Need A Daycare Center? Here's How To Find One In Michigan

DEARBORN, MI — After an incident on Wednesday when a toddler accidentally shot a gun and wounded two 3-year-old children in a private home used as a daycare center, parents may be wondering how to find an appropriate facility for their children.

Officials at the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, the state agency that oversees child day care centers in Michigan, offered some tips. Before picking a child care professional or facility, background research is a must, said Mark Jansen, the licensing director for the Bureau of Community and Health Systems.

Consider these tips:

• Is the facility licensed? What is it’s history and ratings? Parents can research the facilities ratings online at GreatStartToQuality.com, which rates the child care and preschool providers.
• Parents can research a state database of day care centers and find out if they have any current violations
• If a person provides care of up to six unrelated children in their home for more than four weeks in a year and earns more than $600, the person must be registered as a family childcare home. If someone offers care for seven to 12 unrelated children, that person must be licensed as a group child care home.
• A person cannot operate a child care center without being licensed. A child care center is defined as a facility other than a private residence which receives one or more children for care for periods of less than 24 hours a day and parents or guardians are not immediately available to the children.
• In selecting a daycare center, parent should visit several facilities, if possible, with their children. Watch how the caregivers interact with the children. Do they smile, talk and laugh with the children? What toys and interactive learning materials are available? Are the facilities clean?
• Get recommendations. Ask if you can talk to other parents.
• Ask potential day care providers questions. How is discipline handled? What are the drop-off and pick-up guidelines? Can parents visit during the day? What are caregivers’ certifications?

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Once their children attend daycare, if parents see something that doesn’t appear quite right or possibly a dangerous situation, they are encouraged to report it to state authorities. To make complaint, visit the Licensing and Regulatory Affairs website, and click on the “File A Complaint” tab.

Also, if parents need financial assistance for paying for daycare services, the Michigan Licensing and Regulatory Affairs can help parents who meet eligibility requirements. Resources are available online.

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