Is Reporting Her Reasonable?

[MarinaVanessa]

Hello! I have two small children, ages 3 and 1, who I left with a woman, C, who is unlicensed and watches children in her home. The hours were... 3 hours on Monday and Wednesday, and two hours on Tuesday. That's it. I'm not going to talk about prices, because that's irrelevant. But she was getting paid a decent amount. Reason I bring that up, is because when I would ask if she could watch them a few hours extra, seeing as I was paying her for the DAY (6am to 6pm as stated in her contract), she would say no, I need to pay her extra for that, and taking free hours is 'screwing her over'.

Apparently, I pissed her off, because one day she texted me after I picked up the girls, saying she couldn't watch them anymore. She wouldn't give me a reason, and the next day, I get a phone call from CPS. Apparently, my daughters vagina had a 'severe, infected rash.' And I didn't have food in the house, so they're starving (also, C was supposed to provide all the food). Since I have nothing to hide, and my youngest had a slightly moderate diaper rash (normal, it had been there for TWO days, and we were *forced* to take her to the ER where the docs said it was normal, and it will probably happen frequently while she's in diapers...), I invited the lady over, and she saw they were fine. I called C to ask for our potty chair and money back (I had paid her two weeks in advanced, and she kept the money for the last two days). I asked if she reported me, she denied it and said she didn't believe in CPS, and then blocked me on Facebook and posted about how I kept starting drama. *eye roll* She ignored my texts and calls, and wouldn't give us the money when we stopped by her apartment. She also shut down her Care account.

So, my SO missed work, I missed a week of school trying to find a new babysitter, and I'm 99% sure she's the one that filed a false report against us (seeing as she is the ONLY one to change them, and the CPS caseworker knew about the rash). I'm thinking about reporting her. Does that sound reasonable, or just vengeful?

You must go by what the contract says. Check your contract to see if you have specific contracted hours (your contract lists the hours that your child will attend daycare). If it does then the provider is only contracted to care for your child during those hours for the amount that is specified in the contract.

If she contacted you and terminated the contract effective immediately you should also check the contract and check the termination policy. Is she supposed to give you a certain amount of time when she terminated care? If she was supposed to give you advance notice, like lets say a two-week notice, and she did not then she violated the contract and you could ask her for the days that you paid in advance from the date of termination forward.

As for being reported to CPS, unfortunately there isn't a way for you to prove that the provider reported you and she herself is denying it. If you had concrete evidence then you could file a police report for a false report and could possibly take her to court for any lost wages for yourself (but probably not for your SO, he would have to go after her himself but I would get legal advice on this).

As far as the money that was paid for future child care with her I would check the contract and see what the policy is for refunds for money paid in advance. If she canceled the contract with no notice when she was supposed to give you notice then you would be entitled to a refund. If she refused then you can take her to to small claims court for this amount as well.

If she is talking about you on social networks the only way that you would be able to do something was if her comments made it impossible for you to find new child care accommodations because other providers wouldn't take you because of what she said. You would have to prove it of course and then you would probably be able to sue her in small claims for defamation of character (if she was spreading lies) or perhaps for your own loss of wages if you had to stay home due to lack of child care etc. These are really hard cases to prove however and you have to show concrete proof that other daycares won't take you as a client because of what she has said. Usually people need actual witnesses to testify (not affidavits).

If she terminated care against what the contract says and you fail your classes due to her breaching the contract you could probably also sue her for the amount of the classes if you can prove that you couldn't catch up on your work, missed important exams etc. due to her suddenly terminating you which made you fail.

As far as reporting her, and I'm assuming that you mean reporting her to licensing, I must suggest that you do not. Licensing is there for serious cases about health and safety issues. If your child care provider is unlicensed but can operate like that legally (licence exempt) then there is nothing to report her over. Licensing does not get involved with money issues. If she is unlicensed and is doing so illegally then you could report that to licensing however just be aware that it makes you seem like you are doing so out of spite considering that you knew she was unlicensed and chose her anyway.

As far as everything that you stated so far ... it seems like your complaints are stemmed from time and money issues, not safety and health issues ... and like I said before licensing does not regulate the money aspect of child care ... the courts are in place for that.

[KatieCB]

The email Saying I had responses went straight to my junk folder, and its unfortunate that you assumed anything from my lack of response. I was referring to her unprofessional and irresponsible conduct. But I got my answers, so thank you all

[Michael]

The email Saying I had responses went straight to my junk folder, and its unfortunate that you assumed anything from my lack of response. I was referring to her unprofessional and irresponsible conduct. But I got my answers, so thank you all

Thanks for checking in and responding.