Held Sibling Spot for 5 Months Free-Mom Cancelled

[Leigh]

I am a business.

My goal is to make a profit.

I do not give away or discount my services.

I do not hold spots. (holding a space saves a family money while YOU lose money)

I currently have 2 DCM's that are pregnant.

BOTH will continue to pay for the older sibling at their regular rate regardless of their maternity leave plans or whether the older sibling will attend part time or full time or not at all.

Once the infant spot becomes available (one at the end of summer/one at the end of the year) they will both pay for the infant space IN FULL even though neither will actually use it until weeks/months later.

Can you imagine a parent asking a landlord to hold a HOUSE for them without charge for 5 months while they finished out their current lease? It's NO different. They don't make their living on empty houses, we don't make our living on empty slots. It's the SAME. We need to respect ourselves and our product enough to EXPECT the same.

[CityGarden]

I am sorry that you are out of money due to this family. Personally this sounds like an opportunity to learn from and revise your policies.

If I read your post correctly you have policies to offer one week free and also to give back a one week deposit if given proper two weeks notice (which this mom has done). If you term now it seems like you would be doing so to avoid holding up your end of your own contract which is not professional IMHO. I do feel the mother will want to come crawling back once she realizes that cheaper does not mean better care but still seems like you want to term to avoid payment of the deposit.

Actively look to fill both spaces with full time families then you have a valid reason to term.

Policy Change Suggestions:

Deposits should be non-refundable.
A provider is never going to want to have to write a check to the parent at the end of the business relationship. Some providers apply it to the last 1-2 weeks of care others just charge a flat non-refundable enrollment fee.

No Holding Spaces
They know they are pregnant either they pay for the spot when you have it available or they need to be willing to wait for you to take their child when a spot opens up and they need to make other arrangements until you do. You are not responsible to lose money for their benefit.

One week free
Again you should not lose money for a clients benefit.... clients are welcome to take vacation but just like you have to pay your rent or the light bill when you are on vacation the overhead does not change if a client is gone for a week so I don't offer any weeks free.

NillaWafers has a good handbook that covers a lot of policies I highly suggest you take a look at it. (Maybe PM her and she can send you the link to her website / handbook)

Sorry this happened!!! :hug:

[JackandJill]

Can you imagine a parent asking a landlord to hold a HOUSE for them without charge for 5 months while they finished out their current lease? It's NO different. They don't make their living on empty houses, we don't make our living on empty slots. It's the SAME. We need to respect ourselves and our product enough to EXPECT the same.

Amen to this!! lovethis

[thrivingchildcarecom]

I know I am coming in the middle of this thread so hopefully you have received some good advice that you can use. I have to say that I have been through this in the past too, but I learned and now WOULD NEVER hold a spot without a fee.

I would just add that after the dust has settled in this circumstance, take the time to go and tweak your policies, handbook or both to require some sort of (non-refundable) fee to hold a spot longer than 15, 30, 90 days (whatever works for you). And by the way in my opinion, that fee should be significant enough that someone would not just want to lose the $.

I am sure most seasoned providers have had similar battle scars and learned a lot from the experiences. You are not alone.

Hope that helped.

[WBee]

Maybe with infants, but that isn't the case with toddlers and preschoolers. I have 11 children here who are each enrolled 2 days per week and they do just fine. This child could adjust quite easily to attending 2 days a week.

However, if it's a financial hardship for you to have him drop down to 2 days per week then that would completely be an understandable reason to give two weeks notice for providing care. "I'm sorry, Susan. I'm unable to fill the 2 day/3 day spot surrounding the days you were wanting Johnny to attend so I am going to have to give my two week's notice. I appreciate your understanding."

I am only licensed for 6 children here amd of the 6, two are my own so yes, this is a huge financial burden! Plus she is expecting her one free week next week however, she is in breach of contract as I do not permit any cancellation notices 2 weeks prior to any vacations for this very reason. I was in process of upgrading my license and hired someone to start in July for this baby as well so now....??? Spots need to be filled.

