Valerie, I would never go with an agency either because I don't want to work for anybody else. Being self-employed is wonderful 99% of the time in my opinion. We like to give our best advice on this forum based on our experiences.

HOWEVER, you take all of our good advice and weigh it and do what is best for YOU! If starting with an agency is best for you then go ahead and do that. You will learn a lot about having people on subsidy in your care I'm afraid. I was on subsidy when I was a young single Mom and my children were well behaved, clean and well-fed. However, that is not always the case, especially in the low rent housing. I vowed when I was a hard working young Mom never to let us get that low that we needed low rent housing because those people actually frightened me. I'm not being prejudiced, I saw it all with my own eyes and lived in poverty scraping by with 4 children, just barely making ends meet. I've been there.

Now, what about advertising and interviewing and give yourself a chance to start up with working families who can pay your fees and see how that goes for a couple of months before you join an agency? Do you have that kind of time? It takes a while to get up and running sometimes.