Abnormal work schedule....

are you a nurse? could you change your setting so you'd have a more traditional work schedule? I'm guessing you have more money the way you are doing it now. You could hire a nanny-but having a family member help you would be lovely every other weekend. I'm a nurse and already had a M-F 9-5 type job when i adopted my kiddos.

Yes, I am a nurse in a very specialized unit. The only way to change my schedule would be to leave the unit as my manager is not flexible with weekend scheduling. All full & part time nurses work every other weekend. As of right now, I can't see myself leaving the unit. I really enjoy woking there.

A lot probably depends on where you live and what child care is available--I've heard of some places that have odd or extended hours for child care but I'm not sure that even exists any more. Options would probably also depend on the age of the child you adopt. For example, some home care providers may be more willing to keep an infant for extended hours, others may feel better about an older child. If you really don't want to change to a job with more conventional hours, which I totally understand, your options are probably limited to finding an in-home center willing to accommodate your hours, which may be hard with the every-other weekend stipulation, as in-home providers tend to be people with their own young children and to want weekends as their own family time, when the children don't have to share a parent with other kids. Also, if the child has special needs--for example, needs to see a therapist during the day or needs one-on-one attention for a significant portion of the day--that could be a problem as well. Family is an option, and that would depend on your specific situation, but unless you have an especially generous, and reliable, family I would think you would need to work out some kind of payment/business arrangement in return for that level of child care. And that can be tricky, mixing business with personal relationships. Also, there could be issues with the kind of child care provided (just an an example, which may not apply to you, I am a nanny for my grandchildren but they built me an apartment on the property and pay the utilities--wish I could just donate my time but that's not possible and it's really not for most people today. Plus I pretty much do what I want with the kids--luckily, their parents trust me and love how I am with the children, but if there were conflicts between how I want to do things and how they want them done I could see that being a very sore point--can't dictate the way you would to an employee. Another option is to hire a nanny, which could be very expensive but worth it if you can swing it (In my area, full-time nannies earn an average of $30,000-$40,000 a year). I do know one nanny who works for a couple with long hours--they have a spare bedroom set aside for her and she stays there when she has long days and early mornings. Keep in mind that anyone that if you have anyone work for you for what is considered full time you also have to pay Social Security taxes, unemployment insurance, and so on. If you live in a college town, one possible solution would be to provide room and board in exchange for child care--with your schedule that could be challenging, but with the right person (whom you would trust and who has the right schedule) that might work--although you might have to go through replacements every term or year. And in any case, you would need to have a back-up plan where you would have a substitute caregiver or someone to fill in for you at work when the caregiver is ill, or has a personal emergency. It's great that you are thinking ahead so much, and although the options may appear to be limited, knowing in advance what you might be looking at might help you think up a good solution. If you are thinking of adopting an older child from foster care, it might be helpful to post in the foster forum--there might be services available in those situations.

Thank you for all the input. I'm thinking I'll end up with a combination of daycare or nannycare with family filling in. My mom is very supportive and I'm sure would love to help out. As this is still a ways off for me, I have penty of time to figure it out.

My mom was a nurse. She used to drop me off with my grandparents in the morning, they would take me to daycare, and then Mom would pick me up from daycare in the evening. If you don't have family to help, you can possibly get a nanny/sitter to fill in before or after school for your child. A private, in-home daycare might be more flexible for you as well.

I have a one daughter and I also work on an abnormal work schedule as I move from one place to another. Life is hard some times but we don't have any choice but to rely on her grandparents to take care of our daughter as I'm having some trust issues on getting a nanny/sitter to take care of our daughter.