Childcare and In-home Providers
Valencia Mensah
BUS311: Business Law I
Instructor: Carol Parker
Sunday 24, 2011

Many parents work full time jobs or even full time students. Most parents that are not stay at home parents rely on childcare services and even in home childcare services to help meet their needs while they are at work or school. Parents trust providers to care for their children like they where their own while they are meeting the needs of the family. In this research paper you will read about daycare centers and in-home center, childcare corporations, licensing rules and regulations and finally my own experience. When a parent is looking for child care most parents go for what they already know, which means if they have a friend that have their kids in childcare somewhere or if they use to work for a childcare provider. For the most part parents also look for now enrolling sign that childcare provider advertises for more business and to get their enrollment up. Enrollment openings change daily as they fill up on a first come, first serve basis. For most childcare and in-home enrollment you must fill out an enrollment form for however many children you plan on having at that childcare or in-home. Enrollment are also based on if the children will be part-time or full-time children. Enrollment varies throughout the year. Enrollment also has its ups and downs for childcare and in-home. Depending on the year a childcare can be full all year around and it can also drop low in numbers. In-home is a little different in enrollment but you will read about that later on in the paper. In-home childcare you can obtain a contract for childcare for your children. The contracts are usually with the owner and the parent that consists of payments and child attendance basic on full time or part time childcare. When both the parent and the owner come to a mutual agreement they both sign the contract. With childcare they have to meet a certain amount of enrollment or they start to lose raises and little things like that. Most childcares prefer that kids are full time but then it also depends on if the part are working, school, or both. It’s like if a child is full time than they can with full time payments and co payments. Even with enrollment includes tuition and co-pays. Some people pay privately, or through DSHS. Private pay is families that pay out of pocket for their services. Washington State Department Social and Health Services (DHSH) are much known for helping families pay for their childcare they are also known for other things as well. There are people that are eligible and there are people that are not eligible. Some people that may be eligible for DSHS are household’s families that have parents who are working, or are participating in a DSHS approved work activity, going to school and whose children meet citizenship requirements. DSHS can help pay for child care that are licensed or certified child care centers, licensed or certified family child care homes, relatives who provide care in their own homes and adults who come to your home to provide care for your children. Eligibility for DSHS is determined by your household's income, and the number of people in your family. Your child care costs (or co-payment) are determined on a sliding scale. An example, a three-person household with countable monthly income of $995 would have a $15 per month co-pay. If the same household had countable monthly income of $1,675 they would have a $50 co-pay per month. A three-person household with countable monthly income of $2,100 they would have a co-pay of $86 per month and so on and so on. DSHS will pay for your childcare the long you are eligible and the long you are complying with the material that they need and doing what you are suppose to be doing. In childcare and in-home they have something called child ratio which are the numbers amount of kids that one teacher can have alone. Depending on your age group depends on how many kids you are allowed to have alone. For infants you are allowed four infants to one teacher, toddlers one are seven children to one teacher, early preschool you can have ten kids to one teacher, prekindergarten you can have ten to one, preschool is ten to one and school ager you can have fifteen to one. In some childcare and in home you may hear them call the toddlers ones, and twos years old and early preschool the threes it really just depend on the childcare you are looking for to putting your children in. Some childcare has the waddlers but they are also known as the toddlers. If any teacher is over on their ratio than they are required to have a second teacher in the classroom with them at all time until that teacher is in ratio. A Teacher that are over ratio it is hard for them to meet the children’s needs all at once, the other teacher is always good to help around the class even if that teacher is not in that class. Parents look for the best childcare and in-home childcare to make sure that their children’s are developing properly. Child development is very important, especially age appropriate. Child development in many different ways, not all children develop the same. Some children share certain similarities with each other. Child development is a process that every child goes through. This is a process that involves learning and mastering skills such as sitting, walking, talking, skipping, and tying shoes. Children learn these skills, called developmental milestones conventional time periods. Children develop skills in five main areas of development which are cognitive development, social and emotional development, speech and language development, fine motor skill development, and