practical guide
Infant Safe Sleep Checks: Setup, Timing, and the Written Log
Group care changes the sleep rules. Here is how to set up a crib that passes inspection, run visual checks on a schedule, and keep a sleep log a licensor can read at a glance.
The NapLog magazine
The Daily Sheet
Reporting on the craft, licensing rules and money behind in home daycare and small licensed child care programs in the US.
- Nine articles in this issue
- Written and checked by Jimenez Julien
- Updated as state rules change
Articles in this issue
practical guide
Infant Safe Sleep Checks: Setup, Timing, and the Written Log
Group care changes the sleep rules. Here is how to set up a crib that passes inspection, run visual checks on a schedule, and keep a sleep log a licensor can read at a glance.
regulation and compliance
CACFP for Home Providers: Meal Patterns, Records, and Claims
The food program pays real money and asks for real paperwork. A walk through meal patterns, creditable menus, point of service counts, and the claim your sponsor sends up each month.
checklist
The Unannounced Licensing Visit: A Room by Room Checklist
Your licensor can arrive on any ordinary morning without warning. Walk your own home the way an inspector does, room by room, and fix the items that get written up most often.
mistakes to avoid
Writing Incident Reports: The Mistakes That Draw Citations
An incident report is a legal record, not a note home. These are the writing habits and timing errors that turn a routine playground scrape into a finding, and what to write instead.
comparison
Family Home, Group Home, or Small Center: How the Rules Differ
Capacity, ratios, zoning, staffing, and insurance all shift when you move up a license class. A side by side look at what each one asks of you before you commit to the change.
trends and outlook
Subsidy Payment Reform: Enrollment Based Pay and the Copay Cap
Federal rules now push states toward paying providers for enrolled children, paying up front, and capping what families owe. Here is what that changes in your rates and your agreement.
case study
Anatomy of a Licensing Complaint: From Intake to Corrective Plan
Complaints get investigated whether or not they hold up. Follow one representative case from the hotline call to the unannounced visit, the finding, the corrective action plan, and the appeal.
numbers and benchmarks
What One Infant Slot Has to Earn: Ratios, Wages, and Empty Days
Tuition is not a guess. Build the number up from the ratio, the loaded hourly cost of the adult in the room, fixed overhead, food, and the vacancy you should plan on carrying all year.
field report
Ten Hours in a Mixed Age Home: How the Day Actually Runs
One provider, six children, four age groups, ten hours. A close look at the real choreography of arrival, meals, naps, diapering, and pickup inside a single family child care home.
Before the next unannounced visit
Your licensor can arrive on any ordinary morning, usually while you are serving breakfast to four children at once. Walk your own home the way an inspector does, room by room, and clear the items that get written up most often.
The Unannounced Licensing Visit: A Room by Room Checklist
Then work outward: the eight other pieces in The Daily Sheet each take one part of it further, and every one links back here.