I am a little north of Calgary. I looked into linking up with the local family services agency, and frankly, I did not see a lot of benefits to it.

Pros: they set the fees, charge the fees, collect the money, find your clients, you are able to take in subsidized kids (probably the biggest benefit in my mind), there are a number of resources available (courses/classes, toy lending libraries, playgroups, etc), and some parents only want to go with a "licensed" dayhome

Cons: they set the fees, find your clients, determine how holidays/sick days work, there are greater restrictions on the age/number of children you can care for, I have not heard good things about some of the folks responsible for the "regulation" and doing the drop-in visits

My number one concern was that I felt, essentially, like I was an employee of the agency. I didn't want that, as I wanted to be my own boss. Call me a control freak, hahaha! I am certainly not saying that there is no reason to be licensed/accredited/work with an agency. I just don't believe that it's for me.