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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Licensed vs. Registered vs. Unlicensed
emosks 12:20 PM 04-07-2010
What is your status? This is to not start a debate but more of a who do we each fall in line with as far as our businesses.

How many do you currently care for? How long have you been in the business?

Why did you start the daycare business?


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originalkat 12:24 PM 04-07-2010
I am Registered with the State of Kansas. This means I can care for up to 6 children including my own children. I pay a fee and fill out forms/safety checklist yearly. KDHE comes out only if there is a complaint.

I have been is business 3 years and care for 4 full time children plus my own 2 preschool age daughters. I got into this business so I can stay home with my own children and continue to do so as they get older because we plan to homeschool as well.
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AmandasFCC 12:27 PM 04-07-2010
I am a licensed family child care in BC, Canada.
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AmandasFCC 12:30 PM 04-07-2010
I am a licensed family child care in BC, Canada. I care for children up to 8pm (soon to be 11pm ... yikes!), and I have a 15mo, 20mo, 2yo, two 3yos, a 6yo and a 9yo. I can have 7 at a time, including my own.
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emosks 12:31 PM 04-07-2010
I am licensed with the State of Michigan as a Group Home. I can have up to 12 kids. My assistant is my best friend and between the 2 of us we have 4 of our own children. Currently we have 5 other children that we watch. Two of our moms are pregnant though so we are holding those spots for them. We'll have a full house in December! We've been doing daycare together for a year now but just got our license in February.
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Crystal 12:31 PM 04-07-2010
I am licensed, in California, for the past 13 years. I have a large license, meaning I can provide care for 14 children, with an assisitant. My husband has worked with me for 12 years.

I hold a Master Teacher Permit and am also a Mentor Teacher for the local community college district. They place students in my program for the practicum phase of their studies, I currently have 3 student teachers, 2 of whom work in my classroom and one whom I mentor in her program.

I also conduct environmental rating scale assessments for ourLocal Resource and Referral Agency and most recently have been hired as an independent consultant for Head Star, conducting the ERS on their programs.
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jen 12:38 PM 04-07-2010
I am licensed in the State of Minnesota. I'm licensed for 12, 10 of which be under school age, although no more than 1 infant & 1 toddler.
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Daycare Mommy 12:46 PM 04-07-2010
Legal unlicensed unregistered home daycare

5 lovely dc children, 8 wonderful years

Multiple reasons:
#1-Started immediately to care for a friend's child who had a bad experience in another daycare and was leery of leaving her child with strangers again
#2-I've always loved working with children
#3-To be able to stay home with any future children of my own
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grandmom 12:49 PM 04-07-2010
Hi all,

I've been a licensed family child care provider in WA for 18 years, serving 12 children, 4 under the age of 2 - that's the maximum in both categories for family programs in the state.

I've been accredited (6 yrs, not now though), have taught classes, and been a mentor both privately and for the licensing agency.

I have a full-time employee and have a preschool component throughout the day.
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SunflowerMama 12:53 PM 04-07-2010
I am registed with the State of Texas and currently care for 4 dc children and then my own 3yr old twins. I'm registered to watch 8 total.
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Childminder 04:40 PM 04-07-2010
I am a registered family home in MI which means up to 6 unrelated children under 7 in care at one time with only two being under 18months. I am open 6am-11:30p Monday thru Saturday. I currently have 13 children enrolled. My husband is building a dedicated daycare space in our basement and I hope to be licensed for 12 with my husband as assistant by fall. Oh, and less open hours.
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momma2girls 04:51 PM 04-07-2010
I am an unregistered in home daycare now for over 6 yrs. Currently I have 2 fulltime children and my own little one. I have my own after school child,and one other one. I currently have an opening for age 2 and over. I was a stay at home mother of one child at the time. I quit my nursing job, to stay at home with our child. Now we have another baby. It just started with a neighbor needing parttime care!!
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AfterSchoolMom 05:50 PM 04-07-2010
I'm unlicensed, but operate legally in my state. I only care for school kids, and currently I have 4. I'm in my second year. I started because my own kids were going to school and I wanted to be able to continue to stay home and be there for them when they got home, help with their homework, etc. I love my situation because I still have time during the day (while everyone is in school) to get chores and appointments taken care of. Though I do get a TON of requests for babysitting during the day.
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misol 08:12 PM 04-07-2010
I am licensed in home daycare provider in the state of VA. My capacity is for 12. I have 3 F/T dc kids plus my own 2 I am looking to fill one F/T spot. I have been doing daycare since Sept 09.
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newtoeverything 07:33 AM 04-08-2010
I'm registered in Florida. I can take up to 6 kids including my own. I have been open since Jan 2010 and have 4 (including my son)...It's been up and down and I'm starting to get the hang of it!
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momofsix 07:57 AM 04-08-2010
I am registered with the state if MI--which means up to 6 kids at a time. I have 13 currently enrolled. I have done child care for about 20 years,(with a small break when we adopted 2 of out kids) but just got registered again last year. I have always enjoyed working with children, and got a BS in psych with an early childhood emphasis I thought I was actually going to go out and get a job once I stopped homeschooling my kids--but once you have a reputation/name people just seem to find you, and so I was back into it!
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Pammie 08:22 AM 04-08-2010
I'm in Ohio, and can run a perfectly *legal* home daycare as long as I keep to a max of #6 children at a time, without the hassle of becoming registered. My county will register, but does not license home daycares.

