Bulova: Changes Coming for Parents, In-Home Day Care Providers
Board of Supervisors chair explains child care changes in Fairfax County, Virginia
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Fairfax County is home to almost 500 state-licensed child day care providers. Administrative changes recently adopted at the State level have prompted Fairfax County to review and possibly amend our own Zoning Ordinance as it applies to Child Care Providers. Our goal is to ensure that daycare providers are able to come into compliance with the County’s Zoning Ordinance and continue to operate.
I want to share with Patch readers the information I sent this week to our day care providers — what Fairfax County is doing to ensure that our in-home day care providers have all the information and assistance they need to continue operating in compliance with all applicable laws.
What has happened at the State level that has created this confusing situation? The Virginia Department of Social Services has adopted a recent administrative change requiring those providers renewing their state licenses, or new providers getting their first state license, to have the local Zoning Administrator sign a form indicating the Zoning Administrator has been informed of the provider’s plan to seek a child care license.
In Virginia a child care provider receiving a State license is allowed to care for up to 12 children.
Presently however, the County’s Zoning Ordinance allows seven children in a single-family detached dwelling and five children in a townhouse, apartment, or mobile home without a special permit. With a special permit (granted by the Board of Zoning Appeals) Fairfax County allows up to 10 children in an in-home day care facility, less than the State maximum of 12 children.
What is being done to address this inconsistency?
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors will consider changing our ordinance in order to allow for up to 12 children with a special permit. The Board will hold a public hearing on the issue to solicit information and opinions from County residents on the possible change. If adopted by the Board, the maximum number of children allowed by special permit would be the same as the maximum number of children allowed by State licensing regulations.
Since that process can take several months, during this time Fairfax County will, temporarily, not enforce the limits against a current provider who is not in compliance with the Zoning Ordinance unless the violation presents a health or safety risk.
In the meantime, the Virginia Department of Social Services has agreed to renew existing licenses for providers for their existing number of children until otherwise notified by Fairfax County, essentially granting a temporary grace period while this issue is being resolved.
The Zoning Administrator will work with providers who may have more children than allowed by the Zoning Ordinance to help bring them into compliance or provide them with guidance and assistance regarding how to navigate the special permit process. Meanwhile, providers who care for more than the number of children allowed by the Zoning Ordinance are encouraged to allow normal attrition in their program to occur in order to preclude the potential need to disenroll families should their licensed capacity change.
Child Care Providers in Fairfax County play an important role in the early childhood development and safety of our children. I am hopeful that these steps will allow for us to work through these changes in a constructive and supportive way.
Please feel free to contact my office at 703-324-2321 if you have any questions or comments or if I can be of assistance in any way. Contact information for the Office for Children is 703-324-8100. The Zoning Administrator can be reached at 703-324-1314.
Sharon Bulova is chair of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.
T Ailshire
7:42 am on Friday, July 20, 2012
Fairfax County's arbitrary limit - and incomprehensible distinction between a 3000-sq-ft apartment and a 1000-sq-ft single-family home - is inane. Why it feels the need to regulate in-home providers who are licensed by the state is beyond me (of course, why licenses are required at all is beyond me; it's the parents' responsibility to investigate a provider before leaving precious children).
The existing Fairfax County ordinance makes no allowances for size of dwelling, number of assistants, hours children are in the home (are some children there for overnight care? are some in school part or all day?) Fairfax County needs to eliminate any mention of limits for homes that are state licensed.
El
11:44 am on Friday, July 20, 2012
Why a license is required at all? Parent's responsibility? You are woefully misguided.
Amelie Krikorian
3:04 pm on Saturday, July 21, 2012
Licensing proves that a day care provider has had a criminal background check and a certain amount of training. Why would you want to leave your child with someone who does not have this sort of background? And how do you propose that a parent looking for a daycare provider perform a criminal background check? The police will not do one for you; they will only do one in cases of a crime or for a person requesting a daycare permit or teaching certification.
While I do agree that the whole issue of the size of the dwelling and the daycare hours should impact the number of children allowed, exactly how many laws do you want to have regulating all this? It could get as complicated as our tax code, God forbid.
Michael
12:25 pm on Friday, July 20, 2012
It may be a parent's responsibility but the technicalities of background checks, etc. put this beyond their scope - they need some government assistance, otherwise it would be difficult if not impossible to access all the information you would want to see.
T Ailshire
6:13 pm on Friday, September 14, 2012
Why do they need government assistance?
Are you saying a parent isn't capable of investigating an individual and ensuring that individual is someone s/he'd want around the child? What about when s/he hires a teenager as a babysitter, or chooses to leave the child with a family member? Most parents are smart enough to determine whether or not they want to choose a given provider for their child.
