All of the years that I have been in business I have never taken assistance. I decided that I really really liked a family and decided to go for it.

One of my issues, I hate paperwork and it seems like taking assistance is going to be a headache for me with all the papers.

Currently my rules state that all payments are to be paid in advance every Friday.

Assistance is only paid monthly and it's paid one month behind. I am very nervous about this. I don't want to be out money.

Can someone please share with me their policies on taking assistance. Do you have a special contract for parents on assistance? This parent qualified for 100% coverage.

Thanks in advance

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Assistance works similar in my state. I am paid for services 2 weeks AFTER they are provided.

Sometimes parents are required to pay a co-pay.
I am also allowed to charge the difference between what assistance pays and what I charge. This is what I call the "parent fees"

I take the family's weekly or bi-weekly schedule and bill them PRIOR to services both the co-pay and the parent fee. AFTER assistance pays me, I balance it out and charge the parent anything the assistance program didn't cover.

So co-pay and parent fee is PRE-PAID and payment from assistance is paid AFTER.

I limit the number of families in care using assistance so that only a small portion of my income comes from the state.

I will PM you my contract agreement that families using assistance must sign IN ADDITION to the normal contract others sign.

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funny, i thought about doing it that way that way I was not out of pocket for anything, but the parent would not be able to come up with the money.

parent is a student and is making less than 2grand a month. Which in CA won't even pay for a studio APT.

so after I found that out from the paperwork from the agency, I realized I won't be able to bill this family like this.

BUT I love your idea. '

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and thank you so much for sending that to me.

I miss everyone here, but I am in school almost full time, so I don't have time to come on here much any more.

You have been such a huge mentor in my life and I always think to myself...If I asked BC, what would she tell me...lol I guess you can say you are in my head alot...

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I've missed you and your awesome sense of humor around here too!!

... but I know you are in school and I know you've had some BIG changes going on in your life so I am just patiently waiting until everything calms and you are back like normal!

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I require them to pay and I reimburse. I wouldn't take someone who wasn't able to pay weekly.

I hate the time sheet because the parent is supposed to fill it out and she always forgets.

I totally understand being nervous about not being paid ahead of time. That's why I reimburse. I have a 100% covered kid too.

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so do you think that I should require maybe at least half of the payment up front and then go from there? I know this family may not eve be able to do that. '

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In my state, they pay for the month of care afterwards. For example, for the month of August, I will get my invoice August 29, and will be paid in the first week of September. The state does not cover 100% of tuition. In this case, the parent's copay is paid either weekly or biweekly in advance. Therefore, for example, August 1-5's copay would have been paid for before August 1 and so forth.

If state assistance families are waiting to see how much their copay would be, I have them pay my full rate until their certificate is created.

OR

They pay my holding fee and I hold the spot until the paperwork is accepted.

I use to submit the forms between myself and the parent to see how much their copay would be before providing care without a fee, BUT I had people taking advantage and then not signing up because it was too high. So now I get paid whether you end up enrolling or not.

Sounds like a headache, but it isn't that bad. I have 5 out of 6 of my families on assistance.

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Maybe just require a two week deposit so that IF they for some reason don't complete the requirements of the program or if your payment is delayed in ANY way, you can use funds from the deposit to cover your income.

Replace the missing funds from the deposit as it's used up.

You could set up a payment schedule for the parent so the deposit is maybe paid over the first 30 days in care.

Having that deposit equaling 2 weeks of services is at least a cushion for you.

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lol that is the only thing that I did do..... see I told you that I learned a lot from you

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Utah pays in advance and it is very easy for providers, but I know not all states are that way.

I would make sure that payment is made up front and then you give back any difference when the state pays you.

Utah wasn't always so good and for some reason, parents always felt it was the provider's duty to go without pay until the state kicked in (if it ever did)

I always told them to beg or borrow the first month's tuition and after that, it should make no difference to them. They could turn around and give me the state money I refunded them with for the following month. It's only the first month they really have to find the money from elsewhere.

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I had a family on assistance for 2years. Mom would fill out the time sheet every day. We would both sign it on the last day of the month and I would mail it in. I would receive the deposit around the 25th for the previous month.

I charge flat rate per day/week. Depending on the time sheet, I would get less than my fee, sometimes more. It was crazy. Every month I would have to calculate how much dcm owed me or how much I owed her.

The deposits always ended in odd amounts like $631.42 when it should have been $600 or $650.

Too much time figuring it out so I just accepted what they paid. Sometimes I made out, sometimes dcm did.

I did make dcm pay until I got my first deposit, then I reimbursed her.

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We are lucky in Michigan..it is all online!

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Why would you owe her? Did your state require you to refund their money to her?

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Your assistance sounds like mine except that here we are paid every two weeks after caring for the child. My policy is that I am paid in cash by Friday for the upcoming week like your policy is. However, since I take the government assistance vouchers for childcare, for the children on those vouchers, I simply must accept payment by a check which is mailed to me (or I can have it directly deposited if I want) after I watch the child for the two week's billing cycle. It's just how it is. I am not legally allowed to have the parent pay me upfront then me reimburse the parent after I get the voucher payment in the mail. If I accept vouchers, then by doing so, I accept to be paid according to the way they pay me.

So far, I haven't had any problems with receiving payment on time. It is a bit more of a pain because everyone else simply hands me cash and I write them a written receipt. But with the vouchers, I had to buy a fax machine and then I have to remember every other week to fax the 'bill' to the government. A couple of times I forgot to send it the first day that I could so my check was a couple of days late only because I sent the bill to them a couple of days late.

You might want to call around to other daycare ladies in your area and ask if they've had any problems receiving payment on time. If not, as long as you can wait for the payment, you should be fine taking children on assistance. One way to look at it is that you get a big chunk of money at once. So you might want to start using that as your car payment or some other big bill. However, keep in mind that the payment is not always on an exact date every month. You do have to wait for the government to receive their funds before they can release the paychecks to the daycare providers. But typically, it's within a couple of days of a scheduled date.

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I was wondering the same thing...why would you need to give money back ?

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I probably didn't have to refund excess, but I did in the beginning. After about 6 months, I quit trying to figure out the state's system.

One month they would short me and the next month over pay.

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thanks for clearing that up. I am not having a good experience with this family at all. Drama with a capital D and I really really am trying to hang in there, just don't know how much longer I can go....

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