MN Providers

[lovemyjob]

i am furious over these suggested regs also

Being a MN provider, and the bad rap from the newspaper articles regarding SIDS, I immediately read the paper published by the Mn DHS. The stats they give are not substantiated enought to prove anything regarding SIDS, other than it can/does occur on occassion. Rarely can they directly relate the cause to bad sleeping practices.

So I searched out SIDS research on my own. Did you all know that the biggest spike of SIDS deaths (and it is quite significant indeed) occurs on New Year's Eve? When parents are often intoxicated or not tending to their kids like they normally might. This seriously red flags the issue with me. SIDS deaths (as very sad as they may be) are going to occur....there is never a stat that discusses how many SIDS deaths have occured in family homes of infants vs daycares. That needs to be published to compare side-by-side if SIDS is on the rise as a nation or only in child care homes.

I would not prefer to take infants, as I think the sleep "environment" is simply extreme and does not take into account the child's emotional or physical needs to feel snuggled, have a "lovey", or something soft in their hands. However, infants are the way to keep a business successful..as the demand is extrememly high.

If these regulations pass...I am out of this business. Period.

I have been loooking into Parent Aware as well...it is not planned ever to be a required program, but highly encouraged. I am irrate at the way they are marketing it....very skewed stats put out there to the public. I have looked into all the classes and changes I would have to make...it is extrememly demanding. To partake in such "extra" work, I would have to raise my rates significantly....which would actually cause me to lose clients. The economy and market do not support this and i would be out of business. Again...more families would have to turn to unlicensed providers.

Regulations are tooo much! I pride myself on creating a family environment with my clients' children. They have "chores" they help do (set tables etc) that teaches responsibliity, multi-ages teaches acceptance and appreciation for different levels and skills, and lots of love. Institutionalized "child care" does not work, nor is it the way our society should be raising children. I could care less if a kid can write their ABC's by age 3. I want that child to feel loved and cared about....they will learn the ABCs eventually. Kids just need a chance to feel important and loved by someone....not have curriculum crammd down their throat.

Am I wrong?

[DCMom]

THAT is what I truly believe is the ultimate goal. They do not want sahm's caring for children and want to make child care more part of our educational system like school is. They are striving to make the business, their business and take it out of the small business owners hands. Across the board regulations is the point. More control by the government and less control by us.

This is another reason we are seeing changes in things such as unionization of child cares, Parent Aware and curriculums for toddlers and infants as well.

Family child care as we currently know it will be non-existant IMPO, in the next 10-15 years and ALL providers will be college degreed and oprating as center would.

Exactly. I have been saying this to my peers for a while now...my daughter originally was going to go into home daycare, but has chosen another career path because of the changes and what we feel is coming down the road.

[Blackcat31]

I have been loooking into Parent Aware as well...it is not planned ever to be a required program, but highly encouraged. I am irrate at the way they are marketing it....very skewed stats put out there to the public. I have looked into all the classes and changes I would have to make...it is extrememly demanding. To partake in such "extra" work, I would have to raise my rates significantly....which would actually cause me to lose clients. The economy and market do not support this and i would be out of business. Again...more families would have to turn to unlicensed providers.

If that is what they told you, then that may be mis-guided information because from what I have been told, it will be mandatory....eventually. The QRIS (Quality Ratings Improvment System) will be the generic framework for ALL states in how they manage, inspect and keep track of providers.

I was told this "Participation in the QRIS will be initially voluntary with appropriate funding and incentives provided through a variety of partnerships. After piloting, the QRIS will then be required for publicly funded programs, and eventually required for all licensed early learning and care programs."

I suppose you could opt to not recieve any funding through CCAP but then with no stars or any rating, what will happen to those care facilities? kwim? Parents aren't going to want to go to a child care that isn't rated any more than they want to go to an illegal unlicensed care facility.

[lovemyjob]

Qris

I contacted the person through MNCR&R who is in charge of the Parent Aware program. When I asked directly if it will be mandatory, I was told it was never the intention to make it mandatory. But, like you said, you just wouldn't have a rating and would go out of business anyway.

The classes are all very inexpensive right now for Parent Aware...thus I am drawn to try to take what I can. I have no desire for a rating, as the expectations require me to function much more like a center...and that is not my philosophy. Training and education are always good....but the desired ways of operating should be up to me.

Any ideas of how we can counteract some of these regulation changes? Where do we start? Not sure who is on the MN DHS board of early childhood committee, but they may soon be getting an email from me. Child care is much needed....driving people out of the field isn't going to help anyone.

[Blackcat31]

I contacted the person through MNCR&R who is in charge of the Parent Aware program. When I asked directly if it will be mandatory, I was told it was never the intention to make it mandatory. But, like you said, you just wouldn't have a rating and would go out of business anyway.

The classes are all very inexpensive right now for Parent Aware...thus I am drawn to try to take what I can. I have no desire for a rating, as the expectations require me to function much more like a center...and that is not my philosophy. Training and education are always good....but the desired ways of operating should be up to me.

Any ideas of how we can counteract some of these regulation changes? Where do we start? Not sure who is on the MN DHS board of early childhood committee, but they may soon be getting an email from me. Child care is much needed....driving people out of the field isn't going to help anyone.

They aren't looking to drive anyone out of business... they are looking to place child care under the "education" umbrella that is governed and supervised by the same people our public schools are governed through.

They simply want their hand in early education too.

They want providers to run like mini-centers. Keeps people at DHS employed and needed...kwim? Just like the welfare system. If they were really trying to help people advance and get off the system, they wouldn't make it so easy to stay on it. :confused:

All the information I have came from the U.S Department of Health and Human Services/ Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation.

