- 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)?
- 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?
Frequently Asked Questions - Parents Wheredo you find your providers? We recruit potentialproviders locally from newspapers, local colleges, community and church groups,and word of mouth. Unlike many agencies Child Care Choices does notrecruit providers from across the country or internationally. Howare providers screened? All providers are putthrough a rigorous screening process before they are accepted into our network. Providers must complete an application and questionnaire, they must submit arecent criminal background check and child abuse clearance (in states whereavailable), supply verifiable references, copies of applicable educationcredentials, etc. Our interviewers meet the providers in their homes (orfacility). If the provider is providing care in their home or daycarefacility, we also conduct an on-site review. Only providers that pass ourscreening are entered into our network and only those who meet your searchcriteria are submitted for your consideration. Whatguarantees do I have? Child Care Choices hasdesigned our service to be low risk for our clients. We offer twoguarantees to our clients:  | If you are not able to hire a provider based on our information- we offer a 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 serviceand our guarantee! Whathappens after I subscribe to your service? A representative fromChild Care Choices will contact you to go over your information. You willreceive a full report on every provider in or around your area who meets bothour standards and your specific criteria. New reports including new candidateswill be forwarded to you automatically approximately once a week for theduration of their service contract (3 months). Whatdo I do after I get my reports? When you receive thematching reports, review them to find providers that interest you. Werecommend you conduct a short telephone interview with your selected providers. If you require additional information on a candidate, you can always request thefull profile of any provider. Narrow your choices down to 2 or 3candidates and arrange for a face-to-face interview. Child Care Choicescan also supply you with a list of additional questions and topics you should discuss with candidates to determine ifthey are right for you and your children. Finally, make your decision andoffer the position to one of your candidates. After your chosen candidatehas accepted the position, inform your childcare coordinator and she willinactivate your file. I'mnot getting enough providers on my matching reports. What can I do? Ifyou are not receiving an adequate selection of providers in your matchingreport, consider revising your search criteria. Child Care Choices matchesyour information with providers using the following search criteria: | Type of provider (Full Time, Part Time) | | Proximity (How close the provider lives to you) | | Years of experience | | Minimum age | | Driver required Yes/No | | Are you willing to accept a smoker? | | Will you accept a provider who brings their own child? | Forexample, you've indicated on your Parent Application you are looking for aPart-Time Nanny with 5 years experience, at least 25 years old, Driver,Non-smoker, no children. If you are not getting enough qualifiedcandidates, decide what qualities or qualifications are really important to you. There might be several great candidates available that are younger than 25 orwith slightly less experience or who smoke but have agreed not to smoke duringbusiness hours. If you don't need your nanny to transport yourchildren, do you really need a driver? Revising your search criteria willwiden your search options and give you more providers to choose from. Child Care Choicesdoes not dictate or negotiate salary or benefits of childcare providers. We donot withhold any portion of the provider's salary. Many providers doindicate their salary requirements on their application. Salariesvary widely depending on experience, amount of children, ages of children,length of work day, and the amount of other responsibilities. Your localChild Care Choices office can give you a general idea of what you can expect topay in your area. The following aregeneral guidelines: The average salary fora live-out nanny ranges from $7.00 to $10.00 per hour. Very experienced nanniesmay command as much as $12.00 to $15.00 per hour. Daycare Facilities andFamily Daycares are typically a much less expensive option. Again,depending on the area, these facilities average $80.00 to $150.00 per weekfor one full-time child. Childcare workersin preschools or daycares typically average $6.00 to $8.00 per hour without adegree and $7.00 to $9.00 per hour with a degree. DoI need to offer paid vacation? Since Child CareChoices does not dictate or negotiate salary or benefits, that decision isbetween you and your provider. However, most employers do offer two weekspaid vacation per year. One suggestion is to arrange with your provider totake one week to coincide with your vacation and another week of the provider'schoosing. You may select morethan one provider type on the Parent Information Form. Payment is requiredfor just the higher priced