Thank you for the responses! Abigail, you're right; I was afraid it would sound contradictory and confusing... I wanted to help the parents out who really do need care, but wouldn't be needing it for a few weeks. But I also wanted to protect myself so if the parent didn't end up going with me I wouldn't be out a lot of money. With their deposit of two full weeks of payment before enrollment I was afraid it would be too much to ask of the parents without some kind of refund (applying it to their first week of care) for their holding fee.

Hopefully I won't even have to mess with holding a spot for a child. Sounds like it could be a mess...and a lot of confusion. Maybe my policy for holding a spot should be that I DON'T hold spots. I continue enrolling any families who pay their deposit and turn in their paperwork until I'm full? First come/pay, first serve kind of thing.

If I DO choose to hold a spot for a family, you think I should eliminate the holding spot part of the policy and just have them sign a seperate paper for each individual case, stating the amount and dates of holding a spot? I can see where that would make more sense, and would hold up better in court than my confusing policy on it....

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