Idaho Falls day-care ordinance gets passed

I’ve not read the ordinance, but typically cities that want to do regulations set a minimum number of children in a “day care” before they start regulating, so a 13-year-old babysitting one or two kids at home, or a stay-at-home mom babysitting a neighbors’ kid is very likely not going to fall under the umbrella of the ordinance. I believe the number typically used is a dozen children. That may be the case here — but since I’ve not read the ordinance, I don’t know for sure.

A bigger concern, seen in other cities that regulate day care, is that day cares “flee” the city and set up shop just outside the city limits. Ammon and Bonneville County could see an uptick in care centers.

I too would like to see the ordinance before commenting.

I have alot to say on this topic, I think the idea of licensing for one child is ridiculous, no amount of background checking is sufficient, and if anyone has a care provider who balks at that or at provider-child ratios, that is a huge red flag.

Why is this being regulated at the city level and not state level?

The cost of the background check is tax deductible, as are any wages paid to ones own children, or any other costs associated with creating a safe and appropriate child care environment.

Sounds like alot of providers are not operating as legitimate businesses, which is funny because they would find that being above board would be quite a bit more profitable.

Here is a link to the most excellent trade association for child care businesses.

http://www.redleafinstitute.org/

The state has tried to pass such licensing requirements. I don’t recall why it failed but I think it was because despite a lot of support a couple of legislators against it killed it in committee which is where a lot of good bills go to die.

Idaho Falls and Ammon (they have a regulation too) have passed their own ordinances due to some high profile cases here of daycare problems. A daycare in Ammon was subsidizing the income by selling meth out the house at the same. A daycare here in Idaho Falls had one baby die and another get seriously hurt under suspicious circumstances. Another daycare had the owner get popped for DUI while transporting several of the kids. And these weren’t private daycares, these were big ones that you could have found in the yellowpages.

If the state legislature is going to keep failing to protect our kids I applaud Idaho Falls for being proactive about it.

The legislators still think mom should stay at home and take care of her family, that way we wouldn’t need daycares. So if we regulate daycares, we are tacitly approving the idea of mothers abandoning their children to earn more money (obviously only needed for luxuries) and not doing right by their families.

That’s the same issue with all-day kindergarten or public preschool. Don’t give moms those options for their children, and they’ll probably stay home where they belong.

These laws have been in effect in many states and I’m sure they have dealt with the questions posed in the articles. So, if our city was smart, they’d have anticipated the issues and copied some of the regulations to meet that need.

Does anyone know how to report a daycare that isn’t listed anywhere as a day care…but people drop off children all the time and especially this summer, there are little kids riding scooters and tricycles up and down the block with no adult supervision. Sometimes these kids try to get inside cars parked on the street. When the person in charge is paying attention she cusses at the children and has been seen smoking in the backyard in front of the children. Do not know if this is legal, but if my daughter was still young, I would not like that at all.

Any ideas on who to report this to? Children need to be protected and I don’t think this “daycare” is being very protective and someone should check them out.

Thank you,

The thing about the smoking is the fact that she sits there all day, smoking and yelling at them. She’ll yell things like, “Don’t do that!” “Stop that!” “Get off of that!” but she won’t get up and make them do it. I have caught them trying to open the door to my car and the car of a friend who was visiting me. My boyfriend was even asked by one of the kids why his car was locked. They also leave toys and clothes in our lawn. We uncovered a pair of boys underwear one day, when getting ready to weed wack the lawn.
I live in a shifty neighborhood so the fact that the kids are out front riding up and down the sidewalk with no adult supervision is concerning. I only know the name of the daycare center because it is on the van, but I can’t find them listed anywhere, online or phone book. What I find also a bit upsetting is that on the back window of the van they have a sticker of Betty Boop with her breasts exposed that says “Got Milk?” I would not take my daughter somewhere if that is the kind of humor they display on the van that the children ride in when taken from the house.

