Child Care As an Excellent Home Business Opportunity

A Home Business Article Contributed by Sharon Hill

Is This Home Business Opportunity for You?

Dependable child care is an ever growing need, and an expanding home business opportunity. Two parent families, unlike past generations, are made up of two working parents and children who require day care, or, during their school years, before and after school care. Women are increasing looking for their own careers outside the home, and finances are requiring that both adults work to pay expenses. Sadly, as most marriages fail or single adults (or even children) have children alone, the only care giver is leaving the home each morning to go to work.

Might you be the right person to care for someone else's child in your home? Could this home business opportunity be the right fit for you? The ideal child care giver is often a mom or dad who wants to stay at home and care for her or his own child, loves children, has the patience to deal with several, has some first aid training and a home big enough to convert one room into a playroom with a yard that can accommodate some outside toys - swings, slide, play area.

Legalities of Offering Child Care As a Home Business Opportunity

What it takes to convert your home into a home business opportunity as a child care giver differs somewhat from state to state. Generally you can offer child care to fewer than five outside children without your state requiring that you become licensed. Regulations vary state to state. In Alabama, for instance, child care centers but not child care homes, requiring licensing. Centers are defined as those places caring for 12 or more children.

A person whose home based opportunity was child care for 12 children would be considered a center and would have to be licensed by the state. Licensing requirements include fire inspection, health inspection, zoning approval, indoor activity area designated solely for child care, 32 feet of indoor space per child, and adequate lighting, ventilation and hazard prevention.

In California, family day care providers are distinguished from child care centers based simply on their providing the care as a home based business opportunity for up to 14 children. Care givers must be 18 but can hire assistant care givers as young as 14 years. To obtain a license the prospective home business opportunity child care provider must participate in 15 hours of training on preventative health practices including first aid, sanitary food handling and child nutrition.

The care giver must prove at least one year of experience caring for children, must provide information on each person living in the home as well as proof of the financial means to provide adequate care, and proof of a working fire alarm and fire extinguisher in the home.

Texas regulations are minimal. If you are providing compensated care for 1-3 children in your home for four hours each day for nine or more weeks you must be apply for a licensing certificate. You are considered a Listed Home. There is no inspection. If however, you care for 4-12 children (12 is the maximum allowed) you are considered a Registered Facility, attend state-approved child care training, pass background checks and submit to a home inspection.

More Information on Your State's Child Care Home Business Opportunity Regulations

The best resource for child care regulations is your state's web site. Departments that oversee child care regulations vary by state. The easiest way to access information is to access your state web site and conduct a child care licensing keyword search.