Opening a Childcare Center

I have owned a Child Care Center and it really isn't that hard. My partner and I decided to open one and in a few months had it open and we started out with just a few children until we got our contract with the state then we got new kids every day, in about 6 weeks we had reached about 60 kids being enrolled and had hired several teachers. We took kids from 6 weeks to 12 years old. My partner took the 3 and 4 year olds and I cooked, did the paper work, and did the school kids We were open from 5:30am until Midnight so many of our kids were not there at the same time. We were licensed for 30 by choice. We could have been licensed for 45 but didn't really want to have the kids that crowded.
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My tip for clarification:
You can have a licensed child care facility without having a contract with your state to accept pay from them for children in your care. That would mean all children are cash only and they are not always available.
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1. Contact your local licensing agency and get the regulations booklet. It will have detailed information about what you are going to have.

2. After reading the regulations for each type of facility you can decide on what type of business you want to have. A large child care home with 6-12 children in your home, or a regular child care center with renting or buying a building that meets the State Requirements. For instance, outdoor play space, room size and bathroom placement with sinks and toilets at kids levels, a kitchen area with 3 separate sinks, etc.... Finding the right place to have it is half the battle, getting the required toys and furniture is the other half.

3. Start going to the CDA classes and follow up with the STAR information I am providing in a link below. Getting the proper credentials makes you more money. Start working on getting a contract with the State if you are going to accept state paid children.

4. You can usually open the doors without taking kids that are paid by for the state. It is much harder to find cash paying parents because they tend to go to well established centers or use in home nanny's. Also the economy is getting so bad that lots more parents are all qualifying to get some assistance for their child care costs.

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(1)
Your State Reg booklet

http://www.daycare.com/pennsylvania/center.html
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(2)
Family Day Care or Center Day Care, the regs are different and you may not be able to make as much money in the home as in a center setting.

http://www.daycare.com/pennsylvania/

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(3) This website explains everything professional about owning and/or working in a child care setting. This is the site about being a professional, having a career in child care in Pennsylvania. You and a full partner will both want the NAC (National Administrator Credential). All teachers need at least to be working on getting a CDA.
http://www.carecourses.com/StatePages/Pennsylvania.htm
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(3) How many STARs you have will decide how much money the state will pay you to watch children. If you have a 2 STAR center you may get $20.daily for an infant and a 3 STAR center may get $30. daily for the same child. More STAR=more money from the state.

STARs
http://www.dpw.state.pa.us/PartnersProviders/ChildCareEar...
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My second tip of the day.
You and your friend will need to set up checking accounts, get personal liability and injury liability/workers comp insurance, get registered with the state as a business, get a federal employee id for taxes, all sorts of legally binding business transactions. If you take school age children your vehicles will need additional insurance. Get a contract between the two of you that makes the partnership legally binding. My partner and I never did this and I ended up investing my money and ended up basically shut out. If everything is in writing and you are a limited liability corporation and all legally filed then if a parent sues your facility you can only be held liable for so much. Otherwise you can end up holding the bag for everything. Protect yourself.

Good luck in your decision. It is the most rewarding of careers. Working on becoming a professional in this field is knowledge you can, and will, use every day for the rest of your life. If you have other questions please email me and I'll try to answer them as best as I can.

I've done this I and I know that the laws and rules vary by location but Gamma G pretty much covered it all. Start with the State Bldg.

There is a franchise Kidspark. A neighbor opened one in KS and they walked her through everything. They were able to secure a perfect location that she was told was unavaliable. They included webpages and advertising as well. Good Luck!

i would go to your local small business development center or something equivalent...usually they can provide you with guidance (for free!) on what you would need to do to get a small business started and what local, state and federal grants would be available. From what I hear, women opening small businesses are eligable for a ton of grants! good luck!

My sister is the director of one of her in-laws' family-owned daycares/pre-schools. The first thing you should do is contact your state's regulatory agency to see what types of licensing you would need. There is a ton of work that goes into opening a childcare center, so I would expect it to take several years of planning, site procurement, construction, inspections from the health dept, fire dept, and social workers. You will need to become certified as an Early Childhood Director. Each states' minimum educational requirements are different, but they are sure to be fairly substantial.

I would recommend that you begin with contacting the below agency, and then start looking into the colleges and universities in your area that have Early Childhood programs to train both teachers and administrators.

Licensing Agency
Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare
Office of Child Development
Bureau of Certification Services
P.O. Box 2675
Harrisburg, PA 17105-2675
Phone: ###-###-####
Toll Free: (877) 4-PA-KIDS
(877-472-5437, within State)
Fax: ###-###-####
Pennsylvania Daycare Listings

Hi, T.:
Go to your Bensalem City and ask someone there.
Good luck. D.