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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Advice On My Newsletter - Good Or Too Harsh?
JLH 03:18 PM 02-06-2014
I'm thinking about sending this home tomorrow. Feedback? Good or too harsh?


Emergency Contract Changes Due to Illness Outbreak

In the past week the following illnesses have been brought into our home by daycare children, and have been given to 4 of the 5 members of our family as well as numerous daycare families, many of which have had to take time off work; diarrhea, stomach pains, vomiting, green snotty noses, persistent cough, and fever. Please understand that this snowball effect of illness is all started when one family doesn't want to miss a day of work to keep their sick child home, so they bring their child to daycare hoping it will be okay, knowing that their child is ill. The next thing you know we've got half the kids in our care sick, several parents having to miss multiple days of work, and my family sick as well, all because that family didn't want to miss a day or two of work to keep their ill child home until the child feels better and is no longer contagious.

Due to this sudden outbreak of illness' and parents knowingly bringing sick children into care, we will again be revising our childcare contract and Parent Handbook, this time focusing on tightening up any loopholes in our illness policy that may have allowed sick children to attend recently, exposing others and putting us all at risk.

If you are unsure of whether or not your child is too ill for daycare, please keep them home and err on the side of caution to avoid spreading the illness to staff and the other families in care.

The following changes to our contract are effective immediately:

We will no longer give ANY non-prescription medications; this includes cold medicine, allergy medicine, rash ointment, etc.

Prescription medications may be administered, but only for chronic or life-threatening illnesses (such as asthma or severe allergies) and only when it is impossible for them to be administered at home. All efforts should be made for all prescription medications to be administered at home.

If your child has one or more of the following conditions I can not accept them into care:
vomiting, 1 or more occasion in the past 24 hours (keep child home if they vomit during the night)
diarrhea, loose, watery or bloody stools, irregular amount of stools, or any stools that can not be contained within a diaper or regular toileting.
Cold with thick green/yellow nasal discharge, persistent coughing and/or sneezing

I reserve the right to exclude a child from care, at any time, for any other medical concerns that I may have, based on my own judgment and experience.

Please understand that there are many factors that have been taken into consideration in the making of these policies; state regulations, medically fragile children entrusted in our care, the best interest of our family, home, and business, requests from daycare parents, and the safety of your child.

XXXXX is a "well-child care facility". At no time do we provide sick childcare. Illness policies will be strictly enforced, for the health, well being and safety of all involved. Under no circumstances may a parent bring a sick child to daycare if the child shows any signs of illness or is unable to participate in the normal routine, including outdoor play. We thank you in advance for working with us to keep everyone healthy!
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rosieteddy 03:41 PM 02-06-2014
I totally understand your point.It is so frustrating when parents send sick children.That being said I think your letter may be taken as aggressive. Maybe you should just resend your policies and update what you need to.Such as vomiting 24 hours after -fever free without meds 24 hrs(though I have revised that in my DC as a parent brought thier child at 3:30 once)now my policy is a full day without fever. Maybe it would be good to just list a sick policy chart that they could hang somewhere at home. I would ask for a signed note back that they recieved the notice. Sometimes I think we write so much that they do not read the notices. Just a thought I am known for my letters ,I have tried to cut down as I was told they did not read the whole thing.Good luck. Nan
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daycarediva 04:03 PM 02-06-2014
Due to the recent illnesses spread between the children, myself and family I want to remind everyone that xxxxx daycare is a well child care facility. To better ensure a sanitary environment for the health of the children, their families and staff the following policies are ( in place/changed to include); policy x,y, z here.

I would also include:

Knowingly bringing a sick child to care and/or masking symptoms of illness may be grounds for immediate termination.
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JLH 04:40 PM 02-06-2014
Thank you for the feedback! You both said the same as my hubby. I'll work on shortening and rewording it to just include changes to our policies. Sometimes it takes an outside perspective on things to be the voice of reason when we are upset. That's what I love about this site!
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Leigh 04:41 PM 02-06-2014
Originally Posted by daycarediva:
Due to the recent illnesses spread between the children, myself and family I want to remind everyone that xxxxx daycare is a well child care facility. To better ensure a sanitary environment for the health of the children, their families and staff the following policies are ( in place/changed to include); policy x,y, z here.

I would also include:

Knowingly bringing a sick child to care and/or masking symptoms of illness may be grounds for immediate termination.


I would also add that a CONSTANT runny nose is also grounds for exclusion unless the child is able to get a kleenex EVERY time alone, and wash their own hands after.
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daycare 04:49 PM 02-06-2014
ok, dont be mad at me , but you also need to know when to pull the plug and all the parents to come pick up these kids too.

If parents are doping and dropping, term. trust me when I tell you that you will know when they are.

kid has mild fever 99.9 and 2 bouts of the runs, go home
mild fever and 1 vomit go home.

kid is not able to participate as normal, no fever, no vomit m no runs GO HOME.

when you can put your foot down and send them home you win. I picked up BC rule that if I send them home its a full 48 hours VS if they are kept home on their own they can return when they are free of fever****ns, etc for a full 24 hours without the aid of meds.

some part of this is on us too....

ok now you can all kick me....
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Leigh 05:11 PM 02-06-2014
Originally Posted by daycare:
ok, dont be mad at me , but you also need to know when to pull the plug and all the parents to come pick up these kids too.

If parents are doping and dropping, term. trust me when I tell you that you will know when they are.

kid has mild fever 99.9 and 2 bouts of the runs, go home
mild fever and 1 vomit go home.

kid is not able to participate as normal, no fever, no vomit m no runs GO HOME.

when you can put your foot down and send them home you win. I picked up BC rule that if I send them home its a full 48 hours VS if they are kept home on their own they can return when they are free of fever****ns, etc for a full 24 hours without the aid of meds.

some part of this is on us too....

ok now you can all kick me....
And when you term for dope & drop, make sure to tell the other parents WHY you had to term a family!
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JLH 05:14 PM 02-06-2014
No kicking. You're absolutely right. I have a really hard time being stern with parents. I'm always afraid they will get mad and pull and it's my only source of income for our family.
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butterfly 05:16 PM 02-06-2014
I'd cut the first two paragraphs. The rest is great.
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daycare 06:14 PM 02-06-2014
Originally Posted by JLH:
No kicking. You're absolutely right. I have a really hard time being stern with parents. I'm always afraid they will get mad and pull and it's my only source of income for our family.
It's all about your delivery ....
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Tags:enforcing policies - consistency
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