My fiancee will be joining the Navy in February and I'm just wondering how you've managed to get re-established while moving around. I was in the Air Force and am looking forward to moving around just not in the aspect of maintaining a business, income and different licensing requirements. We are pretty sure we will end up in San Diego and I couldn't be more excited. Any advice and/or insight would be greatly appreciated!

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When it’s time to look at orders, my husband shares with me what’s available. From there if I am not familiar with the area or base I start calling to see if they have FCC homes or CHD homes on base. If there are no in-home providers allowed on the bases I then look into the state licensing requirements. Once I gather if I can continue my career or need to switch paths in anyway, I tell my husband my preferences. We weigh out what will be beneficial to HIS CAREER & MY BUSINESS. He then puts in his top 3 choices.

Our last move I had to switch gears with my business. I had to go from a Special Event/Substitute Provider to an in-home provider.

Good luck! Also how the different bases operate is really frustrating. Some bases only allow a certain number of providers. Some bases in-home only get referred children with the CDC is full. The Navy, Army and Marine have different regulations.

Also, military consistently and regularly inspects. I’d prepare to have them in your home 2 times per month. Sometimes more…..

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From what I've been reading, it can be really frustrating. I'm not too excited about dealing with varying policies at each base. We really would like to go overseas again but with starting a daycare, I'm not sure how that will work. So, for now, we will remain stateside.

What branch is your husband in? When I was in the AF, although we had "dream" (base) sheets, they put us where we were needed. I got lucky
both times and ended up with my #1 choice, many others weren't so lucky. You guys have a great system working and it is definitely something we will do. Great idea

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DH is in the Army. This is the first post I have done FCC, after going to school and working in an elementary school, I decided to stay home and watch other kids once mine were grown, lol. On the Army side, things aren't all that different from post to post. We are at a base that is very small, though. Before I started, they hadn't had ANY FCC providers in almost a year. Last gal that did it had a DH who was AF, and it took about two weeks after moving here for her to open, since she was already licensed and trained at her last base. There are 12,001 things to do to open and get licensed, and I can't even tell you how many inspections, every month. We have to have an open door policy, so they can pop in at any time. Fire inspector, nutrition, preventative medicine, veterinary services, the FCC director- anytime. Here, the fire department comes and does a fire drill once a month, as well, and I have to do one on my own, too. Everything is very regulated. We basically have to run the exact same way the child development center does, only it's in our home. Luckily, the kids make it worth it!

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And in 17 years, we moved every 10 months to 2 years before we ended up at our current DS. We've been here 5 years. Never once overseas, but that's for kids in EFMP.

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I started daycare on Altus Air Force base in Oklahoma. I didn't find it any harder to get licensed than in the civilian world. (It was almost 30 years ago)

Be prepared for lots of inspections though. Anyone doing daycare in military housing must expect to be inspected a lot as it's classed as a military building, not the tenant's home and the military therefore have a more vested interest in making sure regs are followed in their buildings.

We got spot inspections from the fire department, enviromental health and licensing. As well as scheduled appointments and visits from food program staff.

However...I loved it. One perk was always getting paid on time. Not paying your bills is frowned upon by the military (or at least is was back then!) Airmen could be hauled in front of their commander, get a written reprimand etc for failing to pay their bills. I had it in my contract that I would not hesitate to call squadron commanders if I was not paid on time. NEVER had a late payment.

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I had no idea there was so much that goes into daycare on base but, then again, it does make sense with the military. What about if you live off base? When I was in California, there was a woman who wasn't affiliated (veteran, spouse) with the military but was located two minutes from the gate. She was a NACCRRA provider and was able to offer the same price as the CDC while being reimbursed the difference of what she would normally charge. The thing is, I've lived on base before and really don't want to do it again. Does anyone have any idea about the process and time frame to become a NACCRA provider?

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My husband is in the Navy. I fall under the Army at this time as a FCC home. They’re in the process of trying to get each base on the same page. However, they’ve been working on that for about 2-3 years now. Things that were implemented in Texas 2 years ago are just now getting started here.

Also it took me an eight month fight to get open due to no fault of my own. Today I got inspected by the Army Health Nurse. Last month is was the bit AHHI inspection. I’ll see someone in January too.

I agree the children AND MONEY make it worth it.

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If you live off post, you can certainly just get licensed through the state. You can also receive military child care subsidies if you are licensed and accredited to do so. However, if you are part of the FCC program and just happen to live off post, you still have to follow FCC regulations. I have had friends that have gone this route, and they have to have both state and FCC licensing. The pros to going the FCC route is the exposure, access and referrals to families in the military CYS system, as well as the childcare subsidies, free training, assistance in curriculum preparation, access to the resource center or lending library, and assistance in accreditation. It personally seemed even more labor intensive to do FCC in an off post home, to me, and I didn't think that was possible, lol.

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I am in the process of *trying* to open up my FCC home on a very small Army base, with no other FCC providers. I have been going through the process since October. It is like pulling teeth to get anything done for my opening, as the director is also the SAC director, and she has a full plate. Due to my previous job, I already had all necessary background checks, as did my husband. As my kids were older, I didn't have many toys or things, so I used a large chunk of savings to supply and safety proof my home. (We have a nearly non-existent lending library so I would have to buy a lot, anyway). I am going crazy with how slow this is going! I thought I would be open the beginning of December at the latest. parents have been contacting me left and right, because the waitlist for cdc care is backed up by months and people are desperate! I can't figure out why they can't expedite the process. Has anyone else had this issue? Also, is anyone willing to break down exactly how the pay works and what I'm looking at making. I'm trying to ballpark a budget, but my director keeps saying we'll deal with that "later" whenever I ask. I'm starting to wonder if I will ever open.

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I know it can be frustrating. Some bases are better than others. I hope things start moving along for you, since the holidays are out of the way. You can message me for more info on the pay.

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I'm a military fcc provider!

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LOL, this is an old post littletots. But good to see there are more of us on here!

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