New Regs And $125 Fee For Texas Providers? Tata Backfire

[Cat Herder]

Council member seeks daycare regulation
Houston Chronicle
By TERRI LANGFORD



As a result of the Houston day care tragedy last month, City Council Member Sue Lovell is working on a new ordinance that would require all home-based day care operators to register with the city and submit to an annual public safety inspection.

Home-based day care operators would be required to pay $100 plus a $25 administration fee for the annual inspection.

Inspections would be performed once a year by the Houston fire marshal’s office. That cost is more than three times the cost of an annual state license like the one held by Jessica Tata, accused of leaving seven children alone in her day care on Feb. 24. A fire broke out and killed four of the children.

“It’ll be good because you will have people coming in on an annual basis,” Lovell said.

Tata operated a registered day care home, the least regulated type of child care operation. Registered day care homes are inspected before opening and then every two years, by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.

The Texas day care license held by Tata cost $37.

[momofsix]

The problem is there would be NOTHING in the physical environment that would show that a provider would leave the kids ALONE!!! All her dcp's had wonderful things to say about her, they saw her everyday and still had no clue at all! I don't think any type of yearly inspection/additional training/etc would have changed what she did. She KNEW she was wrong when she left to go to the store, but probably figured "what could happen in 15 minutes".

(unless of course, she set the fire to cover-up something like others have suggested. Have all the autopsies come back with cause of death been made public?)

[Zoe]

I don't get how providers paying money for an annual inspection is going to help things! Don't we get inspected anyway for free? I'm confused....and I don't like being confused.....:confused:

[WImom]

That's not going to do anything. I agree it's not going to help anything or would it have stopped her. We've had so many things added to our licensing regulations from bad providers that it really ****s being licensed now.

[JenNJ]

Because charging people to be inspected is going to HELP? Ummm, no. It is going to discourage providers from wanting to be licensed at all.

[Blackcat31]

:confused:Another knee jerk reaction so that people can feel safer but in reality it is not doing anything to solve what the real proble was in the first place. :confused:

[safechner]

Are you kidding me? I wouldn't pay $100 and plus $25 Admission fee. It is not going change anything if we pay more. It is not Texas Providers' fault because of Tata. What an idiot! Good thing, I am done with my daycare business by this summer since my license will be expired by October 2011.

[Crystal]

Well, I'm on the flip side here. I think it is WONDERFUL that there is going to be oversight. I think it is necessary to prevent OTHER things from happening, and it should have been enacted PRIOR to this tragedy.

Obviously, as has been stated already, inspection would not have prevented THIS accident, but had there been regs in place and fees required so that regs could be enforced, then it is likely that Jessica Tata never would have been caring for children in the first place....she would have undergone an FBI background check and her prior history would have been exposed. (most liklely) OR she would have been afraid that it would be exposed and would not have began caring for children anyway.Having licensing regs and annual inspections could prevent many other issues, and may force "bad" providers out of business.

In California I pay $127 annual licensing fee, PLUS $236 for my fire permit, PLUS $150ish for a city business permit. Expensive? Yes. Worth it? Yes.

[nannyde]

The city is just cashing in on the Tata deal. They see an opportunity to make money with it and they went for it.

Doesn't have anything to do with what she did.

Maybe they shouldn't allow a 21 year old to have 7 kids by herself? Let's try that first.

[Crystal]

Nanny, do you really think they will make money with this? I don't. It's not free or cheap to run licensing, conduct fire inspections or conduct annual visits. I think the fee will only be a drop in the bucket compared to what it will cost to set up and enforce regs.

[JenNJ]

Crystal, how does paying a fee make the kids safer? Why not have regulations in place to educate and inform? How about making all providers have background checks YEARLY, mandatory ongoing education, and age requirements for providers? That would be a start to safety. Fees don't equal safe.

[Crystal]

Crystal, how does paying a fee make the kids safer? Why not have regulations in place to educate and inform? How about making all providers have background checks YEARLY, mandatory ongoing education, and age requirements for providers? That would be a start to safety. Fees don't equal safe.

Fees pay for the services needed to enact and enforce regualtions, which keep kids safer. How would the State pay for these services if they do not charge it to the person seeking a license? Just as ANY other business is required to pay for their business permits, so too should child care providers.

And I think your suggestions are excellent!

[marniewon]

How in the world will charging fees to do yearly fire inspections going to make any type of difference?? I can understand if the reason for the fire was faulty wiring, or something else out of the provider's control (but fixable if caught).

But no amount of fire inspections can fix stupidity!

I get the idea of all the inspections JenNJ mentioned, and I agree with all of those - but the fire inspection one just smells of either state greed or a state covering their a$$es (for giving her a license to begin with).

[Crystal]

It's for Public Safety Inspection. It costs money to conduct inspections. It costs money to enact regulations.

Just as a restaraunt has to pay annual inspection fees, child care should also. I don't understand why you guys don't get that we are just like any other business.....although I think that our safety inspections are probably more important than many other types of businesses.

I find it odd that providers want to be treated just like any other business owner, as I am always hearing about how we Charge parents wether they attend or not and it's our right because we are a business and every other business owner gets paid time off, or parents still pay rent because it is "space" they are paying to have available wether they use it or not and child care is no different, but then when it comes time to act like any other business, we balk and stomp our feet because it costs us money.

It's $125 for the added assurance that children in child care are SAFER than if they had no inspection at all. I find that money well-spent.

[Blackcat31]

Maybe in addition to being aware that we are checked for reg. violations when we get an unannounced visit from our licensors or our food program coordinator who counts kids for capacity checks, we are suppose to be fearful of fire trucks as well...every time the fire sirens go off or we see a fire truck drive by it will be a warning not to go to Target and shop.....:confused:

Sorry, I was being a smarta** but I do agree that the more trainings and educational requirements we have, as well as the more safety requirements we have all contribute to the safety of the kids we care for.