Families looking for inexpensive child care in Falcon could be putting their children at risk, according to local licensed day care providers and child care organizations. Some licensed providers are blaming a perceived rise in the number of gray-market unlicensed home-based day care businesses for overall lower enrollment numbers.The State of Colorado Department of Human Services regulates family child care homes, child care centers and other children’s camps and shelters. According to the DHS, a family child care home, which includes most day care providers that operate out of private homes, must be licensed and inspected when care is provided to two or more unrelated children at any one time.Unlicensed day care providers can be fined up to $1,000 and ordered to stop providing day care until they apply for a license. If the provider continues caring for children without a license after the cease-and-desist order, the fine can increase up to $10,000.State licensing agents inspect licensed child care homes during the initial licensing and then annually. According to the Home Care Checklist provided by DHS, inspectors look for shot records for each child, medical records and background checks for all adults in the home, daily activity plans and a 22-point safety list.ìA lot of the kids I’ve gotten have come from unlicensed day cares,î said Sue Waldron, a licensed provider who runs Sueís Home Away from Home Day Care in Falcon. ìThey’re switching because either the child got hurt or had been unsupervised or the day care had a ton of kids.î Licensed providers are limited by their license category to a certain number of children of certain ages. For example, Waldron said she is limited to six children, only two can be under age 2. ìWhen you have multiple families worth of kids in one day care without any of the health and safety procedures or adult medical checks that the state makes you do, you run the risk of spreading disease among the kids and back to the families,î Waldron said. ìIt becomes a public health issue.îìSomeone who is licensed is going to be more up to date on the safety requirements,î said Barb Gilbert, president of the Pikes Peak Region Family Child Care Association. ìNothing beats a face to face interview between a parent and provider; but, generally, parents should feel safer if they take their child to a licensed home day care provider.îGilbert and Waldron agreed that day care inspections and accountability are important for health and safety. On Oct. 4, the Indianapolis Star published the results of an investigation that found 15 of the 21 day care deaths in Indiana since 2009 happened at the homes of unlicensed providers. The Rocky Mountain News reported a story on Sept. 24, 2008, about a 3-year-old child who had died as a result of E. coli. The child had been attending an unlicensed day care in Aurora, Colo., that had never been inspected for food handling and diaper disposal. The day care had 21 children under its care.There are significant costs and time commitments involved in maintaining a license as a provider in Colorado. ìIt’s probably 20 hours per year in classes to stay up on your CPR, and then your prep work each week for activities,î said Staci Kent, owner of Little Red Wagon Day Care in Meridian Ranch. Fees for the initial application, an FBI fingerprint search and background checks, and the initial classes required can total several hundred dollars.Unlicensed providers are able to undercut the rates of licensed day cares because they donít pay the costs of adhering to regulations, Waldron said. ìIt’s like any other job,î she said. ìIt’s not fair to everyone when some people choose not to follow the rules.îSome parents and providers who move to Colorado from other states might not realize home day cares must be licensed, Gilbert said. ìEducation for parents has always been a battle for us,î she said. ìParents either don’t know or don’t care once they see the lower prices the unlicensed sometimes charge.î One of the benefits of using licensed providers is also the reimbursement provided by some employers, including the military. These programs usually require that the day care is licensed by the state. There is no licensing check, however, to claim the ìchild and dependent careî tax credit with the IRS.Parents can find out if a day care is licensed by visiting the Colorado DHS website at http://colorado.gov/cdhs/childcare. The search results also disclose any official complaints or inspection issues for that provider. Colorado DHS has directions on how to report unlicensed providers on the webpage.ìThat’s what aggravates me, that parents don’t report unlicensed day cares even once something happens and they decide to leave,î Waldron said. ìThe state just doesn’t have the resources to find them without help.î
