Which Is Better Home Care Or Center Care

Which is Better Home Care or Center Care?

Do you get state assistance for daycare? If so, do you know and understand all of the changes that are going on with daycare and what that means for you? Right now, in home daycares are being largely affected by new laws that are taking away pay and cutting down options for parents to choose quality care. The upcoming problem is caused by wrongful accusations that in home daycares are fraudulently claiming children and receiving pay for it. Centers are not the better option, but they are becoming the only option if we accept the new changes happening to in home daycare. In home daycare is better even though it is becoming less of an option because of the new law.

Do you know about the new Young Star program? All day cares are being rated on four areas; the provider's education they have, the curriculum they use, the way they handle their business procedures, and the way they take care of children. Every daycare needs to fill out an application and a Wisconsin shares contract by June of 2011. If they do not do so, they can no longer accept families that receive state assistance. Then a technical consultant contacts the in home daycare to set up a meeting in which they are put through an assessment of the four ranked areas. Ranking could be appointed from one star to five stars. In July of 2012, any daycare families that receive state assistance will be paid according to how many stars they have. A one-star ranking cannot accept families on state assistance because the daycare will not receive any payment from the state of Wisconsin. Two stars will receive 5% less than the family qualifies for. Three stars mean no change. Four stars ranking is 5% increase than what the family qualifies for. Five stars will receive 10% more than the family qualifies for (Your Regional Child Care Resource & Referral Newsletter, 2011).

What does all this mean? Unless in home daycare providers has an Associate's degree in early childhood, they will not get higher than a two star ranking, which means all your assisted families will have a higher co pay. Most of the kids that start school from my in child care are more advanced than if they came from a center. Providers may not have a degree, but they keep up with all the classes they are required to take and the 15 hours of continuing education they need to take every year. The workers at Tabi's Tiny Child Care stay up with all hours and being that they are 24 hours, 5 to 7 days a week and both workers can't go back to school at the same time. Tabitha is in school now but the reason she's not going for early childhood is because the state of Wisconsin keeps putting more and more demands on her without giving her anything in return. Getting an early childhood degree is more of a waste of time for her when she is already running a successful business. The Young Star program is designed to help families find quality providers, but they don't need a degree nor do they have all the time needed to get a degree while running 12-18 hour shifts, and running their families also. The time limit put on all in home daycare providers to get their degree was only two years. If they only run eight hours a day of daycare then maybe two years are enough time but, when running more than eight hours, then two years is not enough time.

An in home daycare's work with children on a more personal level, than a center. They help build character and work on small and large motor skills. If a child need more help the in home daycare can give them the extra help a child needs where a center need to follow the curriculum and don't have time to work on them longer. The center expects the parents to pick up the extra slack. Not all parents have the extra time. Yet centers still continue to receive weekly rates which are already outrageous enough that most low income families can't afford it. They charge almost $100 more a week per child than in home daycare. The state should be putting more quality in home daycare's out there instead of centers to save itself a lot of money. In home daycare's can have no more than 8 children at one time, while a center can vary on how many they have based upon the square footage and the quantity of teachers. The reason a center charges more is because all their workers and/or teachers have a degree. Also if all providers had degrees than they should all charge the same, right?

Another good example the state is hurting in home daycare is the pay difference they just started on August 28, 2011, which wasn't found out until four days before it was put in place. A letter about the pay change, dated August 9, 2011, was mailed to in home providers on August 19, 2011, and by the time they got it; it was August 24, 2011. They are now going to pay in home daycare's hourly, instead of weekly, which is less than they were making before. With this change they believe they are going to save money and help cut down on fraudulent claims. By paying providers hourly, the parents and providers are no longer getting sick pay, vacation pay, or holiday pay (AFSCME, personal communications 08-25-2011). The changes the State of Wisconsin are making hurts only in home daycare's. Parent's co-pays go up because they are sick or have vacation or the holiday lands during the week and they don't have enough hours to cover their co pays. Parents are already having a hard time paying, which forces them to bring their children to the in home center when they aren't at work just to make up hours so that their co-pay doesn't go up. How will in home daycare providers know if a parent is not at work? If providers still claim them, they would get in trouble from the state for fraudulently claiming a child, then they can no longer accept families who receive state assistance, possibly putting them out of business. Due to the 10% increase the state pays in home daycare providers for hourly rates, this will not save the state any money for children that