Private or Agency?

[bubbleguppie]

I will be opening my daycare soon.But I am still in the process of looking for clients.
Sometimes when I get frustrated I think of going to an agency but people tell me its better to go private.What's the difference?

[mom-in-alberta]

The short answer is that it's VASTLY different, depending on where you live.
What province are you in?

[Inspired by Reggio]

Yup - really varies depending on the province and even city within a province the benefits of being with an agency or not....typically there are more 'stupid rules' to being with a licensed agency that being self regulated ... so things you have to do that do not really impact the quality or safety of the program for clients but just paperwork or whatnot that some bureaucrat somewhere thought would be helpful.

I started out with an agency - I chose the one in my community that allowed you to have 'private' clients as well as agency clients as long as you did not exceed 'agency ratios/age restrictions' because I did not want to be solely reliant on THEM to find me clients ... and good thing too cause in the 2.5 years I was with them ALL my clients were private because when a space came open in my program i would notify my coordinator and I would place ads privately - everytime I had interviews booked and completed and a signed contract in hand privately before the agency could get through the paperwork from their waiting list to find matches to give my contact information too and I would have to notify them 'sorry I am full again' .... I know peers who are with the other agency in town who do NOT allow you to have private clients and they sit there with SPACES and loosing income because of it and wonder WHY???? But they like not having to deal with the financial end of things with clients even if it means they make LESS money doing it???