I currently have 7 children on my roster, but a few are part-time and share spots - but never over-lap.

Previously to living here, I was licensed as a home daycare in Pennsylvania and Maryland.

I'm now in my 23rd year of operating my daycare business. I have degrees in Child Development and Nutrition Education. I always thought that I would only "do daycare" until my own children started school - - they're both in college now and I'm still here
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Carole's Daycare 11:42 AM 04-08-2010
I am a licensed home childcare provider- and have been for the last 8 1/2 years. I currently have a C-2 license with a capacity of 12. Currently I have 6 full-time children in care between the ages of 20m and 4 ys. I also have 3 after school children and 2 part-time preschoolers.
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momofboys 11:58 AM 04-08-2010
I am not registered or licensed in my state & I am not required to do so.

I care for 1 child full-time, 1 part-time & 1 on a B & A school basis. They are all from the same family. I have 3 children of my own, two of whom are in school most of the day. I only plan on providing care until my youngest begins K which won't be for about 2 1/2 years. When I saw the list of requirements for my state & was also told that it was legal to provide daycare without being licensed or registered in my state I thought it would be too much of a hassle. I have a degree in English & my DCM has told me she is glad my kids are here with me b/c her past provider did not always use proper grammar when she was speaking.
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MarinaVanessa 12:37 PM 04-08-2010
I am licensed by the Department of Social Services Community Care Licensing. As of right now I have an 8 month old boy, a 1 year-old girl, two 2 year-old boys, a 4 year old girl and my 5 year old daughter.

I've been doing this for almost four years now so I still consider myself a newbie at some things lol

