- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
Adoption
Foster: DayCare
DH and I did some drive by's on day cares yesterday and I think my feelings of a 4 and 5 star are totally opposite of the state. They provided a list of centers that have been ranked and accept the state daycare voucher. I feel so bummed because looking at the outside and some of the play areas I would not send my dog there. We need to have a few centers on hand in case some are full. I pray we find a few good ones. Ugh, these poor kids are going through enough in life it is really important to me that they have a good, stable, clean, safe environment to go too when not with us.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Foster: DayCare
I would strongly recommend going on tours of the facilities. When we did drive by's I had certain daycares at the top of my list and others way at the bottom. But the tours made a HUGE difference. Some of the ones that look nice were poorly run and not willing to be flexible, which was a huge need with the uncertainty of foster care. Other daycares explained why they did certain things (some of which I didn't like the looks of) and made we realize they had really good reasoning for it.
We had our Daycare Tour of 2012, where we spent an entire day visiting 5 daycares. There were originally 8 on the list, but I had already eliminated 3 because they didn't accept vouchers as payment. I created a standardized form, where I took notes on all sorts of things. That way when we got a placement, we were able to refresh our memories and figure out which daycare was best for our situation. The form included things like level of security, what was provided (meals, snacks, diapers, wipes, formula, etc.), current openings (some had HUGE wait lists, other had openings only for certain ages), if medicine would be administered (some places wouldn't even apply sunscreen), price (charges in excess of voucher), extra activities provided (tumble bus, music, spanish, parents night out, etc.).
Also, I got a HUGE sense of who was going to be welcoming to a foster child. There are a lot of special circumstances that a daycare needs to be willing to deal with like family visits, SW visits, increased security, etc. I was surprised how some would go above and beyond for a child and others were not interested in anything out of the norm.
GL! I hope you find a facility that you are excited to send your child to every day. We had to change daycares for our boys shortly after they were placed with us for circumstances that were out of our control. I was VERY upset about this because I loved the daycare we were at. But the new daycare was also at the top of our list, so I wasn't sad to be going there. However, I will say that the new daycare is a MUCH better fit for us. So everything does work out in the end.
Thank you!! I stole your list...LOL
I am touring 2 tomorrow with an appt. and 2 drop-in anytime. I really think to me the staff is going to make my decision for me. We are even willing to pay above the voucher if needed. If it is the right place I have no problems in doing that. It was just sad seeing some of the outside areas on some we drove by. I know in time we will find the right centers for us.
We only found 1 center that did not charge something in addition to the voucher. While we were completely willing to pay extra for the right center, it seemed odd to me that so many wouldn't accept just the voucher. I'm not blaming the centers. I understand they have costs they need to cover. But our county strongly pushes 5 star facilities but then doesn't provide a voucher that would cover the cost. This seems odd to me.
Same with us - out of 5 daycares in our area - we only liked one. When we went to see them, we just dropped in.... we didn't make any appointments.
Good luck tomorrow!