We need your help!
We need your help contacting our Maryland senators and delegates to fix the Maryland regulations that require nanny shares to be licensed (and criminalize unlicensed nanny shares)!
Instructions and suggestions below. Thanks in advance!
Lookup your state senator and delegates at this
link (then click on “lookup” and enter your address)
Call the office of each of your state senator and delegates using the talking points below
Talking Points
Hi, my name is NAME, and I am calling as a constituent.
It is very important to me that you fix Code of Maryland Regulations COMAR 13A.15, which currently requires that you obtain a certificate of registration, (which is a form of license) before you operate a nanny share.
Licensure should be reserved for residential daycare businesses not nanny shares – in particular where
surveys have found that the DMV area is the most expensive place in the U.S. for child care – even more expensive than NY and CA.
If you aren’t familiar, a nanny share is an arrangement where two or more families split the cost of one nanny who either cares for all of the children together or divides their time between the two families.
Unlike other states, Maryland requires homeowners to obtain a license from the Division of Early Childhood of the Maryland State Depart of Education even just to care for 2 children in a nanny share.
The District of Columbia, by contrast, sensibly exempts nanny shares from licensure requirements (“If you do not meet any of the exempted categories below, then you need to apply for a license. The exemptions are . . . Care provided for more than one child in a Nanny-Share, as defined in this chapter”).
Maryland goes so far as to make unlicensed nanny shares criminal (“An individual found to be operating a family child care home without a valid family child care registration is guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction is subject to a fine not exceeding: (1) $1,500 for the first violation; and (2) $2,500 for a second or subsequent violation.”)
Moreover, the licensure process is onerous and would impose on the homeowner and separately the nanny: 1) attending a 3 hour orientation; 2) completing a specific 24 hour initial training program, having a 90 hour preschool course, or having college courses in both child development and early childhood curriculum, 3) completing coursework in SIDS (if caring for children under two); 4) completing a 6-hour emergency preparedness course; 7) being certified in both first aid and CPR appropriate for the age groups to be cared for; 8) everyone in the home over 18 must be fingerprinted; 9) everyone in the home over 18 and any substitutes must submit documentation to check their records through child welfare; 10) Medicals for everyone in the home; 11) ) a fire inspection; and 12) an Office of Child Care inspection of the home.
I urge you to urgently fix Code of Maryland Regulations COMAR 13A.15 to exempt nanny shares from these onerous and unnecessary licensure requirements that make Maryland an outlier when childcare costs are already the highest in the country.
My phone number is PHONE. Please follow up with me to let me know how the DELEGATE/SENATOR intends to proceed with this issue.
Thanks for your time and attention today.
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