How To Start Your Own FDC!

[Lorina]

Hey Ann,

Everything is happening so fast for you!

Regarding planning for the first week, keep it simple and casual. Most of the experiences planned can be "intentional teaching", or even from "parent input" which you can get from your interviews. Besides, the normal types of questions of days required, child routine etc are you getting the parent to fill in any form/questionnaire about the child's interests, likes/dislikes which you can use within your programming? What about goals for their child? May be a good way to build rapport with the family and gives you an idea on program planning for each individual child. I know you're still thinking about doing portfolios but you can use some of the templates for surveys, input forms etc. Anyways just an idea to help get you started...

You mentioned you had your orientation session regarding all the forms you need. Did you have to buy them? Create them yourself?

Regarding insurance how does it work? Do you have to pay monthly? How much are you insured by?

Hope your first interview goes really well and you get your first client!

,
L.A

[NorthLight36]

Hi L,A.

Thanks for the advice. Yes, I am getting parents to fill in a form about their child's likes/dislikes and interests. That's actually one of the forms I've been supplied by the council to use as part of my enrollment. Which leads me onto your other questions.

Most of the forms I need, enrollment, routine, parent input, timesheets, risk management and so on were provided by the council. I also got a huge book of policies and procedures, a copy of Belonging, Beginning and Becoming (making this my fourth copy, since I have 1 from my Cert III and two copies from my diploma), a guide to the national framework and a guide to the victorian framework, which is basically the same as the national but is written slightly differently. I also got the service rating poster, which I'm required to display. This, plus my council registration fee, cost $50. Which probably doesn't even cover the cost of paper and ink for all the books, forms and kits (I now have my own epipen trainer pen. ) I was given. Other things, like my fee policy, I needed to create myself, since they differ between FDC providers. Mine's $8 an hour with a 7 hours per day minimum. Other people charge more and have a lower minimum hours requirement, or they charge less but require 8+ hours per booked day in care. Over all, parents will end up paying around the same amount per day no matter which FDC educator they go with.

On insurance, it's a council requirement to have the full package from Family Day Care Australia. That costs $551.25 a year, which can be paid in one hit or by the month, with an extra fee for paying by the month of about $11. I'm paying by the month this year because I couldn't afford $550 all at once. That gives me Public Liability insurance (10 million dollars coverage), Personal accident insurance for children ($10,000 coverage), and Management Liability Insurance ($2,500 coverage). So I'm really well covered in return for that $550.

Hope this answered your questions. Feel free to ask more.

~Ann

[Lorina]

Hi Ann,

Been thinking about you recently and just wanted to catchup and find out how is your FDC going? It's been about a month now since you started interviewing families to start at your FDC so now I'm guessing that it has all taken off and your business is up and running. How it is going?

,
Lorina

[NorthLight36]

Hi Lorina!

Sorry I haven't been in touch. Yes, I'm up and running. Things are going very well, thanks. I've two groups of three twice a week, a single child (8 months) on Tuesdays and a sibling pair on Thursday, so I'm keeping pretty busy. Not fully booked yet, but I don't want to be just yet. Easing myself into things until the start of 2015.

Gotta head to bed (My Thursday pair start early) so I'll pop in on the weekend and give a better update on how things are going and what it's like on the job.

~Ann

[Lorina]

Hi Ann,

What a great way to get your feet wet! Nice to hear that everything is well with you and looking forward to reading about your experiences so far.

Enjoy your day!

,
Lorina

[NorthLight36]

Sorry all. Here it is, Monday, and I didn't get around to my promised weekend post!

Okay, well let's fix that. To start with, I want to say that while I'm technically on my own with the kids, I have a GREAT council support team. As shown two weeks ago when I had a break in over the weekend and about half the FDC office staff came around to help me clean up, get stuff repaired and offer their support. And who kept coming around to see how I was all that week once I was back to work on the Wednesday. They're a great group, with a lot of advice and on the phone or email support for the days when I feel like I'm drowning as I get used to going from casual assistant to completely in charge. In line with that, my support officer drops by every Monday afternoon for the first month to offer advice, suggestions and help when I need it.

My families are fantastic and have given me great feedback as we've gone into it. I currently have three families using my service, with 6 children between them. One of those six, a 6 month old little girl, wasn't able to settle (hysterical screaming, to the point she was either vomiting or unable to breath) so her parents and I had to sit down and discuss her situation, coming to the conclusion that we'd wait a few months then try again when she's a little older. Her older siblings still come and her parents have chosen to pay to reserve the baby's place, since they're really happy with my service and don't want to risk losing the spot.

That's the only issue I've had since starting up, aside from the expected tantrums and occasional out bursts that come with working with children.

Happy to answer questions if you have them!

~Ann

[Lorina]

I'm sorry to to hear that you had a break in! Hopefully they didn't get away with much and the police catch up with them soon.

