I should also clarify that the mothers I've worked with that use the child care assistance are definitely in need of assistance. Some of them have a lot of help from family to make ends meet & they are the lucky ones. Personally wonder if the program pays too much for the parents though. I do think these families should be able to enjoy entertainment & fun, meals out occassionally and nice clothes like everyone else BUT some of them have it pretty good. I don't know the full extent of their cirucumstances, it's private & it's their business so it's hard to fairly judge. They do pay co-pays they are responsible for & should. BUT they got themselves into their situations not anyone else. So many of these single moms act like there should be exceptions for them because they are single moms. I don't agree.

rexkramer: Wrong. There are already systems in place to evaluate providers education, programs & environment. From what I can tell, the rating system will pull all this information together & make it "user friendly" or more readily available & deciperable to the general public.

There is a registry that tracks providers education http://www.t-net.org/ & provides certificates that helps parents choose the child care qualities that best fit their family's needs. Licensing now requires that providers have a certificate as before it was optional. Certain qualifications in education must be met before providers are licensed to begin with. Then continuing ed hours are required each year.

The state licensing specialists evaluate the enviroment, program, safety, interactions & cleaniness of the child care. The standard is in black & white in the very specific & detailed rule book: http://dcf.wisconsin.gov/childcare/licen... The experience I have with the specialists is that they are strict & do a good job. These records are to be posted & available for parents' review at the child care. Parents can also look up child cares records here: http://dcf.wisconsin.gov/childcare/licen...
Where problems often come in is, there are lots of providers operating illegally. There's also a lot of parents that use these services because "it's cheap". Well you get what you pay for. If you pay $2 hr, then don't expect educational activities, healthy meals & professional care because you won't get it. That's how the rest of us get a bad reputation by the ones that operate this way because they are not meeting quality standards & have no education. Unless they are reported (with name & an address) this will continue. Parents, educate yourself about legal quality child care.

Lost in the story of course is the fact that if the same people in charge of overseeing these day cares in the first place are in charge of rating them, then these ratings aren't really worth crap are they. This is nothing more than the ole' "Blue Ribbon Panel/Task Force" smoke screen that politicians trot out to make it look like they're doing something about a problem that they helped create.

My children had to be in daycare for a while. I sure did NOT like paying soooo much for day care plus provide all the supplies needed. I work during the school year. I have been fortunate to have the summers off and be home with my children. Yes, I do agree child care facilities do need to be rated because people who do abuse the system always get away with it and we the "working people" have to pay a big price for them. I wish I could have been able to stay home with my children for the first 5 years, but that is not the case.

OntheNEside-I totally agree with you. I too work at a child care center and cannot believe families that come in who are on w-2 and drive better cars than mine and my husbands and we make 80,000 dollars a year together. People are in hard times right now and will find anyway to dupe the state. If the state put more time and money into investigating the families situation or fraud before just handing over the money they wouldn't be in this bind in the first place. Actually checking a tax return or look at their lifestyle you can tell which ones are just getting by with a free ride. The state health care system is the same way. Paying for people to have children who can't afford to care for them is a problem right there. I don't think if you are on state aid for health insurance that they should pay for you to have that child. Having a child is a privledge not a right. If you can't afford to take care of it don't have one. With the state paying for the medical bills of a birth then they are creating more expenses for themselves because then they have to pay for the child's health care and the daycare expenses because the parents choose to have a child when they couldn't afford it in the first place. I'm not saying that all people on state aid are "working" the system, but from my experience a good percentage of them know how too and do it because its easier not to work than to work. Just pump out a few kids (that the state will pay for) and you will get more in state aid than you would if you were holding down a full time job.

Thanks booch11. You cleared everything up for me. I guess I just didn't make the connection.

beeferer,
i think pjgync meant jermaine - like jackson. and i think he was talking about lice -- "so, lice is whatever..." and he just forgot the comma.
got me on insiteful though.
he's prety smrt tho. much smrtur then us roobs.

PJGnyc- You made a sarcastic comment about the "smart" people of Janesville. Please educate me about your choice of words including "insiteful", "germaine", and "solice".

