Free Day Care Policy Statement

You must determine how many and what ages of children you will accept. To assist you, consult your state and local child care regulations. The ages and maximum number of children that a facility can accept is usually regulated. If too many children are allowed, the result might otherwise be an excessive number of accidents or a decline in the overall health standard.

The physical size of your facility may affect your decision. For example, state and local child care regulations often impose minimum square footage requirements for both the inside and outside of a facility. Further, the ages of the children will dictate the type of equipment and supplies that you will need. Outdoor equipment such as swings, tricycles, sandboxes, and slides, take up a large amount of space. These space considerations must factor into the decision of how many children you can enroll.

If you have any concerns regarding the maximum number of children that you can realistically and adequately provide care for, then it is recommended that you begin with a small number. Later you may feel that you are able to add more children. If instead you started out with too many, it is difficult to terminate the care of one or more children with whom you have developed a relationship.

Consult your state and local child care regulations regarding what reporting responsibilities you may have when you suspect child abuse and/or neglect by the child's parents. You may find that in some states it is a crime NOT to report such reasonable suspicions. All adults have an obligation to protect children. The only way to do this is by reporting reasonable possibilities of child abuse and/or neglect. Children are not capable of enduring an abusive relationship and their life may even depend upon an adult's intervention.

"Neglect" is an act of omission that results from a parent's failure to adequately provide for a child's physical needs or failure to adequately supervise or protect a child from danger.

"Abuse" may be of several types. Physical abuse by a parent results in physical injuries to a child, which of course does not include the common bumps and bruises that a child incurs while playing. Sexual abuse consists of incest, rape, unwelcome touching, fondling, or exploiting of a child. This type of abuse is often difficult to detect. Emotional abuse occurs when a parent continually humiliates, insults, criticizes, or accuses a child or, in the alternative, fails to provide the child with a minimal amount of love and affection. Although it is not physical in nature, this type of abuse is very damaging to a child's self-confidence.

If you suspect child abuse and/or neglect, contact the proper authorities in your area. Reporting your suspicions will help to protect the child and may help the parent obtain the assistance he/she needs.

You may be presented with an opportunity to provide child care for a child with special needs, such as a child with diabetes or a physical handicap. First, meet with the child and his or her family to discuss the child's special needs and/or disability. Then check your state and local child care regulations to determine whether there are any special requirements or qualifications that must be met. You may also need to consult the child's physician to determine whether your facility can adequately provide the services that the child needs.

Finally, if you feel comfortable accepting this child, it is recommended that you proceed on a trial basis. This will provide you, the child, and the parent with an opportunity to determine whether the arrangement is acceptable.

Caring for a child with special needs will likely require additional planning in many different areas. For example, a child with special needs may require physical assistance with various activities conducted at your child care facility. Contact an agency which specializes in the child's disability to assist you with program planning and how to make the necessary accommodations. In fact, you may need to make certain structural accommodations to your facility. For example, if the child is in a wheelchair, your facility must be wheelchair accessible. This includes the restroom facilities, entrances and exits. Further, if a child requires a great deal of individualized attention, you may need to hire an assistant. There may be federal funds available to help subsidize the cost of such an assistant. Consult your state and local child care regulations for more information regarding obtaining assistance with staffing requirements. You may also find assistance from a federal, state or local agency.

Due to a lack of knowledge regarding children with special needs, parents of the other children attending your child care facility may at first be uncomfortable with your decision to provide care for a child with special needs. To address these concerns, consider arranging an informational meeting for these concerned parents where you can explain your decision and discuss their concerns. You could invite an appropriate specialist to attend this meeting to assist you in responding to the parents' concerns.

To get organized, you may want to prepare a daily schedule. You can begin by determining your regular hours of operation. Next, schedule times for breakfast, lunch, snacks, and naps. You can fill in the remaining time with planned activities, such as reading time, crafts, recreational time, and music. When preparing your daily schedule, keep in mind that many of your activities will require both preparation and cleanup time.

