Douglas Graham

I posted an article to Twitter this morning about a Michigan law that a state agency claims a woman is violating by watching the children of several sets of neighbors as they wait for a school bus. The article was picked up by the front page of Yahoo, so is likely getting some widespread exposure today.

Here is the core of the article:

IRVING TOWNSHIP, Mich. – Each day before the school bus comes to pick up the neighborhood’s children, Lisa Snyder did a favor for three of her fellow moms, welcoming their children into her home for about an hour before they left for school.

Regulators who oversee child care, however, don’t see it as charity. Days after the start of the new school year, Snyder received a letter from the Michigan Department of Human Services warning her that if she continued, she’d be violating a law aimed at the operators of unlicensed day care centers.

According to the article, she did so because the other families were working and could not watch their children. To help out her neighbors, not to run a day-care. The situation provides an interesting look at the law and how it interacts with people on a daily basis. Specifically, in how we take situations in our daily lives to better the law.

Governor Jennifer Granholm and other state representatives look to be attacking this situation head-on, as new legislation that would exempt situations like this one is currently being drafted.