Parents on Daycare Assistance

[PAMommy1228]

How do you handle them? Like ones that cannot afford daycare, but they are going to apply for the program?

I've had too many problems with parents that are receiving these benefits. One parent came to me last year with 2 kids and said she was living in a homeless shelter because she left her husband and needed help. She was applying for the program. We filled out the paperwork and she said she would send it in. (big mistake). One day she never showed up again leaving a huge bill that I still need to go after her for. I called daycare assistance and they said that they never recieved paperwork, but someone was getting the money.


Another parent applied stayed in my care, she had been there for a year and 1/2 starting having difficulties paying, but when she got it, they didn't pay as much as she thought, so she still has an outstanding bill that she is supposed to be paying off. At least I am getting the current at the moment.

This last parent, applied as well. Told me she got approved for 52 hours, etc. So I have been waiting for about a week for the approval notice and my invoice for August. Finally I called just to make sure they had an agreement on file. It took them a second, but come to find out about a week ago she got denied because she makes too much. So now I got to figure out how to get 500 from her, when she can't even pay her light bill.


How do you handle these type of people? Do they have to pay a deposit, or a weekly fee? If they pay too much do you reimburse them?

[safechner]

I am sorry what you are going through with those parents.

Number 1# Taking her to court..


Number 3# Tell her don't bring her child in your daycare until she paid in full.

You would need for them to pay you in advance from go on so you won't have to get through trouble with them if they are falling behind to pay you.

I wouldn't take child/ren in my home if they are on assistant program because it is too much trouble.. It isn't worth your time..

[marniewon]

Many providers in my area will not take state-paid families because of all the issues and problems associated with it. When my kids were little and I was a single mom, I got assistance for daycare, and I was so grateful to my kids' providers for taking state-paid and for not charging me any more than what the state paid. But our rules have changed since then and it's a lot harder to actually get paid.

I don't have any state-paid right now, but I state that I will only take state-paid with proof of acceptance in the program before signing the contract. And then I would probably have them pay a portion of their care until the state payment starts coming.

[PAMommy1228]

I am sorry what you are going through with those parents.

Number 1# Taking her to court..


Number 3# Tell her don't bring her child in your daycare until she paid in full.

You would need for them to pay you in advance from go on so you won't have to get through trouble with them if they are falling behind to pay you.

I wouldn't take child/ren in my home if they are on assistant program because it is too much trouble.. It isn't worth your time..

I have to find #1 first. She took off and the address she gave me was her work address.


Now I was under the impression that I am not allowed to deny if they are state aid., but I suppose I should. unless they have proof. Times are hard and at this point all I could get were these people. Now I got people calling me all the time. Go figure

Thanks for the help! I just wanted to see what other people did!

[MarinaVanessa]

I accept families on subsidy (none at the moment however) and yes it can be tricky. The best way to go is to have them pay the weekly rate in advance AND a deposit of two-weeks if you do not have the acceptance letter in your hand beforehand (which you rarely do). If they can't come up with this, I don't accept them. Some parent's are bad with their paperwork and keeping their appintments and if they don't keep them up they can lose their benefits so this is just a safeguard.

If they pay in advance and then get approved for subsidy in the entire amount I deposit the subsidy check, wait for it to clear and then write them a check in return for reimbursement. If they get approved but not for the whole amount and they end up having to pay a co-payment each month then I do not give a refund, I give a credit (I also state this in my contract). I give them a receipt for what they pay of course and when their subsidy check comes in I give another receipt with the credit and the co-payments come out of this until their credit is all done. I don't see the point of giving the money back if they are just going to turn around and give it to me later. It also gives them a chance to not have to worry about paying a co-payment for quite a few months and get an idea as to how much they have to pay each month. At the end of each month when I get the letter from subsidy as to how much the family owes I write a new receipt with their new new credit balance and then fill out my worksheet and sign the paperwork that says that I've been paid and return it to the subsidy office.

Just in case you get a family that doesn't get approved for the full amount, make sure that your contract states that the parent(s) is/are responsible for paying whatever is not covered and that these fee's need to be paid immediately (you should get a letter at the same time that she does) or their child cannot come to daycare and payment for those days missed will still be owed. Usually the state does not cover unexcused absent days so this will also come out of their pocket so it's in their best interest to pay their share on time.

