I am not in Alberta so not sure if my advice is 'relevant' so take it with a grain of salt

I started out with an agency in my province ... while they do have pros such as resources the challenge with agency care is that it costs fee paying parents at least $10 or more a day in fees than 'private' arrangements and as a result the majority of clients who USE agency care are those who are not paying fees - aka government subsidized clientele which is fine if there IS SUBSIDY. In my region the waiting list for subsidy is very LONG and therefore referrals through an 'agency' are hard to get ... I was with my agency for just over two years and in that time they were not able to successfully refer me one client - I filled up with private clients who had no interest of contracting care through them due to the 'higher fee' associated with it and knowing that it would result in a 'lower payment' for me as well ... it just made sense to contract through me directly as they were getting the SAME SERVICE regardless.

I eventually gave up my contract with the agency because it was a waste of both their and my time filling out paper and sending someone out for 'inspections' when they had no clients with me and I was consistently able to fill my spots privately before they could get through the red time of referring clients to me.

I run my business almost exactly the same way ... my program practices did not change, I still engage in health and safety checklists on my 'own' without having an agency support 'shadow' me through it, my business practices did not change or anything like that ... the only 'leeway' I have with being private is that the 5 children in my program can be whatever age mix I feel confident and comfortable managing ... so for me I still follow the no more than two children under the age of 2 .... however my other three children as long as they are over 2 I am cool with that and able to manage just fine where with an agency you can only have three children under 3 years ... so at least two of your children always have to be 3 years of age or older and well 4 and 5 year olds are getting harder and harder to find now that more and more provinces have 'full day everyday junior and senior kindergarten.

I have not run into any trouble being private - in my province our Day Nursery Act inadvertently promoting private home childcare as the 'desirable business model' ... because the rules allow you to have 5 children plus your own and whatever age groups you want and to charge whatever the market will bare ... so with no middle man taking a portion of the clients fees to cover their 'business costs' of operating the agency it allows private providers to charge LESS than agency care while making MORE income for themselves .... it is just the more viable business model because the resources, toy lending library, professional development that agency offer are also available within the community to 'private home childcare owners' who are interested ... so win win!