While I think you make some good points in the fact that most of us wouldn’t take their children to a place like this, telling the kids to “stop that”, “don’t do that” and get off that” is far from “cussing” at them. I don’t think there’s a parent alive that’s never said that to their own children at one time or another. Living in any type of neighborhood where there are kids around playing at nearby houses, you’re going to end up with a toy or two in your yard from time to time. So if you’re finding toys and clothes in your yard I would just go speak with the woman and explain your concerns, I’m sure she’d be happy to clean things up. And surely she would want to be inform her that the kids are trying to open car doors, From what you’ve told us, I just don’t see calling the authorites as the way to go on this.
I have to agree with anonymous. Her sitting outside smoking and having a less than desirable bumper sticker on her car is hardly a reason to cause problems. Obviously the people that take their children there are aware of her smoking habits and her bumper sticker and it’s not enough for them to stop taking their children there. Instead of spying on her “all day”, why don’t you go over and introduce yourself and inform her of the issues you’ve expressed to everyone here. Surely you’ve got better things to do with your time than watch the smoking habits of your neighbors.

You do seem to be spending an awful lot of your time spying on this woman and watching her every move. I agree with some of the others in that I think you should go speak with this woman and express your concerns before taking such drastic action as calling child protective services.
I recently had a friend in another state just get his kids back after 8 months of the state having custody of them and it was a nightmare to say the least. All because his 14 y/o daughter wasn’t allowed to spend the night at a friends house. That friend told her parents that her father was beating her. And all because of some little girls lie he had his kids taken away for 8 months and thousands of dollars in attorneys fee’s, family counseling and other needless expenses. Let alone the mental anquish this family was put through. Doing something as drastic as contacting child protective services is a serious matter and I hope you’d really think about what you’d be doing to this woman and the children. All because you don’t like the fact that she sits outside smoking and telling the kids to “don’t do this” and “don’t do that”? That’s a little weak don’t you think? I mean really, If you see her sitting outside smoking all day, that means your sitting their watching her all day. I agree, you must have more constructive things to do with your time? I think it would be best to just go over and speak with this woman and express your concerns.

Well then you really don’t know that she “sits there all day smoking and yelling at them” do you? Those were your words, not mine. First is was “kids riding up and down the sidewalk with no adult supervision”. NOW it seems their “running around everywhere on the street”. So which is it?
You story keeps changing and it seems “to me” you’ve got some personal issue with this woman that go beyond the safety of these children. (whether they do or don’t exist)
But that’s just my opinion.

I didn’t see anyone attacking you Bev, just trying to figure out your story. If you go back and look at what you wrote it’s changed each time. If somebody who points that out is considered “attacking you” than I guess your right. But you did say that she “sits there all day smoking and yelling at the kids” in comment # 12. If you’re only seeing this during your lunch hour, than how can you verify that she does this all day long? Your story also changed from the kids on the sidewalk to being in the street, you can see the concern here cant you? I don’t think you need anyone here to tell you what to do. No offense, but if you honestly think the children are in danger than call the cops. You don’t need an anonymous poster on a blog to tell you that.

Then we might as well call human services on ALL the daycares in this town. I’ve walked into Little Miracles early in the morning and saw one of the workers severely scolding a child. My child has also come home with cuts and bruises from playing with the other kids and falling or getting hurt, but surely that’s the daycares fault right?
The point is, if you choose to work and provide for your family instead of staying home to raise them, than issues will happen. Dont have kids if you can’t afford to care for them properly. But we all know that will never happen.

Unless you have proof that the caretakers are swearing at the children, I don’t think there’s much anyone can do about that, My child has been hit by other kids in his daycare and that’s bound to happen anywhere you go. Even when your children start going to school, it’s going to happen. After all, kids will be kids. As long as you inform the owner of the daycare or principal of the school, which I’m sure you have, there’s not much more that can be done about that. Everyone has there own reasons why they do or don’t put their children into a daycare type setting. Saying not to have children if you can’t afford them doesn’t really work in the real world. This has been discussed before regarding the high number of single parents in this area and we all have to believe each single parent does the best they can for their child/children. Like I noted earlier, you don’t need somebody else to tell you to call the authorities if your child is being abused or not cared for properly, but informing the public is always a good thing in my opinion. Personally, I think daycare workers raise their voices at all daycare centers. Perhaps some more than others, but I’ve seen and heard about it from a number of people over the years. Of course it’s not right, but it happens a lot more than people realize. I would suggest taking your child to a daycare that has online web access so you can check on them throughout the day. But those places are expensive and even then there are no gaurentees. Little Miracles has web access, but there is no sound, so you wouldnt be able to hear anything that was being said. Even with web access, I know they’ve yelled at kids there too. Or at least a couple of the workers have. Good luck!

BOP for sure!
IMO

LOL Good point Curious!! I didn’t even notice that. That’s pretty funny. I think that should definitely be edited.