[PAMommy1228]

I accept families on subsidy (none at the moment however) and yes it can be tricky. The best way to go is to have them pay the weekly rate in advance AND a deposit of two-weeks if you do not have the acceptance letter in your hand beforehand (which you rarely do). If they can't come up with this, I don't accept them. Some parent's are bad with their paperwork and keeping their appintments and if they don't keep them up they can lose their benefits so this is just a safeguard.

If they pay in advance and then get approved for subsidy in the entire amount I deposit the subsidy check, wait for it to clear and then write them a check in return for reimbursement. If they get approved but not for the whole amount and they end up having to pay a co-payment each month then I do not give a refund, I give a credit (I also state this in my contract). I give them a receipt for what they pay of course and when their subsidy check comes in I give another receipt with the credit and the co-payments come out of this until their credit is all done. I don't see the point of giving the money back if they are just going to turn around and give it to me later. It also gives them a chance to not have to worry about paying a co-payment for quite a few months and get an idea as to how much they have to pay each month. At the end of each month when I get the letter from subsidy as to how much the family owes I write a new receipt with their new new credit balance and then fill out my worksheet and sign the paperwork that says that I've been paid and return it to the subsidy office.

Just in case you get a family that doesn't get approved for the full amount, make sure that your contract states that the parent(s) is/are responsible for paying whatever is not covered and that these fee's need to be paid immediately (you should get a letter at the same time that she does) or their child cannot come to daycare and payment for those days missed will still be owed. Usually the state does not cover unexcused absent days so this will also come out of their pocket so it's in their best interest to pay their share on time.

Thanks Thanks Thanks! This is exactly what I am looking for, and sounds like a good idea. I don't mind the state assistance because I like the big check around mortgage payment time LOL. It's just the tricky other stuff. But once I start getting it, it just works.

[Former Teacher]

I have my own personal beliefs on the whole welfare system however my thoughts and opinions have no place on a daycare site. So I will keep my thoughts to myself

That being said I will tell you some of the problems my former center had with state assistance. Now with home centers it might be different. I am in TX so there again it might be different.

*We were NEVER paid on time. We would get September's payment in November. If we were lucky. Sometimes it was later.
*They always paid us below our daily rate.
*They never paid us for holidays UNLESS it was a FEDERAL holiday. The day after Thanksgiving we were not paid even though we were closed. Likewise with Christmas Eve.
*Paperwork was just a bunch of BS
*We are not allowed to charge late fees. Whether it be late pick up fee, or late co payment fee. No late fees AT ALL.
*We were not allowed to charge for field trips. We did anyway because as I have said in previous posts that during the summer is where the center would make a profit. They parents paid of course. NONE of them in all my years there (17!) EVER questioned it. They apparently don't read what they sign.

I can go on and on and on. We eventually started to weed out all the state children because of all the hassle from the state as well as the parents. The disrespect and the rudeness from these parents...opps sorry I am going off track

Anyway, as I have said maybe its different for you. It sounds like it is working out for you. I wish you the best!

[professionalmom]

The only people I have ever had to take to court (4 families) were all subsidy recipients.

Would I ever take subsidy again? Not unless I had to in order to feed my family.

The parents were the problem. DHS paid on time (IF the parents reported their hours on time). But the parents seemed to have difficulty understanding that they were responsible for the difference, or they thought the difference was too much, got upset when they had to pay for no-call no-shows or non-sick absences, etc. Then they wouldn't pay the co-pays on time. They would pick up late (creating a fee that DHS did not pay and parents didn't want to pay). The list goes on and on. I had to practically beg them for their measly co-pay and they acted like I was cutting off their right arm and extorting money from them (even after lengthy discussions about co-pays and such BEFORE they enrolled).

Private pay clients paid on time, every week, and never complained about charges, fees, or the quality of care I gave their children. Basically the subsidy clients were DRAMA, DRAMA, DRAMA, but the private pays were drama-free.

[kay]

problem

my problem is awhile back i recieved an approval letter for a family.. the social worker herself called me and told me the family was approved for care immediately and that i should start taking the child immediately and now dhs is refusing payment because they say the family didnt put a two weeks notice in... now i know the lady is entitled to her two week notice, but regarding i should never have recieved an approval from the county....now im stuck late on rent with no way to get money..

[mac60]

We call this the "Entitlement Syndrome".

[sahm2three]

I have families on assistance. Until they are accepted and you get an award letter, I ALWAYS charge the families the fees. If the state will go back and back pay, I charge the state and then reimburse the family. I want to help people out too, but not going to take money from my pocket to do it.

