Getting Discouraged At Lack Of Calls....

[MarinaVanessa]

It seems that this is a problem nationwide. Im a part of a child care association and a year ago we'd get 8-12 calls a week from parents looking for referrals, now we're lucky if we get 1 call a month to give referrals to.

I was talking to another board member of another daycare association which covers a different area and they use our local resource and referral agency to get their association mailers out (they give them stamped mail and the R&R prints the names & addresses of providers in the area on them) and the last time they did she said she was quoted 90 providers and by the time she gave them all 90 envelopes (3 weeks later) there were already 12 less providers to give mailers to because that many had closed their doors in that period of time .

I NEVER had an issue getting clients and now that my DS is 3 months and I'm ready to fill the 2 spots that I was saving I can't seem to get an interview. I've gotten 4 calls since I started advertising 2 weeks ago but no interview. :confused:

[TwinKristi]

I finally have an interview on Monday for a baby who would start in Jan. It's my friend's cousin (found out after the call) so she's already heard good things about me since I watched 2 of her cousins' kids! I emailed my references and contract and hope Monday goes well! This would pretty much cover the loss of one of the boys leaving next month. I'm praying so hard that this works out!

[LaLa1923]

I'm lucky to live near a military base. I am currently full and turning people away.

BUT I am also taking clients I usually wouldn't take. I have one client that is SA, and two clients that are until 6:30pm at night, and a third that is until 9 pm. I also have two kids on Saturdays. I have a total of 8 kids and I really like the income I have now, but I hate the hours.

I don't feel like I can really be picky right now...so many people are struggling..... I really hope good things come for all of you!!!

[Unregistered]

I'm going to be honest as a parent AND an ex provider who sees things from both sides.


First, as a provider, I noticed ALL around, not just where I live, but I have provider friends all over; UNLICENSED childcare is taking over. UNLICENSED childcare is usually cheaper and more flexible. More and more people are becoming UNLICENSED providers.

Then you have your ILLEGAL daycares (those who are not simply unlicensed, but also operating against rules and regs in their prospective states). They are popping up EVERYWHERE!!!! I see ads for this all the time. One girl I personally know is illegal and has even had DHS let her know it, has not stopped doing it. She charges under $100/week from 6am-6pm and does not have "contracted hourly care" just takes them for 12 hours, no questions asked. She has had 8-12 kids at one time. Where I live, you may take ONE unrelated family in your home. Her neighbor even called the DHS again after the 1st visit didn't shut her down (because the neighbor stated that she was not liking a business in the area and parents parking in front of her driveway became an issue)

Also, moms are staying home more because the price of childcare is more than what wages will be worth covering as well as some people are not having as many children. So you have 1 child and maybe 2 child families popping up where it used to be people had an average of 3 kids. So when one went off to Kinder, you had the other two for a few years and so forth.

The licensed daycares are getting to be far and few in between anymore. Even licensed child cares are stopping their licenses (but not stopping care) so that they don't have to be subject to rules/regs/visits and are starting to offer lower rates. I noticed a couple in the area I am in now that cannot afford to do a curriculum so they use the old one they had, but now incorporate TV and video games, where before that was an absolute NO.

Another thing I noticed when I was doing child care: Parents wanted me to be more of a 'religious' setting---quite the OPPOSITE of what parents wanted when I first started. But instead of allowing me to incorporate this request into my schedule (with all signatures on file) they wanted me to revamp my whole curriculum, which I could not afford, to be just like their church daycares. Um, I was a small home, not a church daycare so I don't have the funds or the resources to incorporate those types of requests, so because of that, some parents sought daycare through the churches.

And on the flip side, parents who had kids and were going to be 2nd time parents, they wanted to be home with baby and then quit their jobs to do Attachment Parenting. They're getting advice from somewhere that THIS is the best way to parent; this means stay home, and wear your baby and NO daycare. At least this is how it was explained to me.

Last but not least, daycares have been all over the news making parents apprehensive.

Things are changing.


As a PARENT, I have chosen to only use 2 days per week for child care. I want to raise my OWN children with OUR beliefs and values taught. We also cannot afford more than that because we have more than 2 children and so for us, it's just better to be part-time. Our provider DOES charge more per day for the 2 days, but it's STILL significantly less than what it would be to go full time. We still continue to pay her for all holidays, days off that we take, vacations, etc but this is a much better arrangement. Also, all my kids are SA, so no babies for her to take on during the day from our family. She has ONE infant, and our family and another family and that's it. She is still not getting many calls, evne though EVERYONE knows she does child care at very reasonable rates and is one of the best in the area.

It's hard out there, but the above reasons are becoming more common place (sources: parents and other providers in my area and outside my area as well as our referral agency ) and a trend is being noticed.