Does anyone have hired help for your dc???

[Mom of 3]

I may one day be able to take on the basement suite of my house. In this case I would be able to move my dc downstairs. I would love it!!!! I would have a dc kitchen, spare room and dc bathroom, it would be lovely! But in this case I would go from $35 per day to $50 or $55 and possibly take on extra help so that I may take on 1 or 2 more children.
Does anyone have experience with having hired help, could you explain the logistics or how you organize it??

[Crayola kiddies]

Not sure where you are but here in Ontario you can only have five kuds regardless of how many adults you have present. Also you would have to pay this employees benefits cpp ect ... I would be able to afford to pay out to someone else. You would be better off taking one less kid then paying someone. JMO

[Inspired by Reggio]

What province are you in Mom of 3 ~ the rules and viability of this vary so drastically across Canada!

Here in Ontario for example having more space in my home or a dedicated space does not mean we can hirer a assistant and take on more children ... we are only allowed to have 5 children per premise regardless of how many adults we have and if we choose to go 'regulated' route and partner with a licensed agency our own children may count in those five depending on their age PLUS there are additional restrictions on the ages we can take and so forth.

To have more than 5 children enrolled we would have to apply to the Ministry of Education for a license to operate a day nursery ... whomever is 'running' the program would have to have their Early Childhood Education and be approved by the Ministry so if you do not have that you would have to have funds to HIRE someone just to get started with the process and than to be perfectly honest IME residential 'homes' typically do not meet the zoning bylaws for parking, fire, accessibility or day nursery requirements for % of window, bathrooms, square footage per room and Public Health requirements for industrial kitchen facilities and so forth at least not without a whole bunch of hoop jumping and expensive renovations ... heck half of the 'zoned for business' properties do not meet all the requirements for bylaws and rules to operate a day nursery which is why there are so few programs these days that are not 'institutions' that were built specifically for the purpose of Childcare program

[Inspired by Reggio]

Opps typing at the same time Crayola posted

[Mom of 3]

I"m in Alberta so currently because I run a private daycare I can have 6 kids, not including my own. I currently have six in total right now. I think I am able to take on more kids if I have help but I would have to get licensed...

[Inspired by Reggio]

Oh hopefully someone from Alberta can help weigh in than cause your rules are very different than ours with the array of licensing options in the home based environment ~ here in Ontario they basically do not license 'homes' only large centre type programs so in Ontario you would partner with a licensed 'agency' when you work form home so your home is not licensed but the 'agency' is ~ they subcontract your services and it is then their responsibility to make sure your home meets the regulations ... but that process still does not allow you more children in fact it limits which is why most of choose to be 'private' cause there is more benefits to us that way.

[MomAwayFromMom]

I am also in Alberta. Actually Alberta has NO laws whatsoever regarding the number of children to caregiver. It doesn't see fit to try and regulate privatized childcare. You can have 90:1 and as long as the parents are comfortable leaving their children in your care you can keep on "collecting". Rediculous, I know, but its true. If you were licensed that would be a different story. You can only have up to 6 children per caregiver, and its 1 under 1, 2 under 2, 3 under 3. But only one in each age bracket, get it? So you can have 1, 1yo; 1,2yo and 1,1yo or 2,2yo; 3, 3yo or 1,3yo and 1,2yo and 1,1yo or; 1,3yo and 2,2yo and 0,1yo or; 3,3yo. Yes it is confusing. I chose to be privatized because the regulations for being lisenced are completely rediculous, IMHO.

Although I have no one working for me and never have and never will, it isn't that difficult to obtain an employee. If you get a family member to work for you you don't have to remit CPP or EI on their behalf, just the income tax. However, that also means that they can not claim EI because they are not paying into it. You can also go the route of paying "casual" cash wages. If you don't need the extra help everyday and therefore only need some one once in a while, you are allowed to pay cash wages and write them off as long as they sign a receipt.

HTH

[Inspired by Reggio]

I am also in Alberta. Actually Alberta has NO laws whatsoever regarding the number of children to caregiver. It doesn't see fit to try and regulate privatized childcare. You can have 90:1 and as long as the parents are comfortable leaving their children in your care you can keep on "collecting". ....

Hmmm ~ according to the Alberta government website anyone caring for '7 or more children' requires a license so it seems they DO regulate private home childcare at least to the extent that you can only care for 6 children or less before you are required to be licensed in some manner?

http://www.child.alberta.ca/home/1159.cfm
A license is required under the Child Care Licensing Act to operate a child care program that provides care for seven or more children except for:

An education program provided under the School Act;

A day camp, vacation camp or other recreational program that operates for less than 12 consecutive weeks;

Supervision of children at a recreational facility, retail centre or other commercial establishment where the parents of the children remain on the premises and are available; or

Private babysitting in a private home for six children or less. The caregiver’s own children are not included in these six..

Approved family day homes are not required to be licensed as they are monitored by the family day home agency.

The Child Care Licensing Regulation sets out the minimum standards that must be met in a licensed child care program to ensure that the health, safety and developmental needs of children are met.

Child and Family Service Authorities (CFSA) licence, monitor and issue enforcement actions. Should you have any questions regarding applying for a child care licence, please contact local Child and Family Services Authority.

[MomAwayFromMom]

Hmmm ~ according to the Alberta government website anyone caring for '7 or more children' requires a license so it seems they DO regulate private home childcare at least to the extent that you can only care for 6 children or less before you are required to be licensed in some manner?

Just a year and a half ago I looked into this in depth though my local licensing office. Those license requirements are, as I was told, for daycare centers or proffessional childcare situations representing themselves as such. I understand that in other provences you don't have such entities as "dayhomes" or "private dayhomes". This is what "shelter" I operate under. I have no official rules that govern my care ratio. Of course that doesnt mean that if I took on 10 kids I wouldn't get into trouble. Im sure somewhere along the line child and family services would come knocking at my door. But this question was about obtaining help. You most certainly can do it that way in Alberta. We are the most entrepreneurial provence.

[giraffe]

Just a year and a half ago I looked into this in depth though my local licensing office. Those license requirements are, as I was told, for daycare centers or proffessional childcare situations representing themselves as such. I understand that in other provences you don't have such entities as "dayhomes" or "private dayhomes". This is what "shelter" I operate under. I have no official rules that govern my care ratio. Of course that doesnt mean that if I took on 10 kids I wouldn't get into trouble. Im sure somewhere along the line child and family services would come knocking at my door. But this question was about obtaining help. You most certainly can do it that way in Alberta. We are the most entrepreneurial provence.

I'm sorry MAFM but I'm pretty sure that Reggio is right.