Like I said I may be out of the picture now and I am not bashing the hard work and dedication you do and have.I also should have stayed out of this.Sorry!,I have a very good friend that has a successful daycare in another state and now thinking back what she deals with daily and what she tells me .I would'nt want the job. It takes a special person. Outta here for good.

As a child care provider I agree with this rating program. No, prices should not be "capped". How foolish. Parents: Priorities People. If you have kids consider the day care cost or figure out how to be home (I did it & it wasn't easy but worthwhile). Cut out some of your other expenses. People often pay more for their cars each month & kenneling their dogs per hr than child care. Bottom line, people live beyond their means & then are frustrated about the cost of caring for their own children. Then if you are so fortunate to have found someone who cares & loves your child, make sure you show appreciation & treat them right.Why should *you* go to work & have someone else help raise *your* child & they make less than the general population? Really, I'm not getting rich, none of us are and I haven't raised my rates in 6 years because I don't feel I can. If I was still at my other job I would have gotten 6 raises plus bonuses, 401k, etc by now. Do I have a good business? You bet. Cause I know what I'm doing, do a good job, am educated, reliable & provide quality care & environment: with plenty of sacrafice of my home & family. Plus long stressful days with sometimes difficult children AND parents. Why shouldn't I be able to make a good wage & have paid days off/holidays like everyone else? That's the main benefit, besides being here for my own family, I enjoy in this field is a couple paid days off. And I sure don't get $200-300/wk per child & don't know anyone who does. Waay off. As far as fraud in the system, I don't know how that all occurs. I just know that in our county, I don't see how anyone could get away with it. We have a competent staff working at the county level here from my experience. I'd say the places where there's issues, #1 there's not follow through to check on some of these "providers" or the mothers who are supposedly "working" & #2 the system is overloaded with people who need assistance. And no, I don't want to pay for anyone's child care either & it's not easy to see some of these moms use the child care assistance and still their children come in new clothes nicer than my own child's.

I have had to find child care years ago ! this in not a new subject to me at all.Granted quality child care is difficult to find and when you do find it,most cant afford it. Doyle should put a cap on prices,If you work and have to pay for day care you go broke,and can't pay your normal bills. This is the problem,that I see.When I did but only for a short time ,have child care if your kids were sick or something came up and your child or children could'nt be there they still charged you for the day,what a rip off!! Most daycare centers are Petri dishes loaded with virus's and germs then your kid gets sick and off to the Doctor, more expenses,its a snow ball effect,I found a nice family that needed extra income and payed them for child care,that was my solution and I was lucky.What does the care cost now for 1 child ? 2-3 hundred bucks @ week not sure but I bet its close.The higher the ranking the more money they will charge.I am out of the picture now so I could be way off, but still have to say something.

I don't want to pay for other people's childcare to begin with.

Ah, the people who post to Janesville Gazette. We can always count on you for smart, snappy, insiteful comments that are relevant and germaine to the topic at hand.

Clearly none of you have had to search for child care as you would know that it is a difficult thing to do. If we can find a way to provide ratings to the child care providers and help provide parents with a little solice and confidence in their decision, then, good for us. No, I don't always like Governor Doyle's decisions or actions, but this one is to be filed in the KEEP folder.

Ah, the people who post to Janesville Gazette. We can always count on you for smart, snappy, insiteful comments that are relevant and germaine to the topic at hand.

Clearly none of you have had to search for child care as you would know that it is a difficult thing to do. If we can find a way to provide ratings to the child care providers and help provide parents with a little solice and confidence in their decision, then, good for us. No, I don't always like Governor Doyle's decisions or actions, but this one is to filed in the KEEP folder.

hollynfaith ! No not yet he has to make us more miserable first,He apparently wants to go out with a big bang!!!When he is retired as our Gov,maybe he will start giving his great advice to our DNR Oh! sorry they already know what their doing, My bad

rather than have a ratings system, they should fire the person who runs this program, then dismantle the program and start from scratch.
corruption in this business, in the state, is rampant -- mainly in the inner cities of our larger cities (milwaukee, racine, kenosha and madison to name a few)

And this will be kept honest by?????????

Don't forget the child classification system:

Infant
Terrible Twos
State Legislator
Pre-Kindergarden
Home-Schooled

Good Lord, isn't he out of office yet?