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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Running without a liscense?
Unregistered 11:20 AM 12-05-2012
Was wondering if its possible to have a daycare home service without a state liscense? Seems like a lot of trouble, and i dont care much for the government telling me what to do in my home. How would that work? Can parents still write off their payment for childcare?
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daycare 11:21 AM 12-05-2012
it depends on what state you are in
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sharlan 11:26 AM 12-05-2012
In some states it's legal to operate a home daycare without a license.

CA is not one of them.

The parents can still claim it on their taxes, providing your income to the IRS.
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littlemissmuffet 11:27 AM 12-05-2012
You will have to check the laws that are specific to your state. I live in a province in Canada where I am LEGALLY unlicensed - but every state and provice has different regulations regarding unlicensed care and ratios.
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LaLa1923 11:32 AM 12-05-2012
Originally Posted by Unregistered:
Was wondering if its possible to have a daycare home service without a state liscense? Seems like a lot of trouble, and i dont care much for the government telling me what to do in my home. How would that work? Can parents still write off their payment for childcare?
In MD it's not legal ! You HAVE to be licensed here. With that being said, lots of people still do it un-legally. I think if you can be licensed then why not? I wouldn't take my child to unlicensed care. (but thats just me, not bashing those that aren't licensed) You should be CPR/SIDS/First aid trained anyway...
I do understand where you are coming from!!
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youretooloud 01:54 PM 12-05-2012
It's legal in my state, and yes, you still claim all the money you make.

But, in some states, you can't even babysit every day without a license. I don't know if people still do it or not though. I think if I lived in a state where it was illegal, I certainly wouldn't try it.

Either way, make sure you do it the right way and claim what you make and pay taxes on it. You can get a tax i.d number very easily, and use that for the parents. I think it takes about 20 minutes online to get an ID.
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Sugar Magnolia 03:36 PM 12-05-2012
Unlicensed is uncool only if its illegal. I think some patents prefer caregivers to be licensed.
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Building Blocks 03:43 PM 12-05-2012
I have been doing childcare in my home for almost 4 years without being Liscensed. I started with working for one family who had two child. I did this for 2 years till they moved out of state. I know care for 4 different famillys all part time and dont have more then 2 kids at a time or more then 3 kids more then 3 hours a day together. And no of my parents cared that I was not Liscensed. In my state NEw York you can care for two children plus your own without it. But, now i want to add more kids so thats the only reason im doing all this.
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Unregistered 07:41 PM 12-06-2012
Originally Posted by Unregistered:
Was wondering if its possible to have a daycare home service without a state liscense? Seems like a lot of trouble, and i dont care much for the government telling me what to do in my home. How would that work? Can parents still write off their payment for childcare?
They have those rules for the safety of the children, and I think that if you are not willing to go through the licensing because it "seems like a lot of trouble" that you more than likely should NOT be working with children because it seems like you don't care enough about their safety and all ou want is money. and I think that it is unfair to everyone who did go through the trouble in your area, espesually if you are unregistered/liscensed and do not pay taxes and they have to which cuts into profit.

If you are babysitting for 1-3 children in your home that are related (depending on state law) then you do not need a license but if you want more then that they you NEED to be licensed! Also in some states (like CA) it is a lot MORE trouble if you are operating a home daycare without a license and get caught because you are charged a penalty (about $200) for every day you operated without a liscense. So my advice is that unless you only want to watch 1 or 2 kids or you are willing to go through the "trouble" of getting liscensed- find a different career! Because if you were serious about this you would want to do everything the right way and NOT think of this as an "easy money maker" like it sounds.

Sorry if that sounds harsh but I am tired of people who go into daycare lightly thinking it's just like babysitting or that they will make a lot of money. Honestly to me it just seems like you just want to make money and have fun but don't really have any interest in working with children other than that. MOST jobs with children are not "get rich quick" careers- unless you are a full time babysitter or nanny because they do charge more (about $10-20/hr). Most family child care providers get between $1.5-$3.5/hr per child and some provider's programs are rarely filled to capacity.
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