Great to hear you have a great support team! I think that makes such a big difference. Knowing that you people there supporting you and assisting you with any issues or concerns or even to provide encouragement. You're lucky to have that!

Sounds like you're well on your way and you're providing your community with a great service! I'm sure when you are ready you will fill up fast through word of mouth via your very happy families!

How's your documentation coming along? Even though you only have 6 kids (except the little baby) you're providing a program to them on the days they attend? Have you started observations? Learning stories? How are the children getting along? Have you got any excursions planned?

,
Lorina

[NorthLight36]

Hi Lorina,

Not holding my breath on the thieves getting caught, but it wasn't too bad. Lost about $300 in fees that some parents had paid in cash which I hadn't gotten to take to the bank (WHY aren't more banks open on weekends?), a tablet pc, my old (and broken ha!) mobile phone and a bit of jewelry. The worst part was that the thieves also kicked my 8 month old kitten, injuring her enough that I had to rush her to the vet with cracked ribs. Who kicks a kitten? *shakes head*

My FDC families and the FDC office all chipped in a little to make up for the lost fees and the smashed window, which still makes me tear up. They're all great people. And yes, it makes a huge difference when you know you have people ready to drop everything to help you. The FDC unit was around even before my own family arrived, despite it being 8 pm on Sunday night! As I said, they are fantastic people.

My documentation is coming along well. Yes, I'm providing a program for the children on the days they attend and yep, I'n doing learning stories and communication books to cover the observation requirement, which the FDC unit and the parents are all happy with. So far the children are getting along well, with a little tension between my youngest two (2 years and a 8 month old) in my Wednesday group. *chuckle* The 8 month old has only recently moved to Wednesdays (perviously she was on Tuesday, but her mothers asked to have Wednesday as well), and the 2 year old isn't really sure he likes not being the youngest in the room. They'll settle.

I've taken my Thursday and Friday groups to the local park a couple of times now, so yep! We've done a few excursions and the kids just love it. Sadly the weather's been rotating between 'raining cats and dogs' and 'about to rain cats and dogs' as well as freezing cold, so I haven't been able to risk the walk to the park for a week. And it doesn't look like we'll make it there this week either. So instead we'll be getting our fresh air on the covered deck, and starting stage 1 of our pot plant garden - painting the pots! Should be fun.

In regards to filling up via word of mouth, I got a call from the FDC unit about an hour ago, looking for a place for a 3 year old boy from Tuesday to Friday. So that will completely fill up my Wednesday and Friday slots and leave me with only two slots left on Tuesday and one on Thursday. So I'm filling up pretty fast, given that this is the slow time of the year for enrollments. I don't have anyone on Mondays and for the moment I'm hoping to keep it that way.

~Ann

[Laiorwyn]

Its great to hear things are going so well for you!

[NorthLight36]

Bit of a stressful day today, of the sort that does come with family daycare so I thought I'd discuss it here for people to read.

Over the last two weeks there's been some incidents with my Wednesday/Thursday sibling set. Last week, on Wednesday the toddler boy attempted to climb into a baby's cot while I was helping his older sister change out of wet clothes. I was there as soon as he ran into the sleep room, but was a second too late to stop him grabbing the baby's nose and giving her a bit of a scratch while bumping his own head. Nothing serious and both children were fine, but regulations require an incident form to be filled out and parents notified for any visible marks like the bruise the boy had or the scratch across the baby's face. The next day the toddler's sister kicked him in the back (and bit me hard enough to draw blood) while she was throwing a tantrum, which also lead to a report.

Given that there'd been unheavial during the week (one parent away on a business trip) I was perfectly happy to file the required paperwork then dismiss it as children being children. It happens, right?

Come this week, yesterday. First the family arrived more then an hour late, without any attempt at notification and meant I wasn't able to take the children on a planned excursion to get some ideas for the garden we're starting next week. Then the father walks straight into the sleeproom, despite the fact I'd just said that I'd just put down my Wednesday baby, and put his screaming toddler down in the second cot. Even besides the fact they woke up the baby, who goes into a dark room, with a stranger's child, without so much as a by your leave? No appologies for the lateness or waking up the baby, just leaving me with a screaming toddler and baby.

After the boy woke up, I noticed that his whole arm was swollen a bit and there was a strange lump on the wrist. Combined with the fact he was refusing food, I was concerned that he was reacting to something and contacted his mother. She told me it was probably nothing and basically told me not to bother her unless he stopped breathing as she was busy with housework. She also told me that it was a spider bite he'd gotten the evening before and that he hadn't wanted to eat all night or this morning. I was not impressed, but kept a cold compress on the arm until the swelling went down and went on with the day. That afternoon they arrived 40 minutes late for collection - which on one hand WAS inside of their booked hours, but on the otherhand, since the parents said they needed to collect the children at 3, I had the children packed and READY at three. And with no notice they'd be late or of how late they'd be, I was somewhat restricted in what activities I could get the children involved in.

