Provider Questions | |
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- Where do you find your providers?
- How are providers screened ?
- What guarantees do I have?
- What happens after I subscribe to your service?
- What do I do after I get my reports?
- I'm not getting enough providers on my matching reports. What can I do?
- How much should I pay my childcare provider?
- Do I need to offer paid vacation?
- What if I'm not sure what type of provider I need (eg Live In or Out)?
Parent Questions
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We recruit potential providers locally from newspapers, local colleges, community and church groups, and word of mouth. Unlike many agencies ChildCare Choices does not recruit providers from across the country or internationally.
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All providers are put through a rigorous screening process before they areaccepted into our network. Providers must complete an application and questionnaire, they must submit a recent criminalbackground check and child abuse clearance (in states where available), supply verifiable references, copies of applicable education credentials, etc. Our interviewers meet the providers in theirhomes (or facility). If the provider is providing care in their home ordaycare facility, wealso conduct an on-site review. Only providers that pass our screening are entered into ournetwork and only those who meet your search criteriaare submitted for your consideration.
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Child Care Choices has designed our service to be low risk forour clients. We offer two guarantees to our clients:
| If you are not able to hire a provider based on our information- we offera money back guarantee. |
| If you hire a provider that doesn't work out within the first 30 days, we will continue your search service at no additional charge. |
Print a copy of the parentapplication for more details on our guarantee. We stand by our service and our guarantee!
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A representative from Child Care Choices will contact you to go over your information. You will receive a full report on every provider in or around your area who meets both our standards and your specific criteria. New reports including new candidates will be forwarded to you automatically approximately once a week for the duration of their service contract (3 months).
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What do I do after I get my reports?
When you receive the matching reports, review them to findproviders that interest you. We recommend you conduct a shorttelephone interview with your selected providers. If you requireadditional information on a candidate, you can always request the full profile of anyprovider. Narrow your choices down to 2 or 3 candidates and arrange for aface-to-face interview. Child Care Choices can also supply youwith a list of additional questions and topics that you should discuss with candidates to determine if they are right for you and your children. Finally, make your decision and offer the position to one of your candidates. Afteryour chosen candidate has accepted the position, inform your childcarecoordinator and she will inactivate your file.
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I'm not gettingenough providers on my matching reports. What can I do?
If you are not receiving an adequate selection of providers in your matching report, consider revising your search criteria. Child Care Choices matches your information with providers using the following search criteria:
| Type of provider |
| Location |
| Years of experience |
| Minimum age |
| Driver required Yes/No |
| Accept smoker Yes/No |
| Accept provider will bring their own child Yes/No |
For example, you've indicated on your Parent Information Form your looking for a Part-Time Nanny with 5 years experience, at least 25 years old, Driver, Non-smoker, no children. If you are not getting enough qualified candidates, decide what qualities or qualifications are really important to you. There might be several great candidates available that are younger than 25 or with slightly less experience or who smoke but have agreed not to smoke during business hours. If you don't need your nanny to transport your children, do you really need a driver? Revising your search criteria will widen your search options and give you more providers to choose from.
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How much should I pay my childcare provider?
Child Care Choices does not dictate or negotiate salary or benefits of childcare providers. We do not withhold any portion of the provider's salary. Many providers do indicate their salary requirements on their application. Salaries vary widely depending on experience, amount of children, ages of children, length of work day, and the amount of other responsibilities. Your local Child Care Choices office can give you a general idea of what you can expect to pay in your area.
The following are general guidelines based on our experience in the Delaware Valley:
The average salary for a live-out nanny ranges from $7.00 to $10.00 per hour. Very experienced nannies may command as much as $12.00 to $15.00 per hour.
Daycare Facilities and Family Daycares are typically a much less expensive option. Again, depending on the area, these facilities average $80.00 to $150.00 per week for one full-time child.
Childcare workers in preschools or daycares typically average $6.00 to $8.00 per hour without a degree and $7.00 to $9.00 per hour with a degree.
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Since Child Care Choices does not dictate or negotiate salary or benefits, that decision is between you and your provider. However, most employers do offer two weeks paid vacation per year. One suggestion is to arrange with your provider to take one week to coincide with your vacation and another week of the provider's choosing.
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What if I'm not sure what type of provider I need (e.g. Live In or Out)?
You may select more than one provider type on the Parent Information Form. Payment is required for just the higher priced service. If you hire a provider from the lower priced service, we will refund the difference in prices.
