Want info about weekend/overnight family child care

[Howl]

Hi, everyone.

I want to open a weekend (daytime) and weekend overnight family child care business in my home. I'm not sure where to look for information. I read my state's (CA) manual for family child care homes and it doesn't say anything about it. If you could point me in the right direction, I would appreciate it! Thank you.

[Mister Sir Husband]

I'm in NY, but I think it would be as easy as just getting registered for a home daycare, and when you fill the forms out, list your hours if operation as weekends. The only thing that would be an issue here is I am only allowed to have a child for a max of 2 shifts before someone has to pick up. I can't keep a child all day, all night and into the next day.

I do have a child now in alternate Saturdays, and there was nothing said about it by my licensor except for the fact that he was surprised I only had the one. Daycares open on weekends are few and far between, and there is a good market for it.

[Howl]

Thank you for responding, Mister Sir Husband. My state's manual reads this way:

"Family Day Care" or "Family Child Care" means regularly provided care, protection and
supervision of children, in the care giver's own home, for periods of less than 24 hours per day,
while the parents or authorized representatives are away.

:confused:

[Mister Sir Husband]

My interpretation of this is that you can only keep a specific child for 24 hours maximum before someone has to pick them up. 8am drop off means they pick up before 8am the next morning. This prevents a parent from dropping off Friday night and leaving town for the weekend. I'm also reading it as you can overlap. If your allowed to care for 6 kids, you can have children all weekend, non stop, as long as no single child is there more than 24 hours without getting picked up. You could in theory have a kid for 20 hours, they get picked up, and then dropped back off after a certain amount of time goes by and stay for another day or so.

[jenboo]

Some states require a caregiver to be awake at all times while children are in care.
I would look into it.
For example if I were doing 24 hour care, I would need an assistant to work the night shift while I worked the day shift. In this case, the money is a wash.

[Howl]

Mister Sir Husband,

Maybe I'm going in the wrong direction. If I opened the weekend and weekend overnight business I've been thinking about, wouldn't I be required to only care for a certain amount of regular attending kids? That's not what I want.

[Howl]

Some states require a caregiver to be awake at all times while children are in care.
I would look into it.
For example if I were doing 24 hour care, I would need an assistant to work the night shift while I worked the day shift. In this case, the money is a wash.

Hi jenboo, thank you for responding. That makes sense. Everyone deserves a break.

[DaveA]

Your state's licensing should be able to give some of the information if you call or email them. I know one person who did evening & weekend care for a few years. If I remember right (it's been a few years) she had a group home daycare license because of needing multiple assistants to cover staffing needs. I know there were some quirks she had to deal with sleeping arrangements for DCKs and such, but I can't remember if it was strictly in the regs or something her rep came up with.

Good Luck- It is a undertapped market for sure.

[Laurel]

Mister Sir Husband,

Maybe I'm going in the wrong direction. If I opened the weekend and weekend overnight business I've been thinking about, wouldn't I be required to only care for a certain amount of regular attending kids? That's not what I want.

Usually the way that works (at least here in Florida) is that the same children wouldn't have to come every weekend. It is only limited to how many you have. As long as you don't have over your limit (in our case 6) you can have as many as you want on your roster. It is just that no more than 6 can be here at any one time.

If you are thinking about doing drop in care for whoever signs up for the weekend days/nights you would have to have (here) the same records as for weekday children. Meaning each child that you watch would need their medical records and all papers on file. That's not a problem in itself but it would be kind of a hassle to do the paperwork and keep it updated with immunization records, etc. for several children that only come occasionally. It is doable though but each time a child came (especially if they just came occasionally) you'd have to have parents bring updated immunization records. If you have regular weekend clients it would be so much easier.

Laurel

[MarinaVanessa]

Hi, everyone.

I want to open a weekend (daytime) and weekend overnight family child care business in my home. I'm not sure where to look for information. I read my state's (CA) manual for family child care homes and it doesn't say anything about it. If you could point me in the right direction, I would appreciate it! Thank you.

Hi, I'm in CA also. Your best bet is to call the licensing office directly.

Here is the list of all of the licensing offices in CA

http://ccld.ca.gov/res/pdf/CClistingMaster.pdf

[daycare]

sorry I was not able to get back to you on the PM you sent me....

I would do as MV stated. One thing that I am sure all of us in CA can agree on is that the regulations are not very clear.

It is always best to call into your licencor or a duty officer of the day and get things in writing so that it is made clear.

[MarinaVanessa]

I would do as MV stated. One thing that I am sure all of us in CA can agree on is that the regulations are not very clear.

This exactly. I just emailed my licensor to ask about holding playdates with nanny friend of mine. There's a sort of general known rule that any extra kids you have (like your own child's friend that comes over to play) doesn't count against your ratios as long as that child can leave at any time.

Well I wanted to have my friend come over with her 2 kids and her 1 child that she takes care of to do activities with. I know someone in Riverside and someone in Atascadero that do this with their friends and they allow it because the extra kids have their own adult and they can all leave at any time. Well my licensor didn't allow it.

Everything depends on where you live and who your licensor is and the regulations are very dependent on the interpretation of each individual licensor.