Need Help with Drop-In Care

[TXhomedaycare]

My son is going to kindergarten in the fall and I figured I would open his spot up for part-time care (he is my only SA kid). Now that I have had a chance to think about it he will be home for school holidays (I am open for most of them), potential sick days and now I am second guessing part-time care and thinking drop in care would be best since I cannot always predict when the spot will be available. My question is how does drop in care work in this case? Is my contract going to stay the same for this spot? Is having a different child dropped in going to be an issue with my full time group? Just trying to figure this thing out so I can bring in a little extra money but drop in makes me nervous (I like things to be predictable ). Thanks

[Controlled Chaos]

I love drop in care. I charge much more for drop in. My drop in families all have all the regular licensing forms on file (admission, medical release, vaccination records, contract etc). The only difference to the contract from a regular spot is that there is no guarantee for days availalbe and that they have to right to accept or decline offered days. I send out weekly emails to drop in families with the days I am offering. It is first come first serve. Payment is due at drop off. If a family no shows they are taken off the list, I haven't had a problem with that.

My group is normally 9-10 kids. the drop in kids have meshed well with my crew and I think create a nice change of pace.

I am currently trying to up my drop in families (I lost a few to life changes) so I am specifically advertising for drop ins. Stay at home parents and occasionally friends of current families are good matches.

[KSDC]

In my state, school age children are in a different category on the ratios chart. We have a max # we can keep in each age range. So, having my own SA child doesn't affect how many children under 5 I can have in care.
Any chance that your state is similar?

[AmyKidsCo]

I've always avoided drop in because of the paperwork involved but Chaos has me rethinking things.

In WI SA can only be in care up to 3 hours a day, any longer than that and they're counted in with the two-and-over group for ratios.

[TXhomedaycare]

In my state, school age children are in a different category on the ratios chart. We have a max # we can keep in each age range. So, having my own SA child doesn't affect how many children under 5 I can have in care.
Any chance that your state is similar?

thanks I just reread my reg book and you are right. I will just add a full-time spot. My son will be my first SA kid so I really hadn't paid attention to it until now.

[Pestle]

In TN, my own child doesn't even count toward the number of children I'm allowed to keep. Kids over 9 also don't count.

[thrivingchildcarecom]

Hey there! I actually have a separate "Drop-In/Back-Up" care contract. If you think it might be useful, send me a PM with your email. I would love to share it with you.