Looking for mothers and fathers who are concerned about a home daycare provider....

[Bugaboo]

Tyana,

As Janet stated earlier you have a brilliant story right in front of you and its one that (too my knowledge) has never been done before. Why don't you interview a hand full of providers and ask them how the average parent treats them. Unfortunately all too many parents treat their providers with a complete and utter lack of disrespect. Not only do they do things like pay late (or not at all), they also can be rude, condescending, and hateful to the very woman who takes care of their child 40-50 hours a week. Ask yourself how a parent can be that resentful towards their child's caregiver and yet still send them there every day of the week for sometimes 10 hour days? You should also go to www.justthebabysitter.com and read Judy Trickett's July 2012 blog entry "What Your DayCare Provider is Really Saying". You may find it very eye opening into the everyday life of a Day Care Provider. Please think about this untold story.

[sunnydays]

I agree with the others...a story about how us caregivers have stepped up to the plate and are helping to raise the next generation while earning a living and raising our own kids as well. In these tough economic times, many women have turned this as a viable option to allow us to stay home and raise our children the way we think is best while helping other parents get out to work by taking care of their children. It is a win-win for society and this forum is full of evidence of our dedication and hard work when it comes to caring for these children. Just look at some of the posts and you will see us all supporting each other and encouraging each other to be the very best daycare providers possible...the fact that most of us are on here every day looking for new ideas, sharing stories, supporting each other should be enough to tell you that the majority of us really care about the kids and really take pride in what we do. I would love to see that in the news...I have NEVER seen anything about the lives of dedicated home daycare providers in the news. If you want to see things from the child's point of view, why not follow a child or 2 or 3 through their days in an average home daycare? Then you will see the fun, the joy, the laughter, the learning and the love that takes place every day for these children.

[Inspired by Reggio]

IMO challenges to choosing to be 'licensed' with an agency in Ontario are simple:

Inconsistent rules between not having to count your own children in a 'private' setting and having to count them in a 'licensed agency model' as well as the 'restrictions' around age groupings in the face of full-day JK and SK make it most viable to be private ... there is very little 'benefit' for a provider to be with an agency under the current rules ~ everything an agency 'provides' as support to the provider they can get for FREE in the community through networks, OEYC and so forth so the service is 'redundant' and the rules for 'regulated' care around ratios restrict the already minimal income we are able to make.

The 'safety' rules are common sense things that MOST of us do anyway or should be doing ... and things like a 'fenced yard' for home childcare could easily be changed to read 'daily access to a fenced yard OR a public playground' but the problem is that the DNA is designed and written for CENTRE care and well a lot of it does not apply to HOMES because it is not practical!

The other big issue is that FEES in regulated agency care verses private care has an almost $20/day/child gap where the agency charges more to clients or tax payers via the subsidy system because it 'keeps' that $20 /day/child in revenue to cover the middle man expenses of their organizations to 'regulate' the providers and provide said support ... so clients are paying much more for a service because of the cost of the 'middle man' which does not guarantee any increase in 'quality' cause there are many regulated agency out there who do the 'bare minimum' or only follow the rules when someone is 'watching' them.

The easiest way to get more HOME BASED providers to choose to be regulated would be to do what other provinces do ~ cut out the middle man to help keep the cost of childcare lower by not having so many 'middle man micromanaging but not really ADDING to service ~ license the provider directly similar to how centres are but with a ratio that is 'fair' to mixed age groupings, let the provider charge whatever the market can bare to fee paying clients and choose if they want to take 'subsidized' clients at whatever rate the government pays for that and so forth and educate PARENTS on what to look for in their programs as far as quality care, safety and so forth goes cause they are the ones who are IN the programs day in and day out SEEING the programs in action and have them 'report' to the government if they see concerns or issues with their provider!

[giraffe]

Am I not mistaken as to think that a private home daycare in Ontario CAN NOT become licenced?? As far as I am aware the agency is licenced not the homedaycare. It is two very different things....

Could someone please help with more info?

[Tyana]

"Private-home day care agency providers are not licensed directly. Instead, the ministry licenses private-home day care agencies. Licensed private-home day care agencies then contract individual caregivers who use their own homes to look after children. Caregivers are screened, approved and monitored by home visitors. These home visitors work for the home child care agency."
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/childcare/l...standards.html

Am I not mistaken as to think that a private home daycare in Ontario CAN NOT become licenced?? As far as I am aware the agency is licenced not the homedaycare. It is two very different things....

Could someone please help with more info?

[Momof4]

Am I not mistaken as to think that a private home daycare in Ontario CAN NOT become licenced?? As far as I am aware the agency is licenced not the homedaycare. It is two very different things....

Could someone please help with more info?

Giraffe, you can register with an agency and there are several around depending on your city, but then you are not exactly self-employed any more, you have a boss again. I really enjoy being self-employed, choosing the families I feel will fit well into my daycare, making the rules for my contract, my business hours, etc. I also don't want to accept subsidized families into care, which is an option if you are with an agency. But I know a caregiver who had a terrible time collecting through Ontario Works when she had a subsidized family with her. It's a whole new can of worms!

[Inspired by Reggio]

Am I not mistaken as to think that a private home daycare in Ontario CAN NOT become licenced?? As far as I am aware the agency is licenced not the homedaycare. It is two very different things....

Could someone please help with more info?

Ya you are not mistaken .... this is the way it currently is .... in my post I was making a 'suggestion' on how they could IMPROVE the odds of unregulated private home childcare providers wanting to become 'regulated' .... IMO the biggest obstacle is that most of us do not want to loose such a large portion of our income to a 'middle man' that we feel offers very little 'added benefit' to ourselves or clients and the 'benefit' of more regulated childcare is that the government will not allow parents to choose 'unregulated care' if they required government subsidy .... this would allow more CHOICE for parents while still allowing self employed providers the autonomy of running their program 'within the guidelines' but without a direct 'supervisor' coming into their program and micromanaging them monthly

I am not saying get rid of 'agencies' per say because some providers do like the role they play ~ just saying for those of us who do not 'want nor need' the support of something like that the option of being licensed 'directly' might appeal to them!

[giraffe]

What I was referring to was OPs comment on how we (or some of us) choose NOT to be licenced... I cannot become licenced even if I wanted to... so therefore in Ontario it is NOT an OPTION for me so the article is mute.

[Sandbox Sally]

I would gladly become licenced, but I am unable to sign with an agency, as that would leave me with next to nothing for take home pay, after the agency skims their fees off the top of MY wages for the services I provide.

An agency, IMO, does nothing for me that I cannot do myself. We as home daycare providers are caught between a rock and a hard place, as we are not willing to pay an entity to do everything that we can do on our own, but we are not physically able to become licensed on our own. THEN, we are vilified by the media, because, of course, unlicensed daycare is, y'know, really really dangerous.

[Inspired by Reggio]

What I was referring to was OPs comment on how we (or some of us) choose NOT to be licenced... I cannot become licenced even if I wanted to... so therefore in Ontario it is NOT an OPTION for me so the article is mute.

True ~ this is part of the challenge with 'patchwork childcare system' that across CANADA the rules are vastly different province to province on what is legal or not legal and how childcare is managed and addressed .... the OP did not specify which PROVINCE they are focusing on and CBC broadcasts across all the Provinces .... some provinces are lucky and it is the HOME that is licensed there is no 'agency' middleman driving up the cost of care.