Private Dayhome regulations in alberta

[mom-in-alberta]

Funny you should ask... I just spoke with someone last week at the Alberta government in regards to the same things. I was getting very frustrated because I was trying to find some specific information and was getting very conflicting info. And I've been running my dayhome for over a year now!!
Basically; this is what I was told: there are no regulations when it comes to a PRIVATE dayhome in Alberta.
Crazy, no? That is why there is so much mis-information out there. The regulations changed in late 2009, to define the different types of childcare. People are still thinking of the old guidelines, or mingling the old and new. A licensed facility with 7 or more children in care is under one set of rules, a privately licensed facility with 6 or fewer children (that works with an agency) is under a separate set. A completely privately run dayhome is really under no umbrella of regulation whatsoever. I was a little surprised.
I believe that this is the governments way of "encouraging" parents to choose licensed childcare over non. IE: "Well, if you pick a private provider, you are on your own!!"
When I spoke with the woman at the government, I didn't give her an indication of whether I was a provider or a parent. She warned me that if I was looking for care for my kids, the onus was on me to make a judgment about the number of children being cared for and the ages, whether I felt the provider could give the proper care to them or react appropriately in an emergency (getting the kids out of the house, etc).
This was good news for me, because with 4 kids 10 and under of my own, I was quite worried about who counted for what in my ratios, etc. Apparently, I don't need to worry. That being said, I will continue to use the regulations for a licensed private dayhome as a guideline for myself, in addition to common sense. I won't take on 4 non-walking kids, because that would be madness should we ever need to evacuate the home. But I am not really going to include my 10 and 8 year old sons when I consider how many kids I take on, since they don't really require my "care" anymore, lol.
Anyway, I hope that helps. I don't have the name and number of the woman I spoke with handy, but I can see if I can track it down for you if you would like to talk to her as well.