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Starting and managing a business takes motivation, desire and talent. It also takes research and planning.  Every child care program needs to pay close attention to the business of child care. Good management is essential to maintaining the program’s viability over time and continuing to offer quality care.

United Way Success By 6 Child Care Resource & Referral of Upstate SC (CCR&R) offers a variety of information and services for child care providers in Upstate Sc. Our program not only provides trainings specifically geared to the early childhood profession, we provide a comprehensive list of trainings provided by other early childhood organizations through our quarterly newsletter.

CCR&R also provides consultations to both child care centers and family child care homes varying from brief visits or phones calls, to more in depth visits, studies, and staff trainings.

Understanding the Community

The first step in starting a program is determining if there is need in the community for child care.

First, find out what types of child care are currently available in your community, by talking with us, as well as town or city government offices, or the state licensing office. Informally, you can check your local Yellow Pages, parents' newspapers, and other publications for advertisements that will give you an idea of how many centers are already in business.

When gathering this information, you should focus on:

• Total number of centers in the community, and ages of children being offered care
• Hours offered by other centers, whether early morning or evening care is offered, and availability of part-time or flexible care
• Whether centers have waiting lists or a lot of vacancies
• Location of available centers
• Community Demographics

You can get a good overview of your community from talking with us, by looking at recent census data, and/or by surveying local parents. Demographic information can help you estimate the number of working families with young children in the community, where they live, and their likely income and child care tuition payments.

We can help you determine the level of need in your community. You can estimate community need on your own by checking your local papers for the number of advertised openings from other child care providers. Conversely, if many parents are looking for child care, there may be a shortage of care in your area.

Community demographics, available from the town or city government, can help you estimate the need for child care. If there are many families with young children, and/or a high birth rate, you can expect that many parents may be seeking child care in the near future.

 

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Benefits of Becoming a Licensed or Regulated Child Care Provider

• Offers assurance to parents that your facility is regulated and you have received appropriate training approved by your local county social services.
• Play a key role in your community by offering a needed service.
• If you have children, they will benefit by learning to share and care for others.
• Increase your skills with resources and training opportunities that are available to help you do your job.
• Expand your tax deductions by reporting expenses for toys, equipment and supplies, as well as some of the upkeep on your home.
• Be your own boss, set your own schedule and earn an income at home.

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Consideration for Your Child Care Business

• Are you physically and emotionally capable? You need to be prepared to be attentive to children’s needs for 8 to 10 hours a day and be physically capable of lifting children. It also helps to be self-motivated and have good communication skills
• Is there a need for child care in your area? You will want to tailor your business to meet the needs of families in your area. To find out about the supply of and demand for child care in your neighborhood or town, call your Child Care Resource and Referral office.
• What is the potential income? Planning a preliminary budget for your child care business is very important. The most effective approach to determine your income is to estimate the number of children you will be caring for and multiply that number by the rates you will be charging. Information on the average rates other licensed or regulated child care providers in your area charge and assistance in budget planning are available at your Child Care Resource and Referral office.
• How do parents access your licensed or regulated child care service? You will want to contact a Child Care Resource and Referral office as soon as you are licensed or regulated to get your business information into the referral database. By doing so, your program will be promoted through the referral service.

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Types of Child Care Programs

Family child care: offered in the home of the provider. May provide care for up to six (6) children at any given time. Registration or licensure is required if a person provides care to more than one unrelated family of children on a regular basis (more than two days a week and more than four hours a day).

Group child care: Applies to facilities operating with a capacity from seven (7) to twelve (12) children. May care for eight (8) children without an additional caregiver. When the attendance reaches nine or there are more than three children under the age of 24 months, an additional caregiver must be present at all times. In addition, there must be an emergency backup person available that is not included in the staff to child ratio. A Group Child Care Home may be in a residence or a separate building. If you reside in a mobile home, you may contact the State Fire Marshal's office (803-896-9800) to discuss if the structure meets Fire Codes.

Child Care Center: Applies to facilities operating with a capacity of 13 or more children. Must be licensed or approved if the program operates more than four hours a day and more than two days a week. Programs that operate less than four hours a day may keep children during school vacations and holidays and be exempt from licensing. 

Some centers are owned by private, for-profit businesses and some are operated by non-profit entities such as religious groups, parent boards or hospitals. The number of children a center can provide care for at any given time is based on square footage.

