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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Terminating Care - Notice Period Question
SnowGirl 03:05 PM 11-16-2019
Hello!
My own son has a history of biting one of the children in my care. Back in the spring I worked with the family and I took some social-emotional trainings to help me learn how to help my son past this phase. There have been no incidents in 5 months.
Last night, the mother of this child noticed a bite mark on his arm. When she asked me about it, I had no idea he had gotten injured. So I couldn't tell the family when, or who (although my son is the likeliest suspect.) I of course sincerely apologized for the incident, and that I hadn't been present to witness it (my guess is someone bit him while the bigger kids were outside and I was tending a baby for a few minutes with diaper changes or napping, etc) and I extended the olive branch to her saying I would do better. She expressed that she thought I was being deceitful and that they couldn't trust me, and perhaps I'm not the right provider for them.
I acknowledged her feelings and said that we would make an appointment to sign the paperwork (termination) and retrieve her son's things in the next week. I haven't heard back from her.
So that's everything in a nutshell. Aside from this being a learning experience for me as far as how I supervise children and how I work with them on these issues, I am struggling with how to move forward with this termination.
In my contract, there is a two-week paid notice period. If the family doesn't want to continue care for even the two weeks...should I hold to the two weeks of pay they owe me? I feel like I should waive that since it's a safety concern coming from them, but my contract doesn't have that right for them. Even if they decided to continue care with me (unlikely), I will be terminating care because of her implying I was lying to them and hiding things from them. I was as honest and sincere as I could be in telling her that I'm so sorry this happened to her son, and I don't know how or when it happened. That's me telling her it was inadequate supervision at the time of the incident. SO for her to fire back that I was deceitful is the end of my desire to continue providing care for the family.
So, in my shoes (my imperfect shoes that will be learning a lot from this), would you waive the two weeks? Would you put the two weeks pay in the termination notice per the contract but let it go if the family refuses to pay? WWYD?
My own son has a history of biting one of the children in my care. Back in the spring I worked with the family and I took some social-emotional trainings to help me learn how to help my son past this phase. There have been no incidents in 5 months.
Last night, the mother of this child noticed a bite mark on his arm. When she asked me about it, I had no idea he had gotten injured. So I couldn't tell the family when, or who (although my son is the likeliest suspect.) I of course sincerely apologized for the incident, and that I hadn't been present to witness it (my guess is someone bit him while the bigger kids were outside and I was tending a baby for a few minutes with diaper changes or napping, etc) and I extended the olive branch to her saying I would do better. She expressed that she thought I was being deceitful and that they couldn't trust me, and perhaps I'm not the right provider for them.
I acknowledged her feelings and said that we would make an appointment to sign the paperwork (termination) and retrieve her son's things in the next week. I haven't heard back from her.
So that's everything in a nutshell. Aside from this being a learning experience for me as far as how I supervise children and how I work with them on these issues, I am struggling with how to move forward with this termination.
In my contract, there is a two-week paid notice period. If the family doesn't want to continue care for even the two weeks...should I hold to the two weeks of pay they owe me? I feel like I should waive that since it's a safety concern coming from them, but my contract doesn't have that right for them. Even if they decided to continue care with me (unlikely), I will be terminating care because of her implying I was lying to them and hiding things from them. I was as honest and sincere as I could be in telling her that I'm so sorry this happened to her son, and I don't know how or when it happened. That's me telling her it was inadequate supervision at the time of the incident. SO for her to fire back that I was deceitful is the end of my desire to continue providing care for the family.
So, in my shoes (my imperfect shoes that will be learning a lot from this), would you waive the two weeks? Would you put the two weeks pay in the termination notice per the contract but let it go if the family refuses to pay? WWYD?