7:00am: Dcb dropped off
7:30am: breakfast
8:30am: Dcb pukes
8:40am: Call dcb dad at home (he works nights). No answer. Leave message.
8:42am: Call dcb mom at work; work not open until 9. Try back then.
8:44am: Call dcm cell phone. No answer. Leave message
8:45am: Dcb pukes again
8:50am: Call dcb dad again. No answer, leave message.
8:55am: Call dcb gma. No answer, leave message.
9:00am: Call dcb mom at work. She answers. Going to see if gma can p/u
9:05am: Dcb mom calls back. Gma coming to p/u. Lives 45 min away.

I'm annoyed because it should not be that difficult to get ahold of somebody. I have better things to do then make a bunch of phone calls to get a pukey kid picked up. I feel that it's ridiculous that it took that long to get ahold of somebody. But in talking to another provider this am, she thinks I'm over reacting.

What do you all think?

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What does your illness policy say as far as how long they have to pick up? That's the thing id be upset about. If the 45+ minutes waiting for gma to pick up didn't work for me (I mean he has already vomited twice in a very short amount of time) I wouldn't hesitate to express how much that doesn't work for me. Mom can come pick up and wait for gma at home and then go back to work for all I care. I'm hoping he at least made it to the bathroom for you because that can't be fun cleaning up multiple times.

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I'd be very angry, and having a serious discussion with that parent about the appropriate amount of time to pick up their I'll child. No it shouldn't take that long to get a hold of someone! If another child was puking, would they want their child around them for 2 hours?

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I'd let DCM know it's ok for grandma to pick up if she doesn't mind paying a late ill pick-up fee - I would require all pickups to take place within 45 min. Sorry about the throw ups. I hope you don't have an awful mess to clean up

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I don't think you are overreacting at all. I had the same thing happen to me and ended up charging them my contracted $1/minute late fee if they are over 30 minutes late after the initial phone call. (and later termed them)

What is in your contract about sick pick ups?

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Wow, I could have written that post. Similar to what I went thru earlier this week. I like the idea of a late fee if they are not picked up within and hour.

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I am confused...

why is the kid being dropped off at 7am if the mom does not start work until 9am?

I would be angry. I tell parents that I MUST have some way to get in touch with them. IF they know that they will be unavailable for any reason like a meeting or such, they need to make sure they have someone else available for me to contact.

I do everything to keep these kids safe, but as we know they will get sick , they will get hurt and there is NEVER a reason that I should not be able to reach a parent.

Lucky for them, he was just puking and it was not a real emergency.

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I would ask mom these same questions. What if it were a real emergency? There is no reason at all a parent can not answer their cell phone when receiving a call regarding their child. If driving, pull over immediately. If in meeting, excuse yourself.

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20 minutes for a return call seems pretty normal to me. Being able to sneak away to make a personal call can be extremely difficult in some occupations. Imagine being called out of a house fire for a bug bite. (the average commute time here is 2 hours, that is why I ended up transitioning into minor ill care. I was already doing it. )

Does mom work closer than 45 minutes? Is Dad closer? If so, IMHO, the onus is on you to tell her she will have to pick up and take to GMA. Mom does not get to make this decision... Backbone needed here.

There are too many variables to know if you are over-reacting to this but I can see you could have controlled the outcome.

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This. ^^

Never own an issue that belongs to someone else.

If you have clear policies in regards to time lines for responding and/or coming to pick up...stick to them.

If not, maybe it's time to make some.

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Mom works almost an hour away. She had a meeting at 8am. I did not get a return call until after I had already spoken to mom when I called her.

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This was confusing for me.

BUT once you talked to Mom, that was your contact. (IMHO, of course. I don't mean to leave tht out... I type like I talk)

In no way can you let a parent push their responsibilities off onto another. You should never have had to wait for Grandma to call, or for DCM to call Grandma. (if I am reading that right??) That is asinine.

Sorry it went so zig zagged. Put your foot down hard.

You: Kid is sick, needs picked up by ____.

Her: OK, myself or my mother will be there by then.

Done.

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Personally, as frustrating as it is, I wouldn't be that annoyed. It was only 20 minutes from the time you made the first call until you got ahold of someone. I typcially call the first person and leave the time on the message. I tell them if I don't hear back within 5 minutes (if is a sick kid), I will go to the next person. Then I keep going down the list. Now if it was an emergency, I wouldn't wait the 5 minutes in between calls.

Edited to add that I have a1 hour pick up policy for a sick child. But that hour starts when I first make contact. So the hour would have started at 9am.

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My parents are allowed 1 hr to pick up because they work 50 minutes away.

After that, they get a charge, regardless on if it's them or another family member picking up. The charge has to be paid before return to care.

And don't forget, to be sure mom doesn't bring the kiddo back tomorrow!!

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I don't do well with puke so any amount of time would have annoyed me lol!

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Dcp didn't mention dcb looked or acting sick at drop off? I know they can start puking quickly with no sign of illness but just wondering if dcb was a little off before he even showed up at your door? That's me, always the skeptic and couldn't help but think maybe that's why nobody rushed to answer the phone too. Twenty five minutes may not seem like a long time but as has been mentioned, what if it had been an emergency?

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Dcb looked fine when he was dropped off. Ate breakfast fine. 1st puke was on my carpet, 2nd was in the bathroom sink.

It's over & done with. He got picked up. I'm closed on weekends.

Thanks everybody. Have a good weekend. TGIF

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I require backup people to be local and within a 30 minute drive time. they need to be able to pickup a child asap. i would not allow grandma to be on the emergency list as I dont consider 45 minutes to be local.

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No, it should not be that hard. I was texting my puker's mom from the time she said she felt bad and she immediately responded....And she is a teacher. Granted, it was probably before classes but, still. It took her a good while to locate someone to pick up while I am pretty sure her class would've been in session. She wins an award today from me!

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20 minutes until you're able to reach someone doesn't seem like a huge deal. 45 minutes until someone can be there sounds like the best they can do. Doesn't sound unreasonable, I wouldn't let it bother me.

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My commute to my job is 30 minutes on the freeway.

If you have to take the regular interstate make it 35-40.

Any accidents or roadwork, or if you try to take the surface streets, you're looking at 45 minutes to an hour. I live in a huge county.

So if for some reason I was not at work, and was called to pick my daughter, who attends part time, it would take me that long to get there, no way around it. My sister lives in the area, but works even farther away.

So while i don't think its acceptable that you couldn't reach anyone for half an hour, i can see why the pick up situation might be that way.

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One thing I've learned when I leave messages is to not explain the entire thing. I'm afraid if I say "DCB puked and needs to be picked up", they'll listen to the message and purposely take forever to call me back. Soooo... I say, "We've had an emergency and I need you to call me immediately." So what... let them assume the boy hurt himself. It gets them to call back fast!! And I'm not lying... it IS an emergency! He needs to go home NOW!!

I've done this twice. You learn to know which families need that sort of manipulation.

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Had to come back and update this.

Dcb's sister puked at school on Monday and the school called me after going through their list of contacts because they couldn't get ahold of anybody either.

She was eventually picked up (not by me) but it seems I'm not the only one who had this issue.

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