I have a family that has been grating on my nerves for some time. Today was the final straw. My contract states health department regulations. Parents agreed to and signed contract. Part with issue says:

The Health Department regulations prohibit the admittance of any child into a family childcare home that exhibits any of the following symptoms:
Vomiting - child must be symptom free for 24 hours WITHOUT the aid of medication.

My contract says "Masking your child's symptoms with over-the-counter medications and bringing them to car anyway is not allowed and could be cause for immediate termination."

Later it states "I will TERMINATE our child care arrangements IMMEDIATELY for any of the following reasons (but not solely limited to): If parents knowingly bring their child/ren ill."

Today family shows up, oldest child (age 4) pukes in my entry room all over the place. Mom had said kids weren't doing well yesterday, had a stomach flu that had been going around. Well, kid tossed his lunch right there. I looked the mother in the eye and said I'll keep the younger two if you want, but the oldest one CAN NOT stay here. It's in my contract. She cleaned up the puke, then ended up leaving with her husband and left all three kids here. Kids are here until midnight. My daughter has a band concert tonight, I don't want to bring a puky kid to something that has been planned months in advanced. This puky child should not even be here. Ugh, I'm sooooo frustrated.

I've never written a termination letter and any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

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Whoa! How did you end up with all three kids??????

Just make the letter short and to the point! No need to go in to reasons...she knows them.

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I dont understand why you allowed the child to stay. If she bitched a fit for the child not being able to stay you should have terminated right there on the spot. You need to call & keep calling until they arrive to take the child home.

I used a basic form that I modified to fit my rules.

Under the Other I list exactly what they did wrong with dates.

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Thank you for the responses and help. The letter I wrote is below. I highlighted in my contract the points I made in my previous post. I was finally able to get a hold of their alternate at home about 5:15ish last night, and they didn't get here until after 6 to get the kids. Should have been a 10-15min drive, as there was no traffic between here and there to deal with. It is frustrating to be losing the money that was coming in from these three children, yet my husband and I are relieved to be able to wipe our hands clean from the issues we've been having with them.

Here's the letter I wrote:
December 7th, 2009

Parents Name
Address
Address

I regret to inform you that I must terminate our childcare arrangements for Child1, Child2 and Child3. Termination is effective immediately. The reasons for this termination are as follows:
#1 Failure to comply with the policies set forth in my contract.
#2 Knowingly bringing your child/ren ill.

I am enclosing a copy of my contract as well as a copy of the signature page that you signed at the end of the contract. On the copy of the contract you will find the violations highlighted. I made it clear that after Child1 vomited upon arrival that he could not continue to stay, yet you left him anyway, leaving me in this position. It is not only unfair to my family and me to have to try to care for him while he's ill, but also not fair to the other children that were here in care.

If you need help locating a new provider one option would be to call the Child Care Resource and Referral office in X City at *********X.

Lastly, the kids have some stuff still here at the house that I didn't have time to pack up and send with them when they left last night. Please feel free to call me to make arrangements to pick up their things. Also, I will be mailing your end of the year statement sometime after January 1st and before January 31st.

Sincerely
(Signed)
Printed

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Good for you! Keep us posted on how it goes! It is always hard to terminate people even when they SO deserve it!

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I include a $20 late fee for kids who are sick & are not picked up with in an appropriate time frame. I find that it helps to insure parents will pickup right away.

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Good for you! I wouldn't hesitate to terminate for that reason.

Just how did she manage to leave the child after you said the child could not stay? I'm trying to figure out how this can happen..if someone told me I couldn't leave my sick child, I wouldn't just walk out the door anyway....didn't you say something to her when she was leaving? Like "aren't you forgetting something?". Just wondering how that could happen when you clearly told her the child couldn't be there and she was standing right there.

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Mom said alternates (gparents) weren't home, and wasn't sure when they would be. Then said, "well, how about if wait and see if he throws up again, then he can leave". I answered "No, he needs to go, he just threw up." Impatient dad was honking, like I said they were running late. She went to the door, and stepped outside, I was under the impression that she was going to go explain to dad what had happened. Boy was left there in entry room. I peeked my head (and body) into main part of house to check on the other kids that were at my house. I had a 1yr old, 1 3/4 yr old, 2yr old and 3yr old all in living room w/o supervision and I naively thought she was telling dad what was going on and coming back to get the boy. Nope, she left.

I sent letter out certified mail this morning, she should get it tomorrow. Same small town...

I also got a hold of my licensor and explained the situation not sure if I needed to notify her when I terminate a family. She said I was very clear with documentation and she'd support me as everything is clearly stated in my contract (which I had to provide her a copy of when I got licensed.)

