How Long Should Parents Be Allowed to Visit with Their Children?

A parent wants to come to your home and visit with her child during the day. She wants to observe her child and eat lunch. You are concerned that the visits will become a regular thing and last for hours.

Is there any time limit you can put on how long a parent can visit your family child care program?

Open Door Policy

Most state child care regulations require you to have an "open door" policy with parents. This usually means you can't refuse to let a parent into your home during business hours. But, beyond that, regulations are usually silent. Check with your licensor to see if there are any specific rules you must follow.

Other than following regulations about an "open door" policy, you can do whatever you want.

It's reasonable to set limits on how much time a parent can visit your program. You can set different limits for different parents, if necessary. Maybe a new parent needs to spend some extra time with her baby. Or, maybe a child has a special need and the parent wants to help out.

It is not a good idea to allow a parent to visit every day or every other day for an extended period of time, unless she/he is providing you with some help in caring for children. If you are allowing parents to spend a lot of time in your program, you will want to check with your state's workers compensation office to see if you must get this insurance for the parent. Also, check with your business liability insurance agent to see that you are covered if the parent is injured or injures someone else.

Your Policy

You can create your own policy about parent visitation: "I have an 'open door' policy which means parents may drop in my program any time to check on the well being of their child. Parents who wish to spend additional time with their child during the day must give me at least two days notice of when you will be visiting. I reserve the right to limit how much time parents can spend on their visits."

You can be more specific about how much time parents can visit, or you can leave it vague as written above. It's up to you. Do what you think is best for you and your program.

What's your policy?

Tom Copeland - www.tomcopelandblog.com

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