Has anybody had negative experiences or problems with in-home child daycares in their neighborhoods? A few months ago, a woman opened one up out of her house down the street from me. Are they usually pretty trashy? Her customers come at all times, speeding up and down our streets with no regard for the neighborhood. They also park wherever they please, sometimes blocking other cars, garbage trucks, etc. The kids in the day care don't appear to be cared for all that well, as they are let outside to run around and scream incessantly which creates a real nuisance for our neighbors. Anybody experience similar problems? If so, what did you do? (Or recommend?).

Go here....

Child Care Options
http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/ofc/childcareoptions.htm

The Office for Children offers information about hundreds of child care providers and hundreds of child care centers in Fairfax County. To find out which of these are available near you, go to our child care search page. The information below describes different types of child care arrangements you might consider when deciding what's best for you and your child.

Child Care Center
Cares for groups of 12 or more children in a non-residential setting. Usually children are grouped according to age (infant, toddler, preschool or school-age). The Virginia Department of Social Services licenses these programs.

Family Child Care
Home-based child care provided in the caregiver’s home. Family child care is usually managed independently by each provider who has a county permit or state license. Providers who participate in the USDA Food Program serve nutritious meals and snacks.

Family Child Care System
A network of individual family child care homes. Providers are screened, trained, and monitored by a state licensed system. In Fairfax County, Infant/Toddler Family Day Care of Northern Virginia provides this form of child care. They can be reached at 703-352-3449 or at www.infanttoddler.com Their providers are included in the on-line search information, listing the main office phone number.

Infant/Toddler Family Day Care also provides child care resource and referral services to the cities of Alexandria, Manassas, and Manassas Park as well as Arlington, Loudoun, and Prince William counties. Military families may also contact Infant/Toddler Family Day Care to find out more about applying for the subsidy available from the Department of Defense. For more information, call 571-321-0997 or 877-321-0997 or e-mail sskerman@infanttoddler.com.

Preschool or Nursery School
A partial day program serving young children, generally between the ages of 2½ and 5.

School Age Child Care
Care for school-age children before and after the regular school day. Some SACC centers also operate during school vacation breaks.

In-Home Child Care
Provided in a child’s own home by relatives or by a family employee, such as a nanny.


Next Steps

Find out how the following Office for Children programs can help you find child care:
•Child Care Assistance and Referral
•Head Start
•SACC

Attend the next Choosing Child Care Seminar to learn more about these child care options.

Kids run and scream. It's what they do. Have you ever had kids?

I think this guy does in-home child day care: http://www.fairfaxunderground.com/forum/read/2/1573888/

we've done in-home daycare for years. It's great if you find the right family. Much better than paying a company to do it, who brings in teenagers to watch your kids, who couldn't care less about them.

chill pill Wrote:
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> Kids run and scream. It's what they do. Have you
> ever had kids?

That may be the stupidest response I've ever seen. You are probably the white trash, 250 lb single mom that lets their welfare kids run around Wal-Mart...because "it's what they do."

Yes, in home daycares are trashy. I live next door to one and feel bad for the parents who have to take their kids there.

The "employees" barely speak English and the kids are just left in the yard to run around screaming. It's a complete nuisance to the neighborhood and we all state down the customers who zip in-and-out every morning to pick up and drop off their kids. Unfortunately the county is taking a very pro-in home daycare stance and basically doesn't give a damn about homeowners.

My husband and I are planning on starting a family soon and I can tell you that never in a million years would I use an in home child care center. State social services comes by maybe twice a year, otherwise it's completely unregulated. I looked at the inspection reports of the daycare next to me and somehow she is still in business despite lacking vaccine records for the kids, unsafe crib use, cleaning supplies left around the house.

If you are considering using an in-home daycare, please just don't. Your child will not receive quality care and the neighbors will not be looking out for your child because we all secretly hope something bad happens so it will get shut down.

Check out nanny-shares, church daycares, a flexible work schedule, etc. You just do not know what goes on in people's homes behind closed doors.

