How to Start a Child Care Center in Colorado
Taking care of children can be a challenging but rewarding career. Working with kids takes patience as well as a kind and nurturing personality. Setting up a child care center in Colorado is a demanding task that takes hours of preparation, but if you follow some basic start-up steps suggested in part by fabjob.com and stay focused, you will be up and running in no time.
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Instructions
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1
Decide what kind of child care center you want to open. Determine what ages of children you will be targeting and whether you will offer before- and after-school care.
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Determine where you want your center to be located: in your home, at a stand-alone location or in a workplace such as a hospital or large office building.
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Secure a location either by renting or purchasing the space if you are not opening the center in your home.
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Write a business plan. Come up with a name for your child care center, determine start-up costs and decide how you will fund them. Decide how many kids you will serve, the number of employees you will need and what type of insurance policy will best suit your needs.
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Visit the daycare.com website listing Colorado regulations for child care centers and read everything that pertains to the type of day care you will be opening. This website gives information on how to become licensed in the state as well as staffing requirements.
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Decide what equipment you will need to open your doors and shop for and purchase it. Include office supplies such as desks, chairs, filing cabinets, computers, fax machines and phone lines, and center supplies such as a refrigerator, stove, microwave and cabinets. You will need indoor and outdoor toys including age-appropriate educational toys, books, art supplies, playground equipment, riding toys and playground balls. Write down safety equipment including safety gates, outlet covers and door locks. You will also need child-size tables and chairs, high chairs, cribs, sleep mats, changing tables, potty chairs and baby supplies like diapers, wipes, bottles, sippy cups and feeding utensils. Finally, buy cleaning supplies such as buckets, mops, brooms and a vacuum cleaner.
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Write down your child care center's policies and procedures to distribute to parents. Determine the rates you will charge.
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Interview and hire your staff. Make sure that you perform required background checks on everyone whom you hire.
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Determine when you will open your center, begin advertising and start taking registrations.
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Set up the child care center and make sure everything is ready for opening day.
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Tips & Warnings
When setting rates, make sure you are competitive with other Colorado day care centers.
Research grants for opening a center.
Use several means for advertising, including word of mouth and print advertising.
Be careful when childproofing the center. Make sure that you have covered every area that the children will use.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Painting girl image by Vaidas Bucys from Fotolia.com
