Originally Posted by SilverSabre25:
I swear we've gone back and forth over this a few times and come to different conclusions each time.
I think in this case it would depend 100% on the wording of the change. Is he being charged at an infant rate because of the down syndrome or does the contract state that potty-trained children are less? Is he being charged a full day because his schedule is such that she can't cover the rest of the hours or because while he's there he needs more work?
Regardless of her motives behind it, I think it's all in the wording. And I do get frustrated when parents of children that do need a LOT more work than a typical child of that age are wanting/expecting to pay a pittance for care--and one I spoke with actually said, indignantly, "But my child has special needs!" and expected me to take pity on them and charge less than half my usual rate. <---NOT saying that's what the OP's friend is doing, not at all, just sharing.
You are 100% correct Silver....I hate not having a clue or being in the clouds about something like this so I called the ADA myself and spoke to an actual person. This is what I was told:
The provider MAY charge a higher rate for this child ONLY If she normally charges children who are not toilet trained a higher rate.
Her contract must say
"children who are not toilet trained" and not simply state and age group such as 2 and under or preschool, infant or toddler. As soon as she groups kids into rate categories based on AGE it becomes illegal to charge a higher rate. The grouping and words must simply state "not toilet trained" or requiring bathroom assistance.
The provider can NOT charge the child a higher rate simply because of a disability. If the provider hires an assistant or a necessary para-professional for the child, she may be able to charge a higher rate but generally this cost must be spread across ALL families.
The provider can NEVER charge the special needs child more than anyone else pays at ANY time for ANY reason.
The ADA representative I spoke to said that private family child cares may never charge a special needs child more based on disability ONLY on required amounts of care and ONLY if there are others who fall into the same category such as
"requiring toileting assistance". She said alot of it depends on the wording of the contract.
Rates can NEVER be based on the disability. This applies to private family child cares and centers.
Hope that clears things up a bit.
