Ending Your Parent Agreement
The most common term in a family child care contract is that a parent must give a two-week notice before ending the agreement. This gives you a little time to find another family without suffering too much financially.Many providers put in their contract that the provider will also give the parent a two-week notice before ending the agreement. However, I have seen that this can sometimes create a problem:
* A provider gives a parent a two-week notice and the parent starts bad mouthing her to the other families in her program during the last two weeks.
* The parent threatens to accuse the provider of abusing her child and the provider terminates her immediately, even though her contract required giving a two-week notice.
* The provider has a personal emergency that requires her to shut down her program immediately.
In all of these scenarios the provider is in a bind.
What's the solution?
Put in your contract, "The provider may terminate this contract at will." This allows you to end your agreement immediately when you need to protect your business. You can always give parents some notice before ending your agreement if you want.
It is fair to require parents to give you a two-week notice and not require the same from yourself? Yes! It's your business. You can't afford to put it at risk.
If the parent is worried about being terminated immediately reassure her by saying that your practice is to do so only in extreme situations and that normally you do give parents some notice. Don't, however, put this practice in writing because if you do you will be obligating yourself. You may also want to help the parent find a new caregiver.
If you do terminate your contract immediately you should refund any money the parent has paid you for care beyond this date.
What is your practice about how your contract can be ended?
Tom Copeland - www.tomcopelandblog.com
Photo credit: https://pixabay.com/vectors/contract-agreement-resignation-6149824/
For more information, see my book Family Child Care Contracts & Policies.
