by Sarah E. Sanuth

Created on: August 14, 2008   Last Updated: January 07, 2009

If you love children and like the idea of working from home, a family day care business might be right for you. While there are many different types of daycares, most are centered on an operation that is outside of a home, in a commercial setting.

A family daycare offers more options, especially for the working mother. Running a family daycare will allow you to watch a certain number of children, excluding your own. But before you can start to recruit children to watch, you need to set up the basics.

A family day care business can fall under two different categories.

Family Childcare Home

This is where you can watch a maximum of 6 preschool children and up to 3 children who are enrolled in school full time.

Family Group Childcare Home

This is where you will need another adult to assist and you can watch up to 12 preschool children and up to 5 children that are enrolled in school full time.

With either, the number of total children can adjust depending on how many infants or children under 36 months are within the group. You usually can't watch more than 3 children in this age group.

Before You Can Begin

Before you can even begin to operate as child care center you will need to have certain documentation and certain inspections completed.

The licensing procedure may seem long and drawn out, but you have to remember that others are relying on you to take proper care of their children, and to provide a safe environment.

An inspection of the premises where you will be operating needs to take place, both indoor and outdoor, as well as the equipment, toys and materials that will be used with the children. Anyone who lives in the premises that will come in contact with the children will need to have a physical and mental health review and their background checked. Children will also need to learn while they are in your care and you will need to set up a learning curriculum for them. This will also need to be reviewed.

The local health officer and fire marshal will also need to sign off on their reports stating that the residence is safe to operate as a childcare center. You will need to list all resident of the house that older than 10 and any workers, who will have to be at least 16.

The town will also need to sign off that the operation of a daycare center is in compliance with the local zoning and any ordinances that may apply to its operation.

If there is anything that is not in compliance you will receive written notice and have to come into compliance before you can operate.

Of course there will be inspections throughout your operation to make sure nothing needs to be corrected, as wear and tear and procedures and change. When it comes time for this, you will receive information from the licensing bureau on what is expected of you.

Once you have passed this hurdle you are pretty much in the clear. The rest of the business is not difficult as long as you have the proper help.

When taking care of anyone else's children, the laws can be pretty stringent. But as long as you want to do this, then complying with any laws or codes shouldn't be that difficult. The hard part will come later, that is taking care of all those children; but for those who love it, it won't be difficult at all.

If this is something that truly interests you, then go for it. But remember it is not for everyone. Small steps to ensure the safety of someone's child are only a small price to pay when choosing to do something that can be so rewarding.

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