child care will soon have a new place to go.

Starting in January, the YWCA of Central Maine will offer child care from 5 to 10 p.m. once or twice a week until the end of spring. If it proves both successful and popular, the YWCA may offer care more nights.

Very few local child care centers stay open through the evening. Finders/Seekers, a child care resource center, knows of only four Androscoggin County providers who offer hours past 6 p.m.

“They’re really rare. It’s a difficult thing,” said program director James Wilkins.

The YWCA in Lewiston cares for about 100 children during the day. It decided to offer a night shift after officials spoke with the chairwoman of College for ME-Androscoggin, a group trying to double the number of Androscoggin County residents with college degrees by 2015.

“We were chatting about the barriers that are out there for people to go back to school,” said Anne Lee, executive director of the YWCA. “Two of the biggest ones are transportation and child care.”

The YWCA couldn’t do anything about transportation. It could help with child care.

“It appears to be something we could do without too much trouble,” Lee said.

Evening sessions will be limited to children from 2 to 12 years old. The nighttime program will be more low-key than the day program, offering homework help, games and puzzles, stories and a quiet place to sleep. Children bring their own dinner and can change into their pajamas while at the center.

Children can stay for part or all of the evening. It will cost $12 a night, no matter how long the child stays.

Parents must register their children for the session. Drop-ins will not be allowed.

The YWCA needs at least 12 children to run the session. So far, Lee said, five or six parents have shown interest.

The evening session is geared toward parents taking night classes at Central Maine Community College, the University of Southern Maine’s Lewiston-Auburn College or Andover College, but YWCA child care is open to anyone.

The evening sessions will begin the week of Jan. 14 and will run through the end of May or the beginning of June. Officials don’t yet know which days of the week they’ll offer evening care.

For more information or to register, phone Child Care Director Pamela Murphy at 795-4050.