I took my child to an in-home daycare for a while. Eventually took him out of it because I realized he wasn't receiving very high quality care. He was one of the only kids there that spoke English as a first language. He never did any sort of activities, was just left to himself to play with the same few toys every day. I felt bad leaving him with a glorified babysitter who did nothing to stimulate his brain 40 hours a week.

We now have him in a montessori preschool where he is flourishing. I can see how someone might use an in home facility when there are no other options. Unfortunately childcare in this area is very expensive, but I'd recommend finding a better option if at all possible.

You have to find the right daycare solution, whether in-home, nanny share, or the overpriced, liberal, montessori. Obviously you need to do your homework, as some are good and others are not. Maybe we just got lucky with our in-home daycare. They learn to read, write, and play with other children. Our kindergarten teacher complimented us on how well-prepared our daughter was.

Also, they ARE closely regulated, with unscheduled appointments by the county being a regular.

Interesting article from the Washington Post a couple years back on how in-home daycare deaths in Virginia are not all that uncommon.

I think the state is trying to get better about regulating things, but obviously visiting a couple times a year isn't as good as a center with lots of eyes and ears to monitor what is going on daily.

Some scary facts: http://washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-parenting/post/death-of-baby-at-virginia-in-home-day-care-not-as-isolated-as-it-seems/2012/03/12/gIQAXbma8R_blog.html

matt 703 Wrote:
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.....
>
> Also, they ARE closely regulated, with unscheduled
> appointments by the county being a regular.

That's only true of the ones that go to the trouble of getting licensed and playing by the rules. There are a lot of UNlicensed -- illegal -- daycare providers out there, and nobody hears about them until the police are called to investigate a catastrophe.

Anybody who knows about an UNlicensed daycare provider should report them to authorities:
http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/ofc/applypermit3.htm

I would NEVER want to live in a neighborhood that has an in-home daycare. I have children, and there are kids on our street. I have no problem when I hear other kids playing, screaming, because yes- that's what kids do..when they LIVE in the neighborhood, or have other friends over for parties. But to have somebody else's kids dropped off at an in-home day care in your neighborhood where every single day is a kid's birthday party in the backyard? GARBAGE.

Even the licensed ones aren't well regulated. If you look over the state social services inspections there are in home daycares being allowed to operate even with numerous substantiated complaints and violations. I read up on one where the older kids were engaged in sex role play with the younger kids and the provider said "oops I didn't know." Still gets to stay in business.

Paying a licensing fee and having an inspection a couple times a year is not well regulated.

Also, the daycare next door to me has workers coming by all day to do maintenance and stuff around the house. You really don't know who is going to have access to your child in an in-home setting whereas most public facilities have video cameras and parents coming and going throughout the day who can monitor things.

If you want to risk putting your kid in a home daycare that is your call. I would never feel comfortable with it.

We used one, which was an awesome experience!

The Fairfax County Office For Children can help tell you if the home is licensed, and for how many kids.

This lady, who is now retired, ran her home day care for over 30 years. She was licensed by the county, and attended many workshops on development, on her own time.

She was a former school teacher, who wanted to stay home and raise her own kids in the 70s, and fell in love with the job. We could not have asked for any better.

As a former teacher, with a Masters in Education, she knew how to structure daily plans, not plop kids in front of a VCR and walk away.

Her backyard rivaled any playground I ever saw, and she usually had duplicated of most toys, including cars, etc. for the kids to play.

Anyways, I have heard the horror stories of all sides, and we lucked out, but the county was also good with info to help us figure the best option for us - and it wasn't at a place where teens came to work, who as one said above, couldn't care less.

Your results may vary. I hope this helps.

Even the licensed ones Wrote:
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> Even the licensed ones aren't well regulated. If
> you look over the state social services
> inspections there are in home daycares being
> allowed to operate even with numerous
> substantiated complaints and violations. I read
> up on one where the older kids were engaged in sex
> role play with the younger kids and the provider
> said "oops I didn't know." Still gets to stay in
> business.
>
> Paying a licensing fee and having an inspection a
> couple times a year is not well regulated.
>
There's no question that regulation should be tougher. But someone who spends the time and money to get licensed is at least willing to be investigated and inspected by authorities, and if there's a problem the customer has a place to file a complaint. You can look at the history of complaints and violations and stay away from those places. If you use an under-the-radar babysitter you have no protection at all.

