Should I Report My In-Home Daycare?

[Unregistered]

I began taking my daughter to our next door neighbor who runs an in-home daycare when she was 6 weeks old. The daycare lady has a 4 year old daughter and also cares for another 3 year old boy. Both the woman and her husband have clearances through the state to work with kids and teach Sunday School together at a local church. There is another neighbor who also has clearances who will watch the kids if there is an emergency.

We have a contract stating the agreed upon payments and that I need to provide a 2 week notice before taking my daughter out of care.

We started in mid-October, and did not have any issues until this past week when we noticed that the man leaving for work every morning was not the husband that we had met in the beginning. I asked around and found out that her husband left and the man we were seeing was her new boyfriend. We were never informed that he would be living there or around our baby.

I asked if the boyfriend had a background check and clearances, which is what was provided to me for the daycare lady, her husband and the neighbor. She said that he has them, but was reluctant to provide a copy for me to see.

She mentioned off-hand that she only left the children alone with her boyfriend a few times, so it wasn't a concern. (This is where I started panicking) I have removed my baby from her care, but I am debating whether or not to report this.

The facts are that I was never informed when a new man started to live in the household, and my infant daughter was left alone with this stranger without my knowledge or consent.

What do you think?

[jenboo]

I began taking my daughter to our next door neighbor who runs an in-home daycare when she was 6 weeks old. The daycare lady has a 4 year old daughter and also cares for another 3 year old boy. Both the woman and her husband have clearances through the state to work with kids and teach Sunday School together at a local church. There is another neighbor who also has clearances who will watch the kids if there is an emergency.

We have a contract stating the agreed upon payments and that I need to provide a 2 week notice before taking my daughter out of care.

We started in mid-October, and did not have any issues until this past week when we noticed that the man leaving for work every morning was not the husband that we had met in the beginning. I asked around and found out that her husband left and the man we were seeing was her new boyfriend. We were never informed that he would be living there or around our baby.

I asked if the boyfriend had a background check and clearances, which is what was provided to me for the daycare lady, her husband and the neighbor. She said that he has them, but was reluctant to provide a copy for me to see.

She mentioned off-hand that she only left the children alone with her boyfriend a few times, so it wasn't a concern. (This is where I started panicking) I have removed my baby from her care, but I am debating whether or not to report this.

The facts are that I was never informed when a new man started to live in the household, and my infant daughter was left alone with this stranger without my knowledge or consent.

What do you think?

what type of home daycare is this? Licensed? legally unlicensed?

[Crystal]

Call licensing and ask them to pull her file, as you would like to know if this person has been cleared. If he hasn't, licensing will take it from there. If he has, then there is nothing to be done.

[Ariana]

Wow!! That is hugely upsetting!! I would report if she's not willing to provide a background check for this guy.

[Thriftylady]

It is hard to say not knowing what the regs are in your area. I know in Kansas we had to have background checks for everyone over 13 in the home. Here I am legally unlicensed and it is not required but I would let a parent pay for one if they chose to. But in Kansas I had no paperwork to show parents that said it was done, it was just in the regs and had to come back clean to get my license.

[daycare]

I agree that you should call licensing and find out what the laws are.
However law or not she should not have done that. It was very unprofessional.

I would have pulled my kid too

[CraftyMom]

At the very least she should have let you know she would be leaving your daughter with him or ask if it was ok.

In my state I could not leave the kids with anyone that is not a state approved assistant, even my husband has to be approved by the state. I also have to let the parents know when the kids will be in the care of the assistant.

Your state may have different rules. If she is not required to be licensed or registered then she probably didn't break any rules.

I would call your state like the others said and find out

[permanentvacation]

I would call licensing and see if they are aware of the new man living there and if he has been cleared to live in the daycare home. If not, let them know that he is living there and I'm sure they will check into it.

Your state might not require that he's cleared with them. She might be legally allowed to have him living there without them knowing. And she might not legally be required to tell the parents who lives in the house. I don't know your laws there. But if I were you, I'd call whoever is involved with checking on daycare homes and have them look into it.

[sharlan]

What state are you in?

I would definitely call licensing for your area, though.

[BabyMonkeys]

I wonder if the other families are aware of the situation. This is one of those situations that most people would advise you to mind your own business, but as a parent, I would want to know if my dcp was leaving my child with a man that I had never met, without my knowledge or permission. Is she doing something wrong legally? I don't know. Is she doing something wrong ethically? In my opinion, absolutely.

[Thriftylady]

Thinking about this again I just don't understand why she (provider) would leave the kids with this man or why he would do it. My DH refuses to be left alone with the kids, girls especially because innocent things these days become issues. My hubby would NEVER do anything to a child, but he worries about something being said that could be thought of that way. He was that way even with his best friends daughters before they were married. Hubby shared a house with best friends dad and that was hubby's one request that the kids not spend the night there when he was home.

[DaveA]

I would call licensing and ask about the background check. She left your child alone with someone you didn't know, didn't inform you of a major household change, and didn't let you see background check on the new member of the household. All unprofessional moves in my opinion.

[Thriftylady]

Oh and DaveArmour, just to be sure you didn't take it wrong I wasn't speaking bad of men in daycare, but just stating my hubby's fears.

[DaveA]

Oh and DaveArmour, just to be sure you didn't take it wrong I wasn't speaking bad of men in daycare, but just stating my hubby's fears.

We're cool. I started another thread about something along this, but it wasn't a shot at you. :hug: