MANSFIELD — Morning sunlight pours into the room and children’s laughter fills the air inside Kubby’s Early Learning Intervention Childcare on Mansfield’s southeast side, not far from John Todd Park.
Kakiea Brooks holds a toddler on her hip as she readies the Pre-K room for game time. The child on her waist clings to a stuffed green iguana. It almost perfectly matches the green tiger-striped blanket wrapped around him.
Four preschool-aged children sit around a circular blue table near the entrance, smiling and giggling among themselves as they finish their drinks. Once their cups are empty, they wash their hands and take a seat alongside Brooks on the patchwork of impossibly colorful interlocking foam tiles covering the floor.
The room is designed to stimulate young minds. Vibrant decorations adorn the soft-white walls. Books and puzzles are stacked neatly on shelves. There’s a terrarium perched atop a table and a science station with plastic test tubes nearby.
Today’s letter of the day is ‘Z.’ There are pictures of a zebra, a zoo and a zipper hanging on the nearly wall-sized blue activity board. The opposite wall features an oversized gold poster that reads: “WELCOME You are AMAZING just the way you are.”
The game of choice on this Tuesday morning is “Clack!” and judging by their squeals of excitement, it’s a favorite among the preschoolers. The children race to stack magnetic discs with matching shapes and colors — and the child with the tallest stack wins.
“There’s never a dull moment,” said Brooks, her hair pulled tightly into a bun atop her “head. “They keep you on your toes.”
Kubby’s is Richland County’s only Type A family child care home. The Type A designation means Brooks and her staff can provide care for eight to 14 children in her Dale Avenue home. She became a licensed Type A provider in January 2018.
“I actually had a corporate job. I was in commercial lending,” Brooks said of her not-so-traditional path to a career in the child care industry. “I used to be the person who watched everyone’s kids on snow days and weekends.
“I just fell in love with it and wanted to be around my children more. That’s how I got started.”
Ohio’s Child Care Options
Parents in the Buckeye State have a handful of options when it comes to child care.
There are traditional child care centers and licensed early care and education programs, oftentimes administered by public school districts. Registered day camps operate during the summer months.
Then there are in-home care providers. The most recent biennium budget slightly increased the number of children licensed providers can serve.
Type B providers can care for up to seven children in the provider’s home and no more than three can be under age 2. The provider’s children younger than age 6 must be included in the count.
Type A providers can care for eight to 14 children in the provider’s home with no more than four under the age of 2. The provider’s own children under age 6 must be included in the count.
Ohio law permits providers to care for up to seven children (with no more than three under the age of 2) in their home without a license, but they are not eligible for reimbursement through Ohio’s publicly funded child care program. PFCC is a financial assistance program administered through the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services to help qualifying families defray the cost of child care.
According to statistics provided by ODJFS, there are 350 licensed Type A and 1,749 licensed Type B child care providers state-wide.
While Brooks is the only Type A provider in Richland County, there are 16 Type B providers scattered across the county. Bellville resident Anna Wade is one of them. She got her Type B license in 2014 and has been at it ever since.
“You are able to help a lot of different families in their time of need,” Wade said, when asked what first drew her to the industry. “You see people in all kinds of different situations come through your door and you get to help them.”
Knox County has three Type A and two Type B providers listed on the ODJFS website.
There are no Type A or Type B providers listed for Ashland County.
“We haven’t had any Type A or Type B family child care providers in the time that I’ve been director,” said Ashland County Job and Family Services chief Peter Stefaniuk, who became head of the agency in 2018.
“I was talking with someone in our public assistance unit, a supervisor who has been here for 20-plus years. She remembers when we had some … but it’s been quite some time.”
Why?
“That’s a tough one to answer,” Stefaniuk said. “That goes into the decision-making process for people who maybe thought about (becoming a Type A or Type B provider) and then stopped the process.”
Licensing can be a hurdle for in-home child care providers
Perhaps the biggest obstacle to becoming an in-home provider is the licensing procedure. The process takes several months to complete, although the exact timeframe varies.
Applicants must provide several documents for licensure, including high school or equivalent education verification, a medical statement and an operation plan. Candidates must also complete a background check and go through a pre-licensing inspection.
“There are a lot of hurdles to clear to get licensed,” Wade said. “Everything has to be right on the paperwork to be able to move forward.
“I think we have lost a lot of providers because of all the red tape.”
Resources for pursuing an in-home child care license
The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services helps providers navigate a thorough vetting process. ODJFS offers a training module on how to apply to become a family child care provider.
Other valuable resources, including access to licensing specialists, are available through the Ohio Department of Children and Youth.
The Ohio Child Care Resource and Referral Association has member agencies across the state to assist child care providers. The Richland County affiliate is the YWCA of Northwest Ohio. The Knox County and Ashland County affiliate is the Corporation for Ohio Appalachian Development.
These agencies also help families find child care.
For Type A providers like Brooks, there are additional hoops to jump through.
In addition to all the Type B pre-licensing requirements, Type A providers must provide local zoning allowances, building inspection verification and fire inspection verification from the state fire marshal or local fire safety inspector.
“You have to go through a little bit more for Type A and it requires a little bit of legwork,” Brooks said. “You have to get what is called a conditional commercial building approval from the city you reside in.
“When I first applied, it was a lot.”
There are a lot of hurdles to clear to get licensed. … I think we lost a lot of providers because of all the red tape.
Anna Wade, Type B Home Child care provider
‘A new adventure every day’
Brooks is tidying up after game time at Kubby’s. She and her full-time assistant teacher will soon get started on meal preparation.
Like all small business owners, Brooks wears many hats.
“In family child care, we do everything,” she said. “You are the cook. You are the teacher. You’re in charge of HR. You are everything.”
She also must navigate a highly-regulated industry. Home care providers are subject to both announced and unannounced inspections and violations can be subjective.
“That is a struggle that I have dealt with over the years,” Brooks said. “I read a rule one way and the inspector reads the same rule another way. It’s not in black and white.
“It doesn’t matter if I interpret it one way. It’s how the inspector interprets it.”
But one look around the room and Brooks is reminded why she left commercial lending all those years ago to become a child care provider.
“It’s for the children,” she said, a smile creeping across her face. “With kids, you never know what you’re going to get. It’s a new adventure every day.”
