A little personal...

I was going to do the second installment of "Walk a Mile in Their Shoes" tonight, but I am moved to go a different direction.
I had a goal to do informative and educational pieces with this blog, but this time I'm going to write from my heart.

Rules are NOT made to be broken. Rules are in place to protect us. Protect us from ourselves, from each other and from the worst of us. When people decide that the rules don't apply to them, innocent people get hurt. Am I being too vague? Let me be more specific...to hell with hurt feelings!
Childcare licensing rules exist for reasons. Just because we may not agree with them or may not always be able to see the importance of the rules, there are rules, there are laws, and they need to be obeyed and adhered to. When one person takes it upon themselves to live outside these rules, there are victims. Even when abuse and neglect aren't present.
Tonight I had to tell a mother that her daycare provider isn't licensed. The turmoil that this mother is going through was completely preventable! She now is struggling with the doubt that comes from trusting this person that has been lying to her for months. "What else has she been dishonest about?" In addition, she's now wondering about the quality of care her child has been receiving all this time. And last, but not least, she's got to figure out, quickly, where to place her daughter so she can continue to work and not lose her job. Because it is just a matter of time before this provider is shut down by the state -it is illegal to operate a daycare without a license in this state. And this is just one of the families in this providers care. All of those people's lives in turmoil and chaos because one person thought the rules didn't apply to them.
Maybe the provider thought she was doing them a favor. Maybe she thought she was such a great caregiver that she didn't need to be licensed. Who knows? Maybe it truly never occured to her that she should be following the laws of the state she lives in. I highly doubt this to be true since she thought ahead enough to tell families she was in the process of getting her license "renewed" , when asked whether or not she was licensed.

To say that I am angry about this is an understatement. There are so many wonderful, amazing, caring, and hard working child care providers that bust their butts and follow the rules EVERY DAY! Then someone comes along and taints the whole profession by their careless, reckless and selfish behavior.
The licensing process, while not easy, is not impossible. There are many sources of support and help for people interested in becoming licensed inlcuding area 4 C's Councils and the licensing consultants themselves. The bottom line, imho, is if you are passionate about caring for children, and you are good at what you do, you will be happy to get licensed to provide care.
I can't think of a single excuse for not being licensed if you are going to run a daycare. I believe in this so very much that I sponsor local providers to get the training they need to keep their licenses current.
We all have a role to play in solving this childcare crisis in our country. Good childcare providers are trying to make a living by providing quality care and hard working mothers and fathers are doing the best they can to pay a fair wage to those providers and still support their families. Something has got to give. I'm putting my money where my big mouth is....are you?