Licensed family child care home in Oakland, California.
A family child care home is not a small version of a centre. It is a different thing altogether: one household, a small group of children, and the same adult every single day. For an infant, and for any family who would rather their child be known than managed, it is very often the better answer — and it is the oldest form of childcare there is.
A small hand goes up. Somebody takes it, and keeps hold of it for years. Then one day it lets go — and not long after, that same hand is the one reaching down. This is a house in the business of the part in the middle.
Nobody plants a tree for themselves.
Owner and provider
Licensed family child care home since June 2019 — California facility #013423524, no citations on record
One household, a small group, and the same adult every day for as long as a child is enrolled. Meals made here. Seven years of doing this quietly and doing it properly — and a state record anyone is welcome to go and read.
One household, a small group and the same adult every day — with meals made here and a licence held since 2019. This is what a family child care home is for.
Infants through pre-kindergarten, in one household, with the same adult every day rather than a rota a child has to keep re-learning.
Breakfast, lunch and an afternoon snack, made here and eaten together at the table.
Hands busy and talking all the way through it — the way children of this age actually learn, rather than worksheets they are too young for.
Social skills, routine, sharing, waiting, listening. The things that decide how a child's first classroom year goes.
California inspects family child care homes, writes down what it finds, and publishes it. This home has been licensed since 17 June 2019 and has never been cited. You do not have to believe us — the facility number is below and the record is public.
What a day actually looks like.
A long time ago somebody stood in a bare yard with a seedling in a bucket and tried to work out where to put it.
It was a very small thing. You could have carried it under one arm. The yard had no shade in it at all, and on a hot day there was nowhere to sit that was not in the sun.
“Why bother?” said a neighbour, leaning on the fence. “You will be old before that gives you any shade.”
“I know,” said the planter, and dug the hole anyway.
They watered it in the summers. They wrapped it in the first few winters. For years it was a stick with some leaves on it, and nobody sat under it, because there was nothing to sit under.
Now go and look at that yard. There is a tree in it so wide that the whole street comes to it in August, and children who were not born when it went in are climbing the low branch and arguing about whose turn it is on the swing.
Not one of them knows who planted it. That is not the sad part of the story — that is the point of it. Nobody plants a tree for themselves. You plant it for whoever turns up later, and you will mostly not be there to watch them arrive.
That is what this house is. Somebody is doing the watering now, quietly, for people who are still very small.
The licence was issued on 17 June 2019 and has been held continuously since. In that time the State has visited and has never issued a single citation. You do not have to take our word for any of that — it is a public record and the facility number is printed on this page so you can go and read it yourself.
Infants through pre-kindergarten. Infant places are limited by the licence and go quickly, so ask early if you need one.
A small group. A family child care home is licensed for far fewer children than a centre, and that is the reason to choose one — your child is known, not managed.
Yes. Breakfast, lunch and an afternoon snack, prepared here.
Yes, and you should. The only honest way to judge a family child care home is to stand in it and watch how the children in it behave. Send a note and we will arrange a time.
Use the form on this page. It comes straight to us and every one gets an answer.
The best way to judge a family child care home is to stand in it. Send us a note below and we will arrange a time for you to visit.
The quickest way to ask about a place. If we are with the children, leave a message and we will call you back.
Use the form below if it is easier than calling. It comes straight to us and we answer every one.
Ready to print, with a code on it that brings a parent straight to this page. Full sheet for a noticeboard or a door; the half sheet prints two to a page for handing out.
The square code is yours. Anyone who scans it lands on this page, so the flyer and the website always say the same thing.
Tell us roughly what you need and when. It goes straight to us both, and one of us will come back to you.
