child care

[StacyWeb]

Trainwreck,

I don't suppose you could give us any more info about your experience with Children's Courtyard on Wm Cannon? My child is on the waiting list there and I've got some tough decisions to make about where to enroll her.

[Trainwreck20]

Well, we got on the waiting list ~10 months prior to needing a spot. We were told that we were 'third' in line (I assume for that month), although I did not ask a lot of questions, because they said that looked like a really good chance to get a spot.

We called when out child was born, again told we were third, and that it looked real good, but no guarantee. Called six weeks later, told the same thing, and basically told not to call again until the month prior to start date.

Well, the month before our supposed start date, they call us, tell us there is no way we can start in April (which was our start date), but they could guarantee us we could have a spot in LATE AUGUST, five months after our supposed 'looks good' start date, if we came in an paid for it now.

I have filed a complaint with the corporate CC offices, since I think the admin will take your 'hold' money no matter what the waiting list looks like. There is no way that could be that far off unless they are a) lying or b) incompetent. We have heard from several people that the head administrator is an issue. The assistant was supposedly very good, but she left to head up the new one on 2222. We also know one worker who left because of the administrator (and now works at Brigh Horzions ).

From what we can tell, CC is very good, in general, and the care there is very high quality. That was our number 1 choice, but we ended up at BH, which we were also on the list for, and although they were only able to give us 2 days a week at our start date, they got us on full time only one month after the target date. They were also EXTREMELY patient with our stress and also were very open about how their waiting list worked. CC Wm Cannon was rude and secretive about how the 'situation' came about.

[sberdrow]

Originally Posted by Adios Baltimore

Just curious, since the influx of people to the area, is there trouble finding child care? I'll be looking for a center and am worried about waiting lists. Any experience?

Man I cant find anybody who is willing to work past 6pm or on weekends, anybody have any ideas, or know any one please answer this poste. I might have to move to a bigger city with more options if I cant find someone.

[love roses]

You're not going to find any large daycare/preschools that stay past 6, or not many. You may look into an at home daycare provider who does after school and weekends. You have to look at the cps website. My neighbor does at home care, and she said sometimes even if someone doesn't post specific hours, or even if they do, some of them will more than likely keep a child later. Some list themselves as 24 hr. Did anyone else see the news story about daycare/babysitters? One of the websites for I think, channel 7, is posting a link to a site that can connect people to babysitters and such. Please check the newsstation websites and see if that works too.

[sberdrow]

Thanks love roses I will check out the cps website, what is the link for channel 7, do you know?

[love roses]

The cps site is dfps.state.tx.us and the other link I found was on myfoxaustin.com for a place called sittercity.com I don't know your zip code, but just playing around on the state site, I did my area, and saw that my neighbor has herself listed until 8pm. Are you currently living in Austin? If you are, talk up your neighbors big time or do what I did and get into a kids playgroup or moms group or something, and they are a great source. I know there has to be someone out there who does after school care! Oh and the other news station link was connectwithkids.com

[love roses]

O.K, at KVUE use the community link. I also found these sites for you
sweetdreamsaustin.com
austin.urbanbaby.com This site provides several other links for babysitters, etc that work after hours and weekends.