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Woman Busted For Babysitting Her Neighbors’ Kids
Do you help watch your friends or neighbors kids? If you do, you may want to think again. Well, if you live in West Michigan that is. A woman there is apparently being threatened with fines and the potential of jail time for babysitting her neighbor’s three children.
Lisa Synder will watch her friend and neighbors kids for about 15-40 minutes each day in the morning while they wait for the school bus. Apparently the Department of Human Services got a complaint that the woman was “operating an illegal child care home.” They alledgedly told her she had to get lincensed as a daycare center or stop watching her neighjbors’ kids otherwise she’d “face the consequences.”
“It’s ridiculous.” says Snyder. “We are friends helping friends!”
State Representative Brian Calley is currently working on legislation that would change that. “We have babysitting police running around this state violating people, threatening to put them in jail or fine them $1,000 for helping their neighbor (that) is truly outrageous” He’d like to have it added that that “would exempt people who agree to care for non-dependent children from daycare rules as long as they’re not engaged in a business.”
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PlumbLucky commented on Sep 30 09 at 7:13 amApparently the legislature is moving to fix this loophole quickly :-). It is a pile of crap if you think about it – right now, my work schedule would allow me to be home when the munchkin got home (if he were in school already) – but I wouldn’t be home when he’d have to get on the bus! Its even crazier the next school district over, they completely did away with busses, and its not exactly a small district where walking is feasible. Several friends have purposefully arranged their work hours so that one Mom can drop the kids off in the morning and the other pick them all up in the afternoon…and whoever is driving has the kids for an hour or two either side of p/u d/o.
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