Not Sure If Im And The Right Forum

[nmerced93]

I want to start my own licensed child care but we dont have much money right now.

My husband is the only one that works, and Ive been a stay at home mom for almost 2 years my sons are 16 months and 4 months. SO you see where we have money issues!

My question is how much did it cost for you to get started? Was is hard at first?

[DaisyMamma]

You already have kids, so you already have toys and equipment. It shouldn't cost you very much of anything at all.
I started with what I had, got some toys from freecycle.org and craigslist, as well as any supplies I needed and didn't buy much until I had some DCKs and was able to do so.
I advertised on craigslist and with flyers at local dr offices, grocery stores, convenience stores, pizza places, etc.

Welcome, and good luck!

[Lilbutterflie]

Definitely do the research to find out what licensing in your state requires of you and all of the things you would have to do to make your home up to code for licensing. There may be some expenses with that.

I didn't really start out with a whole lot other than my own children's toys, books, and supplies. I bought organizational supplies & organized everything in our playroom and I was done! I have added things along the way. Everything I add, I get from garage sales or craigslist.

Good luck!

[Willow]

Completely depends on where you're located and how you're currently set up really, start up costs can vary wildly depending on a lot of different things.

Have you contacted the county you live in to sort out what their requirements are that may cost you money to obtain/complete? These usually include but are not limited to:

-Background checks
-Fire marshal inspection
-CPR/first aide certification
-SIDS/Shaken Baby Syndrome certification
-Purchase of safety equipment if you don't already have it (fire extinguishers, an approved amount of fire alarms, outlet covers, cupboard locks, baby gates)
-Purchase of gear you may not have (think additional beds/cots, boosters/high chairs, storage cubbies)
-The cost of the license itself. In my original county this ran quite a bit (I want to say $200+? In the county I reside in now since moving they don't charge anything at all.

There is also the expense of toys. Again, back in my original county they basically handed me over a list of toys I had to have before they'd license me. X - amount for each age group, and from there broken down into having a minimum of X - amount that encouraged the development of gross motor skills, X - amount that encouraged the development of fine motor skills, X - amount that encouraged the development of hand eye coordination skills etc etc etc. My licensor literally sat on the floor of my living room with me as I went through every toy box and tote to verify I had enough. I thought I had lots of toys when I started out because I also had two kids. I learned pretty quick however that that alone wasn't enough to cut it and I did end up purchasing more. I was able to acquire most of what I was lacking via garage sales so it was easy and cheap enough but yeah, just to warn you there.

New county, didn't even ask if I had toys much less how many. Even after only seeing the very small amount totes I had up in my playroom at the time (I have a LOAD of them downstairs and rotate them out monthly to preserve play space and reduce clutter).

Although new county was pretty flippant about most of the things inside the house we ended up making a fair amount of modifications to our outside stairs because the fire marshal was extremely picky (railing was too low so had to bump that up, had to put up a second tier rounded handrail a within kiddo reach, each step had to have a "back" put on it so kids wouldn't fall through the 4" gap??! ). We also ended up needing to install copper piping around our existing downstairs water heater lines....even though the basement is conditional per my license and daycare kids are never allowed downstairs - and even though licensing statutes require our water heater is never to be set above 120 degrees.....he still concocted this crazy notion that one of the lines was eventually going to burst and scald everyone in the house if they weren't encased in copper


My point is, you just never know. Especially until you ask!

It doesn't cost you anything to inquire OP, simply call up your county dept of human services and ask the daycare licensor to send you out a daycare licensing packet. That should give you a good idea as to what steps you'll have to take based on what you do or don't already have set up and completed.


Good luck!

[providerandmomof4]

I didn't think that start up costs were too outrageous. I spent realistically 4-5 hundred dollars in licensing fees, classes (required even though I have a college degree), toys, outside equipment and home improvements to get my house up to code. But I think it's very different to care for other people's children, then your own. Many people think that they are at home with their own kids, so might as well watch others as well. I'm here to tell you it is completely different...dealing with parents, long hours, and the cleaning and time it takes away from your own children.....I'm not trying to be a downer, I'm just being realistic. Spend some time in a well run daycare center or licensed daycare home (most state's require this anyway) to see if this is something you really want to do. If so.....then welcome!

[MrsSteinel'sHouse]

When I started 15 yrs ago it really wasn't bad. Now, there are a lot more regulations and less county money to cover it. My county use to buy mats, first aid kits, smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors etc. Now, not a lot. That being said, find out how many kids you can have unlicensed. I had 2 kids before I was licensed and used part of that money to do what I needed to do.
CRP and First Aid may be offered locally free but you need to ask around.
It really depends on where you live and how much help the county will help you.

[nmerced93]

Ive been doing research all day and I called the Child Licensing Department in my county.

I can only watch one child (which I am now) unlicensed 2 or more requires a license. The lady told me I can send in an application and the $30 app. fee and she will send me everything I need to get started.

I also found our Children's Cabinet offers grants to help pay all the fee and remolding of house and other stuff which would help out so much but Im not even sure how long we are going to stay in the house we are in now.

But with the grant they require a business plan. Have any of you had to do that to get licensed???

[Heidi]

Ive been doing research all day and I called the Child Licensing Department in my county.

I can only watch one child (which I am now) unlicensed 2 or more requires a license. The lady told me I can send in an application and the $30 app. fee and she will send me everything I need to get started.

I also found our Children's Cabinet offers grants to help pay all the fee and remolding of house and other stuff which would help out so much but Im not even sure how long we are going to stay in the house we are in now.

But with the grant they require a business plan. Have any of you had to do that to get licensed???

no....but I'm guessing whoever gives out the grant will give you some technical assistance with writing the grant request.

You can probably find some examples online, here is one website I found that seems to have a lot of info....

http://www.firstchildrensfinance.org/businessresourcecenter/family-2/how-to-start-2/how-to-start-tools/