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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Voucher Parents Putting Children in Daycare 12 Hours
permanentvacation 06:28 AM 01-12-2015
I got a call before I was even out of bed this morning from a parent telling me they need daycare from 6 am - 6 pm Monday -Friday. My first thought was, 'No you don't, you're on vouchers and they will pay from 6 -6, so you want me to raise your child because you get free daycare for 12 hours per day.' So I asked her what hours she works. She said she goes to a class (meaning the classes for voucher parents that teach them work skills so they can get a job) from 8 - 3 and she lives in my area. So, she really only needs daycare 7/7:30 - 3:30/4. As soon as I said that to her, she hung up! Obviously, like so many parents who get vouchers here, since the vouchers will pay for 12 hours, she wants to dump her child at daycare for 12 hours.

I'm so ready to quit daycare because of the type of parents that are in my area. In the past almost 6 years that I have been back up here in this area, I have only had a handful of decent parents. I am so tired of parents who make it obvious that they have no interest in their child and only want the cheapest daycare they can find who will let them leave their child at daycare for as long as possible.
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Blackcat31 06:39 AM 01-12-2015
Originally Posted by permanentvacation:
I got a call before I was even out of bed this morning from a parent telling me they need daycare from 6 am - 6 pm Monday -Friday. My first thought was, 'No you don't, you're on vouchers and they will pay from 6 -6, so you want me to raise your child because you get free daycare for 12 hours per day.' So I asked her what hours she works. She said she goes to a class (meaning the classes for voucher parents that teach them work skills so they can get a job) from 8 - 3 and she lives in my area. So, she really only needs daycare 7/7:30 - 3:30/4. As soon as I said that to her, she hung up! Obviously, like so many parents who get vouchers here, since the vouchers will pay for 12 hours, she wants to dump her child at daycare for 12 hours.

I'm so ready to quit daycare because of the type of parents that are in my area. In the past almost 6 years that I have been back up here in this area, I have only had a handful of decent parents. I am so tired of parents who make it obvious that they have no interest in their child and only want the cheapest daycare they can find who will let them leave their child at daycare for as long as possible.
Many of the state assisted families in my area also receive up to 100 hours of child care in a two week period but I have figured out a way around that.

What I do is take the state's daily rate (MAX they will pay for one day) and make that my rate for an 8.5 hour day and anything above the 8.5 hours each day is billed directly to the parent so rarely do my state assisted families use more than the daily allotted hours, no matter how many the state says they can use because they don't want to pay out of pocket.

I bill daily/weekly and not hourly so in essence some of their allotted hours are not used or wasted but really who actually needs that many hours of care every day?!
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Shell 06:40 AM 01-12-2015
I completely understand your frustration. I worked in wealthy daycare centers and school systems for about fifteen years, and I saw the same abusing of hours happening there, too. We would open at 7, and parents were there, waiting in the parking lot in the dark, for us to open. Same parents were last to pick up at 6 p.m. In a few situations, the parents really needed those hours and in others, parents figured they were paying, so why not use the full day?! At my daycare now, I've always made it practice to take part time families- I love families that don't need me full time, and have grandparents helping out, some of the moms only work three days a week, and are home 1-2 days (nurses usually). The few full timers I've taken (not saying they're all like this) on always told me their kids were #1, they would keep them home on their days off, etc- but it all changed maybe a month in, and they were first ones in, last ones out. I am certainly not making as much money as I could be making, but this works for me!
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Shell 06:41 AM 01-12-2015
Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
Many of the state assisted families in my area also receive up to 100 hours of child care in a two week period but I have figured out a way around that.

What I do is take the state's daily rate (MAX they will pay for one day) and make that my rate for an 8.5 hour day and anything above the 8.5 hours each day is billed directly to the parent so rarely do my state assisted families use more than the daily allotted hours, no matter how many the state says they can use because they don't want to pay out of pocket.

I bill daily/weekly and not hourly so in essence some of their allotted hours are not used or wasted but really who actually needs that many hours of care every day?!
Smart
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Cat Herder 06:45 AM 01-12-2015
I fully understand what you are saying.

I have had to change my thinking on this topic due to a difficult realization. I learned it is not better for children to be forced onto adults who don't want to be with them.

You may one day be the only adult this child can depend on. The 12 hours they spend with you saves them from 12 hours of being degraded, ignored or worse...

Just another perspective to think on...
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permanentvacation 07:02 AM 01-12-2015
Cat Herder,

I fully agree with you. And I have had MANY kids who I had to tell myself that they are safer and better off with me than with their parents who had obviously had no desire to be with their child. It's just really getting to me. And for the voucher people to take advantage of free daycare and ditch their child for as long as possible because they are getting free daycare infuriates me in all directions. It shows that the parent has no interest in their child, plus it shows that my tax dollars are paying for these parents to get daycare that they don't need.

It's bad enough that I know how many people are using the system, like my sister and niece do, choosing to not work and purposely live homeless for a year to get a free house out of my taxes. I don't associate with my sister or niece because of that.

But to have people call my company and want me to help them/allow them to misuse my tax dollars! HE** NO!!! It just irritates me to no end.
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Cat Herder 07:09 AM 01-12-2015
I hear you, PermanentVacation, believe me. I have family like that too. I personally feel mandatory drug testing and birth control should be in order as well but I digress....

The whole system needs an overhaul.

..but until the govt stops rewarding people for bringing unwanted kids into the picture, we are professionally expected to be the front lines to preventing child abuse. Morally even...

I wish I had a better answer... I don't know if this issue always existed or is something new. I just know that it is...
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Controlled Chaos 07:12 AM 01-12-2015
Originally Posted by Cat Herder:
I fully understand what you are saying.

I have had to change my thinking on this topic due to a difficult realization. I learned it is not better for children to be forced onto adults who don't want to be with them.

You may one day be the only adult this child can depend on. The 12 hours they spend with you saves them from 12 hours of being degraded, ignored or worse...

Just another perspective to think on...
Yep. This is my thought too.
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permanentvacation 07:15 AM 01-12-2015
I completely agree with you, Cat Herder. I do know that when I lived in a better area, I never experienced parents like this. But Shell said it happened in a wealthy area where she worked. I guess it happens everywhere. I did have a couple of parents on vouchers where I used to live, but they went to work and came straight to daycare after work to get their children. If they got off work at 3, they were at daycare around 3:30 to get their kids. They didn't leave their kids in daycare until 6 just because the vouchers said they could.

You are right, the entire system needs an overhaul.
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Tags:child abuse prevention, subsidy, subsidy issues, voucher
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