The press release from State Rep. Brian Calley (R-Portland) came with this breathless headline:
“With budget in ruins, state decides to crack down on illegal baby sitting.”
The ‘Big Mother’ tactics, as Calley put it, involves the state ordering a Middleville family to stop watching a friend’s child in the morning before the kid gets on the bus because they aren’t a licensed day-care facility.
The Department of Human Services, Calley said, ordered the family to “cease and desist, or agree to undergo CPR training, a mental evaluation, a furnace inspection and a host of other requirements.”
Calley introduced a bill that, as he puts it, “basically allows Michigan residents to be good neighbors.”
Under current state law, Calley said, Michigan homes must be licensed if they provide care to non-dependent children on an ongoing basis, no matter how long the duration each day.
Calley’s bill would make Michigan residents who agree to baby sit non-dependent children exempt from day-care rules as long as they are not engaged in a child-care business.”
That seems reasonable, doesn’t it?
