Child Assistance

[sahm2three]

I am interviewing 2 parents who are on assistance and I was wondering, why do some people not take them. I know you have to fill out a form or something and wait for the state to pay you. Do they still pay for holidays, sick days?

They don't pay for sick days, they don't pay for vacations, they only pay actual hours you have the child. They only pay so much per hour, so if you charge by the spot, you may still have to bill the family. It has been a nightmare. I have three families on it and I won't take any more, when these families are gone, I am done taking families on assistance. Total nightmare.

[DancingQueen]

I could never refuse someone that was qualifying for assistance that WANTED to work.

I make the parents pay me my full tuition every week and then when I receive the state check (which is a large portion of my tuition) I then cash it and write them a check for the full amount of the state check.

I did it the other way before and waited 6 months or more for my check so my ONLY condition is that parents pay every week and I'll give them what the state gives me.

[juliebug]

here in Nebraska you don't get paid any vacation, holiday or days they are just not here. you also can NOT ask the parents to pay the difference. i lost alot of money from the kids i did take assistance on. plus once they lost it they left. so then all of a sudden i had 3 open spots and now 4 months later i have finally filled one spot out of the three.

[Unregistered]

I did this once and I was living in the state of Maryland I didnt have to make sure I was approved to accept Subsidy just had to be licensed the parent had the paperwork with her when we interviewed it showed how much they would pay monthly and the parents where responsiable for paying any remaining balance so I signed the paper and SHE had to mail it to dss not me they paid my 250 every 2 weeks and yes it was always a month behind but I had the parent pay her 100 buck co pay on the 1st of the month ahead of time they only paid for when she was in school I didnt get paid for holidays because school was closed so she had to make up for it and they only paid up to a certian amount of days he was absent we never went over that for the time he was in care but it ended where she was off for like a month before her next classes started and they wouldnt pay for it and she couldnt afford it so I told her to give me notice and if I wasnt full when she went back to school I would take him needless to say I did not take him back and I will NEVER accept subsidy again.

[MarinaVanessa]

I'm in CA and accept assistance but currently none of my clients are on it. I don't mind accepting it as I can usually weed out any bad seeds in the interview process. Here what they payfor childcare doesn't cover my entire fee and so in my contract I have it that the parent must pay the difference, for holidays etc. BUT not all state assistant programs allow you to do this so make sure that you'll be able to charge the parents for these and late fees first.

Also, it pays monthly which is a drag but since I can get by with just 2 regular paying clients I don't mind it. It can also take up to a month before you even get your first payment from them so I require that the parent give me my 2-week deposit and 1st week of care in advance like the rest of my clients do and then they pay weekly in advance like the rest of my clients until I get my first payment. Once I get it that payment becomes a credit in their favor and instead of reimbursing them back I just deduct the fees from this balance until it's all gone, then the family starts to pay the difference on a regular basis. I always show them what I get and give receipts etc. so that they can see what the assistance pays and what the difference is so that they can get an idea as to how much they will be paying monthly out if their own pocket so they can be used to it and there are no surprises later. I don't reimburse what they pay because I figure that if they are going to turn around end eventually just give it right back to me then there's no point. Doing it this way also helps prevent me from getting burned.

[danoh0429]

I was wondering...I live in Illinois and the State funding this year is already on its 2nd delay. I've had two families that I allow to use state funding for and haven't had any issues with delays from the state until this year. My checks also come once a month. Back in Feb, the funding ran out and my checks were 2-3 months behind. Now, it looks like the funding is again running out and I'm wondering if I should just make the parents pay me out of pocket until its resolved or wait it out? Luckily, my husband works, so I'm not desperately needing the $ but again not sure if I should wait it out or not?

[Unregistered]

I also have and had parents who received some state assistance. My policy is tuition is due by the first of the month no matter what or no services will be given until payment is made. The parents understand that they need to pay if payment from the state doesn't come in on time. However, once the state payment comes in I will refund their payment. So far state payments have been going directly to the parents so the parents pay me as usual, and I haven't had to deal with payments directly from the state.

You should have them pay if the state money doesn't come in. When I worked in a center we had a lot of parents on state assistance. They kept insisting the payment was coming but sometimes it never did because the parents were not fulfilling the requirements the state asked for or lost their assistance and did not inform us, so the center lost out on a lot of money.

[LysesKids]

I was wondering...I live in Illinois and the State funding this year is already on its 2nd delay. I've had two families that I allow to use state funding for and haven't had any issues with delays from the state until this year. My checks also come once a month. Back in Feb, the funding ran out and my checks were 2-3 months behind. Now, it looks like the funding is again running out and I'm wondering if I should just make the parents pay me out of pocket until its resolved or wait it out? Luckily, my husband works, so I'm not desperately needing the $ but again not sure if I should wait it out or not?

I gave up on taking Vouchers when I did care in IL; I was there in 09-10 when providers didn't get paid for 6 months or more and the parents would refuse to pay... it got so bad I told them no more subsidy clients (I was a single mom). I'm not about to go under because the state wants to play games with my $. I don't take it here in TN either because a lot of the parents don't bother to turn in the families first paperwork etc. Not going thru the hassle again

[Thriftylady]

It varies so much by state. In some states you can't charge them any more than the state pays. Some of those same states don't pay for absences. That is why some of us won't mess with it. Also, here in Ohio the standards for the state to accept subsidy kids are over and above licensing standards.