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Need Help with home child care

post #1 of 25
6/6/05 at 9:01am
Thread Starter 
I'm going to start advertising for After school care for the coming school year as soon as I get settled in my apartment. I was wondering if anyone who has done it before has a parent contract or guidelines they had families sign and can help me create one.
I've been stuck with non-paying parents too many times and I want to make sure that I have everything set in stone and parents know what to expect.

Also, what does your school/local daycare charge for afterschool/before school care? Do these rates seem reasonable for 3:00 - 6:00 care?
$40 a week for the first child
$30 for the second

That seems to be very comparable to the going rate around here... not a lot of money but it would be something coming in each week, especially if I can get 3 kids from different families.
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post #2 of 25
6/6/05 at 9:17am
Around here, it's $40 per week for before and after school care. I was doing after school only for $20 per week, but obviously I had no contract and got screwed big time.
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post #3 of 25
6/6/05 at 9:25am
Thread Starter 
If I were to do before school care, what time do you think I should be available? Is 7:00 too late? Should I do 6:30?
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post #4 of 25
6/6/05 at 9:40am
Thread Starter 
Things I know that I want to include are...

I do work teacher workdays and snowdays at a rate of $10 a day in addition to your regular weekly charge.

I do work early release days and the price is included in your reg. weekly charge. (Wed. 1:30 - 6:00)

I do not work major Holidays including blah blah blah blah blah.

I do not work Christmas week.

I will not keep children too sick to attend school.

Weekly charge is due in full on Friday regardless of how many days your child attended care.

There is a $5 charge for every half hour or part there of that you are late picking up your child. (after 6:00)

If your child will be out for a full week, you are not required to pay your weekly fee as long as a full 4 week notice is given. Your child's space in the afterschool program will not be held for a period of longer than 14 days. On the 15th day of absence whether requested or without notice, your child's position will be filled by another child.

What information is important that I am still missing?
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post #5 of 25
6/6/05 at 9:49am
Make sure that they know you get pd even if they decide not to bring them one day. I always got screwed with that. Also, have them pay on Mondays for a week ahead of time otherwise you will end up not getting your money. BTDT
Good luck honey! I babysit my friend's little girl a couple days a week and now that school is out probably her sister every now and then. Also watching Zachary's best friend a few weeks this summer. I was thinking about putting an ad in to take one fulltime child this fall too. Might as well I guess and we could use the money too.
Let us know how it goes.
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post #6 of 25
6/6/05 at 10:16am
hmmm....

I agree with what Krista said. Make sure they know that if they don't pay, you won't keep the kids anymore. You can't have them keep racking up a bill and still never paying. If you can get them to pre-pay that is great. Also, you might add something about a fee for late payment or something.

Let them know if you want them to provide snacks or if that's something you'll provide.

You might check them out if they've had sitters before and see if they were good to work with and paid on time, etc. If they're gonna check you out, check them out, too. but that's another issue altogether.

Mmmm.... Actually, let me see if DH has the parent handbook from when we were doing the after-school thing at the church. It had some good guidelines in it.
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post #7 of 25
6/6/05 at 10:20am
I think this post should be stuck! THese are very good tips.

I think you have it all.

Oh what about are you providing snack or lunches? Do you charge a higher rate then?

I know I am $2.50 and hour and that includes food and snack.
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post #8 of 25
6/6/05 at 10:23am
Thread Starter 
I would appreciate that Dina. I just went online and found forms for medical background and treatment release, child and emergency information, attendance, and discipline policy. Couldn't find any parent/provider contract examples though.

How would I word the information about payment/late payment.

Full payment is due on Friday regardless of days attended during the week. $? Late fee for payments made after day specified. If payment is not made within 3 days of scheduled due date you will need to find alternate childcare for your child until all overdue charges and fees are paid in full.
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post #9 of 25
6/6/05 at 10:27am
Thread Starter 
I will be making up a daily sched. for all parents that they will receive in their packet at the time of contract signing.

