Once you enroll, there are pre-tax deductions from each paycheck into the DC FSA. I didn’t get a debit card for mine but had to electronically submit receipts and invoices.

Unlike a regular FSA where you can access the entire year’s amount right away, you can only reimburse for the amount currently in the DC FSA. $5k annual limit = $416 going into it every month and $10k annual expenses = $833 per month. You can either reimburse yourself $416 every month or $832 every other month. This may vary if you have months where you don’t need to pay for daycare.

IIRC, the DC FSA may decrease the amount you can claim for the child care tax credit.