[Blackcat31]

I actually LOVE the families on assistnace because I have a few simple rules for the familes receiving the assistance:

1. NO care until I have the actual contract agreement from the state IN HAND. (no exceptions)

2. ALL co-pays, late fees, and additional cost are to be PRE-PAID. No exceptions. No care the next day if you have a balance owed to me.

3. Anything the state does not cover is the parents problem to pay...they sign this agreement. If you have money due...you pay it up front or there is no care.

This works because where I live the assistance program works like this:

1. Parents get a pre-determined amount of hours per week so I know how many hours are covered by asistance.
2. The program pays a full day rate for any attendance over 5.5 hours per day.
3. Our billing vouchers are for two weeks at a time and turned in on Fridays and we are paid via direct deposit the following Tuesday at midnight.
4. If a parent lies or doesn't do whatever their personal contract says they need to do it is their problem NOT mine. Meaning I am paid for whatever I bill the state and if the state sees a problem with it or doesn't like what the parent did or the schedule parent set up the state goes after the parent for reimbursement NEVER me. I am not required to know where the parent goes or what they do..I don't have to even ask. I only have to record the number of hours or days the parent SCHEDULED with me, NOT the actual hours they were in attendance. The state also pays for the 10 federal holidays (IF I bill all families for them) and the state pays for 10 absent days per contracted period which is 6 months.
5. Also if a family up and quits and I get no 2-week notice, the state covers it.
6. If a family does leave owing me money...I call their worker and the family is not allowed to get assistance anywhere else until I am paid in full first.

This program has only worked this way for the last 3 years...before the state did a major overhaul of the program I had the same issues as everyone else and hated families on assistance because I was the only one who got the short end of the stick.

[sweetnini]

Agreement with Subsidy

Do you a sample agreement that your parent sign that I can have a copy? we have similar problems at our center; we often learn parent with subsidy after enrollment, and subsidy payment often one month late, and we bill one month in advance and you see the problem. Do you any suggestion for a better way to handle this sticky problem. since we are run by college, we often told not too harsh when try to collection money from parents(customer service) and yet I am one who being held responsible when receivables are too high. I welcome any help on agreement, past due letter and better to handle past due parents, thank you.

[Unregistered]

Redleafpress.com has a Family Child Care Cd with all the professional forms you need for this issue (and many others). Including a pre pay of two weeks care, and an agreement for subsiddy payments. I bought it two years ago and love it. I don't think it is legal for me to paste the forms on here since you have to pay for the cd. I believe it was around $20.

Also, I take assistance clients and bill them for the remainder of what is due from whatever the state shorted me on. I figure you get some benefits of having them here- like getting paid a full day for 5.5 hours-. Luckly in our area we can talk to our assistance people whenever we want to get answers about hours, pmts, agreements, etc. I stand firm on the pay ahead- no copay- no daycare- I have never had an issue.

[momatheart]

I actually LOVE the families on assistnace because I have a few simple rules for the familes receiving the assistance:

1. NO care until I have the actual contract agreement from the state IN HAND. (no exceptions)

2. ALL co-pays, late fees, and additional cost are to be PRE-PAID. No exceptions. No care the next day if you have a balance owed to me.

3. Anything the state does not cover is the parents problem to pay...they sign this agreement. If you have money due...you pay it up front or there is no care.

This works because where I live the assistance program works like this:

1. Parents get a pre-determined amount of hours per week so I know how many hours are covered by asistance.
2. The program pays a full day rate for any attendance over 5.5 hours per day.
3. Our billing vouchers are for two weeks at a time and turned in on Fridays and we are paid via direct deposit the following Tuesday at midnight.
4. If a parent lies or doesn't do whatever their personal contract says they need to do it is their problem NOT mine. Meaning I am paid for whatever I bill the state and if the state sees a problem with it or doesn't like what the parent did or the schedule parent set up the state goes after the parent for reimbursement NEVER me. I am not required to know where the parent goes or what they do..I don't have to even ask. I only have to record the number of hours or days the parent SCHEDULED with me, NOT the actual hours they were in attendance. The state also pays for the 10 federal holidays (IF I bill all families for them) and the state pays for 10 absent days per contracted period which is 6 months.
5. Also if a family up and quits and I get no 2-week notice, the state covers it.
6. If a family does leave owing me money...I call their worker and the family is not allowed to get assistance anywhere else until I am paid in full first.

This program has only worked this way for the last 3 years...before the state did a major overhaul of the program I had the same issues as everyone else and hated families on assistance because I was the only one who got the short end of the stick.

THIS is exactly what I was going to say regarding payments.