So why not offer the option? A provider might want to succumb to the regulations, if s/he feels it in his/her business interests. But DO NOT penalize either parents or providers who do not choose to involve the state in their decisions.
Whether or not something is difficult is not the determining factor in whether government involvement is necessary.
Michael
10:10 pm on Friday, September 14, 2012
I'm saying that the average joe on the street lacks the time, money, and resources to do a thorough background check on a day care provider. I see nothing wrong with a state licensing system that ensures background checks are done. It's not just a question of difficulty, either.
Youth sports organizations and schools already have systems in place to guarantee background checks for every individual who interacts with children. Why not day care? It's a question of professionalism, and a question of safety - and in those issues the state certainly has a role. If you want to leave the state out of it, you could follow the lead of some sports organizations and have a nonprofit entity that issues licenses and certifies compliance.
Also, the difference between hiring a babysitter in your own house and hiring someone to provide daycare on other premises so enormous that I'm surprised you don't see it.
Sally Spangler
1:03 pm on Saturday, July 21, 2012
I had no choice when I divorced and needed to go to work and had a child in kindergarten. The county specified a woman with a child about my child's age. Because the woman was on welfare, she could only be paid an excruciating miniscule amount of money for keeping my son. $5.00 - (that was 1973 or so) My son rode the bus to her place after all day kindergarten, thanks to Gunston Elementary principal. I picked him up after 4PM and came home. My older children were playing with our neighbor's children. All went very well. My employer understood my problems and I could leave work if the school called to come and pick up a sick child. That continued until all three graduated from high school.
T Ailshire
7:30 am on Monday, July 23, 2012
You pick a person YOU trust, not one the government trusts. If *I* am willing to use someone I trust, whether or not I have a piece of paper signed by the police, what business is it of anyone else?
I don't care one whit whether a daycare provider is even licensed. Whomever I choose to ensure the safety of my children is my choice. However, the government doesn't trust two adults to enter into an agreement without government oversight, and could arrest and charge the provider for entering into a private agreement.
Does that REALLY make sense?
The Convict
5:02 pm on Monday, July 23, 2012
According to the law, basically, you can operate a home daycare up to a certain number of children without a permit. It's only when you go above those limits that you need a permit.
So, T, do you believe that any number of people should be allowed to live in a house whether or not they're related? Have you ever had to live next to an flophouse for illegal immigrants? Or do you restrict this unlimited number of occupants to just extremely young children?
Michael
10:16 pm on Friday, September 14, 2012
It's not about whether the government trusts them. Of course parents should investigate, visit, and determine what's best for their own children. The license is simply a basic professional way of indicating that a provider has met a basic minimum standard, and is a sign that someone is even worth exploring in the first place. It's a tool to help people get started.
Of course, if someone wants to throw 20 kids in some unexpected basement with loose wires and leaky pipes, I guess you're saying they'll get what they deserve when someone gets hurt? There has to be a basic standard here somewhere. The point of licensing is to set a "floor" of safety standards; it is not meant to take away your ability to choose a provider in any way.
It's just like picking a doctor, a CPA, or a piano teacher - I pick one *I* trust. But if I don't see that license somewhere, I'm not even bothering.
ivory smith
1:17 am on Friday, September 14, 2012
Well I guess, if it is really for the child’s safety, then I agree with that change. There is nothing wrong if the state will require permits from these childcare providers. I think it would be beneficial to the parents.
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T Ailshire
6:14 pm on Friday, September 14, 2012
I do hope this is a sarcastic response. Given the grammar, it's hard to tell.
But "it's for the children" is an oft-used excuse for government intervention where none is required.
Sally Spangler
11:32 am on Saturday, September 15, 2012
What can happen is that the parent, looks around, finds out how much is charged, accepts the condition of the room the child/children are in and leaves their child in the room for however long she needs to. Then finds out some time later that the whole "thing" is bad/wrong/dirty/threatening - and goes to the government for redress. SO - instead, the "Government" sets up rules, fees, etc. and you fuss because it should have to be that way and the government is putting into the mother's life!
T Ailshire
3:08 pm on Saturday, September 15, 2012
Not "fuss". I flat out assert this is NONE OF THE GOVERNMENT'S BUSINESS unless I choose it to be. I flat out state this is government over-reach.
IF a parent chooses to use an unlicensed provider, so be it. It's the parent's responsibility to raise the child, NOT the state's.
I realize there is another fundamental view besides my own, but I cannot fathom how or why a parent would choose to give up his/her right to choose.
Hilary
4:01 pm on Thursday, March 21, 2013
From my view as a daycare provider of 25 years, I can tell you that parents should be the ones required by law a background check and training to have children.