Woman Faces Fines for Watching Neighbors' Kids Before Bus Comes

THIS is what is wrong with this country. This woman watches three unrelated children along with her own for the 15 to 45 minutes they would otherwise be alone before the bus comes. Neighbor helping neighbor, right? Not according to their social services which has served a cease and desist order to her accusing her of running an unlawful day care (three or more unrelated children) even though she is not paid for this kind act. When she asked what the children should do if it's raining or snowing the social services told her that the parents should get them an umbrella!! And when asked what would happen if a neighbor watched three unrelated children (I think that means to the caregiver not just to each other, so it could be three sibling of another family) while their mom went to the grocery store they were told that that would be providing day care, too.

I realize that there would be some situations that would call for reporting something like this, but really. What will this do to others who help each other out in this way? These people are from a nice middle class neighborhood (meaning they can probably afford care in the morning, but who wants to send their child for that short of time and who would come to care for a child in the home for that short of time), but what about all those kids in the inner city? They want to force them to pay for child care they can not afford instead of letting a well-respected neighbor watch their children for a short period of time?

I can understand turning someone in in a situation that seemed dangerous, but this looks like an early morning play date, which just happened to help the other families and the children. I hope they figure out which neighbor it is and ban her from all neighborhood functions. Some have speculated it's really someone involved in a day care business (who else would even realize that this was "illegal") who wants to drum up business for their own day care.

I recently posted on the Polanski thread that I do think it's a good idea to spend all that money because knowing that after all these years he still had to do his time could deter other celebrities from doing the same, from thinking they are above the law. But, this one... Stop the neighborhood mom from watching friends a few minutes in the morning and hey, just give the kids an umbrella and send them outside! That's a good way to end up with an abducted child, particularly now that it's been in the news. Do these social service workers even have children?

I'm just really fired up about this issue. This kind of thing just makes me so mad!!
:furious:

Link to story: http://www.freep.com/article/200909...oman-faces-fines-for-watching-neighbor-s-kids

Also, their is a legislator now involved who wants legislation to change this law for a situation when no money is being paid. I agree. The issue should be only that there is a potentially dangerous situation (e.g. kids running amuk and into the street) not that it's neighbor helping neighbor. As he said, it takes a village.

ETA: http://www.mlive.com/news/kzgazette/index.ssf?/base/news-35/1254025207205180.xml&coll=7 This article indicates that it's just two other children (5 and 7, not even infants) than her own. So, I guess your own children are included in the three or more rule. Crazy!! I would totally have a play date with two other children with my son. I can't believe that's illegal in that state.

That's absolutely ridiculous. Social Services doesn't do the job they should be doing (protecting or removing abused kids), yet they don't want this lady watching out for someone else's children.

What's wrong with this world?

So funny-I do this all of the time. AND, watch out, I take all the neighbors kids off the bus and entertain them until their parents get home....for free. Win/Win-my kids have playdates and these parents do not need to stress about racing for home to beat the bus.

:banghead:

I am completely baffled. These children are safe and protected before heading off to school. I honestly don't see the problem here. You're right, this creates a serious problem for parents trying to help each other out.

I hope the media attention shines a bright light on this story. No reason this woman should have to license herself as a daycare, imho. Shame on whomever reported this to authorities.

They were on the Today show this morning. I hope this legislation does work out. Until then she is taking care of only one of the children. I'm not sure what the other is doing. If it doesn't work then I hope that they all chip in to get her certified and never give business to the other person who reported her, if that's the case. I mean, who would really report someone watching two neighbors' children for even the entire day? Sounds like there is more of a motive than just concern to me.

That is totally insane! My son's bus stop is at the end of the culdesac and my house is on the corner. I've been thinking about letting the kids at least stand in my garage or something since it's starting to get so cold and windy out there...and there are five kids out there besides my own! The kids are always all playing together at someone's house in the neighborhood. It's so weird to think that someone could be fined for that

Here's a link with both an article and a video: http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/local/kent_county/Bus_stop_controversy_in_Middleville

I hope they expose the person who reported them.

I think it might be one of two types that reported this. Either a parent who's child isn't included in this group or someone who runs a daycare. What other motive could someone have to report this? It has to be self serving or out of jealousy.

I also noticed that this law is from 1973 before we all realized how dangerous it is for children to be left alone or walk to school at a young age. I wonder if we have the same law in our state. Does anyone know about their own?

Who made the complaint? How did anyone even know to send a letter in this ludicrous situation?

This is so ridiculous. Michigan has trouble making a budget and yet they have money to pay CPS workers to look into a situation like this? :banghead:

So, what happens if your child wants to have a slumber party where 4-5 kids all spend the night? I guess you'd have to be licenced also?

Hopefully this will all get straightened out.

VB

Oh for stupid! Social services has time for this when there are children being abused and killed every day in their homes. Somebody needs a reality check!

lizzybeth said:

That's absolutely ridiculous. Social Services doesn't do the job they should be doing (protecting or removing abused kids), yet they don't want this lady watching out for someone else's children.

What's wrong with this world?

Click to expand...

Babysitting does NOT equal "day care."

Are ALL social services workers brain damaged? stupid?

To suggest that the parents of these little ones provide an umbrella so their children can stand outside in the rain to wait for the bus is just heartless--and to pretend that option is better than being in the home of a caring neighbor is flat out idiocy.

What a stupid law. And what a stupid caseworker. According to comments on one of the news links, it was a neighbor who is a problem neighbor in general. What goes around comes around is what I say to her. And I really hope the law does get changed. According to that, if your house is the house the neighborhood kids play at after school, you could face this issue. Absurd!

After reading some of the stories about certain neighborhoods, I'm glad that I live in an older one and not in a snooty weird middle class neighborhood.

So if someone in that area has a childrens birthday party for three or more children, are they in contempt of this law too? How absolutely ridiculous!! So much for encouraging people to be neighborly!!

kgeaux said:

Babysitting does NOT equal "day care."

Are ALL social services workers brain damaged? stupid?

To suggest that the parents of these little ones provide an umbrella so their children can stand outside in the rain to wait for the bus is just heartless--and to pretend that option is better than being in the home of a caring neighbor is flat out idiocy.

Click to expand...

Social Services workers are neither- they are in many cases thoughtless bureaucrats with tunnel vision. I was one for over 25 years, thankfully not in the child protective area but had occasion to make referals many times, not once was anything done.
I think the issue here is not the safety of the children, it's the fact that someone is watching kids without paying a licensing fee, being inspected and all that stuff that makes work and income for these agencies.
Someone clearly complained about her. I'd bet this is one of those deals that is not really about what she was doing with kids, probably some neighbor angry over something unrelated. I'd also bet this is going to be dropped now that the light of publicity is on it.

Actually, you only break this law if it's on a continuous basis --so many hours or days per year, I think. So Babysitting (non daycare), parties, and such don't break the law.

This is an example of a law that serves a good purpose (trying to prevent non-licensed and non-regulated daycares from operating under the radar) being abused by the nuts. This crazy neighbor is using the law (granted it's poorly written) to cause trouble for her neighbors.

Michigan Social Workers / CPS don't have any choice but to enforce the law if it's brought to their attention, which is what happened. And the law won't get changed soon because Michigan is in the middle of a budget crisis, so the attention is elsewhere. It's a mess no matter how you look at it.

What if something happened in this home? There would be a lot of screaming that all unlicensed daycares should be shut down. How could she do that, how selfish of her to try to make some money without registering and following the law.

Good people break the law, sometimes without knowing. Just because someone is a good person or has good intents doesn't exempt them from the laws, rules, and regulations.