Consider scheduling "free play" during the day so that the children can choose their own activities. Spontaneity is also important. Therefore, you should be willing to re-arrange your daily schedule to provide time for something the children want to do, such as watch the first snowfall.

In the beginning, your daily schedule may not work out as you had planned. Flexibility is key. It takes time to establish a comfortable routine. You may find that adjustments are needed.

Consult your state and local child care regulations for possible required activities or rest periods during the day. For example, some states may require each child to take a nap or rest for a certain length of time.

A clear and concise Day Care Contract protects parents and guardians as well as the child care providers. The purpose of a Day Care Contract is to define and document the arrangement between the parties so that misunderstandings and surprises regarding the expectations of each party can be avoided. Although it might be tempting to keep things as informal as possible, when issues such as child care fees and hours of operation are involved, it is important to put the information in writing. For example, having a written Day Care Contract protects the child care provider in the event a problem, such as nonpayment, arises. Without putting your agreement in writing, it may be difficult to prove the substance of your oral agreement.

Any issues that you want to be binding on the parents should be included in the Contract. For example, child care fees, due dates, and policies regarding child or provider absences, holidays, and vacations, should be included in the Contract.

When deciding what to include in your Day Care Contract, remember that you set the rules for your day care program. Include provisions that you need to make your operation efficient and profitable, but you must also keep a balance between what would be included in the "ideal" contract and what the competitive marketplace will bear.

You should check your state and local regulations governing child care providers for other provisions to include in your Day Care Contract. Child care regulations range from pre-admission interviews with parents to methods for properly sanitizing food preparation and diapering areas. The Day Care Contract does not attempt to address all of the laws and regulations governing child care providers.

Please note that your state and local child care regulations must be followed carefully even if they differ from the recommendations or suggestions in this program.

The Day Care Policy Statement is a declaration of the guidelines by which your child care facility will operate. This program will help you identify important topics to include, and provide suggestions for their content. When the statement is completed and distributed to parents, it will be useful to communicate to both prospective and active customer-parents what you expect from them and what type of child care services you will provide. You should also be prepared to respond to parent's questions regarding why a particular policy is important.

Consider developing child care policies and guidelines with respect to the following topics:

1. Philosophy/Mission Statement (also known as a "statement of purpose")
   
2. Personal Background/Qualifications
   
3. Age and Number of Children Accepted
   
4. Hours of Operation
   
5. Children with Special Needs
   
6. Fees
   
7. Trial period/Termination of Services
   
8. Holidays and Vacations
   
9. Program Activities
   
10. Meals
    
11. Infants
    
12. Toilet Training
    
13. Naps and Rest Periods
    
14. Supplies
    
15. Medical Care
    
16. Sick Child Policy
    
17. Emergency Contact Information
    
18. Discipline
    
19. Substitute Providers
    
20. Pickup of a Child
    
21. Participation by Parents
    
22. Future Enrollment
    
23. Day Care Contract
    
24. Equal Opportunity
    
25. Confidentiality
    
26. Child Abuse and Neglect
    
27. Child Care Regulations

Your state and local governments may have various laws and regulations in place that you must follow. The Day Care Policy Statement does not attempt to address all of the possible laws and regulations that might apply in your location. Therefore, you should consult your state and local child care regulations to make sure that your policies are consistent with them.

Please note that your state and local child care regulations must be followed carefully even if they differ from the recommendations or suggestions in this program.

There will be situations which require that a child should be disciplined. Discipline may consist of "time-outs," setting or re-defining limits, or re-directing a child's attention. If the misbehavior continues, it may be necessary for the provider to discuss the child's behavior with the parent.

You may also find it helpful to utilize positive reinforcement when a child exhibits good behavior. This will encourage the child to continue this behavior.

You should consult your state and local child care regulations for possible guidelines and restrictions regarding discipline.

A "drop-in" is a child who does not routinely attend your child care facility. For example, some child care facilities allow parents to drop off their children without an appointment.

