Pinellas officials tell one mother that her free babysitting is considered a family home day care requiring a license to operate.
By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE
Published November 19, 2003
[Times photo: Dirk Shadd]
From left, back row, Laurie McPherson, 34, Sara Rivenburgh, 34, who is holding her 9-month-old son Garrett Rivenburgh, and Karen Iannotti, 32, are part of a group of families that take turns watching one another's children. The children include, in front row from left, Morgan McPherson, 3, Sierra McPherson, 2, Jackson Rivenburgh, 3, Rhiannon Iannotti, 2, and Madison Heath, 3, whose father Jeff Heath, 39, is present, but not pictured.
SEMINOLE - Laurie McPherson said she never gave her babysitting a second thought. She works nights. She's got a big house with a big yard. Her house looks like a toy farm.
So she babysits for friends. Frequently. For about a year, McPherson said she has looked after the children of friends at least twice a week. At times, she might have up to seven children, ages 1 to 4, under her roof. Often, friends babysit her two kids. It's all free.
"I'm not running a day care," McPherson, 34, said on Tuesday. "We're just moms helping moms."
Doesn't matter. Pinellas County says she needs a license to operate what it calls a family day care home.
McPherson has been warned by Pinellas officials who regulate day care centers and day care homes that she needs to get a license. If she doesn't, she faces possible fines or even a misdemeanor criminal charge for operating an unlicensed day care home.
Under county rules, anyone who cares for even one unrelated child more than once a week for at least two hours must be licensed, whether they are paid or not. The licensing procedure includes a criminal background check, fingerprinting, 40 hours of training and at least $108 in fees.
"This is between myself and my neighbors," McPherson said. "We're moms helping each other out. It's not a business. I don't advertise. The government shouldn't have the right to tell me and my friends who can watch our kids. It's discrimination against stay-at-home moms."
McPherson said she will comply with the rules to avoid trouble.
To officials of the Pinellas County License Board for Children's Centers & Family Day Care Homes, it's about protecting children and making sure care providers know what they're doing.
"It's basic protection for children at that age who can't speak for themselves," said Linda Tamanini, executive director of the agency, which is not under authority of the County Commission. "We know things happen in the lives of family and they occasionally need help caring for their children. Our concern starts when it becomes regular care."
McPherson's troubles began in October when someone phoned the license board with an anonymous complaint that mothers were dropping off up to 10 children three days a week from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
An Oct. 29 visit by inspectors found McPherson caring for five unrelated children. A return visit on Nov. 7 found six children in her care.
Child care rules don't require everyone to get a license.
To begin, if the babysitter is related to children in their care, they have no need for a license. So a grandmother caring for three grandkids need not worry.
Babysitters working in the home of the children they are looking after need not be licensed. The law covers only care outside the child's home.
Babysitters don't need a license if they care for a child for less than two hours, even if they are babysitting every day of the week. And they don't need a license if they babysit just once a week, even if for more than two hours.
But if a babysitter has children in their home more than once a week for more than two hours, then county rules kick in. It doesn't matter if it's a friend's child or if the service is provided free.
"We're not trying to regulate neighborly situations where you need to go to the doctor and want a neighbor to watch your child for two hours," Tamanini said.
State law mandates licensing requirements. But each county is free to set up stricter requirements, which Pinellas has done.
For instance, state law doesn't regulate child care between unrelated parents if they aren't paying for the service.
Sara Rivenburgh, 34, who moved to Seminole from Maryland five years ago, often lets McPherson care for her 3-year-old and 9-month-old sons. She trusts McPherson. Sometimes she babysits for McPherson, who works as a bartender.
"I don't have a family here that I can rely on to help out if I need to go to the doctor," Rivenburgh said. "My friends are my support network. I'm offended by the county telling me I don't have the right as a parent to say who is capable of caring for my child. My parental rights are being questioned."
Attorney John Trevena, hired by McPherson, called county rules "ludicrous" and said he is researching whether the rules are unconstitutional.
But Tamanini said it is in the public interest to protect children, even among friends.
"We're bound to uphold the law," she said.
McPherson, mother of 2- and 3-year-old girls, said she has reduced her babysitting time to once a week to comply with county rules. She refuses to get a license. Her friends will have to make do, she said.
"This is my business and not the government's," McPherson said. "They should stay out of my life."
