Am I Over Reacting

[daycare]

UGH, food program woes again.

So this past Friday, the 31st I was in an all day training for QRIS. I got home at 5pm, a two hour drive home.

I literally hoped out of my car, ran in my house and went to the bathroom, just to hop back in the car for a 5 hour drive out of town to attend a funeral.

This morning at around 9 am I get an email from my food program rep telling me that my claim submission is LATE. WTH are you kidding me.

I tell them I wasn't here on Friday, my staff doesn't know how to submit claims and I need to be the one to check it prior to. They said sorry it needed to be submitted by the first of the month, which means saturday. So I said you expect me to work weekends now?

They said the claim is late now and I can't submit it. I am LIVID. I just now sat down for the first time today. I have been teaching preschool, dealing with parents, cooking meals, changing diapers and so on since I opened.

I was told that if I could get the claim to them by noon I could still submit it.

Short of waking up at 4am, I just can't get to the food program stuff until mid day....

Am I over reacting here? I really feel like they are making it next to impossible to participate.

[Blackcat31]

UGH, food program woes again.

So this past Friday, the 31st I was in an all day training for QRIS. I got home at 5pm, a two hour drive home.

I literally hoped out of my car, ran in my house and went to the bathroom, just to hop back in the car for a 5 hour drive out of town to attend a funeral.

This morning at around 9 am I get an email from my food program rep telling me that my claim submission is LATE. WTH are you kidding me.

I tell them I wasn't here on Friday, my staff doesn't know how to submit claims and I need to be the one to check it prior to. They said sorry it needed to be submitted by the first of the month, which means saturday. So I said you expect me to work weekends now?

They said the claim is late now and I can't submit it. I am LIVID. I just now sat down for the first time today. I have been teaching preschool, dealing with parents, cooking meals, changing diapers and so on since I opened.

I was told that if I could get the claim to them by noon I could still submit it.

Short of waking up at 4am, I just can't get to the food program stuff until mid day....

Am I over reacting here? I really feel like they are making it next to impossible to participate.

Depends on your agency.

Mine allows us to turn our claims in any time during the next month but the only stipulations are that they generate reimbursements twice monthly so if we want the money by the 18th of the next month, we have to submit by the 3rd at noon. If we submit after that our reimbursement checks (or direct deposits) don't go out until the last week of the month.

I would call other providers in your area that use the same agency and see if that has always been the rule, a new rule or not a rule at all.

Seems odd to me that they would have such a hard deadline for claiming but then again, each agency does seem to do it's own thing despite the program supposedly being the same across the country.

[daycare]

Depends on your agency.

Mine allows us to turn our claims in any time during the next month but the only stipulations are that they generate reimbursements twice monthly so if we want the money by the 18th of the next month, we have to submit by the 3rd at noon. If we submit after that our reimbursement checks (or direct deposits) don't go out until the last week of the month.

I would call other providers in your area that use the same agency and see if that has always been the rule, a new rule or not a rule at all.

Seems odd to me that they would have such a hard deadline for claiming but then again, each agency does seem to do it's own thing despite the program supposedly being the same across the country.

I am being told it has to be last day of the month or the first of the month no matter what or I get ZERO.... no delay in payment, just won't be able to submit.

[Blackcat31]

I found this:

http://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/aa/nt/cacfpdeadline.asp

http://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/aa/nt/cacfplateclms.asp

"All original and upward adjusted claims resulting in a payment must be submitted by the sixtieth (60th) day following the month claimed to be considered for payment (see Appendix A-1, Claim Submission Deadlines)"

^^taken from the Child and Adult Care Food Program Reimbursement Instruction Booklet

[Mom2Two]

@daycare This doesn't sound right. We have til the 3rd to submit IF WE WANT TO BE PAID AT THE END OF THAT MONTH. We are allowed to submit late...but we won't get paid til the end of the NEXT month. We still get paid!!!!

Something isn't right with that crowd. Do you have other choices for who you work with? We use the closest one, but there are others we could work with in the next county.

[daycare]

I found this:

http://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/aa/nt/cacfpdeadline.asp

http://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/aa/nt/cacfplateclms.asp

"All original and upward adjusted claims resulting in a payment must be submitted by the sixtieth (60th) day following the month claimed to be considered for payment (see Appendix A-1, Claim Submission Deadlines)"

^^taken from the Child and Adult Care Food Program Reimbursement Instruction Booklet

so then what they are doing is not correct? UGH I am so stressed out right now it's not even funny. This food program agency acts as though I have nothing better to do but input meals and call kidkare every time it malfunctions, which is stinking daily at this point. I just sat down, have not even had lunch yet........

[Blackcat31]

so then what they are doing is not correct? UGH I am so stressed out right now it's not even funny. This food program agency acts as though I have nothing better to do but input meals and call kidkare every time it malfunctions, which is stinking daily at this point. I just sat down, have not even had lunch yet........

Yes, they are not correct.

Mom2Two is correct.

[sharlan]

We have to file by midnight daily and the end of the month by the 3rd.

[daycare]

We have to file by midnight daily and the end of the month by the 3rd.

See I was always told the same thing. If the first fell on a saturday or sunday, we had to have it submitted by monday at midnight.

[sharlan]

I would lose payment for Friday, but not the whole month.

In fact, I did lose payment for Friday because I forgot to take care of it. I only had 1 kid though.

[CityGarden]

I would contact them now and find out what sort of one time exception can they make in this instance.

Then I would be looking for a new food program that does not cause you this much stress.

[daycare]

Sooo I sent the link BC and wording and they said that is the agreement between the agency and the state, not the provider and the agency.

They sent me the rules that I signed and it does say I only have until midnight on the first of each month to submit.

So looks like I either quit or submit to their requirements..

[CityGarden]

They sent me the rules that I signed and it does say I only have until midnight on the first of each month to submit.

So looks like I either quit or submit to their requirements..

It does appear to be that way.... is there no room for a one time exception this time?

[Unregistered]

For me it's $$$$ and I look at it as part of my work week even if I had to get up at 4:00am or finish on a Saturday. That's just me tho.

It would be frustrating but I'd be "Oh my gosh, I've got to get this in!!!!

I think it's wise of everyone's advice of following through and questioning it. I'm such a rule follower I'd never think to research the rules. I'm sure I would have asked them tho.

Sorry this happened especially at a super busy time!

[Blackcat31]

Sooo I sent the link BC and wording and they said that is the agreement between the agency and the state, not the provider and the agency.

They sent me the rules that I signed and it does say I only have until midnight on the first of each month to submit.

So looks like I either quit or submit to their requirements..

That is really ****y.... why have a federal program but allow each agency to interpret and implement in their own way? Makes no sense to me but then again not much connected to the government does...

I'd do as a previous poster suggested and maybe look for another agency to sign on with. The one you are currently with doesn't at all seem to be supportive of the providers it serves and that alone would have me seaching else where.

Child care is hard. It's even harder when the agencies and organizations that are there to assist us seem to work against us.