It will basically say something along the lines of ...

after school arrival time - 3:45 - Snack (a healthy snack and beverage will be provided daily at no additional charge)

3:45 - 4:30 - homework time (If no homework is assigned your child will be required to sit quietly during this period and read a book or work on provided activity sheets)

4:30 - 5:30 - Free play

5:30 - pickup - TV time (pre-approved television program)
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post #10 of 25
6/6/05 at 12:04pm
Payment is due in advance, on Fridays, for the following 2 weeks of care - No Exceptions! (this is my policy)

I don't have any school-age kids, so I do not have a rate in place. However, I would charge $15/day for anything under 4 hours (that's CDN funds).

Good luck Elaine!
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post #11 of 25
6/6/05 at 12:41pm
Thread Starter 
How does this paragraph sound...

Regular weekly fee due one week in advance each Friday with extra fees incurred over the week to be paid the following Friday. No refunds or adjustments will be given due to child’s absence from before and after-school program. A late penalty of $15 will be charged for any payments made after the date due. If payment is not made within 3 days of date due, you will need to make alternate child-care arrangements for your child until all regular charges and fees are paid in full.
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post #12 of 25
6/17/05 at 2:22pm
i'm thinking about getting something started myself........i'm working full time m-f, drop kids off at 7 in daycare and pickthem up at 5. i just started this routine a few weeks ago and cannot stand the way i feel. i brought this up to a friend and she suggested before and after school care or all day........but i would have to get licensed right? I have no idea how to start to how to go about it........
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post #13 of 25
6/17/05 at 3:47pm
Elaine, it's looking good!
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post #14 of 25
6/17/05 at 3:51pm
Thread Starter 
Kan,
You can keep two additional kids besides your own in your home before having to be liscensed. Sometimes you can even have more if all the kids are school aged.
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post #15 of 25
6/17/05 at 9:22pm
thanks elaine. good luck with yours.
i'm paying about 1000 a month....so not much left of my paycheck. everything was good until i had to put my daughter in and of course when i do, the price shoots up. if i took two kids i would probably be getting more then what i am getting now.
a friend of mine suggested child care for teachers....so that way i would have summers off and most likely when my child was off of school i wouldnt have theirs. just gotta convince dh this would be better for all of us.
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post #16 of 25
6/18/05 at 12:58am
it is so easy before they go to school!

good luck i hope you get good kids and families
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post #17 of 25
6/23/05 at 1:13pm
Elaine I have a question, are you providing any lunch or even breakfast at all? If so I had two options they bring there own and I stored it and there was no charge but if I fed them there was a charge. Like on in-service days or early dismissal.
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post #18 of 25
8/12/05 at 2:53am
one other thing i have a friend who did this and when my kids were in day care if we were even five min late without calling or something like if it was once then it was overlooked as long as i called but if it happend more that that i was expected to write a check that day for fees incurred and to pay it to the person staying with my child late so it all depends how strict u want to be and maybe even ask for cash that way u dont have to worry abt boucing checks
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post #19 of 25
8/12/05 at 2:54am
ohh it was 5.00 every five min per child
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post #20 of 25
8/12/05 at 3:08pm
Are you doing any transporting of them to and from school? If so, are you including cost of gas in your price?
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post #21 of 25
8/12/05 at 3:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Elaine
I just went online and found forms for medical background and treatment release, child and emergency information, attendance, and discipline policy. .
Could you post these or links to these forms please?
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post #22 of 25
9/12/05 at 2:23pm
Elaine, how is it going? I'm thinking of doing the same thing just for extra cash.
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post #23 of 25
9/12/05 at 4:28pm
Thread Starter 
This site is for NC In-Home childcare providers so it has a lot of forms on NC laws and stuff but it also has all the other generic sample forms mixed in with them in the scroll down menu.
http://ncchildcare.dhhs.state.nc.us/...ovideforms.asp

I am not doing it right now Jennifer. Because I moved to Ohio my plans got all mixed up... I still may consider starting it up here if I need some income.
I had a full time infant and two after school care girls back in NC and was going pretty well... I just hand't gotten this actual plan up and running.
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post #24 of 25
9/12/05 at 7:24pm
Thanks for the link, Elaine!
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post #25 of 25
9/13/05 at 9:00am
Thanks, Elaine!!
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