(You'd be surprised what you can find if you just google QRIS and simply start reading. I have spent countless hours reading everything and anything I can and am surprised, happy and disappointed about alot of it.) *sigh*

We could, as providers try to have a voice and be heard all the way to the MN DHS board of early childhood committee but MN is one of the last states to start implementing and piloting this system so I doubt our cries of protest would have any impact on something that is coming from a federal level. States are only in charge of implementing things in ways that meet their state budgets and such but I doubt any state has a choice about QRIS.

[nanglgrl]

I hope that this program does not end up being as bad for you guys as you think it will. In Iowa we have a Quality Rating System based on stars. It is completely voluntary and as of now there is no plan to make it required here. That said, I'm a 2 star home and working on my 3rd right now. Like most of you I provide a quality learning in-home environment and so far I haven't had to make any changes. The 1st and 2nd star were easy but my 3rd is a little harder, 4th even harder still and then there's the 5th star that I'm pretty sure is about impossible for a home provider although I could be wrong. I've been a 2 star home for 6 years, I haven't tried to go to 3 stars because I've been busy with other things but also because in 6 years I've never had a parent ask me about QRS, my stars or what they mean. When I mention QRS during interviews I'm met with a blank stare. I don't think a lot of parents would be swayed by this even if the state "advertised" it more, good parents that come to home daycare's usually want a home-type environment that's cheaper than a center with a provider they have a good feeling about straight away. There are a lot of parents that don't want the governments involvement in choosing their daycare and the only way they could be swayed is if the government started paying for everyone's daycare costs.

[Blackcat31]

I hope that this program does not end up being as bad for you guys as you think it will. In Iowa we have a Quality Rating System based on stars. It is completely voluntary and as of now there is no plan to make it required here.

My belief is the QRIS stuff is voluntary (I think ? a couple of states are mandatory now) as of this time. HOWEVER, once the first round of the ratings and implementation "results" are back, is when the madatory part will probably come into play. As a pilot and/or voluntary program, I think they are just gathering their information right now to see if it really is making an impact or if it is worth it.

That said, I'm a 2 star home and working on my 3rd right now. Like most of you I provide a quality learning in-home environmentand so far I haven't had to make any changes. The 1st and 2nd star were easy but my 3rd is a little harder, 4th even harder still and then there's the 5th star that I'm pretty sure is about impossible for a home provider although I could be wrong.

This is one area where states differ as some are 4 stars max. and others are 5 star max. We have no barriers that stop family child care providers from reaching the max. amount of stars provided they meet the criteria requirements. The requirements to meet the minimum standards are different here for centers and family child care.

I've been a 2 star home for 6 years, I haven't tried to go to 3 stars because I've been busy with other things but also because in 6 years I've never had a parent ask me about QRS, my stars or what they mean. When I mention QRS during interviews I'm met with a blank stare. I don't think a lot of parents would be swayed by this even if the state "advertised" it more, good parents that come to home daycare's usually want a home-type environment that's cheaper than a center with a provider they have a good feeling about straight away.

This is part of why I am not so sure and have remained a bit undecided as I am hearing that this is such a great tool for parents and how it is going to be revolutionary in educating parents in how to "shop" for child care that meets their needs/wants. I have not yet, heard one parent say that they have seen or even heard of the program as of yet.

Like other programs with good intent, the concept is a nice one for parents but so far the actually benefits for parents haven't been clearly outlined for me and besides stating that it will educate parents, I haven't seen any examples yet as far as "how" this will happen.

There are a lot of parents that don't want the governments involvement in choosing their daycare and the only way they could be swayed is if the government started paying for everyone's daycare costs.

My take isn't that the government will be involved in choosing a provider FOR the parent or swaying them to choose one over the other, my understanding is that the program is meant so that parents will easily be able to sort through all the different programs and no longer have to weed through ALL of them to find the one they want.

I take it as a way to sort through which provider offers what and who doesn't so the parent (and provider) don't waste time enrolling, only to find out that the program is structured and routine when they were only looking for someone to park their kid in front of the TV all day and charge a cheap rate....kwim?

That is where I am having a hard time. It seems to me that they are saying that the programs that only earn one or two stars seem to be labled as "not as good" or somehow lower quality compared to the ones who have the higher amount stars.

That, to me, isn't fair.

It seems like in order to be considered as quality program a provider would HAVE to strive for the highest amount of stars and earning the highest amount of stars means doing things EXACTLY the way the government says to do it. kwim?

"Darned if you do and darned if you don't."

[DaycareMomma]

Is there a website we can go to to see all the proposed changes?

[Blackcat31]

Is there a website we can go to to see all the proposed changes?

In regards to QRIS for all states or the recommended changes MN is talking about based on the results of the MN child review panel?

[DaycareMomma]

Recommended changes.

[Blackcat31]

Recommended changes.

http://mlfcca.org/associations/11524/files/Child%20Deaths%20in%20MN%20FCC%20homes%202012.pdf

The entire thing talks about the recommended changes but the summarized list begins on page 15.

If you are looking for info about Parent Aware, there are several links depending on what info you are looking for and if you are looking for framework and basic intentions of QRIS, then I would google it and start reading. I have read TONS of links and feel like I have only just begun to scratch the surface.

[DaycareMomma]

Thanks BlackCat!

I've went to a meeting about the ParentAware. A friend of mine participated and had them come in and watch her during the day. I'm not sure where I stand on it yet.