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Posted on 09/25/2009 6:21:38 PM PDT by Chet 99
By Kalamazoo Gazette staff
September 25, 2009, 9:05PM
By Julie Makarewicz
MIDDLEVILLE — A mother who helps neighbors in the morning by watching their children for a short time before the bus comes has been told she’s breaking the law.
Lisa Snyder’s house is by the corner bus stop on Thornbird Drive just outside Middleville. Two of her friends who need to leave for work bring their children to her home in the morning before the bus arrives to take them to Thornapple Kellogg schools.
Snyder said she doesn’t think she’s doing anything wrong, but she was notified by the Michigan Department of Human Services that she has to stop watching the children because her home is not a licensed day-care facility.
Snyder said she’s not charging her friends money to watch the children. She said she watches the 5-year-old and 7-year-old from two families for less than an hour.
“It’s crazy. I’m just helping out a couple of friends,” said Snyder.
Snyder said she thinks that DHS was notified by a neighbor who thought Snyder was running a day-care facility. She said she tried to explain her situation to the DHS worker who sent her a letter, but the woman didn’t want to hear it.
State Rep. Brian Calley, R-Portland, was so outraged when he heard DHS was involved that he proposed legislation to exempt families from state day-care rules when they are caring for friends’ children.
“I actually had a hard time believing this outrageous case until I called DHS, and they not only confirmed it but refused to reconsider when I explained the situation,” Calley said in a news release.
The children’s parents must leave for work in the morning before the school bus arrives so the Middleville family agreed to watch the children for a short period of time each day until they got on the bus. Under current state law, Public Act 116, Michigan homes must be licensed if the residents watch children who are not related on an ongoing basis, no matter the duration.
“This is a shocking case of government bureaucracy run amok,” Calley said. “At a time when the state is being forced to cut health-care programs and services to children, it’s outrageous that the state has decided to pursue an issue like illegal baby-sitting.”
Gazette staff writer Julie Mack contributed to this report.
Big Government is really running amock.
“This is a shocking case of government bureaucracy run amok,” Calley said. “At a time when the state is being forced to cut health-care programs and services to children, it’s outrageous that the state has decided to pursue an issue like illegal baby-sitting.”
Pretty much sums it up!
Unbelievable.
She needs to tell the stupid government that is is just a “playday.”
We do this kind of thing all the time. This is absolutely insane. Hopefully they will reverse their decision when this politician gets on their case.
Are they saying that kids can’t go to a friend’s house for a visit? That’s what this amounts to.
Michigan ping, and an astonishing one.
No doubt - they really mucked up that one...
Good thing she didn’t have bathtime pictures developed at WalMart, or they could get her on child porn charges too.
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