finally gross motor skill development. Cognitive development is the child's ability to learn and solve problems. For instance, this includes a two-month-old baby learning to explore the environment with hands or eyes or a five-year-old learning how to do simple math problems. Social and emotional development is the child's ability to interact with others, including helping themselves and self-control. For instance this type of development would include: a six-week-old baby smiling, a ten-month-old baby waving bye-bye, or a five-year-old girl knowing how to take turns in games at school. Speech and language is where the child is able to understand and use language. For instance, this includes a 12-month-old baby saying his first words, a two-year-old naming part of her body, or a five-year-old learning to say "feet" instead of "foots". Fine motor skill development is where the child's ability to use small muscles, specifically their hands and fingers, to pick up small objects, hold a spoon, turn pages in a book, or use a crayon to draw. Gross motor skill development is the child's ability to use large muscles. For instance, a six-month-old baby learns how to sit up with some support, a 12-month-old baby learns to pull up to a stand holding onto furniture, and a five-year-old learns to skip. All of these developments are very important although some children will learn differently than others. A developmental milestone is a skill that a child acquires within a specific time frame. For instance, one developmental milestone is learning to walk. Most children learn this skill or developmental milestone between the ages of 9 and 15 months. Milestones develop in a chronological method. That means a child will need to develop some skills before he or she can develop new skills. For example, children must first learn to crawl and to pull up to a standing position before they are able to walk. Each milestone that a child acquires builds on the last milestone developed. A child development is also based on the nurturing of a child's health. It is important as they grow and develop during the first years of life. Making sure that the child has access to high-quality, ongoing physical, mental, and oral health care is one of the best ways that parents and caregivers can keep children healthy and ready to learn. When it comes to healthy meals and nutrition most childcare provider use the Washington State Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) can help child care and early learning providers serve nutritious meals and snacks. The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) provide federal funds to nonresidential child and adult care facilities to serve nutritious meals and snacks. A corporation is a business that is forms as a separate legal entity. (Liuzzo, A.L., & Bonnice, J.G. (2007). Not all childcare are corporate. There are plenty advantages and disadvantages to being a corporation. A major advantage to a corporation is the fact of limited liability to share holders (Liuzzo, A.L., & Bonnice, J.G. (2007). Another advantage is that a company can raise capital, which means that a corporation can obtain additional financing by issuing and selling new shares of stock in the company. (Liuzzo, A.L., & Bonnice, J.G. (2007).
Some disadvantage of having a corporation is that the corporation is required to pay separate income taxes at a special corporate rate for any year during which profit a profit have earned. (Liuzzo, A.L., & Bonnice, J.G. (2007). Another disadvantage would be the expenses that are associated with forming and maintaining the company. They are required to keep updates of meeting, provide detailed financial statements to creditors and investors, and prepare complex tax return. (Liuzzo, A.L., & Bonnice, J.G. (2007). I know KinderCare Learning Center is a corporation. KinderCare have been around for many of years. They serve all over the United States and some have been established longer than others. KinderCare Learning Centers - Corporate Headquarters is located in Portland, Oregon. All KinderCare’s have its own director and its own assist director. The directors report to the district manger which reports to the regional manager that reports to corporate. Being that all KinderCare’s has one corporate they all have one mission and one purpose for the kids. KinderCare also have structure their curriculum around four key elements of development to ensure the growth of the whole child. They are social which will help your child communicate with others verbally and nonverbally to engage the world around them. Your child will make new friends and gain the confidence, self-esteem, and negotiating skills necessary for a lifetime of healthy relationships. Emotional where they can learn to express themselves and understand their own unique identities. Your child will gain the comfort and confidence to forge trusting relationships, value their individuality, and have fun just being himself. Physical focus on physical health and well-being of your child so he grows up safe and strong. Motor-skill development, coordination, mobility, and exercise all help ensure your growing child has a healthy body for a lifetime. Finally, intellectual which help build brain power by supporting the development of judgment, perception, memory, reasoning, critical thinking, and language through a series of age-appropriate cognitive activities. Also with corporation or any other job you have your employee’s handbook and you have employee’s references, worker’s compensation and other benefits that may come along with your job or the company that you are working for. An in home family child care must be in the licensee's own