What are the risks of at-home daycare?

[WhiteHorse]

Since my previous thread did not get a whole lot of attention, I think I will re-phrase my situation. I am considering caring for a couple of other kids in my home. One is a 3-month old. Since my son is not up to date on his vaccines this might pose a problem for me, as a caregiver. I have informed the potential parent that my son is not up to date and encouraged her to ask her doctor if she had any concern about it - she has not responded to this yet. What have other non-vaxers done in this situation, assuming there might be some on this board who watch other children (babysit). Should I just forget the idea? Is there any serious risk to the infant?

I was sort of expecting a lot of responses the last time saying I should not watch any other children in my home - that I would be irresponsible for doing so. We could get by (and have) without the little extra money, but I really would like my son to have a buddy to play with regularly.

[ammiga]

Why do you think you would be irresponsible for watching a child in your home with your ds? Do you think your ds poses some sort of health risk to other children because of his vaccination status? I'm not sure what part of your research and decision making process led you to not vaccinate, but also to fear people your child comes in contact with. That would probably be a good place to start with analyzing your situation.

If it were my family, I wouldn't reveal the vax status of any of us or any other child in my care to other people. They don't have the right to know the vax status of any children in any daycare situation. My daughter has been in child care at the gym and preschool. I have no idea what the vax status is of any of the children she is around, and if I asked, they certainly wouldn't tell me.

[WhiteHorse]

I am new to the whole type B childcare provider thing, so forgive me if it sounds odd. The home childcare is a very different situation than a daycare center. Providers have been sued over children sustaining a fall injury. My worry is in the chance that the infant were to get sick with say pertussis and it was suspected he caught it in my care, I would face at best a very angry parent and perhaps a lawsuit if it were learned that my own child was not vaccinated. I do not have business insurance or any license. Do I as the care provider have the obligation (ethical or otherwise) to inform? I did inform the prospective parent as a courtesy. In the case where the child were older and the risks are less, I probably would not have said anything. The other parent is someone I know and she knows the situation. Am I way off base here?

On a side note, here in OH, in my area especially pertussis seems to be pretty common. My older son (15) was exposed just last week from a teacher.

[mommyinIL1976]

Originally Posted by WhiteHorse

I am new to the whole type B childcare provider thing, so forgive me if it sounds odd. The home childcare is a very different situation than a daycare center. Providers have been sued over children sustaining a fall injury. My worry is in the chance that the infant were to get sick with say pertussis and it was suspected he caught it in my care, I would face at best a very angry parent and perhaps a lawsuit if it were learned that my own child was not vaccinated. I do not have business insurance or any license. Do I as the care provider have the obligation (ethical or otherwise) to inform? I did inform the prospective parent as a courtesy. In the case where the child were older and the risks are less, I probably would not have said anything. The other parent is someone I know and she knows the situation. Am I way off base here?

On a side note, here in OH, in my area especially pertussis seems to be pretty common. My older son (15) was exposed just last week from a teacher.

I don't think you're way off base at all. I think everything you said is correct. There may not be a legal obligation to inform a parent of an infant about the non-vaxing of children in the day care, but there is an ethical obligation to make sure a parent is fully informed.

[just_lily]

I run an in-home childcare and my DD is un-vaxed. One of my parents knows just because it came up in conversation during the whole H1N1 lunacy, but nobody else has ever asked. I definitely wouldn't lie if asked, but I don't feel the need to offer medical information on my child. I live in a province that doesn't have any vaccination requirements for either childcare or school attendance.

You would need to tell parents if your child has an active case of pertussis, but not if they haven;t been vaxed for it. Because even a vaxed child can get it anyways.

The child of another provider in my agency caught rhubella last year, and she was fully vaxed. She had to shut down her daycare for a week or so, but in the end it was no big deal.

Even if your child was to catch a VAD and pass it along to another child in your home, I very much doubt that you could be successfully held liable, despite what ridiculous TV shows would have you believe otherwise.

I would recommend you get yourself some liability insurance though. You have a much higher risk of a kid breaking their arm in your home than catching a VAD. My insurance is through my agency, but you may be able to just attach a rider to your home owner's policy. (You should also make sure your car insurance covers any daycare children if you will be driving them around.)

[crunchy_mommy]

I'm really confused. I don't think I would share my son's vax status with a potential client (unless I was asked & I'm not sure even then that I would). I also don't really understand how watching a vaxed 3-mo poses a danger to your unvaxed kid or vice-versa. (I do not run a daycare, for the record)... If there is a VAD going around, then either child might catch it regardless of whether they've been vaxed. The vaccines don't generally prevent transmission, so your DS is not putting other kids at risk just by not being vaxed.

[bbrandonsmom]

Are you worried about the legal issues that might come up? If so, see if there are any "home daycare" laws you need to follow?
As far as vax status, you shouldn't need to let her know, unless she asks. If she is vaxing, then she shouldn't feel threatened by your non-vax status. If anything, I would think that once her child starts getting the live virus vaccines, it will be up to you to think about exposure to your child?
And as another pp mentioned-her child could still contact a vpd regardless of being vaccinated.