So today, when they arrived, I took the parents aside and explained, gently but firmly, that they need to inform me if they are running late so I can adjust plans accordingly and reminded them that no one other then myself should be alone in the sleep room, particularly when other families' children are in there. I also said that if there is an injury to a child, I need to know so I can monitor it. The mother became defensive and first claimed I had given permission for her husband to go into the sleep room, then threatened to withdraw her children.

I replied that it is against policy so no, I didn't give permission and, of course, if they wished to withdraw their children then that was their choice and, while I would be sorry to see them go, I'd get the paperwork ready by collection time this evening and take it as their two week notification. They quickly backed down, but I'll be keeping an eye on this family as possible trouble.

They also apologised again this afternoon at collection time. Which I accepted, without backing down on my stance that, if they are running late by more then 10 to 15 minutes, I need a text message or phone call to let me know.

Problem families are always an issue in FDC, as they often assume that if you're working at home, arrival and departure times don't matter. This was something I was warned of when I started and it does happen a lot. The only way to deal with it is to nip it in the bud straight away and don't be afraid of losing a family.

Each family needs us a lot more then we need that particular family. Particularly in Family Day Care, where the wait list is often two to three years long and there's always someone else who'll treat you with respect.

[Lorina]

I guess it gets kind of hard when behavioural issues like these arise. One of the differences is when working in an LDC you have other staff within the room to help or if it gets too much you can take a few minutes for yourself while other staff supervise. When working in FDC you have to do it on your own! If a behavioural issue gets way out of control and you can't manage it what's the option? Do you call the parents to pick up the child early or can you call your scheme to get an extra set of hands to help?

You really handled yourself well with the parents to deal with the situation quick and effectively! You are running a business and you seem to have your work ethics in order to deal with issues as they arise. It's really good that you're taking care of your business!

Hopefully it gets better but you're right kids tend to misbehave even for a simple difference in routine or changes at home,

,
Lorina

[NorthLight36]

Sometimes the only thing to do is take a deep breath, count to ten and then get control of the situation for the day, however seems best. I do have the option of calling the office, but that's a last resort and, should it ever come to that, I'd be filling termination papers at once.

Honestly, parents tend to be more difficult to deal with then their children. The kids are much more likely to, eventually, accept that I'm in charge then their parents - who are, on adverage a foot taller and ten years older then I am.

I've found natural and appropriate concequences work well with maintaining disipline. For example, I had one little girl insist that she was too tired to help with our afternoon tidy up. So I gave her a choice - She could either help tidy the room, or she could go to the sleep room and lie down - but she was not to take any toys or books with her. I also told her that, if that was her choice, then next week she would have to take a nap with the other napping children instead of staying awake for quiet activities. She choose the sleep room and daily naps next week.

I suspect that she'll be less eager for a nap next week, but she'll be taking one for awhile. While I'm pretty sure she was actually just wanting to get out of tidy up time, following through on what I say is important. And if she really was tired at 2:45 pm, then she'd benefit from a nap after lunch.

~Ann

[zaves]

Thank you so much for this insightful and helpful information. I am looking into commencing my career in FDC and this was really informatve

[linsaa fdc]

Hi NorthLight36,
I just noticed your post while reading some articles and thought I would say hi and how are you going? It's been 6 months for you now, I have been in FDC for 17 years. Are you all settled into your routine? I take my hat off to anyone coming into FDC now because there is so much more to handle all at the same time compared to when I started. Make sure you get plenty of support from your scheme because our work can be quite isolating.
linsaa fdc

[shree]

Hi Lorina,

Thanks for referring me to this forum, it's really very informative. I really like the idea of catching up with other FDC educators.

Thanks for sharing experience.

[Lorina]

Hi Lorina,

Thanks for referring me to this forum, it's really very informative. I really like the idea of catching up with other FDC educators.

Thanks for sharing experience.

You're welcome!

It's great to actually hear first hand on what goes into setting up an FDC service!

,
Lorina

[Noble WA]

Thank you Lorina for sharing experiences and information.
Great help to me!

[janea]

I have recently been thinking of opening a family day care and found this thread which has been very informative! I emailed my landlord today asking permission to do FDC so cross your fingers for me!

[linsaa fdc]

All the best Janea, some schemes have a special letter for landlords explaining the system and what we do, it might be an idea to look at a scheme near you and get that letter from them for your landlord.

Linsaa fdc

[Lorina]

I have recently been thinking of opening a family day care and found this thread which has been very informative! I emailed my landlord today asking permission to do FDC so cross your fingers for me!

That's great! I really hope it goes well!

Let me know if you need information, assistance, support etc.

Happy to help!

,
Lorina