Drop In Care

[Oneluckymom]

Hi guys, happy Friday!!! I wanted some help on deciding whether or not to accept drop-in care. First off, what kind of contract is used for drop-in care? Second, is it even profitable or worth It? Third, does it disrupt your daily schedule at all? Fourth, what do you charge? Thanks!!

[Abigail]

I can't answer your questions, but I'm wondering the same. I am thinking about offering drop ins after I get a few signed up so I don't feel like I'm having 30 kids. I know that drop ins require a lot more paperwork on your end to keep up with the licensing requirements. I would charge an annual registration fee of $25 or something and require payment to be paid upon arrival each day. I think if it's not too much of a disruption or hassle then I would do it. I have to give everything a try before saying no.

Also, in my city no drop in care is available for more than 4 hours and no drop in care is available for infants anywhere so that would be a huge marketing yes-yes. :: I did call these places and they said if you wanted them to stay more than 4 hours all you do is sign them out and a few minutes later sign them in again. Hmm, makes you wonder how flexible they are on other things.

[sharlan]

I tried it for a short time, years ago. It didn't work for me. It seemed like everytime I was headed out the door to go somewhere, they would show up unannounced.

[Kaddidle Care]

We offer drop in within reason - they have to give us notice or at least call before stopping by with their child. We have to make sure we're properly staffed.

I'm pretty sure they complete all regular paperwork for this service.

[mismatchedsocks]

I use same contract for drop in, but make the contract with payment a little different. For me it is worth it, because its just extra income. It does not disrupt my day BUT I find that certain children who are not ok with change or flexible they will be upset and that can ruin the day. I charge higher then normal, $5 an hour, paid in advance.

And I never have any that just show up, they know they must call to see if I have any openings. I have a list I go off of, and at the beginning of the month I will email all of them and they can pick the days they want. I have a 5 yo, 3 yo, and 18 month old on the drop in list. These kids want full time care here, but I have no room, and they want them to be familiar with me so in case they do start full time.

Hints: Always interview, no matter how short or how many times the kids will be here. Always get money in hand for WHOLE time they think they will be gone, and if they are late, have them pay at pick up for those extra hours. Have alot of back up numbers for them. And lastly, think of it as a play date for those kids, and your kids will see it as fun too! I dont usually do infants as drop in, only because in my experience they will be up when everyone else is napping, or cry the whole time THEN that is not something that will be a good experience for anyone!

[Blackcat31]

I used to accept drop in care kids but I quit a few years ago (ONE of the best decisions I ever made!!!)

My reason for this was that drop in kids create a whole new atmosphere with the regular kids I have in attendance. I charged more to make up for the extra hassle but some days I was positive that no amount of money was worth the chaos it created. Meal time was off, nap time is almost impossible for a drop in kid to understand and the whole routine we follow is questioned or protested to a million times by the drop in kid. The effects of the drop in kid could sometimes last into the next day with my regulars so it was starting to really make me think twice.

Imagine what it is like the first day with a newbie and that is what having a drop in is like. The same goes for kids who are regular drop ins. There is definately something to be said for consistancy and routine!!!

Now I don't take kids that need care less than 3 days a week. It is amazing how much more I love my job!!

[Unregistered]

dop ins

I don't do drop in because I can only have a certain amount of children that are preschool age so If Ii take a drop in I take away from a full time child. So I don't offer it anymore. Plus its disrupting because most of my drop ins would come between 9 and 11 and then after lunch they wouldnt nap because they slept late in the morning. I agree no amount of money is worth it for drop in care.

[wdmmom]

I used to permit drop in care but have since stopped.

I interviewed a family. They called me telling me that they had decided to go with someone else but wanted to use me for 1 day since their provider took the day off. I had never met this child and the very next day is when they needed care! I told them I charged $45 for drop in care for a 9 hour day and they said they were hoping to only have to pay around $25-$30 since they are still have to pay their normal provider.

That call itself deterred me from doing drop in care.

I will only do drop in care now for families that I've worked for before or for part time clients that need additional hours beyond their weekly contracted hours.

