Contracts & Policies Questions and Answers: Part I

“Can I get into trouble by referring a parent to another family child care provider, if something should happen to the child later?”

“Can I refuse care for a child who comes from a home with smokers and carries a heavy tobacco smell on their clothing?”

“What are the steps you can take when you have a family that does not pay you the full amount due?”

These were some of the many questions asked of me during a recent webinar “Early Childhood Education Program Contracts & Policies 101: How to Establish and Maintain Effective Business Relationships with Parents.” Over 375 family child care providers and child care center staff listened to the webinar.

You can listen to the webinar for free and download the power point and handouts from the webinar sponsor Early Childhood Investigations (scroll way down to the bottom of the page).

Here are the answers to the questions I couldn't get to during the webinar:

References

Q: “Can I get into trouble by referring a parent to another family child care provider, if something should happen to the child later?”

A: Possibly. If you are giving out names of other child care providers, you want to give a referral, not a recommendation. To protect yourself against a lawsuit, give out more than one name and don’t comment on the quality of the other providers. Don’t tell the parent much more than, “Here are some names of other programs that may have an opening for your child. This is a referral, not a recommendation.” If you are recommending other providers (“This person/program would be really great for your child.”) you run the risk of a parent suing you if the child is later injured.

Q: “A child care program is calling me about a family that I used to care for who now wants to enroll in their program. If I am asked whether I would care for their child again, can I say no?”

A: Certainly. There is no risk of slander (making a false spoken statement damaging to a person’s reputation) here. If you go on to give reasons why, you want to be careful not to make statements such as, “The father was an alcoholic” or “The mother didn’t express any concern for her child” because you can’t prove that they are true.

Q: “Can I legally say that the parents didn’t pay on time, without getting into trouble?”

A: Yes. If you have records that show the parent owes you money, then your statement is true.

Q: “If I call the previous provider, what can I say without saying too much? I’m concerned about the parent’s privacy.”

A: You are only calling the previous provider because the parents has given you permission to do so. You can ask the previous provider whatever you want and not get into legal trouble. (The provider responding to your questions can get into trouble if they commit slander.) The key questions to ask are “Would you do it again?” and “Is there anything I should know about the family that might cause me to not want to care for their child?” Of course, you can always be extremely respectful of the parent’s privacy and not pry or ask questions that are very personal.

Q: “Would another child care facility provide information to me about the needs of the child?  Aren’t there are privacy laws that protect a family in this situation?”

A: Not if the parent is giving you permission to ask questions of their previous caregiver.

Q: “Is this true – If I want to call references and ask them questions I won’t get into trouble, but if someone calls me for a reference I should be careful of what I say?”

A: Yes. You should not answer questions if someone calls you unless the parent has given you permission to talk to the other child care program. If you have such permission you should still be careful about what you say.

Tom Copeland – www.tomcopelangblog.com

Image credit: https://depositphotos.com/221386546/stock-photo-top-view-clipboard-contract-white.html 

To learn more, read my book Family Child Care Contracts and Policies.