Using an Unregulated Caregiver
Many children are now being cared for by family, friends, and neighbors in home settings. Family, friend, and neighbor care is also known as license-exempt care, "kith and kin" care or "informal care," as opposed to the care provided in more formal and professional center-based and family child care markets.
The Maine Department of Health and Human Services and Southern Kennebec Child Development Corporation have created Care for ME a program for in home license-exempt caregivers, which helps to ensure responsible caregiving for children in Maine.
Care for ME caregivers must care for no more than two children who are unrelated to them; be at least 18 years old; complete an application containing personnel information; and have not had a child care license revoked, or if, when previously licensed, have not been found to have significant health and safety violations.
Background checks are conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services Child Protective Services, Maine State Bureau of Identification, and the Maine Division of Motor Vehicles.
Upon successful clearance of the background checks, individuals are listed as Care for ME approved.
Care for ME caregivers are provided with a number of resources, activities, newsletter, storybooks and safety materials to assist them in caring for children.
For more information about the Care for ME Program:
Phone: 1-866-638-7878
email: careforme@skcdc.org
Care for ME webpage
Other Resources
The Daily Parent is a Child Care Aware newsletter for working parents. The article "All in the Family: Using Relatives for Child Care" (Fall 1997) is available on the Web at: http://www.childcareaware.org/en/subscriptions/dailyparent/volume.php?id=2.
Frequently Asked Questions About Kith and Kin Child Care (2004), by the Institute for a Child Care Continuum, summarizes research on family, friend, and neighbor care in a question and answer format. This resource is available on the Web at http://www.bankstreet.edu/gems/ICCC/FinalFAQ.pdf.