Providers Are Losing DCKs Like Crazy Here

[Josiegirl]

I met with another provider this a.m., talked for 45 minutes at the grocery store. She's got 1 pt dck and 1 afterschool. Another provider has about the same. These people put in hours upon hours of time in for trainings, volunteer at community events, have been in it for years, etc., etc. Another provider only has 3 dcks. ALL the referrals from our local resource and referral are going to centers.
More and more people are talking about quitting. It'll be very sad for parents when their only option left is a big center for their babies.

[racemom]

It is sad. I truly believe there is a place for both centers and home-based daycares.

My state is expecting more and more out of the teachers at centers, I have been working at the same center for 13 years now, and the changes are drastic. When I first started we were daycare staff, now we are non-certified teachers. In order to be a teacher (which is required in each room) you have to have a degree in ECE or enough training and experience to equal it. We used to have 12 hours of training of our choice, it now has to be thru the university or esu. And in order to meet all the required training 12 hours is not enough, and rarely are we able to do it during work hours. Most are offered evenings and Saturdays, so we have to give up our own time to attend. And yet it is still one of the lowest paid professions.

Ok, I will climb off my soap box and get back on subject. I am sorry to hear that you are losing home providers, as they are a valuable asset to the profession. I am afraid more and more will be pushed out as more state requirements are pit on place.

[midaycare]

I'm pretty fortunate over here. Home daycares are seen as very valid choices. I had a 9 month old start in September and the family had to go to a center first. They absolutely hated it. Most of my dcfs are looking for more individualized care.

We have 2 good centers here but the rest are c-r-a-p.

[MyAngels]

We have a weird phenomenon going on around here. Vanity centers. There are 3 very wealthy women in our community who have opened numerous centers in our 150,000 member community. They are literally trying to outdo each other in terms of volume and amenities. So far these 3 ladies have opened 8 centers between them.

Fortunately their prices are crazy, too, so that leaves at least some room for the home daycare market. I definitely have felt some heat when trying to fill spots though. It's not as easy as it was a few years ago.

I'm 53, so I don't really envision changing jobs at this point, but I'm definitely looking at exit strategies in case they decide to open even more new centers. Who knows, maybe I can go work for them ::

[storybookending]

We have the opposite problem here. Daycare is SO hard to find in this town and one of the reasons I decided to do this as a career. In just the month of October I turned away 4-5 families looking for care. I didn’t even interview or ask very many details as I don’t have the spaces and no one cares to be put on a waitlist anyways because they know no one willingly gives up their spots in a good daycare and the calls almost never come. I don’t even advertise, just word of mouth so far. This town is really small though. There are a few centers but they are full and one you have to work at the hospital for your children to attend. There aren’t enough people doing home daycare here to meet demand. If I had any interest at all I would look into a bigger space and hiring a staff and opening a center of my own. It would be so needed here and I’m sure I could make a ton more money but I like working alone too much.

[flying_babyb]

It is sad. I truly believe there is a place for both centers and home-based daycares.

My state is expecting more and more out of the teachers at centers, I have been working at the same center for 13 years now, and the changes are drastic. When I first started we were daycare staff, now we are non-certified teachers. In order to be a teacher (which is required in each room) you have to have a degree in ECE or enough training and experience to equal it. We used to have 12 hours of training of our choice, it now has to be thru the university or esu. And in order to meet all the required training 12 hours is not enough, and rarely are we able to do it during work hours. Most are offered evenings and Saturdays, so we have to give up our own time to attend. And yet it is still one of the lowest paid professions.

Ok, I will climb off my soap box and get back on subject. I am sorry to hear that you are losing home providers, as they are a valuable asset to the profession. I am afraid more and more will be pushed out as more state requirements are pit on place.

agree! And then some of the people they hire as assistants! I had a assistant at my old center who had no clue what she was doing and was 5 years clean from meth, and 3 years sober.

[DaveA]

In my area (3 towns in a row) there are 3 centers. All between 50-100 capacity. So daycare homes are essential around here. The problem is not only are we losing home daycares but the ones getting out are the ones with 5+ years experience. So it's a double whammy- less childcare and the ones left are less likely to run it as a business.

[daycarediva]

That's crazy! We have a TON of illegal providers, but care is still in pretty high demand, especially for infants. I don't take infants, but I get calls daily for the under 18m crowd.

[Mom2Two]

ALL the referrals from our local resource and referral are going to centers.

Wow, how do the referrals work? At ours, folk just do a search for daycare in a zipcode and/or openings available. It doesn't sound great if the employees are not giving impartial advise.

We used to have 12 hours of training of our choice, it now has to be thru the university or esu. And in order to meet all the required training 12 hours is not enough, and rarely are we able to do it during work hours. Most are offered evenings and Saturdays, so we have to give up our own time to attend. And yet it is still one of the lowest paid professions.

Are the classes expensive? Like are they full university tuition? We have that option for training or classes through the state. Or carecourses.com. Or part of it can even be reading one of Tom Copeland's books etc. It doesn't all have to be face to face for licensing. (For our pda grant it does have to be academic though).

