More illegal daycares and ignorance of the law

Of course, this is the kind of thing I'd expect in England.

The thing that gets me is about the article is this quote:

“I was just shocked – I thought they were a bit confused about the arrangement between us. So I invited her in and told her situation – the arrangement between Lucy and I – and I was shocked when she told me I was breaking the law.”

I used to have some respect for that phrase, "Ignorance of the law is no excuse." Cases like this one, however, make it impossible to hold to that philosophy. "I didn't know it was wrong to steal a car," is one thing. "I didn't know it was legal to watch my neighbor's kid for an hour and 59 minutes but not for two solid hours," is another thing entirely.

Which reminds me of the other illegal daycare ring my mother and a number of other women ran. One of the group of five or so women would give up a day every so often to watch the whole group of kids, and the others would get the day off. Of course, they just considered it to be something of a babysitting co-op. Hell, if they did it now, they'd probably get hit with RICO charges.