Cleaning Up Texas Childcare

[Margarete]

Yes and yes! I agree. It is a really sore subject for me. It drives me crazy to see the ads for "SAHM looking to babysit fulltime" Ummm, that's a daycare.

I'll admit, I did contact a few of them and informed them that it was illegal what they were doing and one got really mad saying stuff like, "do you really need to go around telling people the law" and "Does it really matter? I make sure I do things the right way"......but you can't get licensed "the right way"?:confused:

That would be legal in my state. We can watch our own family, plus one additional family of children and be legally 'licensed exempt'. Are there no exemptions in your state? or is it required based on hours instead? I can't imagine having to be licensed to able to occasionally watch a family of kids in your home, but I could understand requirements for full time paid care of non-relatives.

[CedarCreek]

That would be legal in my state. We can watch our own family, plus one additional family of children and be legally 'licensed exempt'. Are there no exemptions in your state? or is it required based on hours instead? I can't imagine having to be licensed to able to occasionally watch a family of kids in your home, but I could understand requirements for full time paid care of non-relatives.

Family is exempt up to 2 here.

However, if they are posting on craigslist they are obviously not looking to just watch family members.

[snbauser]

I wish all states would crack down on illegal daycares. I have no problem with LEGALLY unlicensed but the illegal ones are the ones we see most frequently in the news and are giving the rest of us a bad name. I do have to say that with the state budgets the way they are, I am suprised they hired people for this but I wish they all did.

[Starburst]

I wish all states would crack down on illegal daycares. I have no problem with LEGALLY unlicensed but the illegal ones are the ones we see most frequently in the news and are giving the rest of us a bad name. I do have to say that with the state budgets the way they are, I am suprised they hired people for this but I wish they all did.

I am currently (might move) in the same state as Margarete, so having children from more than one family (can even have 3 or more if they are all siblings) in your home other than your own is considered illegal daycare.

[Patches]

That would be legal in my state. We can watch our own family, plus one additional family of children and be legally 'licensed exempt'. Are there no exemptions in your state? or is it required based on hours instead? I can't imagine having to be licensed to able to occasionally watch a family of kids in your home, but I could understand requirements for full time paid care of non-relatives.

It is basically if you watch kids in your home for more than 15 hours per week, you need to be licensed.

Side note:
Some of the posts I was referring to are SAHM who take on multiple children/families, not just one.

[melilley]

Yes and yes! I agree. It is a really sore subject for me. It drives me crazy to see the ads for "SAHM looking to babysit fulltime" Ummm, that's a daycare.

I'll admit, I did contact a few of them and informed them that it was illegal what they were doing and one got really mad saying stuff like, "do you really need to go around telling people the law" and "Does it really matter? I make sure I do things the right way"......but you can't get licensed "the right way"?:confused:

I did the same here and one lady said she was licensed and asked why I was afraid of competition and that I shouldn't be. She also said that most people know that you are licensed if you are in the childcare section. I politely told her that she should be an advocate for children and that many providers and parents don't know that it is illegal to care for any unrelated children without a license and that I'm not afraid of competition as I only have one spot open. Low and behold, she hasn't posted on there since. Even if you contact them and tell them what the law is, they still don't care. We can only do so much....

[Heidi]

Awesome!!! I wish they would do that here!

Me Three!

[Jenne]

I got that email this week too happyface. I am thrilled that they are finally cracking down on them!