Venus Woman Fights City’s Unconstitutional Ban on Home Daycares

Rosi Paredes took all the right steps to open a daycare from her home in Venus, Texas. She was inspected, tested, and registered by the state. She made sure her local homeowners association was on board. And she made sure the small group of children she would be caring for wouldn’t bother her neighbors.

But Venus won’t let Rosi open. While Venus allows all kinds of home businesses, the city bans home daycares entirely, no matter how small. And they refuse to follow a Texas law passed in 2025 that was designed to protect people like Rosi who want to run no-impact businesses from their home.

This isn’t just unfair and against Texas law; it’s unconstitutional. A city can’t arbitrarily pick and choose to allow some home businesses while banning others. And it can’t make it illegal for Rosi to practice a trade that is as old as human history: providing childcare for her neighbors.

That’s why Rosi has partnered with the Institute for Justice (IJ) to challenge Venus’ illegal and unconstitutional ban on home daycares to defend everyone’s right to earn an honest living and support their neighbors, including from their own home.

Rosi Paredes

Rosi is an American success story. Originally from Ecuador, she moved to America in 1998 to seek economic opportunity. She started working in fast food restaurants and babysitting on the weekends. Then, when she got a job at a daycare, she found her calling. She had a passion for childcare, and after working as an employee for daycares for a few years, Rosi took the next step and opened her own business: a small daycare that she ran from her home in New Brighton, Minnesota.

It was everything she’d dreamed. She was able to connect with her neighbors, be her own boss, and spend time with her own daughter. But kids grow up, and soon Rosi was sending her daughter Nadia off to get her nursing degree in Texas.

Missing her daughter, and growing weary of Midwest winters, Rosi decided she’d follow Nadia. Together the two purchased a home in Venus, Texas, a small town outside of Dallas. It was close enough to Nadia’s school and in a neighborhood that was growing quickly among young families. It should have been the perfect fit for Rosi to open a new home daycare.

Venus says “No” to Rosi after Texas says “Yes”

Rosi got to work setting up her home daycare. The state of Texas came to her home, inspected it, tested her, and gave her the green light to open a small home daycare for no more than six children. That was exactly what Rosi wanted: something small, quiet, and neighborly.

But when the city learned that Rosi was planning on opening her business, they posted a big red warning on her door that her business was illegal under Venus’ local ordinances. That’s because while the city lets people open all kinds of other home businesses, home daycares are on a list of explicitly banned businesses—no exceptions—along with things like boat painting and automotive repair.

Rosi tried to reason with the city. She explained to them that Texas law protects people like her. Still, the city said no. She asked if Venus would consider granting her special permission to operate because her daycare was small and unnoticeable. Still, the city said no. Rosi even lobbied city council and the mayor to consider changing the law to allow her to open. Still, the city said no. If Rosi operates her daycare while Venus’ ban is in place, she faces up to $2,000 in fines per day.

Legal Claims

But Rosi won’t take no for an answer when it comes to standing up for her legal and constitutional rights. She’s filed a lawsuit against Venus that argues the city’s ban on her daycare is illegal and unconstitutional for four reasons.

First, Texas passed a law that is specifically designed to stop exactly the kind of ban Venus is enforcing against Rosi. In September 2025, the Texas Governor signed a bill into law that prohibits local governments from getting in the way of people like Rosi who want to open a home business that has no impact on her neighborhood. The bill had overwhelming bipartisan support in both houses of the Texas legislature, 128-4 in the House and 29-2 in the Senate.

Second, when a city bans a small home business like Rosi’s, they violate the Texas Constitution’s protection against laws that oppressively burden someone’s right to use their property and to pursue the career of their choice. Texas has made it clear: If a city wants to get in the way of someone earning an honest living, it better have a good reason. And there’s no good reason to stop Rosi from providing a needed service that women like her have provided for their communities since the dawn of time.

Third, the city’s ban is fundamentally unfair. Venus allows someone to give music lessons from their home but doesn’t allow Rosi to open her daycare from home. The only reason the city has given for this different treatment is that they are concerned that Rosi’s daycare will generate street parking. But a parent dropping off their child for daycare would park for a few minutes at most, while something like music lessons would generate hours of additional parking. That’s the sort of irrational double standard that violates the Texas Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law.

Finally, the city’s ban violates Rosi’s right to freely associate with her neighbors. Rosi’s desire to open a home daycare, as opposed to a commercial daycare, isn’t just to save on costs. She likes being part of the community and providing a service to her neighbors. But Venus’ law bans Rosi from doing that, forcing her to open a daycare away from the people she wants to provide her services to. That violates Rosi’s right to freely choose the people she wants to associate with under the Texas Constitution.

Venus must follow the law just like everyone else. It doesn’t get to pick the laws and parts of the Constitution it wants to obey. That is why Rosi is standing up for herself and others who just want the freedom to use their home to earn an honest living and provide a much-needed service to their neighbors.

Litigation Team 

The case team includes IJ Attorneys James Odell, Marco Vasquez Jr., and Jessica Bigbie.

The Institute for Justice 

IJ is the national law firm for liberty, dedicated to protecting Americans from arbitrary and abusive government power since 1991. IJ continues to defend the right to run a home business free from burdensome and unnecessary restrictions by local governments. In Lakeway, Texas, IJ helped Bianca King keep her daycare open after initially being denied a permit when golfers complained about kids playing in her yard. IJ is currently representing a physical therapist in Leavenworth, Washington, who specializes in pre- and postnatal care, and a home auto shop in North Whitehall, Pennsylvania, against bans on their businesses.