I decided to do daycare because I like caring for kids and watching their growth process. I had wanted to teach pre-school but the politics in it was awful and I didn't want to have to pass every decision I made by a boss first. Daycare was also a way for me to stay at home with my daughter and have a regular schedule and freedom to spend time with my family.
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Lilbutterflie 09:17 AM 04-09-2010
I am in the process of becoming listed with the state of Texas. Currently, I do not have to be listed b/c I care for relatives (my nephew & 2 nieces). However, in the fall I will not be watching them so in the process of becoming listed (which means I can watch 3 that are not relatives).
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momma2girls 10:27 AM 04-09-2010
Originally Posted by Iowa daycare:
I am an unregistered in home daycare now for over 6 yrs. Currently I have 2 fulltime children and my own little one. I have my own after school child,and one other one. I currently have an opening for age 2 and over. I was a stay at home mother of one child at the time. I quit my nursing job, to stay at home with our child. Now we have another baby. It just started with a neighbor needing parttime care!!
Iowa providers do not have to be registered if you keep a limit of 5 children.
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actaktmdt 03:59 PM 04-10-2010
I am a registered family home in MI which means up to 6 unrelated children under the age of 7. However due to ratios rules I can only have 5 as my daugther counts as one spot until she is 7. I recieved my license this month. I have one enrolled thats full time and hope to have a few more before the end of the month. I have worked with kiddos most of my life and I have an Elementery Ed degree.
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toddletots 04:59 AM 04-14-2010
I work in a licensed childcare facility. I have been there 6 years, worked 1 year in another center, and did 9 years of unlicensed, unreg. in home care for a max. of 4 kids at a time.
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Unregistered 07:54 AM 04-27-2016
For the Michigan folks, when you say registered, is that the same as licensed?
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Thriftylady 08:01 AM 04-27-2016
Originally Posted by Unregistered:
For the Michigan folks, when you say registered, is that the same as licensed?
I am not from Michigan, but when I was in KS it was different. Registered the state only came to your home if there was a complaint, and you could keep less children. Licensed they came in yearly and still if there was a complaint and you could have 4 more children (depending on age groups). Hopefully someone from Michigan will be here soon to say the differences there.
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LysesKids 08:07 AM 04-27-2016
Originally Posted by Thriftylady:
I am not from Michigan, but when I was in KS it was different. Registered the state only came to your home if there was a complaint, and you could keep less children. Licensed they came in yearly and still if there was a complaint and you could have 4 more children (depending on age groups). Hopefully someone from Michigan will be here soon to say the differences there.
Y'all do realize this thread died in 2010...
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Thriftylady 08:29 AM 04-27-2016
Originally Posted by LysesKids:
Y'all do realize this thread died in 2010...
Yes, but when someone comes along and asks a question on an old thread I don't mind answering it. The thread may be old, but the poster still had a valid question!
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LysesKids 09:21 AM 04-27-2016
Originally Posted by Thriftylady:
Yes, but when someone comes along and asks a question on an old thread I don't mind answering it. The thread may be old, but the poster still had a valid question!
understood...
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Blackcat31 09:52 AM 04-27-2016
Originally Posted by Thriftylady:
Yes, but when someone comes along and asks a question on an old thread I don't mind answering it. The thread may be old, but the poster still had a valid question!
...except you didn't answer their question.
You told them about your experience in Kansas.

Originally Posted by Unregistered:
For the Michigan folks, when you say registered, is that the same as licensed?
You can find information about the regulations, including definitions in regards to licensed and registered providers here in this link: https://www.daycare.com/michigan/

It appears that those homes/providers that care for 6 or less children are registered whereas those homes/providers that have up to 12 kids are considered licensed.
(https://www.daycare.com/michigan/day...ity_check.html)

I would call DHS to double check but that is what I gathered from reading the information for Michigan.

Hope that helps
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Thriftylady 11:08 AM 04-27-2016
Originally Posted by :
...except you didn't answer their question.
You told them about your experience in Kansas
Because that is all I had to offer! And when I pull up the daycare.com page for Michigan all I have gotten is "page cannot be loaded" so I didn't think that would be helpful. I am wondering if the Michigan people are having a problem with their site.
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Meeko 05:25 PM 04-27-2016
Originally Posted by emosks:
What is your status? This is to not start a debate but more of a who do we each fall in line with as far as our businesses.

How many do you currently care for? How long have you been in the business?

Why did you start the daycare business?

Fully licensed..... 16 children

Been in business 31 years.

I started daycare to be home with my (then) small children when my husband was in the Air Force.

Whoa...just noticed how old this is!!!!!!
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Jazzii 05:32 AM 04-28-2016
I'm not a provider but an employee..
My boss opened up in 2009. We can watch 12 full day kids plus 4 school agers

On our active roster we have appx 30 kids.
We open 7 days a week... M-F 6-11 and S-S 7-6
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Unregistered 01:16 AM 04-30-2016
I have a question is it hard to get liscenced for more kids like group care im not liscenced be cause its not worth it by much cause u only get two more kids than being unlisecened where i am so is it harder to get liscenced for more kids
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Thriftylady 04:04 AM 04-30-2016
Originally Posted by Unregistered:
I have a question is it hard to get liscenced for more kids like group care im not liscenced be cause its not worth it by much cause u only get two more kids than being unlisecened where i am so is it harder to get liscenced for more kids
The requirements really vary by what state you live in. If you tell us where you live, maybe people from your area can help you. Usually there is quite a bit of paper work, a home inspection by a licensing rep, maybe a fire inspection, a background check, some stuff like that.
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