Thread: Red Flags?
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Pandaluver21 02:21 PM 03-15-2018
Originally Posted by Liz Downs:
Hi everyone just throwing my 2 cents in here:
When a potential client is interviewing you for a child care spot you, as a provider, should also be conducting your own interview to see if the child and the family is a good fit for your program. This is a two-way relationship! If your gut instincts tell you that something is not right follow these instincts.
The area where you need to be concerned is how you decline the opening to the prospective parent. You can spend all kinds of time and energy handing out your policies, procedures and parent handbook, and having walk-throughs. But, the bottom line is you instinctually "know" that this is a bad fit right from the initial contact.
So, tell the prospect (*at the initial point of contact) that there have been other parents looking to place their child in your program and that you do not yet know the outcome and that you will get back in touch with them once you know more. At a later point in time contact the parent and tell them that the opening has been filled and that you are sorry.
If you get into discussing ANY "whys" you feel that it is not a good fit you will likely run into the parent concluding that you were somehow discriminatory against her/her child. Now you have a potential discrimination charge to answer to. GREAT! On top of everything else you have to deal with, you definitely do not want additional stress.
Never, ever get into "why" the prospect is not a good fit. You just no longer have the opening. Save yourself time, energy, money and a potential discrimination lawsuit and move on!
Hope this helps you and other providers. Always remember that you have as much right to data gather as the potential client. Make informed decisions up front. It is easier to get into a relationship than to leave one!
Liz Downs
To say I no longer have the opening would be a lie, I will not do that.
I have no problem explaining "why" in the simplest of terms.
I set up a walk-through with this family. They didn't show up, messaged later and said that they thought it was the following day. I again (against my better judgement) told her we could try again the following week. Guess who didn't show up. Trust me, there was no "discrimination" going on. I would have to know something about the person to discriminate against them anyway...
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