Sandy School Hero Question

[Michelle]

I was just reading an article about that man that helped those 6 kids during the shooting.. they ran to his house and he took them in until the police could get them.. but what I was wondering is...

I live like 8 houses down from an elementary school too and God forbid if this were to happen here if I were to do the same thing, would licensing issue me a violation for being over capacity?

I wouldn't care!
I would help the kids no matter what!
But just curious if licensing would do that.
What do you think?

[Country Kids]

I was just reading an article about that man that helped those 6 kids during the shooting.. they ran to his house and he took them in until the police could get them.. but what I was wondering is...

I live like 8 houses down from an elementary school too and God forbid if this were to happen here if I were to do the same thing, would licensing issue me a violation for being over capacity?

I wouldn't care!
I would help the kids no matter what!
But just curious if licensing would do that.
What do you think?

Let them and then let them explain it to the public! I bet there would be such an outcry it wouldn't even be funny.

The poor guy though is being harrassed by people saying the whole thing is a hoax and was put on by the government! He is being threatened and they are actually having to bring in the FBI on the case. Bizarre is the only word to discribe it.

[Michelle]

I know! they are even mentioning the word "pedo" oh, my gosh! can you imagine what this story is doing to people reading what he is going through?
Maybe there are people out there actually thinking.."well I don't want that happening to me" so they would not even open the door to a child that needs help"

I few years ago I saw a tiny boy walking from the school down the street.. ( I am 8 houses away) and he looked like a small 4 year old and he was alone. I asked him where his mom was and he said "I don't know" I asked if he went to school.. he said " yea but my teacher hates me" then I tried to get him to come in my yard so I can call the school or police but he ran from me and I couldn't leave my own kids to get him so I immediately called the school and the police and they finally found him on the very busy blvd. (He was enrolled in Kinder)

They thanked me for helping but was very short with me and they said he slipped away from his teacher but wouldn't talk to me more about how they can prevent that from happening again.

So I called the school district to make sure they knew it happened.

[Play Care]

I was just reading an article about that man that helped those 6 kids during the shooting.. they ran to his house and he took them in until the police could get them.. but what I was wondering is...

I live like 8 houses down from an elementary school too and God forbid if this were to happen here if I were to do the same thing, would licensing issue me a violation for being over capacity?

I wouldn't care!
I would help the kids no matter what!
But just curious if licensing would do that.
What do you think?

Yes, I would get a ding. But I would do it anyway. It's not as if I'm purposely taking on more kids then allowed for more money KWIM?

[Heidi]

Yes, I would get a ding. But I would do it anyway. It's not as if I'm purposely taking on more kids then allowed for more money KWIM?

In that particular scenario, if licensing sited someone, they'd be jumping feet first into a media frenzy.

[mamac]

For what it's worth I would definitely not care about licensing and do what any human should do it that kind of situation. You help people that need help if you can. I just had this conversation with my five year old about this last week. We visited his great-grammy and there was a couple outside that ended up in a very loud, heated argument that became violent.
Obviously I wasn't about to go out there to break it up so I did the best I could do to help out. I called the cops. I'm sure half the people in that complex peeked out their windows, only to shut them and continue on with whatever it was they were doing.
I told my son that if he's ever in a situation where a classmate needs help, he is to help them if he can and the same for when he's an adult. We have become a nation of people that look the other way when something bad happens to someone else, as if it's not our problem. I want my boys to grow up to be better than that.

And as far as that poor guy in CT, I think that whole conspiracy thing is ridiculous. I will say, though, that when I saw him on the news several times he did seem a bit "off" to me. I found it a bit strange that he kept saying he wanted to be friends with the children and to have them come over and play and (if I'm not mistaken) wanted to be like an uncle to them. I live only about an hour away from there and he was on the news quite a bit. I'd almost think that those kids wouldn't want to keep in touch with that guy (beyond saying thank you) and have to relive the whole reason they knew him in the first place.

.02

[Michelle]

For what it's worth I would definitely not care about licensing and do what any human should do it that kind of situation. You help people that need help if you can. I just had this conversation with my five year old about this last week. We visited his great-grammy and there was a couple outside that ended up in a very loud, heated argument that became violent.
Obviously I wasn't about to go out there to break it up so I did the best I could do to help out. I called the cops. I'm sure half the people in that complex peeked out their windows, only to shut them and continue on with whatever it was they were doing.
I told my son that if he's ever in a situation where a classmate needs help, he is to help them if he can and the same for when he's an adult. We have become a nation of people that look the other way when something bad happens to someone else, as if it's not our problem. I want my boys to grow up to be better than that.

And as far as that poor guy in CT, I think that whole conspiracy thing is ridiculous. I will say, though, that when I saw him on the news several times he did seem a bit "off" to me. I found it a bit strange that he kept saying he wanted to be friends with the children and to have them come over and play and (if I'm not mistaken) wanted to be like an uncle to them. I live only about an hour away from there and he was on the news quite a bit. I'd almost think that those kids wouldn't want to keep in touch with that guy (beyond saying thank you) and have to relive the whole reason they knew him in the first place.

