Southern Maryland Child Care Classifieds

Import Notes for Consumers

1. 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/.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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

1. The state of Maryland requires "child care centers" and "family child care providers" to be licensed.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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?

1. The primary reason for having a different section is to easily differentiate between child care providers who are licensed and those who are not.

2. 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

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.