Daycare Startup

Information for Starting an In-Home Day Care

Daycare Startup



Starting your Home Daycare requires a little legwork.

Do not expect to decide to do child care and open your daycare the next week.

Some states require months of planning, while others are very simple.

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Licensing Requirements

State Licenses
Every state is different. The National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care and Early Education can be a good place to start for your own state’s individual daycare startup requirements.

Some states require you to be licensed to watch one child, others do not require licensing until you watch three or more.

Some states require a walk-through of your home by the board of health, others want you to have so many square feet of home per child.

Each state is totally different, and you will need to find the rules and regulations for your individual state.

Expect to fill out a lot of paperwork, including FBI background checks on every person in your home over age 15.

Expect to supply fingerprints, and social security numbers, and payment for these checks.

Classes
Most states will require you to take classes in order to get your child care license. Even if your state does not require you to take these classes, it is a good idea that you do.
--First Aid
--Infant and Child CPR

Some states will require you to take an extended course on child care, usually offered by the county or state you reside in. Some will require you to take a workshop dealing with child abuse; how to recognize and report it.

As a Child Care Provider, it is your responsibility to report suspicion of abuse to the authorities.

Insurance
Most states will require you to getliability insurance for your home daycare startup. This is usually not covered by your typical homeowner’s insurance, and is an additional fee. Also, if you are going to be driving the children anywhere, at any time, you will need extra coverage on your automobile. Your auto insurance company needs to know you are driving for commercial reasons, and your premiums will go up considerably.

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Daycare StartUp Kits

The following online ebooks/programs are designed to assist you with home daycare startup. More Resources and Tools can be found on the Daycare Resources and Tools page.

--Starting a Home Daycare
This great, comprehensive kit contains step by step instructions, forms, and ideas for daycare startup you might not have thought about. Things like installing a webcam for parents to have easy visual access to their children while they are working. This program is very good, and affordable.

--Daycare Start Up Kit
This kit is more for centers. It goes over all business aspects of running a daycare, and even delves into topics like dealing with problem children. If you are considering opening a daycare outside of your home, or want the comprehensive information that actual centers get, this could be a good source for you.

--How to Start a Daycare
This kit focuses on the SAHM daycare startup, with lots of forms. It’s a real “getting started” package.Perfect for opening a home daycare program.

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Supplies

You will need several supplies when starting your home child care service.

Space
Make sure you have enough space for extra children.

Most states require a certain number of square feet per child, but even if your state does not require this, use common sense.

Playpens, extra chairs, sleeping mats and toys take up space.

Make sure you have allotted for this.

Toys
You may want to keep your own child’s toys separate from the daycare toys.

Daycare toys have a tendency to get used, abused, and broken.

Get age appropriate toys and DVDs for the age group of children you are watching.

Feeding Area
You will want to have a minimum of two highchairs for babies, and a smaller table for toddlers to eat at, if possible. This way everyone can eat at the same time.

Diapering Area
You will probably need a changing table, a diaper genie, and extra wipes and diapers. Parents WILL FORGET to bring diapers and wipes with them, so you will need to have them on hand. You may want to write a diaper fee into your contract for parents who “borrow” diapers too much.

Sleeping Area
You will need extra cribs and playpens for babies, and extra beds, bedding or nap mats for your toddlers. This can be in the same room, though I would recommend separating the babies from the older children so they do not wake up.

Safety
Make sure to baby proof your whole house before you attempt to open a daycare.

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Business Materials

You will need to have parents fill out a lot of paperwork and various forms as you decide to take their children into your care and do daycare startup.

Some states require certain forms to be filled out, but even if your state does not, you will need forms to protect yourself and your business.


Information Forms
Make sure you have parents fill our a general information form with at least the following information on it:

--Child’s Full Name and Nickname
--Contact Information, etc
--Allergies and Medications
--Doctor’s Information and Health Insurance Policy Number
--Who Can Pick Child Up
--Emergency Contact Information
--Permission to Ride in Your Vehicle

Contract
Even if you are watching the children of a friend, you will need a contract to spell out your policies and rates. DO NOT MAKE A VERBAL AGREEMENT. Please, please, please, listen to me on this. Write it down. It will make it easier for everyone.

Include:
--Hours of Operation
--Information on Your Substitute Child Care Provider (for your sick days, vacations, etc)
--Rates and Payment Due Dates, ie weekly, monthly, etc
--Late Fees, both what happens when child is picked up late, and what happens when payment is late
--Sick Days

A word on Sick Days:
You will need to decide if you are going to charge parents for a time slot, meaning you charge them regardless if the child shows up or not, or if you are going to charge them only when the child is in care.

I would highly suggest charging for the time slot.

If your state allows you to have only 5 children in care, and you have a pair of brothers who are absent 2-3 times a week, you will be losing money very fast. I actually had this happen to me, where a mom started having other family watch her kids once in a while, until it became every other day. I could not add any more children to my care since they would show up occasionally, and I wasn’t getting paid for the days they didn’t show up. I eventually had to tell her that I was going to charge a flat rate for the week, and she would need to pay it if the boys attended or not.

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Rates

How much should you charge?

This is a very important thing to consider in daycare startup.

This will vary by what area you live in.

There is no set fee, so you will need to do some research in your town to see what others are paying.

Call local daycare centers and local Home Daycares you see in the newspaper. Ask around.

You will want to charge less than centers, and around the same price as other Home Daycares.

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Advertising

How do you advertise your daycare startup services?

There are many ways:

Newspaper
Try placing a three or four day ad, over the weekend, in your local newspaper. This should be fairly inexpensive. Some newspapers are only allowed to post ads from licensed daycare centers.

CraigslistIf you haven’t had the opportunity to checkout Craigslist yet, make sure you do! This FREE resource is like an online classifieds section. Post your free ad offering your child care services.

Word of Mouth
As you start to gain clients, more will be referred to you. Do not expect to be full the first month you are in business. That will take time. But if your rates are competitive, if your house is clean, and if you provide good service, your business will grow by word of mouth.

Website
Make your own website advertising your services. Interested parties will find you online.

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Here are more pages about Home Day Care to help you get started.

About Home Day Care

Types of Home Day Care

Starting a Preschool Program

Alternatives to Full Time Daycare

Daycare Resources and Tools