Daycare Contracts

[VAmomof4]

I have a small home daycare (4 kids). I have a contract and a separate illness policy for my parents. Sometimes I wonder if it's good. How did you create your contracts and how often do you revise them? Would anyone be willing to share their contracts?

[Cat Herder]

I have a handbook that includes my goals, expectations, policies and curriculum. I then have a contract with bullet-point summaries of each section with an initial section, then a rate statement with signatures.

I change it as needed because of unexpected issues from parents. The longer you are in business, the less you will need to change it. Ironically, mine also got shorter. The fewer the words, the smaller the loopholes.

I can share any section you'd like to see. What are your main areas of concern?

[Unregistered]

I asked a few providers in my area if they would be willing to share their contracts with me and I took the best of each one, I started in June, so come December I made all the changes from what experiences I had encountered with parents and revised it for Jan 2020.

What are some things you are questioning?

[VAmomof4]

No real areas of concern. Just wondered if I'm missing anything. I created mine by googling "home daycare contracts".

[Ac114]

I updated my contract for the new year in Jan. My main issues that I touched on were:

-my hours of operation
-late fees for late pick ups or early drop offs
-payment
-late payment fees
-ILLNESS POLICY
-drop off cut off times

I don’t know if this helps in anyway.

[Unregistered]

Add "the provider reserves the right to immediate term for any reason" clause to your contract as a cover all. I give an example for its use: "i.e. lighting fireworks in my driveway" I feel like reasonable parents understand it's necessary to protect our home. Of course I screen for them at interview but some mommy's & daddy's are good at hiding their crazy.

[AmyKidsCo]

My contract is 4 pages long because it lists everything to do with time and money: their contracted days/hours, my paid holidays/vacation time, regular rates, possible extra fees, etc. Also termination procedures (including that I can terminate at will effective immediately), notice that decision not to enforce a policy doesn't mean the policy is void, and I have them initial that: I'm a mandated reporter, we have cats (WI licensing thing), I'll call 911 in case of unsafe transportation, and a failure to read the handbook doesn't excuse violations or remove consequences for violations.