[luv-my-boys]

If you are concerned by the the liability issue in your bussiness I would definately recommend looking into getting insurance. Like another poster mentioned your "risk" of a child being injured is way greater than cathching a VAD.

Most homeowners and car insurances do not cover incidents as part of a "bussiness venture" without a seperate rider. There are companies that deal specifically with at home daycares and for me I found them to be pretty affordable and offered a peace of mind (they dont only cover injuries but also things like, false abuse lititagation and the like and other situations that are specific to daycares)

[Grace and Granola]

I started watching kids this year and my two boys are unvaxed. I have not mentioned this to anyone. I do have one friend who knows we don't vax and she was considering me for watching her infant son. She declined my services based on our non-vaxing, because she was afraid of whatever. My thoughts are this, Do you ask for your clients' vax status before accepting them? Probably not if you're a non-licensed provider. Why do they have the right to know your medical information when you have no right to ask theirs? Would you share Family A's medical info with Familiy B? No. And most importantly, I think most of us non-vaxers feel the majority of families vax because it's standard protocol and tend to think of non-vaxing as "scary." (I am not talking about people who do their research and still making the educated decision to vax.) By you disclosing your non-vax status, it's like you're holding up a red warning flag, as if you know it's "dangerous" and they need to know about it. For people who do not know alot about vaxing, they might just run the other direction because it must be dangerous if you're warning them!

If a parent asks, I would be honest, just for the sake of honesty. But I wouldn't offer up the information.

[ammiga]

Originally Posted by Grace and Granola

If a parent asks, I would be honest, just for the sake of honesty. But I wouldn't offer up the information.

Just be careful that you only reveal the vax status of your child... I wouldn't mess around with revealing any other child's vax status. Which is exactly why your child's status shouldn't matter... parents simply don't get to know the details of the other kid's medical history when they go to daycare.

[crunchy_mommy]

Originally Posted by ammiga

Just be careful that you only reveal the vax status of your child... I wouldn't mess around with revealing any other child's vax status. Which is exactly why your child's status shouldn't matter... parents simply don't get to know the details of the other kid's medical history when they go to daycare.

Yeah, I think I'd be inclined to simply say, "DS's medical history is private but if he shows any signs of illness I'll be sure to let you know in case he's contagious."

[Grace and Granola]

Originally Posted by ammiga

Just be careful that you only reveal the vax status of your child... I wouldn't mess around with revealing any other child's vax status. Which is exactly why your child's status shouldn't matter... parents simply don't get to know the details of the other kid's medical history when they go to daycare.

Totally. That's what I meant anyway. If they ask about my kids, I would be honest. And I wouldn't reveal the status of another child, because I don't know the status of the kids I watch!

[Marnica]

Originally Posted by WhiteHorse

I am new to the whole type B childcare provider thing, so forgive me if it sounds odd. The home childcare is a very different situation than a daycare center. Providers have been sued over children sustaining a fall injury. My worry is in the chance that the infant were to get sick with say pertussis and it was suspected he caught it in my care, I would face at best a very angry parent and perhaps a lawsuit if it were learned that my own child was not vaccinated. I do not have business insurance or any license. Do I as the care provider have the obligation (ethical or otherwise) to inform? I did inform the prospective parent as a courtesy. In the case where the child were older and the risks are less, I probably would not have said anything. The other parent is someone I know and she knows the situation. Am I way off base here?

On a side note, here in OH, in my area especially pertussis seems to be pretty common. My older son (15) was exposed just last week from a teacher.

and if your son gets it will you sue the teacher for not being up to date? Did the teacher reveal to you their vax status??

My point it you have done what you feel you need to do (telling the prespective parent). You have no other obligations IMO.

[Deborah]

My daughter ran a home daycare. In her state, parents have to either supply vax info or fill out the exemption form, so she knew the status of the children she cared for. I don't know if the parents using her services knew that her own children were mostly unvaccinated. I know at least one child was unvaxed and more may have been (my daughter did not tell me about this based on the daycare interaction, it was something she knew socially) but over about 3 or 4 years of running the daycare there was never a problem.

It would be a huge challenge pushing through a lawsuit based on vax status. How would you prove that it was little Tommy and not the grandfather with the chronic cough who passed the whooping cough?

[WhiteHorse]

Well, I should have waited for your responses before telling her, because she did not show up for our meeting. It's all for the best anyway because the infant is too young to really be a playmate to my son, and now I know what to do if the opportunity comes up again.

You are right, the other parents do not know the vax status of any of the other kids, nor do they have a right to.

[phathui5]

I did in-home childcare for three years. If parents asked about my children's vaccinations, I would tell them, but I didn't bring it up. I don't believe that my children being unvaccinated poses a risk to other children.