Who me? You really want my opinion?

I'm still surprised to have gotten an email from a reported from the Herald asking me for info. Me! "They like me, they really really like me!!" Sorry that was a Sally Fields moments for sure.

About a week ago I wrote in a hot tip to the paper and it looks like they may want to investigate it a wee bit further.

Here's the jist of what I wrote:

Calgaryarea.com has hosted a city wide child care site for 8 years. As of October 15, 2007 they have removed over 800 unapproved dayhomes. The only listings that can be found on the site are dayhomes approved by the Churchill Park Family Care Society. In my neighbourhood and in the surrounding areas there are 5 listings which are approved. We do have a registry in our area, which is done by volunteers and there are 79 unapproved dayhomes on that list. Mackenzie Towne and Mackenzie Lake are fortunate to have this service but there are so many other areas in our city that do not. Parents are going to be scrambling now more than ever when it comes to finding child care. The president of calgaryarea.com issued a statement on the child care website stating that it was a legal liability issue. There is a legal disclaimer posted on the site which should prevent them from being liable. It is definitely buyer beware and parents need to use good judgement when choosing any facility whether it's approved or private. It's unfortunate that there isn't a comparable website available or as widely known as calgaryarea.com. Hopefully this will not give parents seeking child care the impression that private care is not comparable to being an approved dayhome.

The whole situation sucks for both the parents seeking and the providers advertising. As a provider I realize how hard it is to get the word out when you're first starting out-much like most businesses would. I remember putting fliers up at the local grocery store just to have them ripped down by a competitor. Honestly! The store manager caught the culprit removing a few dayhome posters....almost pathetic isn't it? But anyways, once I had a few clients things just took off and before I knew it I had a waiting list.

Will let you know what happens!