The new job came with a corporate office and ample benefits. But Teresa Cunningham found herself fantasizing about more earthly things -- burping and cuddling babies.
So two weeks ago, Cunningham quit her job at a national clothing company to open a day care center in her Paterson home. She's not alone. More North Jersey residents are parlaying their nurturing skills into a business, as shown by state data and a steady demand for local licensing seminars.
The enterprise appeals to a range of people, from women looking to earn money from their home to religious institutions hoping to instill their values in young children.
"My husband is a pastor and this was always his vision," said Krystal Lassiter of the Future Scholar's Learning Center, a Mill Street facility founded by the Greater Faith Church of the Abundance in Paterson.
But as Lassiter has learned, opening a free-standing facility requires years of work and thousands of dollars. And state requirements only became harder last year when inspectors abruptly closed a Gloucester County day care center -- housed in a former thermometer factory -- for elevated mercury levels.
"There's a lot that goes into this," said Tom Bell, a spokesman for the state Department of Children and Families, which licenses child care centers.
In New Jersey, day care facilities fall into two categories. "Family Day Centers" are small, informal setups, typically housed in someone's home. Providers can care for up to five children, excluding their own. Most local women chose this route, Paterson business consultants say, because it requires a much less of a capital investment than a free-standing building.
Family Day Center providers need not register with the state, but doing so comes with benefits. Registered caregivers receive state referrals from parents who receive subsidized day care vouchers from the Abbott program, which covers Passaic and Paterson. The state also provides training for those register centers.
On Saturday, Cunningham attended a Paterson workshop on opening a child care center, intending to register with the state before she does so.
"I want to do this right," said Cunningham, 40, as she poured over a binder of handouts. "I want to make sure my clients trust how I treat their babies."
Registered Family Day Center providers must undergo surprise inspections and baby-proof their homes -- such as install electrical outlet covers, for example. Licensed "Child Care Centers," in contrast, must do much more. Providers with more than five children go through a six-part licensing process, undergo background checks, and submit a curriculum to the state.
And free-standing facilities need months of water, soil and other environmental tests. If the building doesn't pass, remediation can costs thousands of dollars. Lassiter said she has invested about $50,000 in improving her old mill building, and filled filing cabinets with birth certificates and employee paperwork. Tara Smith, who runs Tiny Tee Day Care in Paterson, spent $20,000 to make her basement space safe.
Despite the hurdles, licensed child care centers continue to open. In New Jersey, about 10,000 more day care slots were created during the last year, according to state data. As of August, more than 4,300 centers served 340,000 children.