What to Do When Parents Are Late to Pick up Their Children
It is a common problem for many family child care providers: Your pick-up time is 6pm and a parent shows up late several times a month. Another parent always arrives before 6pm, but often doesn't leave your home until 6:20pm.
You work long hours caring for children: an average of eleven hours a day, according to several national surveys. It can be frustrating to deal with parents who want even more of your time.
What can you do to address this issue?
First, make sure your written contract states the specific times when parents are expected to drop off and pick up their children. The pick-up time can be different from one family to the next.
Second, state the consequences if a parent doesn't pick up her child on time. Most providers charge a late fee. Here are some examples:
* Parents who notifies provider at least 2 hours before pick-up time that they will be late will not be charged a late fee.
* Parents who are late picking up their children once or twice in a month will not be charged a late fee. Parents will pay a late fee if they are late more often than this.
* Parents are given a fifteen minute grace period and then are charged $.50/$1.00 per minute. (You could charge $.50 or $1 a minute for early drop offs.)
* Parents are charged $1 a minute late fee if they pick up after the scheduled pick up time.
In a workshop of mine a provider once said, "My contract states that if you are ever late picking up your child, you will be immediately terminated." That's strict! It worked for her, but I wouldn't recommend this rule to anyone else.
Time versus Money
Before deciding on your late pick up rule, consider this question: What is more important to you - your time or the parent's money?
If your time is more important, this means you don't want to work after your scheduled pickup time of 6pm. It doesn't matter how much money parents might pay you to be late, because you want to do other things with your time. Therefore, set a high late fee to ensure parents won't be late.
At one workshop a provider said she charged $50 a half hour late fee. However, her complaint was that one parent kept paying it! Since this fee wasn't deterring the parent from being late, I told her to raise her late fee for this parent. You can have different late fees for different parents.
If the parent's money is more important to you, this means you wouldn't mind working after 6pm if you were paid enough. If parents paid you $1 a minute late fee, you could earn $30 for a half hour of work. This is a lot more than you are making per hour before 6pm.
However, most providers tell me that parents aren't consistently late if they have to pay $1 a minute late fee. Therefore, you might want to set a lower late fee to make it more affordable! If you charged $.50 a minute you would be earning $15 a half hour which is still a good wage. At the lower rate, more parents might not mind paying it, and you can earn some extra money.
One provider came up with a perfect solution in dealing with late fees. She said that late fees created tension and stress between her and her parents because they were associated with guilt and blame.
Since she was willing to work a half hour after her pick up time of 6pm, she announced to her parents that if they picked up between 6pm and 6:30pm they would be charged an "evening rate" of $1 a minute. No more late fees, because parents aren't late. No more stress because parents didn't have to rush to her home. It worked for the provider as well because she didn't mind working an extra half hour and being well paid for her time.
Since she was willing to work a half hour after her pick up time of 6pm, she announced to her parents that if they picked up between 6pm and 6:30pm they would be charged an "evening rate" of $1 a minute. No more late fees, because parents aren't late. No more stress because parents didn't have to rush to her home. It worked for the provider as well because she didn't mind working an extra half hour and being well paid for her time.
In the end, it's up to you to set your rules regarding late pick ups and enforce them. You can ask the parent to pay the late fee at the time they are late, by the next morning, or add the fees onto their next regular payment.
How do you handle late pick ups?
This form meets the requirements of Rule 406.12(h), Rule 407.260(f) and Rule 408.60(j)
Who Decides Who Can Pick Up A Child?
By Tom Copeland. Posted with permission.
What do you do when the father wants someone else to be permitted to pick up her child at your family child care home but the mother disagrees?
DCFS FORM.
LATE PICK-UP AGREEMENT
The following agreement is made between ______________________and_________________________
Parents/Guardians Provider
____________for the pick-up of their child/children ___________________, ______________________
Name name name
____________________, __________________, _ _______________ from the day care — home/group.
Name name name
I/we agree to pick up the above named child/children before ____________ he/she/they are in child care o'clock p.m. every day
If I/we fail to pick up my/our child/children by the appointed time, I/we understand that a late fee of ___________ per quarter hour (or portion thereof) will begin to accrue after the above stated pickup time.
If I/we fail, without notice, to pick up my/our child/children at the above stated time, or arrange for someone else to pick them up, the provider will make 3 attempts to contact me/us. If the provider is unable to contact me/us, the provider should contact the emergency person listed on the Application/Record of Child Information sheet, or person on the contingency list, to advise them my/our child/children are still in their care without notice from me/us. If, for any reason, there is no telephone service the provider will contact police to request assistance in contacting me/us or my/our emergency persons.
Provider agrees to keep my/our child/children for 1 hour after the above stated pick-up time, with late fees accruing, before contacting the local police and/or the Child Abuse Hotline if contact cannot be made with parents/guardians or emergency persons.
Provider will continue normal responsibilities for the child's protection and well being and agrees not to discuss your tardiness in arriving with your child/children beyond reassuring them you or someone known to them will be there soon to pick them up.
Parents/Guardians agree to advise provider immediately of any changes regarding their personal contact information, including addresses and phone numbers for home and work and cell phone numbers. Parents/Guardians also agree to provide immediate notice to the provider of any changes for their emergency contact or contingency persons.
______________________________________ ______________________________________
Parent/Guardian Provider A
______________________________________ ______________________________________
Patent/Guardian Provider B
______________________________________ ______________________________________
Date signed Date signed
Who Decides Who Can Pick Up A Child?
By Tom Copeland. Posted with permission.What do you do when the father wants someone else to be permitted to pick up her child at your family child care home but the mother disagrees?
You should never let someone pick up a child unless both parents give written permission for this to happen.
You do not want to be in the middle of a parent dispute. If you decide to let someone pick up the child when the mother has objected, you could open yourself up to a lawsuit. The mother may sue you if her child is injured while being transported by this person.
Biological parents have the right to pick up their children, unless a court order (divorce decree, restraining order, custody agreement) limits this right. This means a mother cannot prevent a father from picking up their child, even though they are in the middle of a bitter divorce battle.
This is true even if the father is not on the authorized pick up list. Because he is the biological father, he can pick up the child. If the mother objects, tell her to give you a copy of a court order that says he can't pick up the child. Otherwise, he gets the child. Keep a copy of any court order and follow what it says.
Both parents can also jointly give permission for others to pick up their child.
When parents have joint custody, each parent may have a designated day when they can pick up the child. Either parent could grant the other parent the right to pick up the child on their day. But if Monday is mother's day and she wants the father to pick up that day, get this in writing and signed by the mother.
If parents are fighting about who can pick up their child, don't take sides. Tell the parents they both must agree on who can be on your authorized pick up list. Let them sort it out.
