Daycare.com Forum
Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Voluntary Register vs. License
renlenfel 01:20 PM 11-17-2013
I've been doing childcare in my home since June of this year. I've been working on meeting all the goals needed to get my license; obtained the first aide and cpr certificate, took required classes, careful about child/provider ratio points, obtained business permit, and so on and so on... there is still so much more to do. There are so many hoops to jump through. I am starting to wonder if it might be slightly simpler to just Voluntarily Register with my state rather than get the license. Originally I was going for the license so that I could have more kids and participate in the FP; since then I have found out that, due to my zoning area, I cannot have more kids without obtaining a more expensive business permit (not ready for that at this point) and that I can still participate in the FP with voluntary registration.
Anyway, my question is.. can anyone tell me any reason why l should not make things a little simpler by just getting registered?
Anyway, my question is.. can anyone tell me any reason why l should not make things a little simpler by just getting registered?
Cat Herder 02:24 PM 11-17-2013
The clients won't care either way. 
Few ever even ask.
Crunch the numbers both ways and go with the one that benefits your family the most.
A couple hundred extra dollars a month is rarely worth another 150 pages of rules and regs.
As long as you are operating legally, the rest is just bells and whistles.
Few ever even ask.Crunch the numbers both ways and go with the one that benefits your family the most.
A couple hundred extra dollars a month is rarely worth another 150 pages of rules and regs.
As long as you are operating legally, the rest is just bells and whistles.
Michael 02:25 PM 11-17-2013
Welcome to the forum. While we don't have tags that relate to registered vs licensed threads we do have licensed vs unlicensed threads. Some of the conversation may relate to your thread: https://www.daycare.com/forum/tags.p...+vs+unlicensed
TwinKristi 04:02 PM 11-17-2013
If you can still participate in the FP as registered than I would do that. In my state you can only watch one family and not have a license, and can still be in the FP. I did that before getting my license. For me it was worth it but I see some people who can watch 4 kids unlicensed and I would do that if I could!
GKJNIGMN 06:02 PM 11-17-2013
My state allows for 6 kids if you are licensed and 3 if you are not but my specific city limits me to 4 with a license unless I petition which is a bit of money and hassle. I only got licensed because the food program here requires it. If you can get on the food program only being registered and aren't going to go through the process needed to watch more kids I would suggest registered. Like someone else mentioned, the parents I have had have never really cared if I was licensed.
Are you going to accept subsidy or childcare assistance clients and if so what are your states requirements to do so? In my state I needed to be licensed to be listed with the agency that distributes the assistance funds. That has sent me a ton of traffic. That is the only other thing I can think of that you may want to consider.
Are you going to accept subsidy or childcare assistance clients and if so what are your states requirements to do so? In my state I needed to be licensed to be listed with the agency that distributes the assistance funds. That has sent me a ton of traffic. That is the only other thing I can think of that you may want to consider.
TomCopeland 07:43 AM 11-18-2013
Originally Posted by renlenfel:
I've been doing childcare in my home since June of this year. I've been working on meeting all the goals needed to get my license; obtained the first aide and cpr certificate, took required classes, careful about child/provider ratio points, obtained business permit, and so on and so on... there is still so much more to do. There are so many hoops to jump through. I am starting to wonder if it might be slightly simpler to just Voluntarily Register with my state rather than get the license. Originally I was going for the license so that I could have more kids and participate in the FP; since then I have found out that, due to my zoning area, I cannot have more kids without obtaining a more expensive business permit (not ready for that at this point) and that I can still participate in the FP with voluntary registration.
Anyway, my question is.. can anyone tell me any reason why l should not make things a little simpler by just getting registered?
It's quite likely you won't be able to get business liability insurance unless you are licensed.I've been doing childcare in my home since June of this year. I've been working on meeting all the goals needed to get my license; obtained the first aide and cpr certificate, took required classes, careful about child/provider ratio points, obtained business permit, and so on and so on... there is still so much more to do. There are so many hoops to jump through. I am starting to wonder if it might be slightly simpler to just Voluntarily Register with my state rather than get the license. Originally I was going for the license so that I could have more kids and participate in the FP; since then I have found out that, due to my zoning area, I cannot have more kids without obtaining a more expensive business permit (not ready for that at this point) and that I can still participate in the FP with voluntary registration.
Anyway, my question is.. can anyone tell me any reason why l should not make things a little simpler by just getting registered?