home. A childcare center must be licensed as well as an in home. It is important to understand that both state and federal agencies are involved with the childcare licensing process. The rules and regulations for becoming a licensed daycare or childcare provider vary dramatically by state. There are small family childcares provide care to no more than 8 children and there is a large family child care that provides care to no more than 14 children. There are some general qualifications that most childcare providers should have and that state's require of licensed childcare facilities. These requirements are basic health and safety training, CPR and Emergency Response Planning (ERP) certification, background check of all teachers, fire dept inspection of the facility, zoning inspection of the facility, payment of state, local and other fees by the childcare facility and insurance. These are all the qualifying requirements to a licensed childcare and center. The Department of Early Learning (DEL) oversees child care licensing and supports other early learning programs using both state and federal laws, as well as DEL rules that are created in partnership with parents, child care providers, and others. The Department of Early Learning's (DEL) regulations (also known as rules, Washington Administrative Code, or WAC) set the standards for child care that is licensed or certified by DEL. DEL adopts rules (also known as regulations, Washington Administrative Code, WAC, and administrative law) to set licensing requirements when directed by state law to set specific requirements to help clarify more general laws, or help organize requirements that may be set by both state and federal laws. For rules and regulations and also for health and safety it all depends on the stat and DEL and WAC as well for the most part some people think it is easy starting up their own business but it’s really not there are a lot more requirements than people think. The passion that I have for kids is unthinkable. A lot of people think that you have to be patients which is very true you do need to be patient but for me it have to be deeper than that. You have to have the passion for kids are you will not be able to handle them. Some other people say that it’s not the same when you have your own kids and work in the childcare filled, although it is not the same you still have to have the passion for it, you have to love what you do. I started working with kids when I was 9. I first started off babysitting with my two older sisters helping me because I was not old enough to do it alone. I been working with kids ever since. My first daycare job was at Discovery World and I was about 16 or 17 years old. From there it was an off and on thing. I have also worked at Smart Start and KinderCare. I also started watching the kids at church as well. I love working with the children. Starting working with kids at a young age I was off and on. I would work with kids for so long than I would be tired of it and go find where else to work. For some odd reason I would always find my way back into childcare regardless of where I was working. Working in childcare you have seen the most. I have seen cps cases, child abuse, and child neglect and other things as well that children should even have to go through at a young age. I have worked in corporate and in home. Some say that they are the same but working in both fields they are completely different to me. Working for corporation was hell for me. I like it because I loved my children and I love my class. I had a good relationship with my parents, and that what they wanted for us to do. When I first started working for KinderCare it was all about the kids. We had our curriculum and it changed every two weeks to a new theme. We had to do what we learned today every day, we had to clean and keep our rooms clean at all times which I didn’t have a problem with. It was like the longer I was there longer they were losing the love for the kids and it started to become all about the money. Every day it was always something new. Between new directors or rules or even something else that we had to do that they wanted to be done. It was like they were never happy with what the teachers was putting into their class and their children. I put two years into KinderCare and I do not regret it on bit. I do regret not able to say bye to my children, my class when I got fired from KinderCare in 2010. Now working for an in home child care is different and much better. You only have to check in with one person that is the director/owner and you have your own curriculum. You can still have the same relationships with your parents and your kids as if it’s like a childcare center. I would pick in home over a center anytime. In conclusion parents want to be able to trust providers to care for their children like they where their own while they are meeting the needs of the family. Parents want the best for their kids and they are counting on the childcare providers to meet the needs of their children. Citations
(2009-2011) Childcare Licensing Requirements. Retrieved from http:// www.superpages.com/supertips/childcare-licensing.html
(2010) Washington State Department of Early Learning: DEL Child Care Licensing Rules. Retrieved from http://www.del.wa.gov/laws/rules/licensing.aspx
(2007)Department of Social Services: Family Child Care Homes. Retrieved from http://ccld.ca.gov/PG411.htm
Washington State Department of Social and Health Service: Working Connections Child Care. Retrieved from http://www.dshs.wa.gov/onlinecso/wccc.shtml
Liuzzo, A. & Bonnice, J. (2007) Essentials of Business Law (6th ed.). New York : McGraw-Hill/Irwin. ISBN: 0073054275