Accept Subsidy ??

[Oneluckymom]

What are the pros and cons to accepting subsidy? Can someone explain the process that you do for subsidy from beginning to end? I am clueless.

I had someone call today asking if I accepted it and I said no, Now I'm thinking maybe I should if it's not a lot of trouble.

[Heidi]

I do, but our state probably does it differently than yours. It's a lot of trouble until you get the hang of it, and you must keep excellent records in WI, or you can get yourself into deep doo-doo.

[daycarediva]

I don't anymore because it isn't worth the money and hassle, in NY it's quite a bit of paperwork for about 1/3-1/2 my regular rate and I have never successfully got a subsidized family to pay the difference.

[kathiemarie]

Im in California and I will NOT accept state paid anymore. Rates and programs are being cut so our pay will be cut. If a parent or their case worked doesn't fill out paper work in a timely maner service will be suspened which means you will get paid late or not at all. I also get sick of people getting their childcare paid for but still have smart phones, talk about shopping trips and going out for nice dinners. When my kids were young dinner out was at Denny's on days the kids ate free. I could go on. If you a low on kids and need the income then it might be worth it to you. All I can say is NEVER again for me.

[wahmof3]

There are 2 reasons I currently accept subsidy:

1. Food program (my area I must be certified by the state)

2. Scholarship- currently working on my early childhood ed degree paid for by scholarship that I have to be certified)

I have very low enrollment subsidy. I do think it sometimes helps when interviewing new DCF.

[clep]

I used to accept subsidy for the first two years as a provider. I hated it. As bad and judgmental as it sounds, the subsidy parents were absolutely terrible. I had some pick up drunk, some smell up my foyer with the smell of pot, and some not show up altogether. My subsidy parents were really lacking in personal and parenting skills, which was reflected in their children. It was a constant fight to have them bring supplies for their children.

When I stopped doing subsidy my quality of parents greatly increased instantly. I do have one family currently with both parents that are engineers and they are much like what I have described above.

I don't suggest it is all subsidy parents that are like this, but I did find a majority like that and I got tired of trying to weed them out.

I didn't mind the paperwork to much or keeping the records as I do that anyways still. I don't care about the government funding either as the agency took 70 bucks per kid. When I left the agency, I upped the fees plus received the 70 bucks too. That paid for any further education I required.

[DCMama]

I am in the process of taking a family with subsidy but the paper work is troublesome right now. She still haven't talk to her case manager about me and expect me to do it when she didn't gib me her number. It's just not going good right now but I mean if you get the parents that are on it then it might not be too bad. Good Luck by the way.

[quailsgarden]

I am in canada and I will accept subsidy as long as the parents pay the difference. Subsidy here will pay for sick days and vacation up to a 2 week period. They will also pay for stat holidays. I can only submit forms on the 7th of every month and it usually takes until the end of the month for the money to be deposited in my account.

[BABYLUVER]

Originally Posted by Oneluckymom

What are the pros and cons to accepting subsidy? Can someone explain the process that you do for subsidy from beginning to end? I am clueless.

I had someone call today asking if I accepted it and I said no, Now I'm thinking maybe I should if it's not a lot of trouble.

I would NEVER do it again. As rough as being cash only can be, it was WORSE with subsidy. (The ONLY type I'd even consider is military).

With Subsidy:
Lower class clientele
State owes me money from 3 years ago still
Always got payments later and later

So yeah, nope.

[daycare]

Originally Posted by kathiemarie

Im in California and I will NOT accept state paid anymore. Rates and programs are being cut so our pay will be cut. If a parent or their case worked doesn't fill out paper work in a timely maner service will be suspened which means you will get paid late or not at all. I also get sick of people getting their childcare paid for but still have smart phones, talk about shopping trips and going out for nice dinners. When my kids were young dinner out was at Denny's on days the kids ate free. I could go on. If you a low on kids and need the income then it might be worth it to you. All I can say is NEVER again for me.

this right here.... I refuse to take it and have never had an issue with it..

I have a few friends that most of their kids were on asst last year and when all that BS was going on 1 of them had to close and the other one almost lost everything.

I would say now it is going to be even worse. Not sure you heard about all of the budget cuts that govern made earlier this year. He cut a TON of money from the budget to pay for daycare cost and now they are saying that 58% of kids are going to be without childcare or should I say will not have their childcare paid for them.....

[Childminder]

I accept subsidy and have to because of the economy. I wouldn't have income at all if I didn't. It can be a hassle with the extra paperwork and regulations and the "type" of parent you attract. I have found that asking the right questions to determine or not they are system lifers or a true hard luck trying to dig the way out of a bad situation makes a big difference.

[brightstarts]

Originally Posted by daycarediva

I don't anymore because it isn't worth the money and hassle, in NY it's quite a bit of paperwork for about 1/3-1/2 my regular rate and I have never successfully got a subsidized family to pay the difference.

I'm in NY. It must be your county that is making it difficult. Ours is so easy and they pay what we charge (minus the parent fee of course). It has actually worked out really well for us as many times we get paid more than we would have if the parent was paying. It has to do with what they consider a full day hours.

[Oneluckymom]

Thanks all. I think I will stick to what I've been doing and NOT take subsidy. Ive had a few calls from those on subsidy and was giving it a second thought...but nope wont do it right now.