service. If you hire a provider from the lowerpriced service, we will refund the difference in prices. For example, if you'reconsidering either a Live-In or Live-Out provider, select both options on yourParent Information Form and include payment for the Live-In service. Yourchildcare coordinator will include both provider types in your matching reportsso you will receive information on providers who are seeking both Live-In andLive-Out positions. If you hire a candidate for a Live-Out position, wewill refund the difference in prices. FrequentlyAsked Questions - Providers Howmuch does it cost to be listed on your network? There is no charge forbeing listed on our referral network. Child Care Choices does notcharge any processing fee to childcare providers nor do we withhold any portionof your salary. We do, however, require childcare providers to submit arecent criminal background check (and in some states a child abuse clearance). If you do not have these clearances, your childcare coordinator can provide theforms for you to submit. Whattype of positions do you have currently available? We always have jobsavailable. The type of positions vary depending upon the demands of our currentclients. Whattype of experience do I need to be accepted in your network? The more relatedexperience you have, the more marketable you are to clients. Relatedexperience 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 acceptchildcare providers with informal childcare experience such as: | Babysitting for family & friends | | Being a mother or grandmother | What kind of jobs are available if I only have a little childcare experience? There are a lot ofloving families seeking Mother's Helpers, Part-Time Nannies or Babysitters whowill accept a candidate with only informal childcare experience. As areferral service, we refer candidates based not just on experience and educationbut on their patience, dependability, honesty and their commitment toprovide a safe and loving environment for the children of our clients. Do Ineed to have childcare related education? It is not arequirement to have related education (i.e. Childcare, Early ChildhoodEducation, 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. While childcareproviders with years of nanny experience naturally command higher salaries thanthose with little experience, salaries vary depending upon many factors. Your experience, education, geographic area, as well as the positionitself (the amount of hours, amount and ages of children, other responsibilitiesinvolved (i.e. driving kids, housekeeping, laundry, cooking, etc.)) Yourchildcare coordinator can give you more information about the average salariesin your area for the type of position your seeking. Why doyou interview providers in their home? We prefer to meetprovider candidates in their home because it gives us the opportunity to meetyou in your own environment. We feel that seeing a person's home tells alot about their personality. Since our main concern is the health andwelfare of the children in your care, we try to learn as much as we can about aprovider before we accept him/her into our network. However, if you arenot comfortable with an interviewer coming to your home, let us know and we willarrange to conduct the interview elsewhere. Whatdoes a live-in position require you to do? Generally, the hoursare similar to those of live-out positions. Often families need live-in becauseone parent travels, the parents are on-call physicians, or the day begins earlyand parents dont want to risk the provider running late. Usually, weekendsand time off is your own. Some benefits may include a car, nice living quartersand travel with the family. Whatif I want to leave my current position or the family decides they no longer wantto employ me? Can I get another job through your service? Yes. However, we wouldeliminate you from our network if we discovered you had lied about informationon your application (e.g. where you live, your social security number, years ofexperience). I havenot heard from any clients about a job, why not? Assuming that you havebeen accepted into our network and your file is complete (i.e. we have receivedyour application, questionnaire, interview report, background clearances andreference letters), your information is included in our database and your filehas been activated. The computer automatically includes your informationin the provider matching reports for any clients seeking someone with yourqualifications. 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 CareChoices if you want to make any changes to your file (i.e. hours ofavailability, salary requirements, etc). Being listed on our referralnetwork does not guarantee you a referral or a job. We will, however, keep youfile active until you contact us to inform us that you no longer wish to belisted on our network. Mysituation has changed, what should I do? If you need to makeany updates to your file because your availability, situation, or qualificationshave changed, contact your childcare coordinator immediately so that she maymake the appropriate changes to your file. If you have been hiredby 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 preventclients from receiving outdated information. | 