If you decide to provide child care for drop-ins, be sure to obtain identification information from the parent at the time the child is dropped off, such as the name, phone number and address of where the parent can be reached. You will also need to determine your child care fees for drop-ins and when you will collect the fees.

You should compile emergency telephone numbers and post them near each telephone. You should also develop emergency evacuation plans and post them at each exit. For assistance with developing a suitable evacuation plan for your child care facility, consider contacting your local fire department.

It is important that you develop in advance procedures to be followed in case of an emergency. These procedures should be explained to the children who are old enough to understand. After you have developed such emergency procedures, such as an evacuation plan, you should run occasional test drills with the children to practice and perfect the procedures.

It is important that you obtain from each parent the name, relationship and telephone number of an emergency contact person for the child. This information will be needed if the parent cannot be reached in an emergency. The emergency contact person should have the parent's permission to make necessary decisions for the child. It is preferable if the emergency contact person is located in close proximity to the child care facility.

When determining what your child care fees should be, you should weigh several factors. For example, consider the fees that child care facilities in your vicinity are charging, your expenses such as food and equipment costs, the value of your time, your qualifications, and the age of the children you plan to accept.

In order to evaluate the value of your time, first determine the number of hours you will be working directly with the children each week. Add a few extra hours per week for time spent updating records or shopping for supplies. Next, determine what hourly wage you think you can earn. This hourly wage may not be as much as you would like to earn but you should factor in the rewards of working with children and the opportunity of running your own business.

Your qualifications may be measured by your training and/or experience. For example, parents may be willing to pay a little more for a highly-qualified child care provider, such as a provider trained as a teacher or in healthcare.

The age of the children you will be caring for is another important factor. You may want to charge higher fees for an infant than for a toddler because the infant will require more personal attention.

Next, you must determine whether parents should pay you daily, weekly, monthly, or bi-monthly. This is simply a business decision. Whatever you decide, consider requiring all payments to be made in advance because you will need operating funds to run your child care business.

Consult your state and local child care regulations to determine whether you are required to post your child care fees so that parents can easily see them.

It is inevitable that the cost of supplies, such as food and equipment, will increase. Therefore, you must consider how you will handle child care fee increases. Perhaps you will want to increase fees on an annual basis. Whatever you decide, be sure to provide parents with sufficient advance notice of the increase and perhaps a brief explanation for the increase.

To break up the everyday routine, consider scheduling special activities or fieldtrips to interesting locations in your vicinity. You could also invite people to come and share their experiences with the children.

If you take children on an excursion requiring travel, be sure to use an age-appropriate car restraint. You should also have the parent's written permission before transporting the child.

You should specify in your Day Care Policy Statement on which holidays your child care facility will be closed, such as New Year's Day, Memorial Day, the 4th of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the day after Christmas. If you expect to be paid for these holidays, you must make this policy clear.

You should encourage parents to inform you of their vacation and holiday plans early. This will help you in planning your activities. Some child care providers require parents to pay the regular child care fees even while the child is on vacation. If you do choose to require such payment even when the child is absent and the parents are unhappy with this policy, you should offer the parents an explanation. For example, explain that you must charge your regular child care fees because it is not likely that you will be able to find another child to fill the absent child's space during that period. In essence, the parents' payment of child care fees during the vacation reserves their child's space while the child is absent.

You must also consider how you will deal with your own vacation time. For example, will you charge your regular child care fees? Will you provide a substitute provider? Or, will you shut down your care facility and not charge any fees? If you choose to shut down, parents will need to make alternate child care arrangements. Therefore, you should plan your vacations well in advance and provide parents with adequate time to make those arrangements.

List the hours that your facility will be open to provide child care services. Your hours should try to accommodate the needs of working parents. However, you should also be sensitive to your own family's needs and schedules.

You should not allow parents to fall behind in paying for child care. To encourage prompt payment, you could charge a flat fee for each day that a payment is late. As a last resort, you can terminate the child care services.

