Home Daycare Clients

When I was looking for a sitter I used the site "sittercity" and found many in home day care providers. It is a good way to reach a broader group of people.

call your former families & ask them to put your name out there. I find that personally-referred families work out much better than "cold calls".

& as a heads-up, this lack of need .....I believe....is directly related to our economy. More & more families are relying on friends/family for childcare as more & more parents lose their jobs/take paycuts/etc. I live in a small town, & this last school year was a nightmare for daycares. Everybody had multiple openings. Twice, I had an opening for 3-5 months.....in a 1 yr timeframe! Good Luck!

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Try an ad in Chicago Parent magazine- they always have ads for nannies and daycares, etc. in the section in the back!

My day care provider had an add on the local website, that's how I found her. But she also uses her FB to get out to her friends to tell people. She filled all of her spots this way. She is the sam as you with all of the certifications and these are hard to find! Did you check what the non-licensed care-givers are offering as far as price and what they get for it? You could maybe use the pros of using someone with your certifications to bring people in too!

First of all, call your licensing worker and discuss the situation with them about the other unlicensed care givers. Every state has different standards. Some don't even require a license until they have 4 or more children in the home at any time. I think it is difficult to be in this position because it is hurting your business by allowing these people to care for kids and it is also opening up the potentially dangerous situation of those kids being in a non safe place.

Many home and center care givers are finding loosing kids at 3 years old to be a huge issue. Since Head Start and school system's are starting kids earlier and earlier it will only get harder for you. You need to focus on promoting a curriculum that is focused on baby, toddler, and young pre-school age development. The kids over 3 are going to be less and less avail. Have the reputation for the caregiver that has kids coming out ready for pre-school and for all those other things you have, like dependability, good menus, safe record and inspections, get as many STAR's as you can, apply for grants to get new toys and computers, grants with Lowes, Builders Supply, Sears, or any other place in your area for new play ground equipment or resurfacing fall zones or home improvements, etc....

Another thing you can do is increase your certification. In Oklahoma we have entry level training then we have to do 20 hours a year to keep our jobs. I have included a link to our training so you can see what it is and then you can google for your area. You may already have all this type of training and I would put every certification on my ads and in every flier, every card would have a string of alphabet after my name, such as B. B, Bs. Ed., Ms. Ed, Silver level certification in Child Care Careers, the more professional and educated you appear the more they will want you teaching their little Einstein or future President.

Good luck in re-focusing your curriculum and getting out there for new parents.

Links:

This STARS program is how centers and home are rated, 1+ star, 2 star, 3 star. The higher the rating the higher the pay you get from parents and the state child care assistance program.

Oklahoma requirements for the Reach For The STARs program:
http://www.okdhs.org/NR/rdonlyres/D90B1CEB-172F-4556-A5D9...

Much of what I wrote is in this document, it's Oklahoma's reg's but it may be similar to yours. Page 55 is where it shows Oklahoma requirements for a Director. If you have any of this type certifications I would put these types of things on my things I give prospective parents.

http://www.okdhs.org/programsandservices/cc/prvdrs/lic/do...

Have you tried advertising on Craig's list? It's free, and it's how we have found both of the in-home sitters we have used (both licenced, registered with the state, etc.) Also ask the parents of the kids you do have to refer you to their friends--I LOVE our provider, and recommend her to all my friends who are looking for good care (we, in fact, found her through a friend whose son goes, as well. The friend originally found her through craigs list). I know also, tho, that this is a tough time for lots of folks, including daycare providers. Our sitter has had a lot of turnover lately due to parents being laid off. GL!

I think the economy has a lot to do with it. I operate home daycare myself. my phone hasn't rung in ages to inquire about care.

I agree with Sue. Money is so tight for everyone right now and daycare can be a huge expense that some families just can't afford.

Aside from that, I think you might need to do a little more advertising which points out your credentials so you approach things from more of the educational aspect as opposed to just daycare. Are your rates reasonable? What types of activities do you do with the children?
Even though you lost some kids, if their parents were happy with you, hopefully they will give you referrals for other parents they may know.
Check out maternity shops and specialty stores that cater to children's clothing and ask if you can put a business flyer up or have some on the counter. Those places may have customers that have a little more spendable income.
It's probably frustrating for you to see people providing daycare without being licensed, but I know that my friends and I have traded off taking care of the kids or they watch mine and I give the family free haircuts and the good clothes and shoes my son outgrows. Sometimes people have to kind of barter services to keep things going.
Hopefully things will pick up for you....and for all of us.

I wish you the best!

Are you looking for pre-k or school age? For pre-k check out MOPS groups or put an ad on Mamapedia. If looking for school age, check with the principal to see if they will let you put a flyer in the kids' weekly folder (that is how we found one when our oldest was in kindergarten). And most definitely word of mouth -- let people know you have open spots and don't forget to mention to the parents of the kids who recently left. They may know people who are looking. Good luck.

Hi B., I don't know where Lombard is or even if it is in California, but in the state of California you can not run a home daycare with no license. I have been a licensed daycare provider for 13 years, business is slow due to the aconomy. I found word of mouth is one of the best advertisements we can have. I live in San Diego so i get a lot of Military people, the key B. is to provide services that other providers in your area don't provide, keep your weekly fee right under the compitition, , and use every type of advertisement possible to spread the word, such as I use craigs list, I'm in the yellow pages, I am also on yellow pages.com so people can go on line and find me, the YMCA, I also put business cards in my bills that stay in the San Diego area, I have placed flyers in the laundry rooms of apartment complexes in my area, I have had friends post business cards for me at their jobs, theres a new site that I just started using it's called care.com and it's free, my daughter found it and set me up an account, hope this helps, if you have any more questions you can e-mail me at ____@____.com