is Home Day Care a good and safe business ?? (liability insurance, sued, licensing)

[Egyptian2009]

hello

i wonder if anyone have an evaluation for this business
is it profitable , would it be hard to get children
what are risks ??

[Billy_J]

Day care facilities must meet all sorts of building and fire codes/regulations.

Like all electrical outlets must be child proof.
You may need to install a monitored central fire alarm.
The outside play area might need to meet certain safety standards.
And on and on and on.

Might want to check with another child care facility in the area and ask who inspects for this stuff, then have your home inspected. See what you will need to have changed and how much that will cost.

Different states / areas have different laws / rules. You may need to do little or a lot depending on where you are located...

[Hemlock140]

Also, make sure you have commercial liability insurance, your chances of being sued are pretty high when you are caring for peoples children. It's in great demand, the better ones have waiting lists from people that have not even delivered their baby yet. In our area the best are charging $2,000/month per kid, even the smaller home based are getting $1,200-$1,500.

[davecj]

Is it profitable for me? Maybe.

Profitable for you? How would any of us know?

[Driller1]

Originally Posted by Egyptian2009

hello

i wonder if anyone have an evaluation for this business
is it profitable , would it be hard to get children
what are risks ??

Had a friend just go though a heartbreaking time over a day care.

People would always promise to pay "next time".

What can you do....keep their kids????

It lasted less than a year.

[carroll4628]

You need to go through a licensing process and have "credentials" - at least 90hrs of training (community college or junior college courses ) in most states - CA, TX, VA, MD, and WA I know. Other states are probably similar. How your childcare area in your home is set up is also somewhat regulated - adequate nap areas/cribs, suitable toys and play areas, outdoor play area, etc. And as you would be preparing food/lunch/snacks, you also need to have a Health Dept. Inspection.

Basically it is not something to enter lightly and the pay isn't all that great as the number of children you can care for is limited by the number of adults working. In MD 1 adult could care for 4 infants (under 1 yr), or 2 infants and 3 toddlers, etc. Each state/county has a formula. Also, you need to have back up support incase you become ill or if you ever want to go on vacation.

I know some that do well as there are extended family members covering the business - wife, cousin, grandma and niece. I've also known some to go it alone and spend a year getting liscencsed then lasting only 6 months.

[bouncethelight]

Originally Posted by Driller1

What can you do....keep their kids????

Actually she could have done the exact opposite - refuse to take the kids when payment was overdue. Even the slowest payers would pay up quick, if it meant they had no place to leave their kid, and it meant they might miss work.

As for the OP, my mother is a credentialed master pre-school teacher, and every time she's looked into doing this in her home, something has stood in her way. Either the stream on her property was too close to the house, and there wasn't enough fencing, or when she moved, there wasn't enough square footage for as many children as she'd need to take to earn a fair living. And the hours are hard - people need to drop off kids as early as 7AM and sometimes not pick them up again until after 7PM - that's a very long day. So she looks into it, and ends up not doing it, every time.