For example, if you're considering either a Live-In or Live-Out provider, select both options on your Parent Information Form and include payment for the Live-In service. Your childcare coordinator will include both provider types in your matching reports so you will receive information on providers who are seeking both Live-In and Live-Out positions. If you hire a candidate for a Live-Out position, we will refund the difference in prices.
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Childcare Provider Questions
- How much does it cost to be listed on your network?
- What type of positions do you have currently available?
- What type of experience do I need to be accepted in your network?
- What kind of jobs are available if I only have a little childcare experience?
- Do I need to have childcare related education?
- How much should I charge?
- Why do you need to come to my home?
- What does a live-in position require you to do?
- What if I want to leave my current position or the family decides they no longer want to employ me? Can I get another job through your service?
- I have not heard from any clients about a job, why not?
- My situation has changed, what should I do?
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How much does it cost to be listed on your network?
There is no charge for being listed on our referral network. Child Care Choices does not charge any processing fee to childcare providers nor do we withhold any portion of your salary. We do, however, require childcare providers to submit a recent criminal background check (and in some states a child abuse clearance). If you do not have these clearances, your childcare coordinator can provide the forms for you to submit.
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What type of positions do you have currently available?
We always have jobs available. The type of positions vary depending upon the demands of our current clients.
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What type of experience do I need to be accepted in your network?
The more related experience you have, the more marketable you are to clients. Related experience may include the following types of positions:
| Nanny- Live-In, Live-Out, Full-Time or Part-Time |
| Childcare Worker at a Daycare Facility |
| Nursery, Preschool or Elementary Teacher or Teacher's Assistant |
| Nurse, Nursing Assistant or Home Health Aid |
| Family Daycare Home |
| Any other position that includes working closely with young children |
We also accept childcare providers with informal childcare experience such as:
| Babysitting for family & friends |
| Being a mother or grandmother |
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There are a lot of loving families seeking Mother's Helpers, Part-Time Nannies or Babysitters who will accept a candidate with only informal childcare experience. As a referral service, we refer candidates based not just on experience and education but on their patience, dependability, honesty and their commitment to provide a safe and loving environment for the children of our clients.
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It is not a requirement to have related education (i.e. Childcare, Early Childhood Education, Elementary Education, Child Psychology) for most childcare positions. Having childcare related education increases your marketability to clients. In most cases, however, equivalent experience is acceptable.
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While childcare providers with years of nanny experience naturally command higher salaries than those with little experience, salaries vary depending upon many factors. Your experience, education, geographic area, as well as the position itself (the amount of hours, amount and ages of children, other responsibilities involved (i.e. driving kids, housekeeping, laundry, cooking, etc.)) Your childcare coordinator can give you more information about the average salaries in your area for the type of position your seeking.
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We prefer to meet provider candidates in their home because it gives us the opportunity to meet you in your own environment. We feel that seeing a person's home tells a lot about their personality. Since our main concern is the health and welfare of the children in your care, we try to learn as much as we can about a provider before we accept him/her into our network.
However, if you are not comfortable with an interviewer coming to your home, let us know and we will arrange to conduct the interview elsewhere.
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Generally, the hours are similar to those of live-out positions. Often families need live-in because one parent travels, the parents are on-call physicians, or the day begins early and parents dont want to risk the provider running late. Usually, weekends and time off is your own. Some benefits may include a car, nice living quarters and travel with the family.
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Yes. However, we would eliminate you from our network if we discovered you had lied about information on your application (e.g. where you live, your social security number, years of experience).
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Assuming that you have been accepted into our network and your file is complete (i.e. we have received your application, questionnaire, interview report, background clearances and reference letters), your information is included in our database and your file has been activated. The computer automatically includes your information in the provider matching reports for any clients seeking someone with your qualifications. If you have not received any phone calls from parents, it may mean one of two things:
| There are no current positions that match your needs and qualifications. |
| Clients have received your information, but have chosen not to contact you. |
Contact Child Care Choices if you want to make any changes to your file (i.e. hours of availability, salary requirements, etc). Being listed on our referral network does not guarantee you a referral or a job. We will, however, keep you file active until you contact us to inform us that you no longer wish to be listed on our network.
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My situation has changed, what should I do?
If you need to make any updates to your file because your availability, situation, or qualifications have changed, contact your childcare coordinator immediately so that she may make the appropriate changes to your file.
If you have been hired by one of our clients, or even if you find a position through other means, please advise us so that we may inactivate your file. This will prevent clients from receiving outdated information.