More Details:
Import Notes for Consumers
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All child care
in Maryland is regulated by the Child Care Administration (CCA), an agency
of the Maryland Department of Human Resources. It is CCA’s
responsibility to ensure that safe child care is available to Maryland
families. You can find out more about them by visiting their website
at http://www.dhr.state.md.us/cca/.
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You can find
out more about regulated child care in the state of Maryland by downloading
the CCA's guide for parents which is located at
http://www.dhr.state.md.us/cca/pdfs/parent.pdf.
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somd.com
provides a field for child care providers to list their license number.
To ensure the validity of the number provided, we suggest that you contact
the southern Maryland office of the CCA. The contact information is
located at
http://www.dhr.state.md.us/cca/local/south.htm.
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As with any
important decision, especially those involving the safety and welfare of
your children, we recommend that you exercise due diligence when researching
child care providers.
Important Notes for Child Care Providers
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The state of
Maryland requires "child care centers" and "family child care
providers" to be licensed.
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Under Maryland
law, a child care center is a facility operated by an individual,
agency, or organization that offers child care services for part or all of
the day, or on a 24-hour basis on a regular schedule, at least twice a week.
You can find out more about how to license a child care center by going to
http://www.dhr.state.md.us/cca/license/center.htm.
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A family
child care provider is a person who uses a residence other than the
child’s home to provide paid care, on a regular basis, for one or more
children who are not related to the person. You can find out more
about how to become licensed as a family child care provider by going to
http://www.dhr.state.md.us/cca/license/open.htm.
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A family day
care home is not required to be registered if the provider:
(1) Is a relative of each child;
(2) Is a friend of each child's parents or legal guardian and the care is
provided on a
non-regular basis less than 20 hours a month; or
(3) Has received the care of the child from a child placement agency
licensed by the
Department.
Maryland State Code Regarding
Advertisement of Child Care Services
The Code of Maryland
Regulations (COMAR) says this:
A. An individual may not advertise a
family day care service unless the individual holds a current certificate of
registration issued by the Office.
B. A family day care provider shall
indicate in any advertisement that the home is registered. In an
advertisement for the family day care service, the provider shall:
(1) Specify that the family day care
home is registered; and
(2) Include the registration number issued to the home by the Office.
C. An advertisement by a family day
care provider shall display the registration number issued to the family day
care home by the Office.
D. The Office shall verify upon request
that the registration number is valid and correctly identifies the
registered provider.
For these reasons, we provide a field within
the classified ad for licensed providers to indicate their license number.
"Office" refers to the local CCA office. Please see the following page
for info about the local CCA office:
http://www.dhr.state.md.us/cca/local/south.htm
Why Do We Have Sections for Babysitting?
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The primary
reason for having a different section is to easily differentiate between
child care providers who are licensed and those who are not.
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We could not
find a legal definition for Babysitter provided by the CCS. So, using
the state's definition of a family child care provider as "a
person who uses a residence other than the child’s home to provide paid
care, on a regular basis, for one or more children who are not related to
the person", we define a babysitter as "a
person who uses a residence that is the child’s home to
provide paid care, on a non-regular basis, for one or more
children who are not related to the person."
I Want to Complain About a Child Care Ad I Saw on
somd.com
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If you see an
ad in a "Provider" section that does not have any license information
provided, please use the Alert Admin link to advise us of the
situation. If your claim is true, we will move the ad to the
appropriate babysitting section.
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If you see an
ad in a "Provider" section that has an invalid license listed (not listed to
the provider in question or expired), you can fax a copy of an official CCA
letter so-stating to 240-384-0724. Please note that we can not take an
individual's word that a license is not valid. This must be certified
as true by the CCA.
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If you see an
ad for an unlicensed provider, who in your opinion should be licensed,
please file a complaint with the local CCA about the advertiser in question.
Contact information for the local CCA is located at
http://www.dhr.state.md.us/cca/local/south.htm. As noted by the
state of Maryland,
the "CCA is responsible for monitoring caregiver compliance with child
care licensing requirements." Please do not complain to somd.com
because we do not have the legal authority or expertise to make
determinations about caregiver compliance with the law.
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