Private Dayhome regulations in alberta

[Crayola kiddies]

Meeoooowww

[BestforKids]

I have been researching this a bit because my parents live in Edmonton (me in BC, and am licensed) and we considered moving to Edmonton. I liked that as a licensed centre I could have 7 not including my own, right? It's very confusing in Alberta tho! I must say! Plus I found the rules very slack compared to us in bc. Not licensed can be shut down if they run with more then 2 kids(plus own) how can you feed a family on that kind of income!?

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Hello, Great thread here. I am with Best For Kids (Bestforkids.ca), we are a dayhome advocacy group in Alberta and are very up to speed on these regulations for both private and accredited. To say there are no regulations for private day homes is a bit misleading. For example, private dayhomes do have the ability for a caregiver not to count their children into the ratio, however, they also must count all children under the age of 16 (who are not theirs) into their 'children in care' ratio of 6 maximum unlike accredited programs who are allowed to include as many children as they live over the age of 12.

Therefore, a private dayhome is permitted have up to 6 children in care + the caregiver's own children, which do not count into the ratio. So, to clarify, the province does have regulations on private day homes, which are as follows:

1. No more than 6 children in care (no age restrictions, applies to both accredited and private dayhome programs. The only way you can have more than 6 children in care is if you are licensed with a 'Group Family Childcare' license or a 'Daycare' license. No regular dayhome, private or accredited, can have more than 6 children in care at any one time).

2. In a private dayhome program, the caregiver's own children DO NOT count into the 6 child ratio (unlike registered programs, where the caregiver's children do count into the ratio)

3. Private dayhomes DO NOT have age related ratios unlike registered dayhome programs. This is something that confuses many people because the Alberta Family services website only lists the regulations for accredited programs, and really does not make reference to regulations related to private programs. However, as mom-in-Alberta noted, if you call in the one of the Calgary offices, they will clear it up for you.

4. In a private dayhome, all 'children in care' under the age of 16 count into the ratio, as opposed to an accredited program where children 12 and over do not count into the 6 'childcare in care' ratio, hence why many accredited programs earn additional revenue by running an after school program without ratio concerns. This is one of the give and takes of a private program. Whilst the caregivers children do not count in to the program ratios, a private program cannot have any more than 6 children in care regardless of age). The kicker on this is that the city bylaw does not allow more than 6 'children in care' (not including the caregiver's children because the city's concern is over residential traffic vs childcare concerns). So, if an accredited program does accept after school care kids that cause them to exceed the 6 'children in care' ratio, they are technically in contravention of the city's bylaws. However, this does not seem to stop them as this is quite a common operational policy for providers, and does help alleviate the after school bottleneck in the city.

Conclusion: Private programs are a very good way for a mother with children to stay home and run a dayhome program while they care for their own children. This was a really good move by the province and does allow these programs to be both safe and lucrative for the program provider. Parents should always do their due diligence (we have noted MANY accredited and private programs in the city that are run, in our opinion, sub standard - so using accreditation as your measure might not be the best. Parents should judge a program based on a combination of their personal visit, program references, etc... rather than a reliance on a provincial designation).

There are also a few other considerations with regard to age related ratios. The other side of the coin is that if a program is trying to care for a multi-age group of children, then there may be safety concerns related to the developmentally appropriateness of toys (for example, a 4 year old can play with small toys that might be a choking hazard for an infant). Also, even if a program has 6 children under the age of 2, a good provider will ensure that 2 children are likely napping at any one time during the day meaning that, aside from mealtime, drop off and pick up, they would really only be actively caring for 4 children. I have seen this in action and it works well. Also, a having children of the same developmental level means they can engage in age appropriate group activities together. This is much more challenging in a care environment with age diversity ranging from infant to 4 years old. So there is a bit of another perspective on all this for you all to consider.

[mom-in-alberta]

Thank you VERY much, BestForKids. I have been looking all over to find this spelled out. I hope there is a way to get this info out so that a private provider can do the best job possible, in all ways.
I am still confused as to why the government office told me that there was essentially no regulations? That did not sit right with me. What you have said makes more sense, for sure.

[dodge__driver11]

@FS2011 don't ya hate it when someone says something rude and then posts a smiley after it that makes it all beeeettter LOL --geez

[Jb174]

Hi everyone! So sorry to bring up an old post, but I wanted to ask how privately run unlicensed day homes are protected? I.e. if something bad happens (God forbid), a parent can't sue you or accuse you of negligence (assuming you weren't negligent?).

This hasn't happened to me, I'm just thinking of opening a small time before and after school care kind of thing while I am home with my kids and wondering how I am protected legally.

Any info would be great!

[playfelt]

You need to carry liabilty insurance that covers this scenerio. You can often arrange something with the same firm that handles your house/auto/daycare rider.

[Inspired by Reggio]

You need to carry liabilty insurance that covers this scenerio. You can often arrange something with the same firm that handles your house/auto/daycare rider.

Agreed ~ here in Ontario it is called a 'home childcare ryder' and it typically covers up to 5 children as per our regulations and adds an additional 1 million/child on top of your 'regular home owners insurance policy' plus will cover things like 'theft and fire' on your business materials and mine also has a 'relocation amount' that they would pay up to X amount to allow me to run my business in a rental property if my home because uninhabitable for some reason ~ although to be honest if something happened to make my home uninhabitable I am thinking 'relocating my work' would be the last thing on my mind and dealing with whatever issue had arisen would take precedent for me but who knows better safe than sorry I guess with insurance

[Jb174]

Oh thanks so much! I honestly would have never thought of that! I will call my insurance agency in the morning!

[Single-Mama]

Mom-in-Alberta, and FS2011, reading your posts and comments have helped me soo much, thank you for posting on and being apart or this forum, i am sure you have helped a lot of other mom and day home providers

Cocoon, some of the things you have posted make me question your ability to provide care as a day home, i would not send my kids to your day home. Sorry for the harsh statements.

[Mama Pajama]

Hmmm. As a former day care worker (I've been away from the field for a while, raising my own kids), I think that Cocoon is the only person I'd consider sending my child to! 3 children per adult (when the adult is on his/her own) was the rule back in my day. I wouldn't even consider taking any more...not without a co-worker. You can't possibly provide quality care with a ratio of 7-to-1. What has happened to Alberta's regulations? Yikes!