Daycare?

[badgergirl66]

So I started reaching out to daycares, and am beyond frustrated. Basically, they fill up 6-7 months ahead of time, and a few have even said that our situation was probably not going to work for them since they fill up quickly and very far out. Many are already full for fall.

Anyone else run across this? Any tips? Not having a birth or start date is sure making it complicated. I figured I'd start researching, and finish after placement. Guess not.

(Note: We are in the waiting to be matched phase. I plan to take 10ish weeks off of work.)

[pinkie]

Wow that's crazy! I signed up our older son when he was 1 month old and he started when he was 5.5 months. I agree I would get on lists when you have a match. The issue is we had to pay a 1 month deposit when we reserved a spot so I would explain the situation and hope they would be flexible in case the match didn't work out.

[shemarie82]

I used to work for a non profit that ran a data based of providers/centers and what they have for openings. Maybe see if there is a resource, even if it is a list that you can work through.

Luckily for us, our SIL runs a daycare and it is only blocks away from my work. There are things I don't love about her style, but I will be close, and she said that as soon as we are licensed that she will hold a spot, and take the subsidy.

[packerfan4life]

Yup. We had a 4 day match and I only had 4 weeks off work (plus another 3 weeks that my H and I had opposite schedules/family staying with us). We ended up going with a daycare that was out of the way but had openings. For us, I found the bigger chain daycares were more likely to have openings to accomodate a short match. All the daycares that are actually in the city we're in had 6-9 month wait lists.

It's really frustrating that they're not more adoption friendly.

[badgergirl66]

Thanks for the tips. And for letting me vent. I've contacted at least 20 places including big centers and at home. They all book up 6-7 months in advance.

I found one who might be willing to work with us, so we are going to visit it asap. It's farther out (15 mins out of the way) but I figured it's worth checking.

I'll only have 8-12 weeks off of work, so timing just depends on due date based on when we are matched.

And of course each wait list is $50-150 to get on. Ugh.

Whine over.

[soadchik]

One of the local daycares we wanted to go to makes couples pay for their spot when their name comes up.. whether or not their baby is here yet... so we rented a spot from a couple that was paying even though their baby wasn't due for 4 more months.. While we were renting a spot, we were looking at other daycares or hoping a spot would open up at that daycare.. However, we ended up finding a great daycare that was just opening and snagged a spot there before we had to give up our rented spot.

Do any of the daycares near you make parents pay even if their babies aren't born yet? If so, could you rent a spot from a family that is paying without a baby actually in daycare? that way it gives you time to be on a waiting list.

[glfreebush]

Holy crap! That's pretty crazy...I'm feeling very lucky right now that we didn't have to deal with a waiting list when we got E! There are enough other things to worry about, daycare shouldn't cause this much of a challenge. Hopefully something will open up for you soon!

[shemarie82]

Paying pre-child seems crazy to me! In our area, there are always openings, so there isn't enough demand for that to be able to happen. Makes me very happy for a small community!

[wishuponastar]

Feb 9, 2015 15:39:01 GMT -5 soadchik said:

One of the local daycares we wanted to go to makes couples pay for their spot when their name comes up.. whether or not their baby is here yet... so we rented a spot from a couple that was paying even though their baby wasn't due for 4 more months.. While we were renting a spot, we were looking at other daycares or hoping a spot would open up at that daycare.. However, we ended up finding a great daycare that was just opening and snagged a spot there before we had to give up our rented spot.

Do any of the daycares near you make parents pay even if their babies aren't born yet? If so, could you rent a spot from a family that is paying without a baby actually in daycare? that way it gives you time to be on a waiting list.

I have never heard of renting spots before!
I have heard of long waiting lists.

We had 2 weeks notice with LO, but I was scrambling to get everything ready for him (room, supplies, get things in order at work) and I didnt focus on daycare until he was already here. I emailed just about everyone. There were some that had openings, but they were way out of my price range. I toured a few places, and just got lucky that one center that never has openings was available. Sad to say he starts in 2 weeks. But glad i found a daycare that we like.

[lovelyplanet]

I am curious what range daycare fees are in different parts of the country. We looked at some over the holidays and I pretty much had a heart attack.
They seem to be in the $1,500+ range in our area. Is this normal?

[grannypantiesrock]

Feb 15, 2015 13:43:13 GMT -5 lovelyplanet said:

I am curious what range daycare fees are in different parts of the country. We looked at some over the holidays and I pretty much had a heart attack.
They seem to be in the $1,500+ range in our area. Is this normal?

UGH... For an infant I think that sounds right. I feel like I'm spewing money out of every orifice at the moment. I just got a friendly letter from the agency that I can send them $1900 for our education course and home study. Oh can I?!!?? Pretty, pretty please?!

[pinkie]

We pay about $1250 per month per child. The cost goes down slightly as they get older...very slightly.

[badgergirl66]

The cheapest place we've seen so far is $298. With most being $315-340 per week.

[soadchik]

Feb 15, 2015 13:43:13 GMT -5 lovelyplanet said:

I am curious what range daycare fees are in different parts of the country. We looked at some over the holidays and I pretty much had a heart attack.
They seem to be in the $1,500+ range in our area. Is this normal?

We currently pay $750/mo at an all inclusive daycare (they have no other fees or fundraisers throughout the year).  Our previous daycare was $575/mo.. BUT they had stupid little fees and fundraisers like every other week.  We are in Mississippi.

[wishuponastar]

In my area, most are between 200 and300 per week.