Illegal/Unlicensed Daycare on My Street

[Michelle]

Different unregistered posting now:

What state are you from? Is it illegal to run a daycare if you aren't registered? I have heard of a few states that do this. 6 months ago a woman opened a daycare next door to me. I had to report her not because I was jealous but because she had 15 children playing in her backyard with 1 adult. Registered or unregistered it was illegal. I understand where you are coming from!

I agree!
If something happened to those kids.. you would feel really bad
I would report too

[Play Care]

I want to be clear that if I saw an unlicensed day care I would report it.

But from the OP this could have been anything. She saw two women brining diapers to a house. Maybe it's because I live in a neighborhood with young families but that wouldn't raise any red flags for me.

[Unregistered]

Why all the guesswork. She could go down there in a nice neighborly way, say something to the effect that she watches kids, and ask if she has a daycare to. Go from
there. Could have been a play date or who knows what.

I'd rather be on good terms with my neighbors, who knows you might need their help someday. A better approach than to be vindictive imo.

[blandino]

I want to be clear that if I saw an unlicensed day care I would report it.

But from the OP this could have been anything. She saw two women brining diapers to a house. Maybe it's because I live in a neighborhood with young families but that wouldn't raise any red flags for me.

See, it's super unusual for my neighborhood. On my street not one person has kids younger than elementary school age. The person living in the house has kids in elementary school - but the rest are 50+ and mostly retired.

[blandino]

Why all the guesswork. She could go down there in a nice neighborly way, say something to the effect that she watches kids, and ask if she has a daycare to. Go from
there. Could have been a play date or who knows what.

I'd rather be on good terms with my neighbors, who knows you might need their help someday. A better approach than to be vindictive imo.

But I don't understand how anyone read vindictive from my posts ? I had no intention of reporting her or doing anything about/with her.

If she is running an illegal daycare, I don't think she is going to honest about it to someone who is running a legal daycare. She might, but I would doubt it.

[Unregistered]

I mean't the other people who are jumping on the band wagon to report her. The poor girl already has a scarlet I for Illegal, .

I suggested getting to know her since you were wondering what was going on. Maybe she is planning on opening a daycare, or temporarily helping some friends or relatives out.
She may not be aware that you need to be licensed to watch a few children in that state.

Most people think it's ok to watch a few kids out of their home, not saying on this site, but maybe you can give her tips if she is a newbie. The lady on the other street I talk to about daycare because she watches her grand kids and one more I believe. She may happily tell you what is going on, my neighbors are certainly pretty chatty. Our area is also all families, so that wouldn't be out of the ordinary for us either.

[Hunni Bee]

I mean't the other people who are jumping on the band wagon to report her. The poor girl already has a scarlet I for Illegal, .

I suggested getting to know her since you were wondering what was going on. Maybe she is planning on opening a daycare, or temporarily helping some friends or relatives out.
She may not be aware that you need to be licensed to watch a few children in that state.

Most people think it's ok to watch a few kids out of their home, not saying on this site, but maybe you can give her tips if she is a newbie. The lady on the other street I talk to about daycare because she watches her grand kids and one more I believe. She may happily tell you what is going on, my neighbors are certainly pretty chatty. Our area is also all families, so that wouldn't be out of the ordinary for us either.

When you are illegal, it comes with a "scarlet 'I'".

And it doesn't matter what the situation is. If its illegal to be unlicensed in the OP's state, then running an unlicensed daycare is illegal.

I don't know why people feel like that's debatable. :confused:

There was another thread a week or so ago where the OP got all hurt because people weren't agreeing that it was okay for her to operate illegally, because "she is good at what she does". She claimed even after she was ordered to shut down, the parents "refused" to stop bringing their kids to her, "forcing" her to continue to operate illegally.

If everyone else has to go through the proper procedure and shell out the cash to become licensed (if its necessary) then no one should get a free pass not to because they love kids or kids love them. And the people who report them are not evil or jealous.

