Originally Posted by Willow:
I haven't turned anyone away yet, but I have flat out termed one family for complete disregard of my payment policies.....perpetually late with payments and multiple bounced checks (at one point I had three out at one time which was a span of 6 weeks care).....all while they were going out to eat every night, taking vacations, mom was getting her tan on and hair, nails done regularly and the giant kicker was the kiddo came in bragging about the *two* new bitty puppies they had to travel states away to get over the weekend. When I confronted mom about it she told me their dog had run away, as if that was some sort of reasonable excuse that they bought two new "designer" puppies over paying me what they owed me.
I told her right then to return he had to be paid up in full. Dad brought cash the next day and right after they left I fired off the term letter.
I lied because I knew otherwise I would never see my money, ever. Mom emailed me flat out telling me she NEVER would have paid me had she known I was going to end care with their family, as if she didn't owe me a dime for the nearly 2 months care I had already provided 
I definitely didn't want to have to go to court, especially because I knew full well they had the money to pay me if they finally made it a priority.
It was awful, but completely necessary.
It would be one thing if money was genuinely tight, but most parents I think just stink at managing their finances lately. I hear those horror stories are by far the most prevalent in the daycare provider world.
I'm so glad I've only ever had trouble with the one so far.....
@ the bolded I can understand as well. But when she brags about the high end things she purchases for her daughter that shows me that she is capable of paying her daycare bill.