Unlicensed Day Cares Grow Along With Rising Demand

Parents drop off their kids at a northeast Spokane in-home day care, where a teenage child molester lives.

A South Hill baby sitter takes breaks to sell crank out of her apartment.

Fifteen kids are crammed into a Spokane Valley trailer, left with nothing to do but watch TV.

These are actual examples of illegal day cares, operating without a license.

The only protection for children in those places, advocates of licensed care say, are state laws and a halftime inspector assigned to Spokane County.

“If you don’t have licensing, you have some pretty bizarre things that can happen,” said Tim Nelson, regional supervisor for the state Office of Child Care Policy.

Growing numbers of two-income households and shrinking welfare rolls are expected to increase demand for day care nationwide - including lower-cost unlicensed care, experts say.

Although tracking the growth of unlicensed centers is difficult, a national study found that at least 80 percent of day-care providers are unregulated.

Authorities estimate that more than 30,000 children in Washington state are receiving black market care. Some desperate parents find affordable child care by consulting handwritten postings on supermarket bulletin boards.

“Good, quality day cares are closing, and unlicensed care is blooming,” said Martha Lehman, who has run a licensed day care in Spokane for 28 years.

She heads a new committee of the Eastern Washington Family Child Care Association that reports unlicensed centers to the state.

Lehman said state oversight and a less attractive profit margin make it tempting to run an unlicensed day care.

Strict regulations are part of the reason Working Mother magazine consistently ranks Washington in the top 10 nationwide for quality of care.

One Spokane parent, however, said a license doesn’t always mean quality.

Dana Hagestad moved his 4-year-old son from a licensed center to an unlicensed facility last year after the boy complained of getting nothing to eat. On surprise visits, Hagestad discovered that planned “activities” weren’t happening.

“I’m not a big fan of the state telling me how my kid needs to be raised,” said Hagestad, who said he’s happy with the care his son receives from an unlicensed preschool.

Similar attitudes in the Legislature have prompted a series of unsuccessful proposals to limit the power of state licensers.

“We’re limiting parents’ rights here,” said Sen. Bob Morton, R-Orient. “The parents have the responsibility for their children. Any responsible parent is going to check out where they leave them.”

That’s not always true, child-care officials said.

“It’s my experience that parents aren’t always looking beyond the front door,” Nelson said.

, DataTimes