Starting a Daycare - Los Angeles,CA

A few years ago I was looking into this also. I don't remember who I called but I ended up having to take a class on all the rules and regulations for a home daycare. When that was done I started working on getting my house ready and then I was diagnosed with breast cancer so that went out the window. The amount you make depends on how many kids you have and what you charge. I have a friend that runs daycare out of her home and she charges $25 per kid a day. At the end of the month she doesn't really have that much to show for it ( about $500 -$700) because she has to pay for the food, electricity and some of the people don't pay her. She mainly has friends/family for clients so she doesn't get rid of them. Good luck because I know it can be done to make money.

There are a lot of questions you need to think about and answer for your self. Will you accept state aid people, they will often have co-pay and may not pay it directly on the first due to every other bill they have being due out of their first paycheck of the month, I set several of mine up to pay it later in the month, I was just a bit short the first 2 weeks of the month. They were very trust worthy and they never didn't pay.

Here is an informative link about what to consider before stating the process of getting a license, it has all the questions you need to ask yourself and some very good information about what you may need to purchase, please remember this is a link to an article in Oklahoma and it may not apply "law type stuff" to your legal situation but it does have good advice in general.

http://www.okdhs.org/NR/rdonlyres/E7DE27A5-31A6-45CE-950F...

Will you have extended hours or just 7-6, how will you handle it if they are late picking up their kids, you usually can't make state aid families pay ANYTHING above their co-pay, no enrollment fees or late fees.

What ages will you take, what ages are out there, is every 3 yr. old in your community in the 3 year old pre-k program and they are all gone? Then you can't be waiting for a bunch of 3 year olds to come enroll...

What kinds of food do you want to cook? We had mac and cheese every week, hot dogs and veggies, etc...food can be expensive if you don't plan out your menus with someone experienced in buying and cooking for this type business. The food program for home child care should pay you back some of what you spend but you have to find them and enroll.

Here is a copy of highlights from California's home child care regulations:
http://www.ccld.ca.gov/res/pdf/RegHighlightsEnglish.pdf

And here are the full regulations:
http://www.dss.cahwnet.gov/getinfo/pdf/fcc.PDF

As for insurance, ask your homeowners insurance agent about personal liability insurance. If you have employees you'll need to get workers comp.

You may also find that you need to make your child care a LLC, a limited liability company/corporation. Talk to an accountant.

Your local Vo-Tech or Jr. College may have a minimal cost program to help small business get off the ground and they help for up to a year, even helping with simple things like keeping track of utility bills and the percentages used for the business and they may help with filing the taxes. Our program was wonderful and very helpful when I owned a full center.

Here's another few links:

http://www.dss.cahwnet.gov/cdssweb/PG182.htm

http://ccld.ca.gov/PG513.htm

S.S.

This is a good place to start.

http://www.daycare.com/california/

Good luck,
Wendy

i ran a home daycare in az and yes i was required by law to have insurance. it was not that expensive though. if i recall somewhere between one and two hundred a year. this was because i was required to be state licensed because i had foster children. the foster dept. required it. if i didnt have foster care i would not have been required to have a license. now i am in california and it is not legal to run a home daycare without a license. you must have a license in this state but you are not required to have insurance so like everyone has said every state is different.
the money is fairly good but i live in a small town and have a very hard time getting clients so that is always a worry.
that being said i agree that your should contact your states government for all the requirements
and btw i absolutely love it. if children crack you up go for it....i love what i do.

I'm an insurance agent in AZ and want to point out that MOST insurance companies will NOT allow a home daycare in your home and if they find out you have one, you will be cancelled. You can get an insurance policy but it's very expensive. The reason is because you will be sued BIG time if something happened to a child while in your care. Don't want to scare you but want you know understand the risk you may be taking on. It may not be worth it. Good luck!

I currently run an in home day care in Berthoud, CO and I would be glad to answer any specific questions that you might have. There are many differences between states, but I can help you with some of the basics and point you in the right direction to find out your state's specific regulations.

Just email me at ____@____.com.

Hi S.S I have ran my home daycare licensed for 13 years now the cost for some things have went up, but it's not an a whole lot of money. Call your Local licensing office cause things do vary from state to state. I'm in Calif. Find out when the next oreintation in your area, that's where you start, and all your questions will be answered there. As far as what faith says, I have been a provider for 13 years I know another woman who has done it for over 20 years and i never heard such a thing. When my Homeowners Insurance Aget came to my hope to set up my policy, they asked me a lot of questtions, but they did not ask me if i ran a home daycare. That may just be for Arizona, how ever I know a couple people to have daycares in AZ. As far as in come, when my daycare is full I make I make 2,880.00 a month, plus I receive a child nutrition check each month. I charge 120.00 a week per child. Hope this helps, if you have other questions you can e-mail me a ____@____.com J.

My mom started by word of mouth. She made $50 a week per child but this was back in the 80's. Be sure to have them pre-pay for the week. That's not a lot of info but I hope it helps a little. Good luck!