.02

Oh, wow I didn't know that... that is a little creepy
Good job for teaching your kids right. You might want to add as long as it is safe to help someone.. not to put themselves in harms way lovethis

[Play Care]

In that particular scenario, if licensing sited someone, they'd be jumping feet first into a media frenzy.

I agree, but my OCFS is very cut and dried. You are either in compliance or not. When I was going through the certification process they talked about situations in which providers *had* been cited for being over - in one the young school aged neighbor had come home and was locked out. Went to providers house and provider took him in and was trying to get in touch with someone. Apparently mom was a diabetic and had passed out at home According to the trainer the licensor had shown up and had been very helpful sympathetic but had to write the provider up for being over
Now obviously the tradgey of Sandy Hook was of such epic proportions that you would hope there would be some leeway, but sadly, I wouldn't count on it.

[Michelle]

I agree, but my OCFS is very cut and dried. You are either in compliance or not. When I was going through the certification process they talked about situations in which providers *had* been cited for being over - in one the young school aged neighbor had come home and was locked out. Went to providers house and provider took him in and was trying to get in touch with someone. Apparently mom was a diabetic and had passed out at home According to the trainer the licensor had shown up and had been very helpful sympathetic but had to write the provider up for being over
Now obviously the tradgey of Sandy Hook was of such epic proportions that you would hope there would be some leeway, but sadly, I wouldn't count on it.

wow! then I would call the local news and let them know.. but making sure I have a picture or video of the licensing agent, then of the busy blvd., and a link to the 600 registered sex offenders that we have in our city alone !

[Blackcat31]

Seriously? I am pretty sure any act of humanity over rides any licensing rule.

If not, then I am definitely in the wrong business as I spend countless hours teaching little people to do the "right" thing at ALL times.

[Heidi]

And, in theory, our licensers would also write us up. Technically, we would be out of compliance.

Thankfully, we now have an opportunity to show our "side of the story" on the state's website along with their non-compliance findings. I guess it would be time to write a novel on the site that day...

[Country Kids]

Seriously? I am pretty sure any act of humanity over rides any licensing rule.

If not, then I am definitely in the wrong business as I spend countless hours teaching little people to do the "right" thing at ALL times.

Seriously BC, I can see it happening!

My husband was rushed by ambulance from work one day (major snow storm was happening at the same time). His work called me to let me know what was going on and one of the ladies offered to come and watch the kids for me and someone would pick me up to take me to the hospital.

I had to explain that I wasn't able to leave them with anyone that hadn't had a background check. They were understanding but not understanding in the event of an emergency couldn't something be done for an exception. I had to tell them no.

Now during all this I have a house full of kids, trying to fight back the tears and worried about what if he didn't make it-I wouldn't be able to be with him because of childcare. He ended up being at the hospital several hours and a guy from work stayed with him and brought him home but I felt so low! It was like my world was caving in and I couldn't do anything. Every time I have had an emergency come up, I have childcare going on and am stressed to the max because I can't just leave.

I just talked with some other providers about this not long ago and they said that if liscensing had even found out about it I would have been written up big time for it. I'm sure all my parents would have totally understood but liscensing was what stopped me from going-

[lovemykidstoo]

I think that in a situation like the school shooting a state rep would have looked the other way. That would most definately been the last thing on my mind was licensing if kids showed up on my doorstep like that.

My daughter when she was almost 3 slammed her thumb in the door while I had 3 or 4 little ones. She "nearly severed" it as the doctor put it. I called my sister (no background check) and had her come over while I took my daughter to the hospital. I could not have cared less if they would have caught me. Those kids were fine.

[mamac]

Oh, wow I didn't know that... that is a little creepy
Good job for teaching your kids right. You might want to add as long as it is safe to help someone.. not to put themselves in harms way lovethis

Oh I did! I told them if it was too dangerous to help by themselves then they needed to go to someone that Could help. (like I did by calling the police) At their age there really isn't much they can do other than to go get help but they understand that they need to do something.

Creepy is exactly what I thought when I saw his interviews....

[Blackcat31]

Seriously BC, I can see it happening!

I am sure it could happen, I have read enough licensing horror stories on this site alone to last me a life time. But I am fortunate enough to live in a state that is much more understanding then alot of places I read/hear about.

My licensor would NEVER in a million years site me for an situation that involved an all out true emergency.

Case in point: I had an unannounced visit a few years back. One of my DCM's had a car accident on the way to my house to pick up her child. She wasn't badly injured but was in the ER for observation. They wouldn't release her until she passed some sort of test and we couldn't get a hold of her emergency back up person at that time.

When my licensor arrived, I was over capacity by one.... this DCM's child. My licensor COMPLETELY understood and didn't for one second even think about issuing me a citation or correction order. As a matter of fact, her concern was for the DCM. She was genuinely concerned about her well being and how the situation was affecting the child I had.

I think that it is great that my state/county employs people who can make decisions in a split second and not automatically see everything an opportunity to cite someone.

I am glad there are still humans in my licensing office that make and enforce the rules and understand that not everything is always black and white.

For those providers who live in areas that have really tough licensors, I feel for you. I couldn't imagine.