Contracts?

[sahdaycaremom]

I currently have a very basic simple contract. When I first started daycare a year ago I didn't know much about contracts. Now that I am experiencing problems, I want to redo my contract. I would like to be more in depth on my illness policy and other things. My question is..I have nothing written in my current contract about there being updated contracts. Am I able to change my contract whenever I wish?? I thought about just issuing new contracts for new families, but that would not help me much in the situations I am currently having with my families now. I am wanting to have my new contract ready to hand out in January. Any advice with be much appreciated. Thanks in advance

[MyAngels]

You can update a contract at any point. Just prepare your new contract and have each family sign and date a new one, which then supercedes the old one. The families obviously have the option of not signing and risking losing their spot, but I've never had anyone refuse to sign a contract update. I would use the explanation that, since you are relatively new to the profession, you have found that there are additional things that you would like to include in your policies and are updating for that reason.

[MarinaVanessa]

That's right, you can update your contracts at any time you wish. Normally what I do however is update my handbook throughout the year as things come up but don't actually give them out to sign until the beginning of the new year. Any new policies I want to add I type up in a two-week notice and hand them to the parent's and keep a copy for myself. Then at the beginning of the new year I print out the new updated handbooks and give them to the parent's along with contracts to renew.

[MARSTELAC]

Have any of you had a parent NOT return an addendum to contract? I had all families sign new contracts for 1/1. All were returned. Since then I have had to update the contract, which I do through addendum that needs to be signed and returned to me asap. Two families have not returned their addendum. It is really annoying. Should I put up a note (for all to see) that x family and x family still need to return their paperwork?