Babysitting co-op

Around our neighborhood, it takes a village to get our children to and from school.

Because some parents have to be at work before the school day begins, some kids stay with other families until the school bus picks them up. After school, some children go home with their friends and their friends’ moms or dads and then later get picked up by their own parents.

It’s an arrangement that’s practiced almost everywhere, but one mom in Michigan actually got in trouble for taking care of her friends’ kids.

Lisa Snyder now faces fines and possible jail time after being accused by the Michigan Department of Human Services of running an illegal day care center, a ccording to this MSNBC story, ” Mom ordered to stop baby-sitting friends’ kids .”

It all began on the first day of school when three moms dropped off their children at Snyder’s house to wait for the bus. The kids have regular playdates together. Their mothers, who all had to go to work, left them at their Snyder’s house less than hour before the bus’ scheduled arrival.

Three days later, however, Snyder received a notice from the Department of Human Services. Someone had complained that she was operating an illegal day care center. According to the report, Michigan has a law that says anyone who watches an unrelated child for 28 days a year is running a day care and therefore needs a license. It makes no difference if the child is at the person’s home all day or if he or she is simply waiting for the school bus.

In Washington state, you need to be licensed if: 1) You are caring for a child or children who are not related to you (except a close relative); and 2) The care is on an ongoing, regularly scheduled basis for the purpose of engaging in business. This information is from the Washington State Child Care Resource & Referral Center .

Do you have informal babysitting arrangements with other families in your neighborhood? How often do you rely on your friends and neighbors to help care for your kids?