Rant

[kayla]

Omg I have been so busy. I have been running 9 kids... God bless those of you who do I myself am having a hard time. No one listens, Everyone acts up when parents show up! No one wants to nap. One family owes me over a thousand dollars supposedly the county assistance will pick it up I am doubting this because I have been watching their kids since sept.24th. All of this on top of closing date of our new home on dec 1st...I am sooo stressed out I don't know what to do!!! Sick of one parent showing up every monday with some excuse on why the check is not here...My own son has been teething I need a vacation!!!!

[cheerfuldom]

oh my goodness.....sounds insane. First of all, dont watch the assistance kids until THE PARENTS get the payment worked out and get caught up, end of story. then you need to take the time to figure out what the issues are and start solving one by one....I would imagine at this point with the no naps and the chaos, you just have too many kids right now, period.

[crazydaycarelady]

I agree - you need to tell them no pay=no stay until they get it worked out or pay you. The bill is getting so large they will never catch up!

[bunnyslippers]

Oh, I am so sorry. What a stressful day! Take a few deep breaths, and then make a list of each issue and address them one by one.

As far as the family that owes you 1,000, no way would I even keep caring for them. That is outrageous!!!!!

[MarinaVanessa]

Wow 9 kids is alot. I can only do 8 but would prefer to only do 7 and even then I only have 4 until noon and get the 7th at 2:30. By 3:30 the others start getting picked up so I don't have them all for longer than an hour. Phew just thinking about 9 kids makes me tired.

You need a "np pay, no play" policy. If they forget the check at home they need to take little Jimmy and run back home quickly to get it. There's no excuse as to why they can't pay you when it's due. One of the reasons that I require payment on Friday by 6:00pm for the following week in advance is so that if I don't get the payment by pick-up I can remind them that it's late and that they can't come on Monday without it including late payment fees. Come Monday morning I send a 6:30am reminder saying the same thing so that they have no excuse for showing up at my door without it. I don't have a problem with it anymore thank goodness.

As far as the $1,000 ... never assume that what the client tells you is correct unless you have a letter in your hand that tells you. I'd call your county assistance program and ask about it. Ask them if you are allowed to require payment from parents until your check comes in. All of my county assistance clients have paid me until I get my first check (usually 2 months later) and when I get my reimbursement check then I reimburse them back and they no longer have to pay out of pocket. It's tough on county assistance clients I know but I wouldn't do it any other way, not all subsidy programs allow you to though so you'd have to ask them.

[Blackcat31]

Omg I have been so busy. I have been running 9 kids... God bless those of you who do I myself am having a hard time. No one listens, Everyone acts up when parents show up! No one wants to nap. One family owes me over a thousand dollars supposedly the county assistance will pick it up I am doubting this because I have been watching their kids since sept.24th. All of this on top of closing date of our new home on dec 1st...I am sooo stressed out I don't know what to do!!! Sick of one parent showing up every monday with some excuse on why the check is not here...My own son has been teething I need a vacation!!!!

Wow! Sounds like you have been earning your dollars!

I also want to coment on the family who owes you money. NEVER EVER watch families receiving CCAP without a Service Authorization or without actually speaking to the families worker who can verify that the family IS indeed approved and what date CCAP will begin coverage.

The state will also only allow you to turn in vouchers requesting payment WITHIN 60 days of the services. Any services you provided more than 60 days ago will NOT be paid.

I really hope this family gets caught up with you....I would be really nervous about continuing to provide services when they owe you that much money.

[kayla]

Thanks everyone! I know I shouldnt have let it get this far behind, I guess its more or less because they are friends of my husbands, so I trusted them. I have been screwed over before, but I will tell them this afternoon that they cant come back until I hear from the county or have all the money due up until this point...any suggestions on how to word it would be great! I will start telling that parent that doesnt show up with the check that I will be enforcing a no pay no play policy if the check isnt here they must take there child home until I have check in my hand. But yeah I would love to go back to only having 6 kids... This running 9 kids full time is too hard especially with a young baby of my own... They feed off each other and I feel like I need a whole new group of kids!!

[cheerfuldom]

Thanks everyone! I know I shouldnt have let it get this far behind, I guess its more or less because they are friends of my husbands, so I trusted them. I have been screwed over before, but I will tell them this afternoon that they cant come back until I hear from the county or have all the money due up until this point...any suggestions on how to word it would be great! I will start telling that parent that doesnt show up with the check that I will be enforcing a no pay no play policy if the check isnt here they must take there child home until I have check in my hand. But yeah I would love to go back to only having 6 kids... This running 9 kids full time is too hard especially with a young baby of my own... They feed off each other and I feel like I need a whole new group of kids!!

well I guess you can see that you really are over your personal limit of kids at this point. please find a way to scale back on your numbers asap! its not a good situation for you, your child or the other families for this to continue.