Question About Day Care Billing for Absent Days

[NotARegularMom]

I know that when your child is in daycare, you're expected to pay for the say's that child is scheduled for whether they attend or not. However, I've recently run into something that seems unfair to me.

My child is in a home daycare. Monday to Friday schedule, but we kept him home for the holidays (2 weeks) Our provider asked a few weeks in advanced what our plans were for that time, and said he was not required to be there. Because it was arranged in advanced, my childs spot was filled by an other child for those two weeks, so that childs parents were billed for that slot, for those days. We are ALSO being billed for that same slot because it is our childs slot. But if they filled it with an other child for all of those days, should they still be billing us for that? It seems wrong to me that they can charge both families and get paid double for one spot.

[spedmommy4]

It depends on what your contact says. If you had vacation time that you were entitled to use, then no. If you didn't have vacation time, and you just chose to keep your little one home, then it's okay. In childcare, you are typically paying for a slot. She held the slot for you and you could have used it if you had wanted to.

[Thriftylady]

It does depend on your contract. In my contract you would have had two options. A. Pay for the slot regardless or B. use your vacation time and pay half rate to hold the spot. I had a family of three who had a parent laid off over Christmas and they didn't come. They still paid for the spot, because mom didn't want to use her vacation time.

[MissAnn]

Having another kid attend doesn't necessarily mean that just occupied your child's spot. If it was a new child, there was a lot of paperwork involved, making sure he/she had provisions for sleep and more. New kids always mean preparation. I don't see it as another child sliding right in to your child's spot.

[Play Care]

Having another kid attend doesn't necessarily mean that just occupied your child's spot. If it was a new child, there was a lot of paperwork involved, making sure he/she had provisions for sleep and more. New kids always mean preparation. I don't see it as another child sliding right in to your child's spot.

I guess the only issue I would have as a parent is that if something had come up and I needed to send my kid to day care, would I have been able to? In my mind, if I've paid for it, and the provider is open/working, then I should be able to use it.

As a provider I would totally do what yours did but telling the parents of the "filler" child that your FT child got priority.

Our income is so limited by State regulations as it is, that if I could *legally* increase my income by filling spots of vacationing families I probably would.

[midaycare]

I do this all the time. When a dck is out sick for the day, and another parent needs the spot who doesn't normally attend that day, the sick child parents' have to pay and the parent who attends that day.

My income varies so little. If I can make an extra $20- $30, it's nice

[Cat Herder]

This one hits close to home for me. I will give you my side of this topic.

I had several families stay home for the two week public school holiday although I am only closed for one of those.

Only one of those families met the required 30 days notice for unpaid family vacation. All others were billed minus my one week closure.

One family heard through the grapevine that I keep two "new" kids during that time. They felt their slots were filled, they were due a "break" and demanded one.

The other two families knew immediately that my personal choices had nothing to do with them at all because they remember being told about this possibility during their welcome tour.

Truth: Those children were emergency placements through DFACS. I am not allowed to disclose their personal information. It is not always about $$, sometimes it is simply the right thing to do.

If an enrolled child would have needed to attend due to change in plans the foster children would have been picked up and moved to another placement. Easy/Peasy. No contract breach.

My former client has now learned a valuable lesson about leaping to infinity upon assumption and thinking they are the center of my world. ::

Now, hopefully your provider is ethical and has a justifiable reason. She is not required to disclose that to you, though.

[Blackcat31]

Personally, I think it's unethical for a provider to be paid twice for a space (Catherder's situation is a different story) but for regular providers that simply take drop ins or school agers over the holidays, I feel it is unethical and unprofessional to accept money for a space twice.

It's just wrong in my eyes.

However, YOUR situation OP depends on your contract with your provider. Is this something you discussed during the interview or at any other time? Is this a "normal" practice for her?

[Cat Herder]

Personally, I think it's unethical for a provider to be paid twice for a space (Catherder's situation is a different story) but for regular providers that simply take drop ins or school agers over the holidays, I feel it is unethical and unprofessional to accept money for a space twice.

It's just wrong in my eyes.

However, YOUR situation OP depends on your contract with your provider. Is this something you discussed during the interview or at any other time? Is this a "normal" practice for her?

