What is unclear to me is whether I can use an FSA account for part of the year and STILL deduct childcare expenses that were NOT related to the FSA.
Yes you can ... look at the form 2441 to see exactly how that is computed. In fact you can only use the FSA funds on the payments made after you started the FSA so you could not possibly recoup the entire year's payments. And since the FSA contributions will be lost if not used you should always use them timely and not wait ... who knows what the future will bring.
