Reporting a Home Daycare

[clep]

I recently had a very vindictive woman call the ministry on me because I was not willing to do as she wanted. The ministry thanked me for my time and complimented me on a having a wonderful day home. I am in Alberta and am private so I can have six children plus my own. The licencing officer told me that I can have a child over to play with my child during day home hours without an issue. She said if they ever came to check, I would have to call the parents and have them verify to the ministry over the phone, that the child is here for a play date and is not a part of my day home. They do not expect my child to go without a friend to play with all summer because mom has a day home.

[samantha3]

I believe that if you think they are in the wrong, go ahead and report. The worst thing that could happen is that it was a misunderstanding and the provider is doing an excellent job. The other side is that they may be over their numbers and operating illegally which is putting children at risk. I would call.... but I am also a stickler for the rules

[Inspired by Reggio]

Jec if you are in Ontario and operating a 'business of home childcare in your home' you would be ok as long as your total number of children in the home who are not YOURS remain 5 or less during your business hours - even if you are not 'charging' that parent for your services you are supervising the child and it will affect your insurance!

It is that tricky 'grey' area of interpretation around the rules ... Joe Parent can have a birthday party on a Saturday afternoon and invite 12 kids to the house for a couple of hours without their parents present and be FINE cause they are not offering the 'business of daycare' in their home - its just a party and short term and if an accident occurs the regular home owners would cover it.

But during your 'daycare business hours' you need to follow the rules set out by the DNA or you could run into trouble both with being reported by someone who 'thinks' you are illegal OR with your insurance in an incident ... being a 'grey' area Insurance companies will use it as a way to negate your policy if you have more than 5 children in the home when an accident occurs and your policy stated it only covered '5 children in the program'... insurance ALWAYS looks for a way not to pay out so I would not give them one!

Personally if it were me I would avoid the issue by either having your child go to a friends house during your business hours and save play dates at your house for 'after business hours' OR when your ratio allows you to be under 5 with him there OR meet his friend and caregiver at a local public venue where it is not an issue.

[DaycareLulu]

I know what you mean! I have one of those on my street too! I tried to report to the ministry today and all I got was an answering machine. Should I just leave an anonymous message?

[wolfpup]

I know what you mean! I have one of those on my street too! I tried to report to the ministry today and all I got was an answering machine. Should I just leave an anonymous message?

My biggest thing was wanting to remain annonymous... I live in a very small town so dont need that backlash.

[playfelt]

Often the parents are unaware of numbers too. If you are advertising spaces make sure in your ad that you coopy and paste the ministry info making it clear to parents that unlike others in town, your daycare numbers stay within compliance. Once parents know they will start to think twice hopefully even if she is charging less.

She may wrongly think she can have 6 preschoolers plus 6 afterschoolers.

[country girl]

Another thing that people should remember is the liability factor - I worked in the insurance industry for years and if you have a home daycare which is not licenced, most Insurance companies will only let you have 5 kids + your own MAX. If god forbid something were to happen to one of the children and the insurance company found out they had more kids then they were allowed, they may not pay any liability claims so that provider could very well lose everything! Not really worth it in the long run....

Aside from that, it is very frustrating when you know that people are well over their limits and you are struggling to fill up your own daycare!

While I realize that people are just trying to make a living, you would have to be superwoman to look after 13 kids - and there is no way they are getting the attention they deserve with so many kids in one home!