False Allegations Made. Now I'm Afraid To Term. Should I Use Behavior Reports?

[JLH]

I'm just wondering how many home providers out there use behavior forms. I'm thinking about terming a family but feel that I should leave a paper trail to cover my behind. I termed a family about 6 months ago for constantly lying to me about illness', medicating their child before drop-off, and trying to bring their child with impetigo. Finally after months of dealing with these problems, I had enough and let the family go. The family turned around and reported me to my licensor for several false things. Lucky for me, I had read a post on this forum where the provider had said that whenever they term someone they always report it to their licensor. Well, luckily I had done just that, so when the family called with false allegations, my licensor was already aware of the problems. She came out and she wrote it off as being untrue. Now I am almost afraid to terminate families. What if the next family makes false allegations? Will the licensor automatically believe I am doing something wrong because of someone else reporting against me? You just never know what people will do and this is my sole source of income for our family of 5. I guess I'm just trying to get some feedback on here about if you leave a paper trail with behavior reports before terming or what your experiences have been with false allegations being made against you.

[Michael]

Threads on Behavior Reports: https://www.daycare.com/forum/tags.p...havior+reports

[cheerfuldom]

you can easily document without even providing the family with copies or knowledge that you are doing so. just document for your own use. print out emails, document text, conversations and phone calls. keep dates and times all logged. dont be afraid to term families. the licensor will not be surprised by anything. I am sure they have heard it all!

[Cradle2crayons]

Each family has a communication log in their file. I use it to document every conversation. I screen shot texts and print them if i need to from my iPad.

As a nurse I'm well aware that documentation is EVERYTHING. It can make you or break you. I document EVERYTHING......... Regardless of whether I tell the family or not, it's all in their file JUST IN CASE.

[MarinaVanessa]

Document, document, document.

It's one of the reasons why I allow texting and emails. I shoot a quick text or email to the parent if there are concerning behavioral issues or other issues.
"Hey Susan. Little Suzie bonked one of the other kids on the head with a toy today. I'd like to talk to you about it at pick up. Thanks."

or

"Hi Susan. Little Johnny is not feeling good. He has a fever of 101 and will need to be picked up."

I also log any communication that I have with the parent and any attempted attempts to contact them, what time I noticed things, took a temperature, behavior, time it took to pick the child up etc. This way later if I have to terminate for something I have a paper trail to show proof of my termination reasons. And of course, deffinetely call licensing to give them the heads up.

[JLH]

Thank you so much everyone. Isn't it funny how sometimes the easiest solutions are the ones that just slip your mind? Your answers all make perfect sense. I started documenting the problems yesterday and slipping them away into the kids' files. Thanks again!

[AmyKidsCo]

you can easily document without even providing the family with copies or knowledge that you are doing so. just document for your own use. print out emails, document text, conversations and phone calls. keep dates and times all logged. dont be afraid to term families. the licensor will not be surprised by anything. I am sure they have heard it all!

Yup! I have contact logs for each child that I try to remember to document conversations about child development, concerns or payment problems in... but I forget more often than not.