Many individuals planning their futures find themselves drawn to careers in the field of child care and early childhood education, yet they may find that securing full-time employment with enough earning potential for self-sufficiency may be difficult. In order to make their dreams a reality, many individuals find that taking the entrepreneurial route of opening their own child care centers may be the best and most satisfying plan. You may be surprised to find there are many resources that can help make your dream of operating a financially rewarding child care facility a reality.
Many people enjoy being around children. Spending your days playing with, reading to, caring for, and supervising children can be rewarding and fun. For this reason, many individuals find themselves considering child care and early childhood education when they are planning their careers.
According to the 2005 U.S. Census estimates, there were 858,000 children under the age of 4 in the Sate of Illinois and another 2.3 million children ages 5 to 17. This leaves Illinois with a shortage of qualified child care providers. Illinois jobseekers looking to work in field do have to meet a few basic requirements. These qualifications include:
- 18 years or older and possessing a high school diploma or GED
- Child Care Centers, Learning Centers , and Pre-schools are more and more requiring 20 - 60 credit hours of college in early childhood education or an Associate's Degree in a related field
- Additionally, to be eligible for hire in this field, the State of Illinois requires that all child care workers pass a background screening in order to be be certain that a potential worker has no criminal background and is an appropriate caretaker
For a full list of requirements for Illinois child care workers, visit the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services 
web site.
Though there are many positions for potential child care workers; many job seekers desire a higher income level than that of most child care workers; even with an Associate's Degree in early childhood education, an Illinois child care worker can expect to earn an average wage of $9.65 per hour, according to the Illinois Bureau of Labor Statistics .
Need additional information?
- Find the services
you need to help you achieve your career goals
- Learn how to get your Child Care Business off and running through the Start a Business resources page