My friend recently had his first baby. He was able to take three months off from work, but was planning to go back full time at the end of the three months. Had found out from co-workers that Child Care Providers are difficult to find, especially for infants. He wanted to place his baby in a home setting so began calling Child Care Providers that were licensed by the local county Social Services agency.
He called Social Services for the list of Child Care Providers in his area and was surprised when he was told that he needed to pay for the list. Because Social Services charges for the list they provide the names of all the Child Care Providers in the area. The list was very extensive. It listed the names, addresses and telephone numbers of the Child Care Providers as well as details of their license.
These details included how many children they were licensed to provide care for as well as the names of any Child Care Aids that they employed. My friend brought the list over to my house so I could help to find the right home for the baby.
We started by locating Child Care Providers on the list that were close to my friend's home. Several of the day cares were full, or were already caring for an infant. The Child Care Providers are only allowed to have two infants in their care at a time. We called one provider and were told that he would have an opening in six months. This Child Care was located two blocks from my friend's house so the location was perfect. He placed his name on the waiting list for the infant slot.
We then tried calling Child Care Providers that would be able to care for the baby for the six months. We found one that was located in the opposite direction from where my friend works. This was going to add forty-five minutes on to his morning and afternoon commute, but he was running out of options. He decided that for the limited time he would make the extensive drive. My friend had no idea that he would have such a difficult time finding Child Care Providers with openings, or would have started the process of looking earlier.
After two weeks of driving the extra distance and trying to adjust to getting himself and a baby ready in the morning my friend's wife decided that he needed to find another option. His wife suggested using a Day Care Center until the opening occurred in the neighborhood. This was a center located three blocks from his wife's work place. She went to visit the center and was pleased to see the care those children were given. He would also be able to go and see the baby during his lunch hour. They decided to go with this option.