South Carolina Department of Social Services Child Care Licensing Division establishes minimum regulations for care and safety of children in child care programs. Licensing regulations enforce minimum director/operator and staff qualifications, basic health and safety practices, and ensure a daily program of activities exist for all children. Special regulations involving infant care are enforced. For more information on Child Care Regulations: www.state.sc.us/dss/cdclrs/overview.html

Advocates for Better Care (ABC) has created indicators of better care in South Carolina. These voluntary child care standards promote higher quality - a step above regulatory requirements.  For more information, contact 864.250.8468 or visit their website www.abcqualitycare.org

 

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Health and Safety

Creating and maintaining a safe environment is a major concern for all programs, and starts with making sure you are prepared for emergencies. Program policies should include emergency policies to be implemented in the event of accident, fire, flood, evacuation, or other unforeseen emergencies. Each child's file must include phone numbers of the person(s) to contact in an emergency, and a release form authorizing the program to seek emergency treatment for the child if the parent or other emergency contact is unavailable.

Consulting with pediatricians and/or nurses can be very helpful as you formulate your program's health policies, which should start by having a physical health form and immunization form, signed by a pediatrician or family practitioner, on file for each child.

SC DHEC Child Care Exclusion List (PDF)

Guidance regarding Supervision of Sleeping Infants and Toddlers (PDF)

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Nutrition & Childhood Obesity

Obesity in children and adolescents is a serious issue with many health and social consequences that often continue into adulthood. Implementing prevention programs and getting a better understanding of treatment for youngsters is important to controlling the obesity epidemic.

Many parents are rightly concerned about their child's weight and how it affects them. What are the best strategies for prevention? For more information on childhood obesity, contact:

• American Obesity Association http://obesity.org/subs/childhood/
• SC DHEC: Obesity Prevention & Control
• USDA Food Program

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Career Development

The Center for Child Care Career Development (http://www.sc-ccccd.net/) administers a credentialing and career development system for South Carolina in collaboration with the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, the South Carolina Department of Social Services and the South Carolina Office of First Steps. The Center's mission is to improve the quality of all early childhood programs in the state through the professional development of the teachers/caregivers. Research has shown that teacher’s education and training are the most important indicators of classroom quality for young children.

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Advocacy for Children and Child Care Issues

As a child care professional, you can have an impact not only through your daily care for children, but also through advocacy for children's issues, whether on the local, state, or national level. Advocacy can be as simple as writing a postcard to your legislator or as complex as running a campaign to pass a referendum. Keep current on legislation and budget issues pending in your state, and then you can advocate for passage (or defeat) of any bill which affects children and child care; urge better funding for child care and children's services in your state; and even suggest new legislation for children and child care. With all forms of advocacy, you should be well-informed, able to state what you want and why it is important, and give facts to support your request. You can act alone or (usually with greater impact) with others. You may wish to join children's advocacy organizations or even start your own association of child care professionals in your area to do effective advocacy work.

 

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Sample Business Forms - HR Toolkit

Below are several forms that you may find helpful as you start or enhance your business.  We hope you find them helpful. (Note: The Rich Text Format (RTF) files will open in most word editor programs.)

These forms and tools are from a variety of sources and can become dated or unable to help you fully comply with state or federal law.  This toolkit is not a substitute for sound and professional legal advice.  As a result, it is strongly advisable that you seek legal advice when creating forms, handbooks or other employment-related tools to ensure they are compliant.

• HR Forms
• Emergency Contact Form (PDF)
• Harassment Investigation Form  (RTF)
• New EE Orientation (RTF)
• Parent Feedback Form (RTF)
• Performance Review Form (RTF)

• Interviewing & Selection Resources
• Candidate Evaluation Form (PDF)
• Candidate Rating Form (PDF)
• I-9 Form (PDF)
• Sample Interview Questionnaire Guide (PDF)
• Sample Reference Checking Form (RTF)
• Update to I9 (RTF)

• Resources
• Career Planning Worksheet (PDF)
• Employee Thresholds HR Comply (PDF)
• Records Retention (PDF)

• Sample Policies
• Sample Attendance Policy (RTF)
• Sample Discrimination and Harassment Policy (RTF)
• Sample Equal Employment Opportunity Policy (RTF)
• Sample Time Card Policy (RTF)

• SC Forms
• Sample Handbook Disclaimer Required by SC Law (RTF)
• SC New Hire Reporting Form (RTF)
• Terms of Employment Notice (RTF)
• Terms of Employment Notice (PDF)

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