How to Write a Contract for In-Home Child Care

If you are starting an in home daycare then it will be important to draft a good contract to give to the parents and guardians of the children that you will be caring for. Even if you are going to watching your friends' children or family members it is still a very good idea to have everyone understand how you plan to conduct the in home daycare and to have proof that they were informed on how you planned to run the daycare. In addition to informing the parents you will also be making yourself aware of how you will conduct everything, making it easier to have things run smoothly because you will have a guide to follow. When drafting a contract it will be important to include of number of items.

One of the first things that you will have to decide on and include in your contract is your payment policy. This is always a little awkward and it may be uncomfortable telling your friends and family to pay by a certain time or to hold them to penalties if they do not pay, but this will be necessary to run a successful business. Your policy can be forgiving and even flexible, but make sure that you set a reasonable rate for regular care hours and irregular care hours. Offer lots of notice before penalties are necessary and do not be afraid to include that children will be turned away if a bill goes unpaid for a significant amount of time. By having everyone read about such policies ahead of time it will be less awkward if you ever have to be in those situations with the parents that you work for.

Next it will be important to explain to parents, in the contract and verbally, your plan for meals. Make sure that your meal policies reflect your state laws for how often children are required to be fed a snack or meal. If you do not want to accommodate to any special food requirements of children, such as allergies, make sure parents understand this and that you include it in your meal policy. By knowing all of the laws regarding food, you can be sure that your daycare complies with the laws and that you will not have any upset parents from being unaware of your food practices. When you design your meal policy make sure that you make it something realistic so you can follow it. However, above everything else, make sure that it is something that will be healthy for the children that you care for.

Another very important policy to include in your contract is a policy on sick children. If you are caring for several children having one sick child can lead to all of the other kids getting sick. Not to mention caring for children is hard work when they are well; this difficulty greatly increases when you have to care for a sick child. Ideally you will want to have your sick child policy include a minimum temperature and any symptoms at which children are sent home. Additionally, you will want to include whether you require a doctor's note that a child is no longer sick or simply use an honor system with the parents that the child has been without a fever and other symptoms for a certain number of days. Again having all of this in writing will make it easier when you have to explain to a parent why his or her child cannot return to daycare until they are better.

A daycare contract between parent and child care provider is meant to help both parties. It gets everything out on the table so that both parties make sure that they are doing what they have agreed to do. Do not be surprised if you end up drafting several copies because you will want to make sure that you get it right before you have anyone sign it. For more tips on what to include in your contract and general tips for running an in home daycare you can check out these Work at Home Resources. You will be glad to get things like paperwork for your daycare figured out before you start running it because once it is up and running you will be busy caring for the children and having a ball doing so.