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Do I Have Openings? | Child Care Contract

Do I have openings?

• Do you have a space for my child?
• Do you have a waiting list?
• How long is your waiting list?

Before I can answer these questions, I need to know the date you want a space, how old your child will be on that date, the days and hours you want care during the week, and whether or not the answer to those questions are flexible.

If you are looking for child care NOW, or within four weeks from when you ask the question, I can tell you what I have available. You can discover what space is open. All of my clients have a contract with a four week notice. If any of them have given me notice, I will have a date when their space is open. I can also tell you that. Some parents are considerate enough to give me more than 4 weeks notice.

If you are looking for child care for more than four weeks from when you ask the question, and you have decided that you like my place, the best thing to do is to go ahead and sign a contract, pay the registration fee and the first two weeks of your contract. Your only risk is the non-refundable registration fee.

You can fill out the contract for whatever you want. You put a start date in the contract, for example Sept 1st, with the hours and days that you want. Four weeks before the anticipated start date, you put in I have to tell you if you have the space or not. Six or 8 weeks before the date in the contract if I have space before the date in the contract I will offer it to the first person on my wait list and you can change the contract to start earlier (or just pay for it) and you now have a space. If I don't have space on Sept 1st we could just change the date for another week. I always have some space available because I accept part-time parents. You might not get the exact space you want the exact day you want (unless you are willing to pay for it earlier than you want it) but you then go on a wait list to change to the exact hours and days you want.

If you find a day care you like, do not hesitate to sign a contract right away. Look for the cancellation part of the contract. Mine is 4 weeks notice. If you change your mind AND TELL ME 4 WEEKS BEFORE THE DATE THE CONTRACT STARTS, your 2 weeks is refunded and I keep the registration fee. A lot of parents sign contracts 6 months to a year or more in advance to get in. I do not like to maintain a large waiting list. I only like to sign contracts when I think they can get in when they want to. A lot of child care centers maintain a large waiting list and collect registration fees when they won't have a space for two years. Watch out for those. I’m not like that. If I don’t think you can get a space two weeks before the date you put in the contract or two weeks after, I will tell you before I accept the contract. The few times that this has happened, I have referred my customers to a good temporary provider until a space is available at ROBIN’S NEST.

I suggest to first-time, full-time parents of a new baby to see if their employer would permit a first month transition period where the parent starts to work a few weeks earlier part-time and then transitions to full-time a few weeks later than a regular schedule. A lot of employers are receptive to this idea.