I am concerned that this family may file a bogus complaint against me with the county, yet I have nothing to hide as I've done nothing wrong. I just don't want to have to deal with the hassle. When my licensor sees the complaint and looks through the record and sees the termination notice I'm sure she'll be able to put 2 and 2 together. I haven't had any other complaints against me and until this incident the mother has praised me for how the kids love coming here and what a great job I seem to be doing etc. Maybe the parents will just let things slide... We'll have to see.

Oh, and as far as charging a late fee for pickup these people are on county assistance. I don't think the county will cover that fee, and it wasn't the parents, it was the grandparents who came and got the kids.

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Now looking back I wonder if I shouldn't have called the county or the police or someone as it seems to me that they abandoned their sick child. I'm not sure if that could be considered abandonment, as they did leave them safely in my care, though I was unwilling to care for the sick one.

When it happened yesterday I think I was more in shock than anything else. I was simply dumbfounded, speechless. Then of course, I quickly became irate and teary.

I'm wondering if this some how happened to any of you (theoretically) what would you do if parents weren't responding, and alternates were unavailable? (Besides the obvious and terminating them for severe breach of contract)

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If a parent had done that to me you can bet i would have called and turned them in or at least advised the state as to their lack of parenting, you stated very clearly that the child could not stay and dcm suck out leaving a sick kid with you..Also weather the dcp are state assistance or not they have to follow the same rules as ALL my clients including any fees. I do have a seperate contract for DHS clients, here is a copy of what they sign..I make it VERY clear that they are the ones that are responsible, I also have it in my policy that if a child is home sick it is up to me if i will accept their siblings into care that day.Here if a parent doesnt follow the contract their dhs case worker want to know, If i was you I would call and let the state know that they did not follow through and put all the children in your care at risk and that is why you terminated,good luck..

Contract
(Financial Assistance)

Co-Payments and any amounts due not covered by DHS or any assistance program will be due in advance of childcare. Any amount not paid by DHS for any reason after they have issued me a check will be due within three (3) business days after I have been paid by DHS. If payments haven’t been made within three days of the due date the childcare contract will be terminated with all fees applicable, including late fees and the two week termination fee. If DHS does not pay your childcare fees for any reason you are responsible for paying the full amount due within 3 business days of receiving notice that your bill was not paid. This is an amendment to Kiddie Care and Plays payment policies for State assisted clients only. My fees are based on a flat weekly rate for ALL clients and are as follows:
Full Time- 21-50 hours a week: $125.00 per child per week ($135- In Diapers)
Part Time- 1-20 hours a week: $62.50 per child per week ($72.00- In Diapers)

Parent/Guardian understands and agrees that they will be charged the same rate as all clientele and are responsible for any amount not paid by the state or any other assistance programs.

I have received, read and understand Kiddie Care and Plays’ Daycare policy handbook. I understand and agree to comply fully.

Parents signature ________________________ Date __________

Parents signature ________________________ Date __________

This is a contract between_______________________(Parents/Guardian),
And (DCP) , owner and operator of Kiddie Care and Play.
Childcare services will be provided for the following child/ren:
1. _____________________________________
2. ________________________________

3. ________________________________

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You said about late fees with people on assistance. That is something else that I had to put in my policy was that if they are on that they (parent) are responsible for the late fees (or any other fees accumulated) & if the fees were not paid by the end of week (I give to end of week cuz I found that people on assistance never have money on them or during the week) A lot of provinders make fees due that same day. After a family I had within my 1st yr I totaly revamped my policy to try to cover all the loop holes.

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I think it's one of those "You can't get blood from a turnip" situations, and chalk it up to a good lesson in life.....look back upon the people, their kids and behavior, and your initial impression of them, and use that in the future to gauge during a DC interview if you're willing to take somebody on.


A rotten fish always stinks, but we've been trained to "not judge a book by it's cover" by society.

Shallow sucky type people are easy to spot if we just let ourselves pay attention to those alarm bells ringing in our heads.

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Smart move on calling your rep. Whenever we terminated someone, we always called our rep to give the heads up. You never know

Keep us posted!

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I received a phone call from the dad's cell phone early this afternoon. I slightly dreaded answering it because the mom and I were just talking the other day, and she commented that he usually handles the "difficult phone calls". This was in relation to a particular cell phone company, but still.

Well, it was the mom on the other end. She mentioned nothing about the letter, but wanted to ask what items the kids had here that needed to be picked up. She sounded upset, but was indeed very polite on the phone. I rattled off the list of items, such as blankets, toiletries, change of clothes. I also told the mom about the Christmas presents. She asked if dad could stop by on his way home from work tonight (very late) to pick the stuff up. I agreed. He's been here and gone. I explained what was where (3 different bags), he was polite, courteous, and said thank you to me (smiling) as he left.

I'm hoping this is the end of it.

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