[Hunni Bee]

It would be really cool if "unregistered" were not allowed. All they do is either lie about who they are or come here to stir up trouble. Sad. I'm not licensed anymore but still have one family (legally) so I still like to peruse the site.

Anyway, I would definitely keep an eye on it, just to see if she really does seem to be running an unlicensed daycare. I don't think it is being a busybody, it is being a concerned neighbor as part of a community, not to mention an actual business owner who went through the right channels to get licensed! IF something were to happen under her care, who's to say people wouldn't assume it was you? KWIM? For example, "oh, did you hear about what happened at the daycare on Maple Street? Oh, yeah, isn't that 'Blandino's' daycare?" Even if you know it wasn't you, others may not, and I would have for people to associate my street with the bad daycare... Esp. if you are a GOOD, legally licensed one!

Ha--and I hope you don't live on Maple Street, I just pulled that out of the air.

[preschoolteacher]

Here's a little spin-off of my own... OP, I sympathize with you.

I've been waiting going on 6 months now for my license. It's taking forever. I'm caring for my nieces a few days a week and a boy from an unrelated family on different days. Legally unlicensed.

I wrote on another post how I take whichever kids I have to the park at the same time most days. It happens to be when all the daycare providers in the neighborhood go to the park. There are three other women with groups of kids there... and all three of them are unlicensed. They just offered me that information with no hesitation! Each one had 4-6 kids from different families... it is plausible that one of them may have had family members and was legally unlicensed...but the other two were definitely doing it wrong.

They were aware of this. One of them told me she used to be licensed but she lost her license (because she had a baby napping in a Pack-N-Play wearing a snow suit!!) and now she is a "nanny"... working from her home... caring for three different families.

So so frustrated that I'm trying to do this the legal way, it's taking forever, and I'm losing clients and not making any money. It feels like--what's the point??? Ugh!

[dingledine]

I would just ignore the troll (s), and not let them (it) get to you.

[BABYLUVER]

It really ****s when you come on here to vent or need support on something - which is what this is supposed to be for, right?? And then you get people responding so rude & unhelpful... especially the ones hiding behind "unregistered". Yes everyone has their own opinions... but it makes me not want to post on here anymore when you get just sarcastic rude responses when you are just looking for a little helpful advice or to vent. Oh well. To each their own I guess!

Then you miss valuable advice. Doesn't matter WHERE you go, especially in a forum with mostly women. Drama to always follow somehow.

[MyAngels]

Then you miss valuable advice. Doesn't matter WHERE you go, especially in a forum with mostly women. Drama to always follow somehow.

My hubby belongs to a couple of forums that are all men and he says they are way worse than women when it comes to drama ::. I think it's just the nature of forums in general that attracts drama at times .

[Blackcat31]

My hubby belongs to a couple of forums that are all men and he says they are way worse than women when it comes to drama ::. I think it's just the nature of forums in general that attracts drama at times .

I agree! My DH also belongs to several woodworking forums and the drama on those boards is just as bad if not worse than some of the things I've read on here. ::

I think that drama has more to do with diversity and differing perspectives rather than the sex of the poster.

[Play Care]

I agree! My DH also belongs to several woodworking forums and the drama on those boards is just as bad if not worse than some of the things I've read on here. ::

I think that drama has more to do with diversity and differing perspectives rather than the sex of the poster.

Totally anecdotal, but the only difference I notice between men and women with regard to drama is that the men seem to get over it more quickly::

[caregiver]

I always hate getting into the conversations about unlicensed and illegal daycare because there is so much controversy, but I think that if your really concerned about it, go talk to her,find out exactly how many kids she does have before you do the guessing game. It always pays to have your facts straight before you get concerned about things. I know you said your not going to report her, but for your own self it probably would be good to know just what she is doing. Go talk to her and introduce yourself to her if she is new in your neighborhood,tell her you do daycare and see what she says about what she is doing.