Does anyone have hired help for your dc???

[Mom of 3]

I may one day be able to take on the basement suite of my house. In this case I would be able to move my dc downstairs. I would love it!!!! I would have a dc kitchen, spare room and dc bathroom, it would be lovely! But in this case I would go from $35 per day to $50 or $55 and possibly take on extra help so that I may take on 1 or 2 more children.
Does anyone have experience with having hired help, could you explain the logistics or how you organize it??

[Crayola kiddies]

Not sure where you are but here in Ontario you can only have five kuds regardless of how many adults you have present. Also you would have to pay this employees benefits cpp ect ... I would be able to afford to pay out to someone else. You would be better off taking one less kid then paying someone. JMO

[Inspired by Reggio]

What province are you in Mom of 3 ~ the rules and viability of this vary so drastically across Canada!

Here in Ontario for example having more space in my home or a dedicated space does not mean we can hirer a assistant and take on more children ... we are only allowed to have 5 children per premise regardless of how many adults we have and if we choose to go 'regulated' route and partner with a licensed agency our own children may count in those five depending on their age PLUS there are additional restrictions on the ages we can take and so forth.

To have more than 5 children enrolled we would have to apply to the Ministry of Education for a license to operate a day nursery ... whomever is 'running' the program would have to have their Early Childhood Education and be approved by the Ministry so if you do not have that you would have to have funds to HIRE someone just to get started with the process and than to be perfectly honest IME residential 'homes' typically do not meet the zoning bylaws for parking, fire, accessibility or day nursery requirements for % of window, bathrooms, square footage per room and Public Health requirements for industrial kitchen facilities and so forth at least not without a whole bunch of hoop jumping and expensive renovations ... heck half of the 'zoned for business' properties do not meet all the requirements for bylaws and rules to operate a day nursery which is why there are so few programs these days that are not 'institutions' that were built specifically for the purpose of Childcare program :(

[Inspired by Reggio]

Opps typing at the same time Crayola posted ;)

[Mom of 3]

I"m in Alberta so currently because I run a private daycare I can have 6 kids, not including my own. I currently have six in total right now. I think I am able to take on more kids if I have help but I would have to get licensed...

[Inspired by Reggio]

Oh hopefully someone from Alberta can help weigh in than cause your rules are very different than ours with the array of licensing options in the home based environment ~ here in Ontario they basically do not license 'homes' only large centre type programs so in Ontario you would partner with a licensed 'agency' when you work form home so your home is not licensed but the 'agency' is ~ they subcontract your services and it is then their responsibility to make sure your home meets the regulations ... but that process still does not allow you more children in fact it limits which is why most of choose to be 'private' cause there is more benefits to us that way.

[MomAwayFromMom]

I am also in Alberta. Actually Alberta has NO laws whatsoever regarding the number of children to caregiver. It doesn't see fit to try and regulate privatized childcare. You can have 90:1 and as long as the parents are comfortable leaving their children in your care you can keep on "collecting". Rediculous, I know, but its true. If you were licensed that would be a different story. You can only have up to 6 children per caregiver, and its 1 under 1, 2 under 2, 3 under 3. But only one in each age bracket, get it? So you can have 1, 1yo; 1,2yo and 1,1yo or 2,2yo; 3, 3yo or 1,3yo and 1,2yo and 1,1yo or; 1,3yo and 2,2yo and 0,1yo or; 3,3yo. Yes it is confusing. I chose to be privatized because the regulations for being lisenced are completely rediculous, IMHO.

Although I have no one working for me and never have and never will, it isn't that difficult to obtain an employee. If you get a family member to work for you you don't have to remit CPP or EI on their behalf, just the income tax. However, that also means that they can not claim EI because they are not paying into it. You can also go the route of paying "casual" cash wages. If you don't need the extra help everyday and therefore only need some one once in a while, you are allowed to pay cash wages and write them off as long as they sign a receipt.

HTH

[Inspired by Reggio]

I am also in Alberta. Actually Alberta has NO laws whatsoever regarding the number of children to caregiver. It doesn't see fit to try and regulate privatized childcare. You can have 90:1 and as long as the parents are comfortable leaving their children in your care you can keep on "collecting". ....

Hmmm ~ according to the Alberta government website anyone caring for '7 or more children' requires a license so it seems they DO regulate private home childcare at least to the extent that you can only care for 6 children or less before you are required to be licensed in some manner?


http://www.child.alberta.ca/home/1159.cfm
A license is required under the Child Care Licensing Act to operate a child care program that provides care for seven or more children except for:

An education program provided under the School Act;

A day camp, vacation camp or other recreational program that operates for less than 12 consecutive weeks;

Supervision of children at a recreational facility, retail centre or other commercial establishment where the parents of the children remain on the premises and are available; or

Private babysitting in a private home for six children or less. The caregiver’s own children are not included in these six..

Approved family day homes are not required to be licensed as they are monitored by the family day home agency.

The Child Care Licensing Regulation sets out the minimum standards that must be met in a licensed child care program to ensure that the health, safety and developmental needs of children are met.

Child and Family Service Authorities (CFSA) licence, monitor and issue enforcement actions. Should you have any questions regarding applying for a child care licence, please contact local Child and Family Services Authority.

[MomAwayFromMom]

Hmmm ~ according to the Alberta government website anyone caring for '7 or more children' requires a license so it seems they DO regulate private home childcare at least to the extent that you can only care for 6 children or less before you are required to be licensed in some manner?

