Originally Posted by mamamanda:
I'm surprised by how different the rules are from State to state. In my state I am legally able to have 5 dcks without being licensed. My own children do not count in the ratio. And extended family members count if they are paying for services, but not if you are just taking care of them for the day for no charge. 
That really doesn't make sense to me b/c why does it matter if I get paid or not? It's the same number of kids either way? So my full time niece & nephew count in my ratios, but when I babysit for my other niece's on occasion while their mom goes to appts they don't count. But anyway, our local child care resource center is so very helpful & kind. I've attended trainings with them, they offer a toy library & laminator/die cut machines, etc, & even though I'm not licensed they will list my childcare & send me referrals as long as I operate legally. I'm just curious if these benefits were made available to unlicensed providers in other states if more of them would follow the law. Of course, if someone is willing to break the law they probably wouldn't follow regs even when they're more lenient, but it does make me wonder. Why does licensing make it so difficult? And why are so many providers willing to risk doing it illegally?
I would do that in a heartbeat, to have 5 dcks, operate legally and not have to be licensed. This summer I'll only have 4 dcks. The care wouldn't be any different(maybe less paperwork!) if I became unlicensed. I've been doing this so long it's become ingrained in me. In fact, before all our state's new regs. came into effect, I spent way more time with the dcks than I do now.
In our state, you can have 2 families but any more than that and you have to be registered. So if each family had 3 kids, you can still stay unlicensed.....? It's doesn't make sense. But then when one deals with the state, one deals with senseless stuff.
