Recording Now Available - The Business of Family Child Care: Legal & Insurance Issues with Tom Copeland
A recording of the webinar “The Business of Family Child Care: Legal and Insurance Issues with Tom Copeland” is now available.
In this webinar I covered how family child care providers can protect the children in their care, their property and themselves. This included:
Self-protection checklist to help reduce risks
Homeowner and business property insurance
Business liability and car insurance
Legal issues: Custody disputes, price-fixing, and privacy
Here is a link to the webinar recording.
You are free to share the recording and slides with anyone.
Here are some of the questions and answers from this webinar:
Insurance
Q: Insurance for renters don't cover damages as does homeowner’s insurance. What type of insurance can providers who rent get to protect against damages to property inside units?
A: You’ll have to talk to an insurance agent about getting the property coverage for damage to your personal property as well as damage to the rental property.
Q: I have a child 2 year old who will bang her head on the floor or table when she can't get her way. The parent and grandmother are aware of this issue. I had the parent sign a form stating she is aware. Does this cover me?
A: No, it doesn’t cover you from a lawsuit or for the child’s potential medical expenses. A liability waiver, which is what it sounds like the parent signed, is not going to protect you. You need professional business liability insurance to cover medical bills and defense against a lawsuit. You also need to talk with the child’s doctor and a child development specialist about what can be done to prevent the child from injuring herself.
Q: Does Insurance cover a trip to the park if something happens? Or does it only cover in-home?
A: It depends on the specific coverage described in the insurance policy. Many riders to a homeowners insurance policy will not cover for injuries suffered by a child while away from your home. Ask your insurance agent to show where in your policy it discusses coverage away from the home.
Q: Do you have any suggestions for insurance companies for childcare professionals?
A: I’ve posted a family child care insurance directory on my website.
Q: Is it better to get workers compensation through payroll or insurance company?
A: If you are hiring employees, you will probably need to purchase workers compensation insurance. If you already have a payroll company, it’s likely they will be able to get this insurance for you. Otherwise, contact a business liability insurance agent listed on my insurance directory.
Q: How do I protect myself from assistants who did a forbidden action in my home or to the children?
A: You are responsible for any of the actions of your assistants or employees while in your home. Your best protection is purchasing business liability insurance. Your next best step is to train your assistants in their responsibility to keep children safe and conduct regular performance reviews.
Q: Can you get workers compensation Insurance for yourself if you are the only one wearing all the hats?
A: You can, but it’s better to have adequate health insurance and then disability income insurance to protect yourself against becoming injured.
Q: Is it required to have work comp if it is my adult daughter who would be my sub for my in home daycare?
A: It depends on the state you live in. Some states would require this, some would not. Check with your state department of labor for the answer.
Q: How long do I need to keep proof of liability insurance coverage after I retire?
A: Keep copies of your insurance policies after you retire until the last child in your program reaches age 18 or 21 (depending on your state law).
Q: Would I have to get workers compensation insurance if I have a volunteer helping in my childcare business?
A: It depends on which state you live in. State rules are different. Contact your state department of labor.
Q: Do you have any suggestions for disability insurance?
A: It’s not a simple question. See my article about this: "Disability Income Insurance."
Q: I’m curious, if we host a school event off school property, but parents are present with the children, are we liable for accidents simply for hosting the event?
A: Yes, you are. Make sure you have business liability insurance that covers you for events away from your program.
Q: Through my homeowner’s insurance, I have coverage for family childcare, up to 6 children. Do I need to have a separate insurance policy, or is that good enough?
A: Your homeowner’s insurance protects your property (house and its contents). It does not protect you if a child is injured or a parent sues you. For that you also need business liability insurance.
Q: Can you provide information about what kind of insurance we need to cover if a parent or other visitor is injured on our property? Also, what exactly covers us if there is damage due to a storm or other natural disaster?
A: You need business liability insurance to protect you if a parent or visitor is injured. You need homeowner’s insurance (or commercial property insurance if you operate away from your home) to protect you from storm damage or other natural disasters.
Q: I have a daycare rider on my homeowner’s insurance policy and an umbrella policy. Do I need any other insurance for my Family Childcare Home?
A: Maybe, maybe not. Use my business liability insurance checklist to see if your daycare rider provides you with adequate coverage.:
Q: If the home insurance cover 6 children, but I’m taking care of 8. Does this cover at least 6 or do I need to have separate insurance specifically for daycare?
A: If you are caring for 8 children, your homeowner’s insurance will not cover you at all. That means if your house burns down, you will get nothing from your insurance! You need to stop caring for more than 6 children or get a different insurance policy from another company. You also need business liability insurance in addition to homeowner’s insurance.
Q: Can you advise on how participating in the #DayWithoutChildcare will affect any insurance contracts I have, if any? I'm in Texas and will be taking a field trip to the Texas Capitol with my childcare program to participate. The national organizations are paying for us to be bussed there. Is there any liability for when we are there on May 9th?
A: You will need business liability insurance that protects you and the children while away from your home. I’d contact your insurance agent and ask if there is anything you should be doing. The bus company will cover for any accidents while in the bus.
