"It was hard to adjust” to the child care regulations when she first came to the U.S., says Elsa Espinosa, a family child care provider in Marin. At first, “many Chinese-speaking family child care providers are unfamiliar with why they are doing certain procedures,” says Caroline Jen, a child development instructor at East Los Angeles College.

But even providers who were born here are sometimes confused by child care requirements and standards. Terrie Martin, a family child care provider in Redding, comments, “I wish Title 22 (state child care regulations) was rewritten with step-by-step instructions on how to follow the law, instead of reading it like an attorney would read it.”

“They need to develop clear, written documents that help a person understand the purpose behind the rules,” adds a Central California CARES administrator.

Community Care Licensing

Different interpretations

JoAnn Shalhoub-Mejia of the Hispanic Child Care Providers Association says many family child care providers are frustrated about the “lack of uniformity in interpretation of regulations” by state licensing inspectors (“analysts”). Ruth McGregor, a child care manager in the Community Care Licensing Division (CCL), says CCL tries to make enforcement consistent. “The primary way is (that) analysts go through a licensing academy for six months,” says McGregor.

What can providers do if they disagree with their evaluation? McGregor says they can “file an appeal with the licensing program manager. (Contact information should be on the licensing report.)” They should explain “what was cited and why, tell their side—and do it within 10 days!”

Reasons behind the regulations

Some family child care providers also find specific regulations confusing. One provider in Lakewood wondered why walkers and bouncers are forbidden. McGregor says it’s because of “the serious injuries that could happen when (they’re) used in a day care setting.” Playpens are fine if children are “not left in the playpen all day to keep them out of the way.” She adds, “old-fashioned wooden playpens” are ruled out “because infants could get their head caught in the uprights, but most playpens now have mesh siding,” which is OK.

Keeping up with changes

Jamie Huang, a family child care provider in San Francisco, says it’s hard for many Chinese providers to keep up with changes in regulations because of language barriers and limited computer skills. McGregor replies: “Most of our forms are in multiple languages (Chinese, Spanish, Farsi, etc.)” McGregor says the updates are only online, however, because of the cost of printing everything out, but providers should be able to get printed copies from their regional licensing office.

Meeting with Licensing

A family child care provider association can request meetings to discuss issues with the Community Care Licensing Child Care regional office. For contact information call 916-229-4500 or visit www.ccld.ca.gov/res/pdf/cclistingMaster.pdf

Quality rating scales

Reasons behind the ratings

More and more child care providers are now being rated by quality rating scales such as the Family Child Care Environmental Rating Scale (FCCERS)—and many say they don’t understand the reasoning behind some of the items. For example, Elsa Espinosa, a family child care provider in Marin asked why FCCERS says children should have a space to be alone. Thelma Harms, author of the FCCERS and other rating scales, says, “In a group care setting, children compete for time, attention, materials, and space. It is therefore important to reduce (these) pressures by having space that is protected from intrusion by others.”

Some of Espinosa’s colleagues with limited space say it’s hard to create all the areas FCCERS calls for—language area, block area, etc. “Look at all the places in your home that are safe for children,” Harms advises. For example, “blocks are great to do outside,” says Betsy Fox of CARES in Marin.

Antonia Chica, a provider in Ventura, adds that some providers don’t have enough room to place children 36 inches apart while they are sleeping. Harms explains that when children are sleeping, they’re breathing and coughing and could spread illnesses to each other.

She acknowledges that it’s hard for family child care providers to meet all the FCCERS requirements, so she tells them, “do well on what you can control.” Jen advises her students to “go through the scale to improve yourself, not as if you’re grading yourself.”

Understanding the items

Some providers aren’t clear on what is meant by some items in FCCERS. “The first problem is that the FCCERS materials are only available in English,” comments a CARES administrator. But “the scale has been translated into Spanish and it is (now) being published,” Harms says. So far there are no plans for other languages, because translation is so expensive, she adds.

Even if you understand the language, says Huang, some of the descriptions of the items on the scale are “too general.” Harms says she is working on an “All About The FCCERS-R” book, which will go into more detail about the scale. And many counties have FCCERS training programs.

For FCCERS training, contact

• Your First 5 agency: For contact information, go to www.ccfc.ca.gov and click on “ County Resources” or call 916-263-1050
• Your child care resource and referral agency: For contact information, go to www.rrnetwork.org and click on “find child care” or call 415-882-0234.

Running a business

Providers have a background in child development, but not necessarily business training, says Shalhoub-Mejia, so theymay be confused about how to make business decisions, such as “how to have a good mix of subsidized and private market” clients.

For training in business management

• Belong to an association (see Family Child Care Organizations): Shalhoub-Mejia says, “Associations provide networking opportunities, technical assistance, and support.”
  
  
• Take classes at a community college or university: “Community colleges have marketing and business classes.” For university family child care classes (available in English, Chinese, and Spanish) visit: http://humanservices.ucdavis.edu/childdev
  
  
• Contact your child care resource and referral agency: Many, including Crystal Stairs and 4C’s of Alameda County, offer family child care business training.

Family child care Organizations

• California Association for Family Child Care, 510-523-3028, www.cafcc.org
• California Federation of Family Child Care Associations, 310-424-7661, http://caffcca.org
• Hispanic Child Care Providers Association, (Spanish and English) 323-935-4035
• Child Care Providers United (English, Spanish, and Chinese), 510-301-3284