I have had an issue with kids being sick (vomiting, fever, inconsolable), and the parents are taking forever to come pick up. I am currently at the hour mark waiting on a parent to pick up baby girl who was inconsolable and then projectile vomited all over me, my couch and couch pillows.

After getting her cleaned up, wiping the vomit off me, stripping my couch and throwing it all in a trash bag to get cleaned later...I finally got her asleep by rocking her gently in her car seat....put her in there to 1, keep the vomit contained on their stuff instead of my stuff and 2, thought her parents would be here within 20 minutes.

I am at the point where I am thinking of sending out a notice where I allow 30 minutes for a parent to pick up a sick child, and then I charge $1 a minute. I know traffic around here is bad, so I wanted to give them some leeway...but this is getting ridiculous. It happened with another child a month or so ago where the parents took 45 minutes to get here.

What do you guys do? Any advice?

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The amount of time you allot for your families should be area/job specific as not all parents can be there in 30 minutes if they work an hour away.

In my community, no one works more than 5-10 minutes away so requiring them to be here AND gone (off my property) within 30 minutes is not unmanageable so I require parents to be here and gone within that time frame OR I begin billing a late fee of $1 per minute until the 30 minute mark at which time I call an emergency contact person.

If parents know they cannot be here within that time frame, THEY must arrange for an alternate pick up person to be here.

If this is not something you covered in your interview and handbook, I would start doing so now so that you do not have a repeat of this happening again.

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I give my parents an hour leeway then they get charged $10 for every 15 minutes sick care; after 2 hrs they all know that I will call DHS (refusal to pick up ill child)... only had to do it once in 15 years. Most my families work over 30 minutes away (heck most live 30 minutes away - I'm mid point between home/work)

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I give parents an hour which is more then generous for our area. They are told if they are not here within the hour emergency contacts will be called. No one has ever actually pushed that policy. But if they did, you can bet I'd be charging a higher then normal late fee. Like 20$ per 15 minutes type of fee. Also, changing it to kids have to stay home for 48 hours if you send them home sick as opposed to the regular 24 hour if parents keep them home when sick might be helpful in stopping parents from bringing sick kids in the first place

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I allow 60 mins for child to be picked up and gone. That is more than doable for all my families. Parents are required to have a backup plan in place if they can't leave work. I charge my regular late fees if they are late to pick up. I also stipulate that I can term with no refund of fees if they are late. Did that once but there were many many issues with family and it was the last straw.

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If parents are not able to pick up within 30 minutes then I call the emergency contact. I of course know that a parent can be here in 30 minutes or less so it makes sense for my families as they work and live close by.

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I do same & start down the emergency contact list. Sorry your morning started off this way. Totally yucky.

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Thanks for all of your responses...I have decided to go with 45 minutes to get here and pick up child - that is why they have emergency contacts after all, and they are responsible for getting their child picked up. I don't want to have to be the coordinator. If they don't answer their phones, I move on to the emergency contact list. I will charge $1 a minute after the 45 minutes. I think that time is very doable for all of the parents I have now as at least one parent works close to my daycare (why they picked me in the first place!)

Now, do you just send this our as a memo on their e-mail or add it to contract, and have them re-sign it? Or initial it in handbook? Or just have a memo printed out with all their signatures on it?

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Oh, and the mom finally got here at 1 hr, 20 minutes - and only works 30 minutes away!!! Then, oh so casually mentioned that her baby had never been sick before (of course, I plotted and schemed to get her sick...) Turns out 10-month-old didn't sleep well at all the night before, but mom had just put her in bed with her, and all was well. These folks typically have a 3-day week nanny and I opened up on a Monday (not normally open) to provide back-up care when they suddenly had to go into work. Learned my lesson! It is the 5th time the baby has been here, and I won't have her back. The parents and nanny are holding her while she sleeps, wouldn't give her prune juice or anything when she was INCREDIBLY constipated. First time parents, and this was just the final straw.

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