[MunchkinWrangler]

I am only licensed for 6 children here amd of the 6, two are my own so yes, this is a huge financial burden! Plus she is expecting her one free week next week however, she is in breach of contract as I do not permit any cancellation notices 2 weeks prior to any vacations for this very reason. I was in process of upgrading my license and hired someone to start in July for this baby as well so now....??? Spots need to be filled.

I would revise your contract so this doesn't happen in the future. The contract I started out with had 2 weeks vacation unpaid for myself. I have a small group and my son takes up a spot. I could not go without that money. So I changed it. All of my families understood and agreed to the change. They all get paid vacation so they were in agreement that I should too. I know yours is a different situation but don't be afraid to change things up when it's not good for your personally.

I would require she pay. Have you discussed this with her? I would term as soon as you are able to financially. This is really bothering you and it isn't could to carry on a business relationship because your emotions are already involved. The money is what makes it personal.

[childcaremom]

I would revise your contract so this doesn't happen in the future. The contract I started out with had 2 weeks vacation unpaid for myself. I have a small group and my son takes up a spot. I could not go without that money. So I changed it. All of my families understood and agreed to the change. They all get paid vacation so they were in agreement that I should too. I know yours is a different situation but don't be afraid to change things up when it's not good for your personally.

I would require she pay. Have you discussed this with her? I would term as soon as you are able to financially. This is really bothering you and it isn't could to carry on a business relationship because your emotions are already involved. The money is what makes it personal.

I am in a similar situation (small #s and some of my children count into my #s) so every spot counts. I would be looking to replace and terming asap. Full time trumps part time.

[Ariana]

I almost did this with a family but after a month told them I was no longer willing to hold the spot without $$. She was a college friend of mine so I extended some courtesy but then it sort of dawned on me why was this my courtesy to give! If she wants me as a provider that badly then she should be more than willing to pay me to hold that spot. My family lost out on a months worth of payments but she got to keep all of her money? If she had been willing to pay me she would have had a professional trusted friend to care for her infant but in the end money was more important to her. It should have been more important to me..you live and learn!

When you really think about it, it logically makes ZERO sense to hold spaces for free.

To the OP, I hope you fill those spots super fast and put this crazy lady behind you :hug:

[WBee]

I would revise your contract so this doesn't happen in the future. The contract I started out with had 2 weeks vacation unpaid for myself. I have a small group and my son takes up a spot. I could not go without that money. So I changed it. All of my families understood and agreed to the change. They all get paid vacation so they were in agreement that I should too. I know yours is a different situation but don't be afraid to change things up when it's not good for your personally.

I would require she pay. Have you discussed this with her? I would term as soon as you are able to financially. This is really bothering you and it isn't could to carry on a business relationship because your emotions are already involved. The money is what makes it personal.

I did get her to pay for her vacation time. She ever so thoughtfully handed me 1/2 a weeks fee upon dropoff yest. in which I explained to her that she needed to pay the entire week as they were only set to decrease to 2 days "after" her vacation. I will let her know how unfair this has been to my family and will term as soon as I can find replacements. I put an ad out today. It's just so hard to get summer starts. Typically Sept. is when newbies begin. :-( Thank you!

[Crazy8]

Sorry you were screwed but I think you should remain professional and uphold your end of the contract.

You have no contract for the baby at all so that is out of the equation. Lesson for future, never hold a spot without a non-refundable deposit!

For the dcb, did you already approve the drop to 2 days per week?? Do you have paperwork for that (I have what I call a "temporary change form" that parents complete when dropping to part time for maternity leave, summer schedules, etc.).
If you did not approve the 2 day a week schedule I would either term based on that or let them know that you need to replace him with a full time client and will only accomodate the schedule change until you fill the spot. If you have a deposit for that child apply it ONLY to his last week of care - their choice how many days they want to send him that week but do not let them drag the deposit out to cover multiple weeks (I had to add that to my contract once when a parent wanted to do that!).

Good luck but please try to remain professional through this even though you are hurt and feel taken advantage of. One thing we need to learn is that parents will ALWAYS do what is best for them and we have to take the emotion out of it.