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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Drop-In Policy??
JBWWCC 07:50 PM 04-04-2018
I have several parents that are looking for “drop-in” care only. (They have other full time care, just need a back up.) How do you make this work? I have a small license. (Up to 8 children) and most of my spots are full. Do I fill an entire “full time” spot with a drop in and lose a full monthly payment for a child that was there 2 days during the month? Do you have a no/drop in policy? Help!
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e.j. 08:36 PM 04-04-2018
I do drop in care and am only licensed for 6. Parents know there is no guarantee I'll have an opening on the date they need care. I also let them know up front that I may have to bump them if a family needing permanent care comes along and needs the spot. (So far, that has never happened.) To me, drop ins are a way to bring in a little extra money here and there for a spot that would otherwise go unfilled and unpaid for.
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LysesKids 04:37 AM 04-05-2018
Because I can only take 4 babes (I specialize in under 24 months), I offer FT only when contracting. I will take Drop-ins when a spot is open just to keep a little extra $$ coming in while trying to fill a position.

I charge a daily rate and just like ej, they are told that if a FT family comes along, they will lose the option. My Drop-in contract is written slightly different from my FT so a parent can't come back & say they didn't know it was not a regular spot. I also require $$ @ Drop off and if they don't cancel beforehand, I bill them for it; If they don't pay even though they No showed or didn't cancel within the set time, I refuse to take them again as a client.
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Cat Herder 04:48 AM 04-05-2018
My drop ins fill out and maintain all required paperwork and call on the occasion that they need care (typically former full-time clients or family/friends of). If I have a scheduled absence that day, as happens during most school holidays and very often in summer, they can attend first come/first serve.

I don't lose any pay, the extra $35 day/kid here and there does not add up to too much over the year and is mainly used as a craft and curriculum fund.
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Jupadia 05:45 AM 04-05-2018
I've done drop in before I use to be allowed a couple more kids so i sometimes had a space open because then i also excepted PT kids. Parents who used me could request a day. I would let them know if i had room. They knew it was no guarantee. For me regular income came before sometimes income.
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Lil_Diddle 05:48 AM 04-05-2018
I used to do drop in care, only if I had a spot open for the day. But I no longer offer it. The extra cash was nice but is not worth the stress of our routine being off, or the child being upset. It really just puts stress on everyone here
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Blackcat31 06:06 AM 04-05-2018
I accept drop in kids but ONLY if I have the space and there aren't any regularly enrolled kids that need the space.

Regular enrollment trumps part time all the time.

Drop in is just extra to fill the space.
All families using drop in services understand that it is an "as available" option only.
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storybookending 06:32 AM 04-05-2018
Here they still need all of the paperwork that a fully enrolled child would need. That gets rid of a lot of the calls in itself. If that doesn’t scare them off I let them know that it is on a day by day basis and that I may not have the space and that already enrolled families are priority. In recent months I have allowed two older siblings of previously enrolled children to “drop in” on no school days. They only reason this works is because I have two families that work for the school district and do not typically need care on no school days but there is no guarantee. I have a neice that drops in as well but those days are probably over as her grandma is quitting her job in two weeks to do daycare for only her grandchildren.
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