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jen 10:32 AM 01-06-2010
Originally Posted by AfterSchoolMom:
I'm going to put myself out there and tell you all that I am not licensed. I do before and after school care only, and in my state you can have up to five unrelated school aged children without being licensed. However, I do pay taxes, I keep my home immaculate, and both my husband and myself have had voluntary background checks done - in fact, my husband has a security clearance for his job. I have a college degree and I am CPR certified. Even though the youngest child in my home is 6 years old, I still keep the chemicals locked up, the garbage covered, the water temp kept at a safe level, and even the outlets plugged, among other safety measures. We even do a fire drill once per month! I do these things because not only do I take pride in what I do, but because I have my own children as well and want to provide the best care for them that I can.

I'm absolutely not saying all of this to "toot my own horn", but rather to stand up for those of us who visit and love this forum and the information and support that we get here, yet on the other hand are made to feel like substandard providers because we don't have a license, including the OP's neighbor - unless the OP has first hand knowledge and proof that this provider is substandard, neglectful, etc...I agree that it would be be better to just try to have a conversation with them neighbor to neighbor. Though I think that the neighbor issues and the childcare issues should be seperate anyway.
I am a licensed provider, although in the past I have operated as unlicensed. I couldn't agree with you more. I provided equally good care regardless of my licensing status! Not all of us feel about unlicensed providers as some. Personally, if I didn't need to be licensed, I wouldn't.
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