Thank you for inquiring about starting an In-Home Small Day-Care Center. Operating a day-care center can be a rewarding professional decision. We are pleased to send you an application package. The Office of Children and Family Services encourages you to request help for additional technical assistance.
This package contains the information you will need to begin the application process. The Day-Care Center Required Documents checklist includes the thirty documents required to complete this application, including: fingerprint request form, criminal conviction statement, qualifications and references, emergency evacuation plan, report for water supply testing, first aid and CPR certification, behavior management training, menu planning, and a behavior management and child abuse policy for your small day-care center.
General Information
All applicants must be eighteen years of age or older and must complete this page
Please PRINT clearly
Applicant
Name: Romero, Cara DOB: 01/18/1953
Address: Washington Heights
Do you speak English? Yes
Capacity Requested
Specify below the number of children, by age group, that you are requesting.
Number of Toddlers (18–36 months): 2
Number of Preschool (3 years–K): 2
Number of school-age (K–12 years): 2
Hours of Operation
Every day 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. is possible.
Director Qualifications
Levels of Education: I did skool. I no my números and letras.
Childcare Experience: I am moder. I take kare of ángela y Hernán’s 3 children.
Qualification of Typical Duties of Day-Care Staff
Lifting and carrying children
Desk work
Driver of vehicle
Food preparation
Facility maintenance
Evacuation of children in an emergency
References
Reference #1. Lulú Sánchez
Reference #2. Hernán Ortiz
Reference #3. ángela Romero Ortiz
To the best of my knowledge, the statements that I have provided in this application are true and accurate.
Signature:
THE OFFICE OF
CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES
In-Home Small Day-Care Application
Behavior Management (Discipline) Plan
Acceptable Methods
Focus on Do rather than Don’t. For example, “Let’s choose a better word” instead of “Don’t say that.”
Redirect. In a conflict, distract with an alternate toy or activity.
Offer choices: “You can either sit on the floor or at the table to play.”
Praise positive behavior: “Thank you for putting away the toys!”
Listen to the children and respond to their needs before trouble starts; keeping the children busy helps prevent conflict.
Children learn by example: Use please and thank you.
PROHIBITED
Corporal punishment is prohibited. Shaking, slapping, twisting, squeezing, and spanking.
The use of room isolation is prohibited. No child can be isolated in an adjacent room, hallway, closet, darkened area, play area, or any other area where a child cannot be seen or supervised.
Food cannot be used or withheld as a punishment or reward.
I,__________________ agree to comply with the Behavior Management Plan.
Signature:
SESSION EIGHT
?Ay, look! You have a glass of water ready for me? Today, I didn’t even have to ask. Ha! You must want to get to work right away. Yes, I understand we don’t have much time left together and you want me to get a job soon. And that is very good, because I need a job. But I don’t think taking care of children in my apartment is a good idea for me. No.
Did you see how many papers it is? A bible of papers. I thought for many hours about this possibility and decided—no.
It’s true that sometimes the new people that live in the building ask me if I could take care of their babies. And it’s true that I want to work from the apartment, but after what happened to me this week, I say no. No, y no, y no. I can do it, but not officially. I don’t want to get in trouble with the authorities or have problems with the people.
OK, let me explain.
I’ll start with poor Lulú. The situation with Adonis is destroying her. She was more fat than me, but now she’s empty, her clothes dancing on her. It’s terrible. I try to make her eat, but she has lost her appetite. Her hair, like una vieja and now you only see the canas. It’s another Lulú. If only I had the money to pay for her to go to the salón I would make her do it.
Lulú, in front of me, tries to be strong. But in the night I hear her laments traveling through the tube in my kitchen. The problem is that in the beginning Adonis thought they could temporarily rent a place until he finds a good job, but his wife Patricia confessed to Lulú that every day she learns of something else Adonis bought with credit and never paid. Every day there is a bill. For example, the school of the children, that he didn’t pay for many months. Patricia trusted Adonis because he has a financial degree from one of the best schools in the country, but now they are in big trouble.
Of course, Lulú feels responsible. I understand this. A children’s mistake is a mother’s responsibility. Lulú told them they can live with her until they find their feet, but Adonis, because he’s especial, said he will never return to Washington Heights. Never.
I don’t make opinions. I hold Lulú’s hand. I let her desahogarse in my kitchen. Lulú can’t cry but, like I told you, she talks and drinks wine to undrown.
But the point is that this week Adonis left the children with Lulú for many, many days. He told Lulú he can’t look for a job if he has the children to care for in the apartment. And Patricia has to work every day. Even Saturday. In the past Lulú would go to their apartment for a few hours to stay with the children. For a few hours it was easy. But now that they stay with her, she is destroyed. Patricia has a long list of rules that Lulú has to follow, punto final.
No bobo.
No leche before bed. No leche, not even water, outside the schedule.
No saying no!
Lulu can’t say no to the children, never. Or make an angry face when the three-year-old makes pictures on the wall. Patricia and Adonis are worse than ángela, who try to control everything. Not even ángela has so many rules.
No pela.
No sleeping on the stomach.
No salsa, merengue, bachata. No radio. Punto final.
Only música clásica. Patricia gave Lulú CDs to stimulate the brain of the babies. And only organic fruits—unless the skin is thick, like aguacate or pi?a or toronja. And you know it’s impossible to find organic fruits in Washington Heights. It’s expensive. But even in the crisis, she says: only organic food.
No TV. Never. Adonis covered the TV in Lulú’s apartment with a sheet. It’s true that the eighteen-month-old is very intelligent and knows to talk with his hands. He can tell us if he wants leche or water, if something tastes good, if he wants more.
Lulú doesn’t complain about the children or Patricia directly. Patricia is working six days a week in the lawyer’s office so Adonis and the children have something to eat. She is the only one making money. And Lulú raised Adonis to be too nariz pará; he would never be like that lawyer that went to work in Wendy’s. But that is exactly what Adonis should do. But I don’t make opinions.
The point is that I read this application to start the day care, and I am confident I can lift and carry the babies. I can prepare food. I can maintain a clean place for the children to sleep, play, and eat. You already know I am very good for the emergency. I can maybe even learn how to drive, but in New York I don’t think it’s necessary. And I don’t know what is desk work? But, OK. I am sure I can do it. But the Behavior Management Plan, no. Not with children that are not my blood. No way.
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