[Lil_Diddle]

I'm very worried I may be in a similar predicament next year. I've worked in childcare 18 years. I left the center I worked at when my first child was an infant to do in-home. It was good for awhile until a local provider bought a center and made a preschool classroom upstairs. I lost 3 kids to her because of the convenience to parents. I also was not getting calls because people left and right were doing in-home for like $10 a day(quality in sure) nevermind my experience and education in the field. Anyways I eventually went to work for the lady that opened the center, for two years. But it just wasn't what I wanted. I eventually re-opened and converted my basement to a daycare with its own kitchen. It's been great, I've built a great reputation I have an assistant. I love it. But our local school district is now building a full day public preschool. I know that's great for the families with some drawbacks. But I am so worried how this will effect my business. I love being self employed and having the flexibility to have more opportunities to do things with the kids that I can't in a large center. I've also put so much time and money into this business I'm scared to go through what I did a few years ago. Nevertheless, my youngest is two, so I'm sticking with it until he goes to kindergarten (no I will not put him in the full time preschool)

[Josiegirl]

I'm very worried I may be in a similar predicament next year. I've worked in childcare 18 years. I left the center I worked at when my first child was an infant to do in-home. It was good for awhile until a local provider bought a center and made a preschool classroom upstairs. I lost 3 kids to her because of the convenience to parents. I also was not getting calls because people left and right were doing in-home for like $10 a day(quality in sure) nevermind my experience and education in the field. Anyways I eventually went to work for the lady that opened the center, for two years. But it just wasn't what I wanted. I eventually re-opened and converted my basement to a daycare with its own kitchen. It's been great, I've built a great reputation I have an assistant. I love it. But our local school district is now building a full day public preschool. I know that's great for the families with some drawbacks. But I am so worried how this will effect my business. I love being self employed and having the flexibility to have more opportunities to do things with the kids that I can't in a large center. I've also put so much time and money into this business I'm scared to go through what I did a few years ago. Nevertheless, my youngest is two, so I'm sticking with it until he goes to kindergarten (no I will not put him in the full time preschool)

One thing I don't understand is what will all these parents do for child care when summer comes and school's out? I have 1 dcg who is in FT preschool and I told dcm she'd have to pay for her spot if she wants her dd to come during vacations from school. She's reluctantly doing it. I cannot imagine that, all of a sudden, all these centers will have enough space to take preschoolers through the summer. I do take SA dcks during the summer because our ratios allow us to take 4 in that age group besides 6 FT. BUT preschool does not count as SA.
I loathe what they're doing with little children and families. Even if I wasn't a child care provider, I still wouldn't agree with shoving 3 yos into a full day schedule with a bunch of other kiddos.

And as far as our referral system, Mom2two, honestly, I'm not entirely sure how it works. I know parents can do online searches on their own but if anyone contacts the office, they're only given a handful of providers and they're the big centers.
So yeh, it's only a matter of time before in-home dc is phased out here.

I have to add that 2 of the providers I mentioned in my OP who have done a whole bunch of trainings, etc., they were also working towards their CDA. Where is the motivation for that when you've got so few children enrolled and absolutely no calls are coming?? Plus our support person who has been instrumental with helping us all achieve Stars and encouraged many to go for their CDA, they've told her that her job is no longer available after the end of the year.

I remember 10 years ago, we'd have workshops offered that were a lot of fun, we'd go home inspired and motivated with lots of new ideas for the kiddos. But now?? There is none of that. It's all state mandates, rules, business, etc. The state has told our 2 most supportive people(who will now be doing something else completely different), all they were doing was hand-holding. Even the Food Program sponsors were told to stick to basics, that their classes were too much fun stuff. :confused:
There was a training a couple weeks ago that I didn't go to. This provider I talked with said the woman who presented it was sooo good. She even spoke up and said this whole Stars thing is a big joke. IMO, they're taking more and more away from the providers and the children and sinking good taxpayer's money into worthless time consuming crap and extra workforce that is definitely not even needed.

I love these kids. I would miss them if I closed my doors. But I have to say, the government is all screwed up and I'm counting the days until I can close my doors.

[Play Care]

This is one of the main reasons I am getting out.

I've talked about having mostly infants/young toddlers this past year and how depressed I've been because of it. Around here preschools that used to be traditional unlicensed morning only or afternoon only programs are getting licensed and keeping kids full days. UPK is coming whether I like it or not. This means not getting the ages I prefer and juggling infants/young toddlers like I have been.
Add new state regulations and I just can't.

[amberrose3dg]

Here we have really cheap before and after school programs at the schools. The big drawback is that they are closed when schools are closed. I have around 9 part time before and after. I noticed last month or so I am not getting that many calls and they are almost all for infants. I have no infant openings. In fact I am not crazy about having all of my infant spots full. With that said I had to take who was calling.Those same families that use the school are out of luck when it comes to daycare.
Last night one of my neighbors in our association on the group facebook page was promoting her child's daycare. The location she mentioned I know there are no licensed daycares as I check online to see if there are new ones. In my state she is most likely doing it illegally because you can only have 2 or 3 kids unlicensed and sounds like she has multiple openings I think like any business it is up and down. Most places don't always stay in it for the long run.
Heck my neighbor opened up behind me last fall.(guess she saw all the kids in my yard) She lasted like 6 months.

[Mom2Two]

But our local school district is now building a full day public preschool. I know that's great for the families with some drawbacks. But I am so worried how this will effect my business.

The highschool that is 0.75 miles from our house also has a daycare, although right now it's just for teachers/school district employees. I met the director/EEC HS teacher since she teaches at our R & R. I went and visited her rooms. She told me what she charges--so much less than others charge. She told me that she's raising her rates to not compete so much with local home daycares, which is nice of her, but what about the next one? Or what about when the state decides to run with this idea and make a bunch of public daycares at schools?

The helpers are high school students who get credit for it, and the director is on state teacher salary, so the fees are non-profit. There is just no way I could compete. I'd have to start running one of those centers! And my BA is in English. I'd have to go back to school to even work for the state. And I don't want to work for the state.

[Unregistered]

I lost most of my daycare kids due to them leaving for kindergarten and after school they go to after school program.its like 10 per kid open until 6 expensive if have multiple kids since only a couple hours.recently one of the parents found a boys in girls club that picks up the kids after school and takes them there for free open until 730 at night .they also open at 6 am days that school is closed so i no longer have school aged loss of income but i prefer the younger ones anyway.