Venus Woman Fights City’s Unconstitutional Ban on Home Daycares

VENUS, Texas—Rosi Paredes followed state law when setting up her home daycare in Venus, and the state approved her business. But the city told her that it bans home daycares, even though in 2025 Texas enacted a law to prevent bans on home businesses. Rosi faces fines of up to $2,000 a day if she operates her daycare under Venus’ ban. Today, Rosi is joining with the Institute for Justice (IJ) to file a lawsuit challenging the city’s ban on home daycare businesses.

“I followed the rules and the city should too,” said Rosi. “I just want to continue taking care of children in my neighborhood like I’ve done for years.”

Rosi took all the right steps to open a home daycare 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 she was going to work out of a house where 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.

“Venus’s blanket ban on Rosi’s home daycare is more than just unfair. It violates Texas law and the state constitution,” said IJ Attorney James Odell. “Venus couldn’t stop Rosi from watching her neighbors’ kids if she was doing so for free, and it can’t stop her from doing so as a business.”

The town refuses 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. The town claims the daycare would lead to parking issues, but Rosi’s home is right next to an empty field and street parking is incredibly common in her neighborhood. Plus, Venus’s own rules allow for home businesses that generate street parking, just not if that business is a daycare.  

“The Texas Constitution protects the right to earn an honest living, including in your own home,” said IJ Attorney Marco Vasquez. “Venus cannot outlaw Rosi from doing something women like her have done throughout human history: taking care of their neighbors’ children.”

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.