Quote Originally Posted by playfelt View Post
....The loss of that is probably the saddest part of regulation.
I spent time in dozens of 'regulated childcare models' over the course of my 17 years and while they were all regulated by the same rules not one was 'the same' as far as the program philosophy / curriculum went not to mention 'quality' and individual service provided... the regulations are minimum standards around health & safety and bare minimum recommendations about what a program should contain (aka access to creative art, physical development both gross and fine, language / literacy, math /etc) but HOW that is offered and if it is EXCEEDED is up to the service provider so there is still room for 'various philosophies' within regulation and the QUALITY of the program varies vastly depending on those administering it regulation does not equate to IDENTICAL options ... just look at the school boards and how VASTLY different one school can be from another and one classroom can be from another even within the same school ... there is LOTS of room for differing philosophy and approaches within the current regulations

I started out with an agency myself and as long as my program met those 'bare standards' I was free to do what I felt prudent for my group and their needs ~ I am no longer with them because I can offer the same level of quality care and program for CHEAPER to the clients while making MORE income for myself by cutting out that middle man and my CLIENTS REGULATE ME because they are the ones who are here day in and day out to see my program and how their children are thriving

I am not an advocate for mandatory 'regulation' because it drives up the cost of service due to having more 'middle man' inspecting and supervising those overseeing and supervising us and so forth without IMO adding any TRUE value to the service on the front line not to mention the redundant paperwork and stupid practices around said paperwork that do not really aid in 'quality' to the children on the front line taking up valuable time of front line staff that should be spent supporting the children and families they serve ~ my biggest fear about mandatory regulation would be that it is going to drive up the cost to parents who can 'afford' to pay full fees and drive up the need for subsidy for the rest increase our tax dollar allocation for 'childcare' .... so in the end home care costs as much as 'centre' care while LOWERING our wages and giving us less to work with in our programs just like in centre care ... if my 'revenue' was lowered by $10/child/day due to the agency taking a cut to cover their 'costs' of payroll and rent for their offices and so forth than it goes to reason that I would either have to reduce my expenses by that much and stop offering 'high end foods / field trips / as much consumable creative art / sensory / cooking for the kids OR end up working for less than minimum wage and well sorry but that is not going to happen ~ which means cut in SERVICE to my clients and how is that creating an INCREASE in QUALITY care to them?