Thanks Arts and Crafts! I'm so happy to hear that! I believe we would be entitled to the same perks as any licensed agency.

Ottawamommy, that's what we thought, too. There is quite a bit of misunderstanding about the agency model and where the funds go. It actually is very expensive to run. Each 25 providers has an RECE who pays monthly visits for mentoring, support, safety inspections, etc. Having an RECE home visitor is mandatory with the licensing process and there's no way around it. However, we're seeking a small regulatory change to get it down to quarterly visits for those providers who don't require so much support. It's not the just Ministry inspections you pay for. We're weeding through all the muck and sorting out which agency policies are actually government mandated and which are inflated by the agencies themselves. See, quarterly visits are actually what is government mandated to begin with, so we actually have a decent shot at this. If we get the Coop off the ground, we will be offering a greatly streamlined model compared to the existing agency model. We just don't need what they're offering and it would be nice to have another option out there. But the ministry has said, flat out, that they will not be providing funding, hence the fees. That's what's going on with agencies too. There just isn't enough money to go around. From what I've seen, the majority of the funding goes into institutional care, but even that is dismal.