Many states have laws regarding the necessary disclosures for charging late fees on past due accounts. If you plan to charge late fees, you should review the necessary disclosure information for your state and then incorporate that language into your Day Care Contract. Consult a lawyer for additional assistance.

You might also receive a bad check from a parent. Therefore, consider charging another fee for returned checks. Contact your bank to determine what charges it will assess against you for the return of a check. The fee that you charge parents should be reflective of that fee. Also, consider requiring that parents whose checks are returned must begin paying all future child care fees in cash.

Consult your state and local child care regulations regarding whether you need to obtain a license before operating your own child care facility. Some states may require all child care providers to be licensed. Others make licensing dependent on the number of children cared for. If you have the choice, you may choose not to obtain a license for various reasons, such as to avoid inspections or because your operation will be too small to justify the added bureaucracy.

Even if you are not required to obtain a license and, therefore, are not subject to state or local regulations, you should become familiar with those regulations because they may become applicable as you grow and/or they will provide you with useful ideas. This program does not attempt to summarize each particular state's or municipality's child care regulations but below are listed several Internet sites which may be useful.

Licensing regulations may range from requiring pre-admission interviews with parents to requiring properly sanitized food preparation and diapering areas. Regulations may also specify child-to-staff ratios and/or require that a child care facility be inspected for safety. Safety inspections might include checking the placement of electrical cords, fire extinguishers, first aid kits, and cleaning supplies.

Some licensing regulations may require a child care provider to obtain training in early childhood education. Some states or municipalities may even regulate the type of activities or programs that a child care facility can offer.

The physical location of your child care facility may also be regulated. For example, if you want to open a child care facility in your home, you should consult your city's zoning ordinances, your neighborhood homeowner's association rules, and/or any applicable restrictive covenants to determine whether you can operate such a business in your home. If you are in doubt, consult a lawyer. He or she should be able to assist you in determining whether a particular zoning ordinance prohibits you from operating a child care business out of your home.

You should also be aware that some licensing regulations establish minimum space requirements for a child care facility, such as a minimum square footage area per child for both inside the care facility and outdoors.

Licensing regulations may also establish health standards and guidelines for child care facilities, such as requiring the provider to maintain a file for each child's medical information or, for large facilities, even requiring that a licensed nurse be present at the facility, or immediately accessible in the event of an emergency. Some licensing regulations may require that the children undergo an annual physical examination and obtain various immunizations.

Some states or localities may even regulate the food that a child care facility provides. For example, some states may prescribe the child's food criteria based upon the length of time that a child is at a child care facility, or require the facility to provide a certain percentage of each child's daily nutritional requirements pursuant to the United States Department of Agriculture's ("USDA") nutritional pyramid.

It is critical that before you open your child care facility, you research which regulations may apply to you. These regulations must be complied with.

You can obtain more information on state licensure regulations on the Internet at http://nrc.uchsc.edu. This Internet site has linkages to all fifty states' licensure regulations. In addition, you must research whether your municipality has adopted its own child care regulations. Educational information on child care in general can also be obtained on the Internet at http://www.childcare.net.

Most likely, the child care facility will be responsible for providing breakfast, lunch, and snacks for the children attending the facility. Consult your state and local child care regulations which may even require midmorning and midafternoon snacks. However, even if they are not required, such snacks are common in child care facilities. Examples of snack foods include fresh fruit, cookies, and juice.

You should also consult your state and local child care regulations regarding nutritional requirements for the meals that you serve. For example, the regulations may require that the meals served contain one-third of the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) daily allowance of each of the four food groups.

If you will be caring for infants, you should obtain from the parent a feeding schedule so that you know how much and what the infant should eat. To save time on measuring and sterilizing, consider requiring the parent to furnish the formula or baby food for the infant.

Some children under your care may require special diet foods. Unless you want to prepare these foods, you should require the parent to furnish these special diet foods. You also must educate yourself on the reactions that a child may have as a result of consuming certain foods and what is the appropriate response.