Q: What does away from home insurance cover generally?
A: Business liability would protect you if a child was injured while away from your home and under your care. It would cover for some medical expenses as well as protecting you against a parent lawsuit. When shopping for insurance, ask your agent about what your policy will cover in this situation.
Q: What about pets?
A: Some business liability insurance policies will not cover you if you have certain breeds of dogs or some other animals. Tell your insurance agent what pets you have and ask if the policy will cover you.
Legal
Q: How do you deal with a parent that constantly brings up race in everything? Like with enforcing a policy?
A: As long as you are enforcing your policies without regard to the race of a parent or child, you are not in violation of any law. If a parent is concerned that you are illegally discriminating against them because of their race, do your best to discuss this with them and respond to their concerns. You should not hesitate to enforce your policies consistently, regardless of complaints by a parent.
Q: Some new grants are recruiting families and do not allow child care programs to refuse a family that was sent to their child care. What would you recommend child care programs do?
A: I assume you are saying that providers who receive these new grants cannot refuse a family referred by the grantor. I assume that providers who don’t receive these grants are free to refuse any family referred to them. I think it’s unreasonable for a grantor to require providers to accept all parents referred to them. Not every parent/child is a good fit for a family child care provider. I’d complain about this policy. Assuming the grantor did not change their policy, I’d accept the grant and not spend it. The first time I did not want to accept a family referred by the grantor, I’d refuse the family and return the grant money.
Q: Is it my responsibility to report if a parent does not put their child in a car seat?
A: You are a mandated reporter of child abuse and neglect. I’d tell parents they must use appropriate car seats and if you see that they don’t, you will report them to child protection.
Q: A parent started showing mental health issues later after months in care of a child. They were still allowing the parent to pick up because parent kept signing in & out of the hospital. How can a provider safeguard themselves and the well- being of the child?
A: If you believe the child is at risk for being picked up by this parent, you should have a backup plan. This backup plan would include having the names of other people who could pick up this child. If that doesn’t work, you should tell the parent that you will call the police if they insist on picking up their child. You can’t refuse the child to the parent. See my article on this: "What to Do When a Parent Shows Up Drunk."
Q: I am a DBA (Doing Business As). I have been told that I need to be a Limited Liability Company (LLC). Advice?
A: You are not required to become an LLC. In general, I recommend against it. See my article: "Should You Set Up a Limited Liability Company (LLC)."
Q: If I transport a child and if a parent signs a waiver stating we will not be held responsible if anything happens, can I be sued if anything does happen?
A: Yes, you can! Liability waivers do not prevent a parent from suing you, or winning money damages against you. See my article: “Will Liability Waivers Protect You?”
Q: What about employees who "babysit" for your families after hours? Are you responsible if something happens during their care outside of your hours? I have heard of "Hold Harmless" policies regarding this. What do you think?
A: I don’t like this at all. A “hold harmless” policy may provide you with some protection of the child is injured in the parent’s home. But it’s not a sure thing. Families in this situation are likely to think that your employee will be safeguarding their child in the same was as when the child is in your home. However, you have no control over what the employee does away from your home.
Americans with Disabilities Act
Q: Can I deny care to parent whose child has food allergies?
A: The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) does include food allergies as a disability. That means you can’t deny care simply because a child has a food allergy. You have made reasonable accommodations for this child. If providing reasonable accommodations creates a “significant’ difficulty or expense, the provider doesn’t have to provide care. The provider should discuss how to care for this child in her group setting with the child’s doctor or nurse to get professional advice about what to do.
Q: When a child with Autism is aggressive to harm to others and staff, is that discrimination when you must terminate?
A: Not necessarily. You must provide reasonable accommodations to keep this child and everyone else in your program safe. Talk to the child’s doctor to find out how you can provide appropriate care for this child. If you must hire an additional staff person, this may mean it will create a “significant” expense for your program. In that case, you can terminate care.
Q: What if a child has special needs that you cannot accommodate in your home...could this family state you were discriminating?
A: You must do what is reasonable to provide appropriate care for this child with special needs. Consult with the child’s doctor to see what you must do to provide this care. If it creates a “significant” difficulty or expense, you don’t have to provide the care.
Q: What if the accommodations considered or required for you to care for that child goes against HOA covenants, will it be OK to deny care?
A: I’m not sure. Contact your state department of human rights for advice.
Q: Can you tell parents that you are unable to care for a child in wheelchair if they are too heavy to lift for using the toilet and things? If you are going to hurt yourself if you take this child can you let them know that you just can't do it.
A: In this situation you would have to find out who else could life the child. If there is another person around or a volunteer, then you would have to provide the care. If it means you would have to pay someone to do this work, then it’s likely this would create a “significant” expense and you wouldn’t have to provide the care.
Q: If the parent from autistic children has a therapist come with the child, do the providers have to accept the child?
A: Yes.
The webinar is sponsored by the Child Care Communications Management Center, which is funded by the Office of Child Care (OCC), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and was developed in partnership with the National Center on Early Childhood Quality Assurance, which is funded by OCC, the Office of Head Start, ACF, HHS.
Tom Copeland – www.tomcopelandblog.com