This was my thinking as well. Although I recently took Provider Training class that frowned upon stating our "morals" as "ethics". Morals cannot be translated into "business ethics" as each culture and situation is vastly different. :confused:

FTR, I felt like I needed a shower after that class. ::

Personally, I am not paid for those placements, well at least financially. lovethis It is a volunteer service. I have also taken an older sibling, unpaid, after the typical morning cutoff, before to help a graduate student study as well.

I should still have personal choices in my own home as long as I follow my "morals".

***The key, for me, would be the ability to accept the enrolled child immediately if they had a change of plans. That would be an "ethic" (according to the class).

Being paid twice for the same slot feels wrong to me, but benefits my business plan and my family, therefore, is a "moral".

[auntymimi]

Personally, I think it's unethical for a provider to be paid twice for a space (Catherder's situation is a different story) but for regular providers that simply take drop ins or school agers over the holidays, I feel it is unethical and unprofessional to accept money for a space twice.

It's just wrong in my eyes.

However, YOUR situation OP depends on your contract with your provider. Is this something you discussed during the interview or at any other time? Is this a "normal" practice for her?

This is me. I had a little girl that comes 3-5 days a week. Gma works for the school system so she had Christmas vacation. DCG mom is a single mom and asked if dcg could stay with gma for the holiday break to save some money for christmas. I said no problem because her spot was easily filled by a school ager needing care during the break. Had I forced the issue and she had to pay she would have brought dcg every day because she was paying for it. I wouldn't have had the spot for the school aged child, so it's not like I would be making any more money anyway. This way I was able to help 2 families out, everyone's happy. Word of mouth is also huge in my small town and if I can make parents happy I do.

[Blackcat31]

***The key, for me, would be the ability to accept the enrolled child immediately if they had a change of plans. That would be an "ethic" (according to the class).

Yes! This was my reasoning... ^^^

This is me. I had a little girl that comes 3-5 days a week. Gma works for the school system so she had Christmas vacation. DCG mom is a single mom and asked if dcg could stay with gma for the holiday break to save some money for christmas. I said no problem because her spot was easily filled by a school ager needing care during the break. Had I forced the issue and she had to pay she would have brought dcg every day because she was paying for it. I wouldn't have had the spot for the school aged child, so it's not like I would be making any more money anyway. This way I was able to help 2 families out, everyone's happy. Word of mouth is also huge in my small town and if I can make parents happy I do.

Great solution and building a good business reputation in your community!!

[KSDC]

***The key, for me, would be the ability to accept the enrolled child immediately if they had a change of plans.

I agree with this, up to a point. That change of plans needs to be before the day of care. If my DCP tells me that they will not be using care, I don't allow them to just show up and drop their child without at least calling me the day before. This has nothing to do with filling the spot with another child. This has to do with my planning food and supplies and activities around the expected children.

I do sometimes fill an "empty" spot with a drop-in child. My town is so under-serviced with providers that I try to help when I can. But, my full-time families always have first dibs. They just have to let me know at least one day before if they have a change in plans.

[Thriftylady]

In my situation, I would probably refund money for any days I filled, but would still expect it to be paid in advance as usual. I of course have never been in that situation, to have a drop in come on those days. But also in my case, I am only full when my group who was gone over Christmas comes. Every family child care situation varies so much.

[midaycare]

Personally, I think it's unethical for a provider to be paid twice for a space (Catherder's situation is a different story) but for regular providers that simply take drop ins or school agers over the holidays, I feel it is unethical and unprofessional to accept money for a space twice.

It's just wrong in my eyes.

However, YOUR situation OP depends on your contract with your provider. Is this something you discussed during the interview or at any other time? Is this a "normal" practice for her?

Meh. I will agree to disagree. I give dcf's breaks all the time. I am so much more lenient than other providers, and I don't charge late fees.

All of my dcf's know I do this, and none of them mind.

[Thriftylady]

Meh. I will agree to disagree. I give dcf's breaks all the time. I am so much more lenient than other providers, and I don't charge late fees.

All of my dcf's know I do this, and none of them mind.

I am pretty lenient also. We had a snow day the other day and my three that paid two weeks they were not here were here all day. Normally two of them are before and after school and the youngest I pick up at PreK in the morning. On the snow day mom should have owed me more money for all day care. I told her not to worry about it, due to the fact they were gone two weeks, and to me the stable income is more important than the little bit I would charge for a non-school day.