It is important that you obtain from the parent the necessary authority to provide medical treatment for a child. If a child needs medical attention, you may also need the child's medical insurance information. The Day Care Contract requests this information and authorizes the provider to obtain the necessary emergency medical care for the child, including but not limited to transportation to an emergency room. It is the parent's responsibility to pay all costs and expenses incurred in connection with any medical care provided to a child, including the cost of transportation.

You must determine whether you are willing to administer over-the-counter or prescription medication to a child. Before you administer any medication, you should require the parent to complete a medication consent form listing the type of medication (for example, baby aspirin or penicillin), the dosage, the time of day it should be administered, and any side effects or special instructions (for example, should not be taken on an empty stomach). You should also require all medications to be in the original container with the child's name clearly marked on it.

To encourage parents to pick up their children promptly and to respect your time, consider imposing a late or overtime fee. For example, you could impose a $10.00-per-15-minute late charge or a $1.00-per-minute late charge.

If you decide to impose an overtime fee, be sure to enforce it uniformly because parents will become resentful if the policy is not uniformly enforced.

Parent participation in various aspects of the child care arrangement is extremely valuable and should be encouraged. Studies show that the quality of child care increases when parents take an active role in their children's care. To foster parent involvement, keep them informed, for example with daily written reports listing each child's special achievements. Ask parents for their assistance during field trips or other special activities. Schedule an open house allowing parents and children to visit the facility after hours to discuss recent activities. You may even ask parents to visit the facility to share their interests, hobbies, job information, and other interesting experiences with the children.

Consult your state and local child care regulations for additional requirements. For large facilities, the regulations may even require the establishment of a parent advisory council, annual parent conferences or allowing parents unlimited access to the facility.

You should consider including information regarding your qualifications and personal background in the Day Care Policy Statement. For example, if you have a degree or have taken courses in early childhood education or first aid, you should state this in the Policy Statement. Perhaps your personal background lends itself to the child care profession. For example, you may have raised 3 children of your own.

If your facility will be staffed with more than one provider, you should provide a brief biography regarding each provider so that parents have some information regarding to whom they are entrusting their children.

Consult your state and local child care regulations regarding possible educational prerequisites for operating a child care facility.

This section of the Day Care Policy Statement allows you to document how you will operate your child care facility to reflect your personal feelings and goals for child care. Your views are unique and should reflect your individual method of providing child care.

Your philosophy or mission statement should be the foundation upon which you make all child care decisions. Therefore, make sure that the policies that you craft in the remaining portions of this document are consistent with this philosophy or mission statement.

When developing your philosophy or mission statement, think about the following questions:

1. What are your goals for yourself and the children you care for?

2. What is your purpose in starting a child care facility?

3. What role do you want to play in a child's development?

The following is a brief example of a philosophy or mission statement:

The purpose of our facility is to provide a loving, nurturing, pleasant and well-supervised environment for children which includes both recreational and educational activities to assist each child in developing his or her social, intellectual, physical, and emotional skills.

You should establish procedures for the pickup of children from your child care facility. For example, you could require written authorization from a parent if someone unknown to you will be picking up a child.

You should also find out from the parent if someone, such as a noncustodial parent, is not to have any contact with the child. If this is the case, then it is important that you take extra precautions to ensure that you do not release the child to that person.

An initial registration fee is a one-time payment that a child care facility may charge, to be used for a variety of purposes, such as to hold open a child care spot, to offset the cost of processing child care documents that parents must complete, or to pay for supplies.

The registration fee can be either refundable or nonrefundable. If it is refundable, it is recommended that it be credited toward the child's last week of child care fees, held in the meantime as a type of security deposit for nonpayment of fees.

To determine the amount of the initial registration fee to charge, consult other child care facilities in your area to learn the amount that they are charging. Your initial registration fee should be set at an amount that is high enough to require parents to be truly committed to your child care facility.

Establishing a clear sick child policy will help you avoid having to deal with parents on a case-by-case basis as to whether or not their child is well enough to attend your facility.

