Starting a Family Day Care

[bub4shell]

Hi all, I'm thinking of starting a family day care in my area (NT) and was wondering if any bubhubbers are doing this? If so, how do you find it? What ages do you take and how many children? Also what is your pricing structure? I have an 11mth old DS and was thinking maybe to start with only 2 more (depending on ages) and see how I go? Any advice, thoughts or tips would be greatly appreciated!

[happykat]

I do family day care 3 days a week. I take 5 children under 3 each day. This will change in 2014 when carers will only be allowed to have 4 children under school age. I also do some before school care on a casual basis. There is a huge need for care for under 2's in my area and I also find it easier to deal with kids all around the same age and definitely prefer the younger group but that is jmo and certainly does not seem to be the general consensus in my area with many carers refusing to take under 2's.

We set our own fees and they vary a lot. Our office/coordination unit takes $1/hour for each child and carers will get between $5.50 and $8.00 depending on what they provide. Some provide food, nappies, milk etc whilst others ask parents to supply all of that.

I would definitely recommend starting off slowly if you can afford to as it takes time for children to settle in (including your ds) and this can be really draining if you are trying to get used to lots of kids at the same time, learn all their routines etc.

Whilst I think fdc is great and I do enjoy doing it, it is very controlling and I am starting to notice how much it affects what I can and can't do in my house/yard. There is also an absolute tonne of paperwork to do. I am really just doing it until I can afford to study full time and because there is no before and after school care here for ds if I worked anywhere else.

I have been really lucky with families I have had here and have really good relationships with all of them. They are all happy with the care their children receive here and that is the most important thing I guess. Please feel free to pm me or reply to this thread if you have any more specific questions.

[bub4shell]

Thankyou so much happykat, definitely food for thought. I really think I would like to do it, as I'm just not 100% about putting DS into care and I'd also like to study while he's young. Plus I genuinely enjoy interacting with kids, especially the younger under 2's. Good tip about trying to take them in the same age group as I'm guessing they would be on similar routines and activities will suit most of them as well. Whereabouts do you reside? I'm in Darwin and from what I can gather, there is a screaming need for good day care. I'll look into it a bit more and hopefully make a decision in the coming weeks. Thanks again, I appreciate you taking the time to reply.

I do family day care 3 days a week. I take 5 children under 3 each day. This will change in 2014 when carers will only be allowed to have 4 children under school age. I also do some before school care on a casual basis. There is a huge need for care for under 2's in my area and I also find it easier to deal with kids all around the same age and definitely prefer the younger group but that is jmo and certainly does not seem to be the general consensus in my area with many carers refusing to take under 2's.

We set our own fees and they vary a lot. Our office/coordination unit takes $1/hour for each child and carers will get between $5.50 and $8.00 depending on what they provide. Some provide food, nappies, milk etc whilst others ask parents to supply all of that.

I would definitely recommend starting off slowly if you can afford to as it takes time for children to settle in (including your ds) and this can be really draining if you are trying to get used to lots of kids at the same time, learn all their routines etc.

Whilst I think fdc is great and I do enjoy doing it, it is very controlling and I am starting to notice how much it affects what I can and can't do in my house/yard. There is also an absolute tonne of paperwork to do. I am really just doing it until I can afford to study full time and because there is no before and after school care here for ds if I worked anywhere else.

I have been really lucky with families I have had here and have really good relationships with all of them. They are all happy with the care their children receive here and that is the most important thing I guess. Please feel free to pm me or reply to this thread if you have any more specific questions.

[happykat]

You are welcome!! I am in NSW and there is a huge demand for it here too. It took a while for things to take off for me and we had to do a bit of work to the house to get it ready but it has been worth it. The rouitine thing is a big plus with kids the same age and it is also the programming side of it. It is really hard to have a 5 year old who need to be doing small puzzles, using scissors etc etc when the other kids are only 12 months old and can't be around that stuff. It depends what your area allows though. I know of at least 2 schemes that will only let you have a maximum of 2 children under 2 with only one of those allowed to be under 1. Of course your DS would count as one of these so you would have to check into that side of it too.

[Mopoke]

We set our own fees and they vary a lot. Our office/coordination unit takes $1/hour for each child and carers will get between $5.50 and $8.00 depending on what they provide. Some provide food, nappies, milk etc whilst others ask parents to supply all of that.

.

sorry to crash but, wow, i only pay 50cents admin levy, but i pay $8.10/hr, inc admin levy. funny how it varies.

[TinyLittleTootsies]

It took a while for things to take off for me and we had to do a bit of work to the house to get it ready but it has been worth it.

Crashing the thread!

Do you mind if I ask what type of things you had to do to your house to make it ready? And were these for your own standards, or things you were told to change by the company etc?

[happykat]

Crashing the thread!

Do you mind if I ask what type of things you had to do to your house to make it ready? And were these for your own standards, or things you were told to change by the company etc?

Some things such as child proof gate, fencing off the area at the side of the house and behind the shed, installing doors so certain areas of the house couldn't be accessed and putting locks on cupboards and things were all requirements of the scheme I work through (and based on the regulations). Other things such as installing a storage cupboard, changing the taps in the bathroom and putting down a timber floor instead of carpet, were all my own choice :-)

[Brummiemummy]

I do family day care 3 days a week. I take 5 children under 3 each day. This will change in 2014 when carers will only be allowed to have 4 children under school age. I also do some before school care on a casual basis. There is a huge need for care for under 2's in my area and I also find it easier to deal with kids all around the same age and definitely prefer the younger group but that is jmo and certainly does not seem to be the general consensus in my area with many carers refusing to take under 2's.

We set our own fees and they vary a lot. Our office/coordination unit takes $1/hour for each child and carers will get between $5.50 and $8.00 depending on what they provide. Some provide food, nappies, milk etc whilst others ask parents to supply all of that.

I would definitely recommend starting off slowly if you can afford to as it takes time for children to settle in (including your ds) and this can be really draining if you are trying to get used to lots of kids at the same time, learn all their routines etc.

Whilst I think fdc is great and I do enjoy doing it, it is very controlling and I am starting to notice how much it affects what I can and can't do in my house/yard. There is also an absolute tonne of paperwork to do. I am really just doing it until I can afford to study full time and because there is no before and after school care here for ds if I worked anywhere else.

I have been really lucky with families I have had here and have really good relationships with all of them. They are all happy with the care their children receive here and that is the most important thing I guess. Please feel free to pm me or reply to this thread if you have any more specific questions.

This. Although my scheme only charge 22c p/h admin and I charge $7.00 p/h care. I do however feel that for what I get paid I have to do a lot for, and I charge towards the higher end for care. It took quite a while to set up and get going but I'm nearly full now! I'm only allowed to care for 4 children under school age, so it varies between states.

I will only do FDC until my child (I'm pregnant at the moment!) is around 1 and then get a job where I get paid more for much less responsibility!! I think I feel this way as I'm passionate about caring for children with additional needs and that's just not happening for me unfortunately. So I will eventually be applying for jobs in disability SA .

Feel free to pm me if you want any more info