I found a good home daycare for a while, but then a HOA came along and shut her down. Left me in the lurch scrambling for childcare. Make sure this don't happen to you!

My ex-sister in law used to run an in home daycare. She could put on a real good front to customers, but was selling illegal substances as a secondary business. Would not recommend leaving your kids behind closed doors with someone you don't know real well. I don't even let my kids spend the night with friends unless I know the parents. You just don't know.

Join the crowd. Words of advice. Go with your gut feeling. If you see something say something. Pound the pavement, ask friends, co-workers, employer, and visit as many places as you can. Don't give up and don't be embarrassed or feel like you you are a bad parent because someone might ask 'you don't have daycare yet.' Finding a quality daycare center I think for many is much more difficult than finding a good job. Think though all those options.

Keep fighting, and pressing on. Good luck.

I interviewed several.

one had a house that looked like Christmas morning if everyone opened gifts at the same time and left the mess in place. there was so much crap on the floor and under the couch, complete choking hazard environment.

another in an expensive neighborhood was a married stay at home mom but she had a black eye.


another had so many damn kids that it was obvious she was in it for the money. nothing was sanitary.


a daycare center had a fat teacher who told the kids to go outside on a code red day while she stayed in the air conditioned classroom and looked out the window.

daycare center also couldn't explain bruise on child's face when questioned at pickup.

battled daycare center for weeks to get deposit back and they only relented when i showed up in person and got their attention with allegations.

finding good childcare is a struggle.

Another piece of advice is focus not only on the number of kids being watched, but the age groups of kids being watched.

Childcare for infants can be incredibly expensive, which is why many people turn to alternatives such as in home daycare. My husband and I scouted several places, but were uncomfortable with the number of children under 18 months that are allowed to be supervised in-home. If I was looking for after school care for an older child I might be more comfortable with it.

PEOPLE NEED TO MAKE MONEY AND PEOPLE NEED DAYCARE FOR THERE KIDS WHILE THERE AT WORK.

I DO HOME DAY CARE IN HERNDON FOR TWENTY$ A DAY PER CHILD PER WEEK. WHILE ALL U HATERS ARE TRYING TO STOP PEOPLE FROM MAKING $ I AM HELPING PEOPLE OUT.

IF YOU NEED DAYCARE PLEASE EMAIL ME @ KENNYT_420@AOL.COM

interview Wrote:
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> finding good childcare is a struggle.

Are the chain places likely to be better? Corporate standards and supervision, commercial building codes, etc.? Or are they a problem too?

chain places are hit or miss, depends on the staff of the week, turnover is high.

they are more regulated but that doesn't translate into better. look at the child-adult ratio in the room. drop in at lunch and look at the food. check out the classroom layout if kids are of toilet training age. do you want the staff to help clean your child?

ask what they do when it rains/snows for days. anything but a small playground outside? how many classes are allowed on the playground at one time? little kids get knocked over.

do you need before/after for half day kindergarten? can the center remember to put your kid's name on the bus roster so the bus driver knows to look for your kid?

does the center allow a perpetually sniffling kid attend so that everyone gets sick?

DAYCARE PROVIDER Wrote:
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> PEOPLE NEED TO MAKE MONEY AND PEOPLE NEED DAYCARE
> FOR THERE KIDS WHILE THERE AT WORK.
>
> I DO HOME DAY CARE IN HERNDON FOR TWENTY$ A DAY
> PER CHILD PER WEEK. WHILE ALL U HATERS ARE TRYING
> TO STOP PEOPLE FROM MAKING $ I AM HELPING PEOPLE
> OUT.
>
> IF YOU NEED DAYCARE PLEASE EMAIL ME @
> KENNYT_420@AOL.COM


This is why I would never use an in home service. Most of the people running them can barely speak English.