It is important that you obtain and maintain medical information about all of the children under your care, such as their immunization record and personal medical history. In fact, some states or local governments may require this.

You should adopt a written procedure to be followed in case of an accident or illness. Then, inform parents of your procedure.

Some child care regulations may require that child care providers be trained in first aid or cardiopulmonary resuscitation ("CPR"). Training in these areas may prove to be extremely important in saving a child's life. It could also lower your insurance premiums.

1. The Day Care Policy Statement is merely a publicized list of guidelines and, therefore, does not need to be signed.

2. Post a copy of the Day Care Policy Statement in an appropriate location at your facility so that parents have the ability to periodically review it.

3. Provide a copy of the Day Care Policy Statement to the parent(s) or guardian(s) for their files.

4. Update the Day Care Policy Statement as necessary, for example, to reflect a fee increase or to adjust the hours of operation.

There will be times when you will be unable to provide child care services perhaps because you are ill or need to be gone. In anticipation of those occasions, consider establishing a relationship with substitute child care providers who could provide backup care for you and/or provide parents with a list of substitute child care providers that could be used.

When you know in advance that you will use a substitute, ask the substitute to possibly visit your facility so that you can introduce him or her to the children as well as to the parents. This will help the children adjust to the substitute and allow you to show the substitute around your facility and explain your policies and routine.

Consult your state and local child care regulations regarding substitute child care providers. Also, contact your liability insurance carrier to determine whether a substitute provider is covered under your policy. If applicable, you should clarify with both your insurance carrier and the substitute provider that you will not be held responsible for any acts of negligence by the substitute.

Every child care provider must keep various supplies on hand. For example, child care providers must have personal hygiene items in stock in order to keep the children clean. You, as a child care provider, must determine whether you will be responsible for purchasing and replenishing these personal hygiene items or whether you want the parents to furnish these items.

Examples of items usually supplied by the parent include:

Diapers
Wipes
Formula
Special diet foods*
Change of clothing appropriate for the weather
Blanket
Medications

*If a child has special dietary needs, the child care provider and the parent must decide who will provide and prepare the special foods.

Examples of items usually supplied by the child care provider include:

Meals and snacks
Personal hygiene items such as wash cloths, soap, powder, ointment, etc.
Toys, books, games, etc.

The typical age for a child to begin toilet training is approximately 24 months. Both the parent and the child care provider should begin looking for signs to help determine when a child is ready to begin toilet training. These signs include: staying dry for two hours or while napping, regular bowel movements, wanting wet or dirty diapers changed, showing interest in the bathroom, indicating the need to go to the bathroom, and wanting to wear training pants or underwear rather than diapers.

It is important that the parent and the provider are consistent with their toilet training techniques. Therefore, communication between the parent and the provider is critical. During and after each training episode, the parent and the provider must encourage and praise the child for his or her efforts. This will make toilet training more effective and can help build a child's self-image.

Consider imposing a trial period during which both you and the parent have an opportunity to decide if continuing the child care relationship is appropriate. This trial period will allow you to determine whether the child is able to get along with the other children at your facility and whether you are compatible with the child and the parent. During this trial period, consider contacting the child's former caregivers. However, before you do this, you must first inform the parents of this policy. During the trial period, it is typical to allow both the provider and the parent to terminate child care services without advance notice.

Next, determine the procedures by which a party can terminate child care services after the trial period has passed. For example, you should specify how much advance written notice will be required before either party can terminate the relationship. If a parent tries to end the child care relationship without giving you enough time to fill the vacant spot, your revenues and profits will suffer. To reduce this loss, you may want to specify that the parent must pay for the shortage period. The Day Care Contract provides for this option. However, you should note that including this provision does not always guarantee that you will be able to collect from the parent.

You should retain the right to terminate the child care relationship without notice upon certain conditions. For example, if a child exhibits destructive, uncontrollable, or violent behavior, then, for the safety of yourself and the other children, you may need to immediately terminate the child care relationship. Further, if the child care fees are delinquent, you may want the ability to end the relationship.