Just a year and a half ago I looked into this in depth though my local licensing office. Those license requirements are, as I was told, for daycare centers or proffessional childcare situations representing themselves as such. I understand that in other provences you don't have such entities as "dayhomes" or "private dayhomes". This is what "shelter" I operate under. I have no official rules that govern my care ratio. Of course that doesnt mean that if I took on 10 kids I wouldn't get into trouble. Im sure somewhere along the line child and family services would come knocking at my door. But this question was about obtaining help. You most certainly can do it that way in Alberta. We are the most entrepreneurial provence.

[giraffe]

Just a year and a half ago I looked into this in depth though my local licensing office. Those license requirements are, as I was told, for daycare centers or proffessional childcare situations representing themselves as such. I understand that in other provences you don't have such entities as "dayhomes" or "private dayhomes". This is what "shelter" I operate under. I have no official rules that govern my care ratio. Of course that doesnt mean that if I took on 10 kids I wouldn't get into trouble. Im sure somewhere along the line child and family services would come knocking at my door. But this question was about obtaining help. You most certainly can do it that way in Alberta. We are the most entrepreneurial provence.

I'm sorry MAFM but I'm pretty sure that Reggio is right.

[Inspired by Reggio]

I'm sorry MAFM but I'm pretty sure that Reggio is right.

Ya I know here in Ontario that there are people who believe that 'unregulated daycare' means there are NO rules at all too ~ this is not the case the minimal rules are THERE that one must follow just as it seems like they are there according to the Alberta website ... so for us we cannot care for more than 5 daycare children under the age of 10 plus our own ~ and even though we are 'unregulated' as business owners we must still follow all city bylaws for zoning and fire codes and so forth or risk fines and issues of being closed down by those agencies ... is just up to the individual business owner to ensure they are following those minimum rules as know one is coming in and 'inspecting' that you are ~ as a business owner it is each persons own due diligence to ensure they are following the rules for their industry or risk it hitting the fan so to speak ... even unregulated if you fined yourself in front of a Civil court judge due to a client suing you you are going to be held to the 'standard of practice of the industry' which is going to include those rules the government deems 'best practice' so it is wise to know them and if you choose not to follow them for whatever reason you need to be confident you can argue to a judge why you did not if a child is injured in your business and they feel that 'rule not being followed' was why ;)

Problem is that violations of the over ratio issue or fire code issues and other rules are 'complaint' based so unless a child is injured and harmed to draw attention to the illegal practice or unless a neighbor or unhappy client lodges a complaint the programs go unchecked ... you hear the news story of 'illegal childcare gets busted' at least once or twice a year in Ontario news but in the meantime lots of illegal providers are able to thrive and it is one of the reason why advocates are pushing to remove the option of 'unregulated childcare' at all in Ontario because sadly too many people are not able to 'self regulate' giving the rest of us who are a bad reputation!

[Mamma_Mia]

I was hoping to get some ideas as I might want to hire a ECE student for a 1-2month period. Mostly after the baby is born....so that I can keep up with the daily park/splash pad outings w/ picnics and not have the kids tapped at home all day.

Although my mom will be living next door she can only handle "so much"...she has said often she admires me LOL She will be able to help but she's also only 48yrs old and wants to continue working even if it's a PT so I can't fully count on her....nor expect her to.

Even a highschool student for a couple of hours a day? ((of course I would make sure they have CPR, and with the parents permissions etc.))

I *think* I'll be ok but I'd rather be perpared just in case......any ideas?

[Inspired by Reggio]

Yes you can hirer help as long as you do not exceed your allowable number and feel you can budget for it ~ lots of providers do it.

The challenge with hiring someone is it makes you an 'employer' and comes with rules and regulations you'd need to ensure you meet ~ so check with your insurance company to start to ensure your home childcare ryder will cover an employee and if not what EXTRA cost is associated with that so your butt is covered liability wise.

Also call CRA and find out how the 'legalities' of having an employee works because as an employer technically you would be required to pay the employers portion of EI, CPP, vacation pay, federal tax and other 'employer' tax contributions that are required to be made.

However when it was a short term situation like a mat leave verses a permanent thing I have had peers who claim to have 'contracted' their help and had a employment contract that clearly stated that the 'employer portion of all deducations' were being included in the hourly wage being paid and it was up to the employee to submit the entire portion both employee and employer at tax time and than they just made sure to pay them enough hourly wage to cover the expenses plus ensure the person is making at least minimum wage required ... if you go that route I would look to get help from a lawyer who specializes in employment contracts to ensure your butt is covered and whomever you hirer cannot come back later and claim you own them more money at tax time!

[MomAwayFromMom]

I wouldn't be running any type of childcare against the rules. ANY rules. If I had been told otherwise I would be operating under different circumstances. You can make it as difficult as you want to, but it is what it is. Aside from this business I have been a business owner and entrepreneur for many years. I am confident in the information I provide. Being from the other side of the country I wouldn't expect that you know our rules. Ontario, Quebec and BC have some of the most strict legislation for this industry, where Alberta is the most relaxed. Now unless municipal legislation is completely different and in violation of provincial regulation, those are the rules. Sorry. I have two social services employees that live directly accross the street and I checked with them last night. If anyone would know they would. They also operate a daycare center.