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Funded by the Province of British Columbia
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Starting and Running a Child Care Facility
Starting out:
Before you decide to open a child care facility, whether a group care centre or a family home daycare, you should do some market research to determine need. What types of care are already available in your area? Do they have waitlists or are they having trouble filling their spaces? Does there seem to be more of a need for part time care or odd hours? What are the average fees being charged? Fees tend to run at about $25 to $30 per day. Group care tends to charge more than family care and fees are higher for infants decreasing as children get older. Talk to child care providers in your area to get a sense of the business and call PacificCARE for more information.
If you are considering opening a group care centre you will need to think about its structure (ie: nonprofit society), staffing, licensing and operating budget among other things. Getting legal and accounting assistance will prove invaluable.
Is Family Child Care For Me? Self Evaluation
There are many things to consider before deciding whether to open a family child care home. Opening and operating a successful child care program requires more than a love for children and a desire to help families. Although these qualities are important, managing a family child care home also requires business savvy, money management skills, and leadership skills. It is also a business, which may not reap great financial rewards, especially in the beginning. Many providers find aspects of operating a child care program to be rewarding as well as challenging.
Some of the pros and cons that you may want to consider are:
Pros:
- It enables you to buy more toys/equipment that your child(ren) can use.
- The additional income helps with family expenses.
- Portions of some monthly bills and purchases are tax deductible.
- You are able to be home with your own children.
- You are providing playmates for your children to learn from and care about.
- You are providing a valuable service for other working families.
- You are engaged in meaningful and important work.
- You are able to work independently, creating the kind of environment that you desire and be your own boss.
Cons:
- Life style impacts on your spouse and children.
- The additional clutter in your home.
- The sharing of beds, toys, and personal items.
- The comings and goings of children and their families each day.
- Phone calls after hours.
- Completing income tax forms for running your own business.
- The additional drain of energy on you.
- Working long hours in isolation from other adults.
A Self Evaluation Exercise:
Directions:
Read over the following 13 statements about doing family child care. Decide whether each aspect will be easy for you or require some amount of work. Think about your ways for working on those areas. Some examples are given.
| Is Family Child Care For Me? |
This will be easy for me. |
I will need to work on this. |
Ways to work on this! |
| 1. I like being around children and enjoy their interests. |
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Watch children of different ages playing together to see what they like to do. |
| 2. I have good health and a fair amount of energy. |
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Eat well, exercise and get adequate sleep at night. |
| 3. I have the support of my family, children and spouse. |
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Visit another family child care home of someone you know so that your children can see how things work in that home. |
| 4. I am a calm and organized person. |
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Plan ahead. Make lists of things to do. |
| 5. I like being my own boss and working out of my home. |
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Ask family and friends who know you well. How do they think you'll feel about being your own boss? |
| 6. I can tolerate a certain level of noise and disorder in my home. |
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Ask yourself: "How do I feel after a group of children have been playing in my house all day? Happy and tired or irritable and angry?" |
| 7. I have enough knowledge of children's needs that I can plan a suitable program for them (e.g., appropriate activities, schedule, discipline techniques, etc.) |
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Talk to others who you feel know children well. Call your local child care resource and referral agency for help. |
| 8. My home can be adapted to include necessary toys and equipment for children in my care. |
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Picture in your mind where a group of children would play, eat and sleep in your home. Visit others who care for children to see how they do so. |
| 9. I feel confident in my ability to communicate effectively with parents of children in my care. |
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Ask yourself: "Do I enjoy talking to parents of children I watch? Are they comfortable with me?" Watch others you know who work well with parents. |
| 10. I am able to get support from others in family child care to keep my motivation and skill level high (by talking to other providers, attending workshops, reading articles, etc.) |
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Call your local child care resource and referral program to see who else in your area is caring for children. |
| 11. I have enough financial security to fall back on for a few months until my business gets up and running. |
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Ask yourself: "Do I have enough income to buy extra food and supplies for children? Am I comfortable asking for payment from parents?" |
| 12. I respect a parent's decision to work outside the home and believe that good child care is good for children. |
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Ask yourself: "Do I think someone can go to work, leave his or her child with someone and be a good parent? |
| 13. I feel I can make a commitment to offering family child care for at least 2 years and have access to substitute care to help out as needed. |
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Talk to family or friends who are good with children to see if they can help you out if needed. |
After careful consideration of all the pros and cons, and after discussing it with your family, when you do decide to go ahead and open a family daycare keep a positive vision, focusing on the aspects that benefit you, your family and the families that you will be involved with.
Running the Business:
Some of the things you should think about for the ongoing operations of a smooth running business are:
- Developing a parent handbook with guidelines and policies about payment, hours, sick days, field trips, communication, holidays, notice of termination, etc.
- Procedures for initial visits and a transitional entry to the program.
- Procedures for good communication such as an open door policy, parent meetings daily communication, bulletin boards, journals, newsletters, etc.
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