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I don't accept return to day care notes.
The Dr's notes are only to give a diagnosis.
I understand that the Dr. can't know the population of children the sick child is returning to. He can't know if the other children have been in the home during incubation times or if there is a new child in the day care. They don't know if you have an immunocomprimised child or a special need child in your home. They don't know your health status or your childrens health.
It's impossible for a Dr. to know if it's okay for a kid to return to care. I won't put that on them nor will I allow them to make such an important decision for me.
Just the facts Mam and I'll take it from there.Comment
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I've never once asked for or received a doctor's note for a daycare child. I'm fairly flexible with my illness policy though and work with the parents to determine whether the child is well enough to come for the day or not. I've never had a parent lie to me about giving their child medication, they simply tell me they've done so. Personally, I don't want to exclude children from my care for being sick. I want the parent to be able to go to work so that I can continue to work. If a parent continually has to take time off because of a runny nose or persistent coughing, etc., eventually their job could be in jeopardy. If their job is in jeopardy then so is mine. It's usually my clients who decide their child is too ill to come for the day and since it's rare that they have to miss work because of a sick child, they don't mind when they have to do so.Doing what I love and loving what I do.Comment
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Yes
As long as you agree to care for the sick child without any additional financial obligations you will ALWAYS get the truth. The reason parents lie or lie by omission is to have their child be taken care of by the provider. Once the provider says she will do it there is no reason to lie.
In order to do this you have State regulations and possibly insurance that allow you to care for ill children. That's the hard part. If you allow ill children and one of the other children contract an illness that takes their life or disables them you will need to be covered financially and legally. Many providers do not have the legal option to do this or the insurance to cover them financially.
(I'm not discussing the care of moderately ill children.. All States allow this. I'm referring to children who are vomiting, have a fever over 100.4, have repeated bouts of diahrrea, rashes etc.)Comment
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I have this covered in my policies:
"In the event of illness, I will be the one who decides whether your child will be allowed to attend, not your doctor."Comment
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I think this hits the nail on the head. The dr. is only concerned with his patient. Is he/she physically able to attend day care. The dr. isn't necessarily concerned with you or the other kids in care. They aren't his patients so he's not thinking in terms of whether his patient is contagious - only whether his patient can attend day care without undue risk to his own health.
I would definitely enforce my illness policy in a case like this. Dr. note or not, the child would not be coming back until he hadn't vommitted for 24 hours. I'm very firm about this and have sent parents back home with their kids. It has only happened once or twice in 13 years of doing day care. Once they know you are serious about enforcing your policy and that you will turn them away at the door if they try to bring their sick child back too soon, they don't tend to try it again.Comment
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I started work and enrolled my 6 month old son into a ABC child care. I told the director at the time of enrollment that he had gastric reflux is currently and has for 2 months been taking medicine for this and needed rice mixed into his bottles to help way down the formula in order assist the food in staying down. I also informed her that i have a doctors note confirming all of this. She said it was fine with a doctor note (typically no rice in bottles for infants). My first day to drop him off she changes her mind and tells her staff to inform me. My son threw up 6 times and had diarrhea because of it that day and because of it i had to switch daycare midweek with a new job and no moneyComment
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_____/______In certain situations, a medical form must be obtained before your child can be re-admitted into care. These forms require a written diagnosis from the child's physician and must state the following information:
the diagnosis , the treatment , length of recommended exclusion
(ex: If a child comes to day care with a runny nose, coughing, congestion, and the parent feels this is due to allergies we must have a Doctor's diagnosis stating*what the child is allergic to)
Re-admission to child care will be at MY discretion. Please do not assume the doctor can give permission for re-admittance.
The ____ /______ is for BOTH parents to initial....I doubt the parents actually read everything...but they do when I remind them to refer back to this!
it never fails...... when a child comes in with the first symptoms of a virus they say "oooh i think its just allergies" ....and in my head i say....
"Allergies my @ $ $ ....":
:
I have learned my lesson...the kid then comes in sneezing and drooling everywhere...and with in a week everyone has the flu or what have you....a minor cold, a major cold, the flu and the measles all start the same way....Comment
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Make sure your policies state something like:
"I (or the provider) reserve the right to do a daily health check of every daycare child upon arrival at the daycare. I also reserve the right to not admit a child who is showing signs of illness, even if a doctors note is presented. In many cases a child can return to daycare after 72 days from certain illnesses with a doctors note but I have the final word as to if the child can return"Comment
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Sounds like a communication issue. You should have provided the paperwork from the doctor PRIOR to attendance (the director should also have asked for it prior to the first day of attendance).
They should also have had a food program diet statement given to you to have your doctor fill out in regards to the rice cereal in the bottle.
I am sorry you had this experience with a child care but I think that like 99% of all issues between a parent and a child care provider/center, this entire situation could have been remedied with good open communication.
I am surprised that you weren't asked to provide any of this documentation BEFORE attendance. Did you get a handbook that outlines feeding schedules and procedures for infants?Comment
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I'm not required to take a doctor's note. I have never asked for one, and honestly, if someone tried to hand me a doctor's note to get me to let their child come to daycare, i'd be mad.
The parent and myself can make that call, a random doctor does not get to make that decision for me.
I have enough common sense, (and so do the parents) and frankly, I think most doctors are either idiots or thoughtless. They will write a note saying anything a parent wanted, because it doesn't disrupt their lives.Comment
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I had the same this happen, 2 parents told me "allergies" and both times everyone ended up sick. I will never ever believe "allergies" again. It was a disaster!_____/______In certain situations, a medical form must be obtained before your child can be re-admitted into care. These forms require a written diagnosis from the child's physician and must state the following information:
the diagnosis , the treatment , length of recommended exclusion
(ex: If a child comes to day care with a runny nose, coughing, congestion, and the parent feels this is due to allergies we must have a Doctor's diagnosis stating*what the child is allergic to)
Re-admission to child care will be at MY discretion. Please do not assume the doctor can give permission for re-admittance.
The ____ /______ is for BOTH parents to initial....I doubt the parents actually read everything...but they do when I remind them to refer back to this!
it never fails...... when a child comes in with the first symptoms of a virus they say "oooh i think its just allergies" ....and in my head i say....
"Allergies my @ $ $ ...."::
I have learned my lesson...the kid then comes in sneezing and drooling everywhere...and with in a week everyone has the flu or what have you....a minor cold, a major cold, the flu and the measles all start the same way....Comment
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