[cheerfuldom]

I only permit drop in care of families I already know. They pay by the day at drop off, provide one diaper bag with one day's supplies of items and their child has to go along with the activities we have for the day, no special treatment. That being said, I do make a little money from this but would never open this up to random families.

[JaydensMommy]

I have done drop in care and still offer it when I have space. For me it has worked with some and not so well with others. But I thought it was worth it for the money I made since I charge more for drop ins. I have a different contract and still do an interview and I require at least 24 hour notice. Payment is made the day of care.

[MarinaVanessa]

I accept drop-ins and I enjoy it because I can fill the open gaps that I have. I interview the client just like any other client that I have and they sign a contract just like any other client also. The contract is just a little bit different. They know that it's on a "first-come first-serve" basis and they HAVE to call and get approval from me first.

I charge more hourly for drop in than I do for anything else when you break it down. FT comes out to $3.20 and hour , PT comes out to $3.75 an hour and drop-ins are $5 an hour or $40 for a full day ($4 an hour). Even my FT and PT families pay the drop-in rate if they need to go over their hours or need their scheduled hours extended. It's worth it for me because, like I said, I can fill-in those gaps from my other clients and make a few extra dollars.

One of my PT clients had a wierd work schedule this last week and only needed to come 3-6pm mon-thurs and then full-day today so I was able to schedule a drop-in client 8am-3pm mon-thurs. My part time client pays $108 a week for 29 hours or less for her guaranteed spot, my drop-in client pays $40 a day for 1 child which came out to $160 per child (which is the same for my FT weekly rate of $160). She has two kids so I made $320 this week just on that drop-in client so yes it's worth it to me.

As for the inconvenience thing ... I don't see it as a hassle because It's worth the extra money for me. I do activities in the morning but I go on a schedule so I know where my transtion gaps are and schedule drop-in's to arrive during those transitions or right before meals and snacks. I'm usually preparing for the next activity or meals anyway so my drop-ins wouldn't be interupting anything. And they know that I don't do arrivals or departures during naps. They also know that if they arrive earlier or later and it atarts to become an inconvenience I charge extra for that time and the next time they call I might not have the space for them - if you know what I mean.

Next week I had 2 spots open on Monday and I was able to fill it with my drop-in family with 2 kids. I'm full right now and already "getting paid" for those slots but because I require everyone to follow their scheduled hours and a schedule from my PT family that has a changing schedule (mom works 9-5pm, dad has a restaurant schedule) I'm able to make extra money by doing drop-ins. Totally worth it to me and if they end up being a problamatic drop-in family I just have to say that I don't have the room ... they follow a different contract than my PT and FT clients.

My drop-in clients pay upon arrival too however my contract says that if they make a "reservation" they have to stick to it. If they cancel or change it for any reason at all there is a $10 fee per child. If they cancel after their scheduled reservation or they pull a no call/no show they still have to pay for the reservation time they scheduled for, of they arrive early they pay extra for the earlier time and still have to pay until the time they were scheduled to leave even if they leave early, if they arrive late they still have to pay from the start time that they scheduled (late arrivals don't allow for late pick-ups). If they owe money and don't want to pay (never happened to me as of yet) I'll just report them to providerwatch. I doubt the day's unpaid fees will be worth my while going to court.

[cheerfuldom]

oh yeah and my drop ins MUST give 24 hour notice, never ever show up at the door unannounced. the first time they are late, try a no-show or are unavailable for emergency, I don't take them back again.

[Abigail]

Do you really have to pay $10/month for access to the provider watch site? I googled it and came across the fee.

[MarinaVanessa]

Do you really have to pay $10/month for access to the provider watch site? I googled it and came across the fee.

You pay to check on potential clients. You don't pay if you are reporting a client for non-payment. What I do is schedule my interviews all during the same week or two and after all of the interviews I pay the $10 for 1 month and check all of my interviews. You don't have to pay $10 month by month unless you really need to for some reason. You just need to pay the $10 for 30 days of service.