I could care less about the law. I've had this happen once and I told the parent to bugger off and come back when they weren't drunk. Go home... sleep it off.. and then come back. I had her kids until noon the next day (Saturday) and then I terminated them.
Just tell him he can't pick his kids up if he has been drinking. If he does it again you will call the police. If you smell a whiff of alcohol on him or he appears even SLIGHTLY intoxicated you will call. Be firm.
I'd be hateful about it but that's just me. I've learned to not be nice when situations like this happen. I don't like it and I'm going to be happy to tell them I don't. I don't need a dead kid on my conscience for the rest of my life. NO thanks.
Honestly I don't give a flip about the law on this. I simply do NOT care. I don't know the law in my State and I won't bother looking it up. I would not EVER release a kid to a parent who was drunk. NEVER NEVER NEVER I will take the kidnapping charge thankyouverymuch. Good luck getting a judge or a jury to find you guilty on that.
I agree with this.... common sense.
I would not keep the child over night. I would call back up to come and get the child, or whatever I have to do. No back up then I would involve the police. I would also call the police if the parent drove off. That parent is endangering others lives and his- I am not playing around with drinking and driving!!!
This might be an old thread but it is well worth bringing it up again.
I would call the police if a parent that I thought had been drinking tried to take the child. I would stall the parent, call 911 and request immediate back up at my address. Then deal with it when the police arrived. I would rather be wrong then have a tragedy happen on me. We are all mandated reporters and this is covered under that-
I had daycare years ago when my youngest daughters were little, and just recently restarted.
In my old policy I had added a clause about parents arriving to pick up their child who were obviously under the influence. It stated that I may ask them not to take the child or to have someone else come pick them up. As I KNOW you cannot stop a parent from taking their child, I also added that if they insist on taking the child that the local police department would be notified immediately.
I no longer had an issue with this particular dad who was the reasoning behind creating that clause...he was an alcoholic and eventually committed suicide a few years after the kids were no longer in my care.
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