Conference moira::parenting_v3

    Below is a questionaire that I came up with for potential child care
    providers to fill out.  I hope to get honest responses from both parents
    and childcare providers as to wether these questions are appropriate or
    wether I am pushing the limit?  All responses are much appreciated.
    
    Thanks,
    Nancy 
    
    
    
CHILDCARE QUESTIONAIRE

PERSONAL
--------

Name:                         Address:                  Phone Number:

Age:

Do you have any children of your own?       If so, What ages?

Are you married?      If so, Does your spouse work?      What shift?

Is there anyone else living at your current address?

If so, do they work?      What shift ?

Are you currently a licensed childcare provider?
                                                    
How much experience do you have working as a child care provider?

Is child care the only source of income in your household?

CARE
----
How many children do you care for at the same time?

How many of these children are infants?

What hours do you work?     Not before:           Not after:

What Days?

Are you flexible as far as which days you work?

Are you willing to deal with cloth diapers if the parent agrees to provide
diapers and disposal unit?

If the child eats solid foods and snacks, do you provide the food or do
you prefer that the parent does?

List everything that you expect the parents to provide for infants:  

For Toddlers (2 years+):

Do you provide any activities for toddler age children?

Do you allow the children to play outdoors?    If so, how long?

Do you allow the children to watch Television?    If so, How long?

Do you ever take children you are caring for out in an automobile to do
errands or for any other reason?

ENVIRONMENT
-----------

Do you smoke?    If so, Inside your home?

Does anyone who lives at your address smoke inside your home?

How do you heat your home?  Gas?    Oil?     Wood burning stove?

Do you have any pets?      If so, what pets?

Do you allow your pets to come in contact with the children you care for?

Approximately how many square feet do you allocate for the child care area?

If you provide an outdoor area, is it fenced in?

    
EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT
--------------------

What is your hourly or daily rate?    For an infant up to 2 years?  
                   
                                      For 2 years+?

What is your preferred method of payment?   Cash?    Personal check?

Daily?     Weekly?     Monthly?

Do you expect to get paid on Sick days?     Yours?       the parents?

Hollidays?

Vacations?      yours?       the parents?

Do you charge late fees without advance notice?    with advance notice?

If so, what is your late fee?

How soon in advance are you willing to commit to a childcare agreement?

Can you please provide a list of references?








    

    
    This list is an okay overview of questions to ask a childcare
    provider.  I, however, put a lot more weight into the way that
    the person(s) interacts with (my) children and/or my gut-feel 
    about the provider than any of the "mechanical" aspects of the
    daycare arrangements as listed in .1.
    
    JMHO,
    Carol

    RE: .1
    
    While most of the questions make sense, I have a problem with a few of
    them.  For example, what difference does it make whether or not daycare
    is the only income.  does that make the person a better provider? 
    Questions about licenses should be first.  No lisense = no provide (in
    Mass.)  Whgat difference does age make.  If the provider is 35 is that
    better or worse than 40.  Perhaps the important issue here is the
    experience with children.  
    
    As an example to illustrate my points, my wife provides care.  Her
    experience at the time we started this (in terms of your stated
    question) was zero(0).  She had not provided care before.  In terms of
    experience with children, she was/is a special education teacher for
    the elementary grades and had been a parent of two children for a
    number of years.
    
    Why does it make a difference in the way the home is heated?  Is safety
    a concern?  If so, then if the provider is lisensed, you should be
    happy.  All homes are inspected prior to and during lisensing
    specifically for items such as this.  The square footage allotments are
    dictated by the lisensing process as well.
    
    I will include a postscript version of hte policy sheet that we use as
    an example.  Note that a number of your questions are answered by this
    fact sheet.
    
    Dan

    
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    	I agree with Dan.  The question on only source of income also bothered
    me.  (And I'm a daycare user not provider.)  Also some of the questions
    about when other people work seemed to be off base.  Perhaps a better 
    way of asking what I think you're getting at is: Will there be any
    other adults in the house during the hours that you provide daycare?
    
    	For what it's worth...
    
    Tracey
    

    I have a list of questions that are similar to the ones you listed
    here.  The only question that I noticed was the same as .5 and .3
    mentioned, the source of income one.  
    
    I think you may want to reorganize your questions.  Put your "have to
    have" questions first.  That way, you won't spend a half hour on the
    phone with each person.  For example, with us, the caregiver could not
    be a smoker.  If they answered that they smoked, then I just ended the
    interview.
    
    I found that I could interview people over the phone, and usually ended
    up interviewing about 5 more in their homes.  I found people I was
    happy with using this method.
    
    judy

    FWIW, most of the questions asked on the base survey, are generally
    answered by the Referral agencies.  i.e. smoking; in or out of the
    house, pets; how many, what kind, indoor or outdoor pets, snacks and
    lunches provided by whom? Description of the play area, years doing
    childcare, special background such as special ed or social service work
    Fees, hours, late penalties etc. Obviously any referral given by referral 
    agency would be only those care givers licensed (in MA), my source if the 
    Child Care Connection and Child care Search, in Worcester and Framingham.
    
    I still say that a personal visit to each potential caregive, and then
    just following your gut feeling will help the most.
    
    Lyn

    Hi Nancy!
    
    I, too, would concentrate much more on how the caregiver interacts
    with kids.   For an infant, ask if they will hold the baby alot,
    how much they are willing to let the baby cry, and so on.  For an
    older child, ask their philosophy on discipline, on temper tantrums,
    etc.
    
    Ask how they deal with separation anxiety.  Ask how they communicate 
    both important information and day-to-day information to the parents.
    Ask if you can drop-in at anytime, unannounced, while your child is
    there.
    
    Also, I would add a question about the termination of the situation -
    how much notice will the caregiver give you before they quit,
    and how much notice are you required to give them if you want
    to leave for some reason?
    
    Good luck,
    Deb