When you are starting a home daycare business, it feels like you have a million things to do. Nothing is as important during your preparation as the home daycare contract. Your home daycare contract is the blue print for how you will run your home daycare business. If you throw it together in an hour and present it to your clients, you will regret it. Your home daycare contract protects you from some of the things that make a home daycare business a hard venture for many. If you are protected with your contract, you can feel better about doing what you love, working with the children.
Below, is an outline of how my home daycare contract is set up. You can change and manipulate it as you like so that your home daycare contract reflects you.
Home Daycare Contract Section 1:
State the name of your home daycare business at the top of the contract
State in a few paragraphs what it is that you provide in your home daycare. In the first section of my home daycare contract, I talk about my priorities, my passions, my personal information like my age and my family make-up. I tell them how I will provide their children with a safe atmosphere and all of my credentials.
Remember that the more you talk about yourself personally and what you can give them as clients, the more they will want to be a part of your home daycare program. Since, later in your home daycare contract, you will state a slew of rules and guidelines, now is the time to sell them on you personally and your home daycare program.
Home Daycare Contract Section 2:
I started my second section of my home daycare contract out with this sentence:
As a home childcare professional, I will provide:
Here is where you will list the things you can offer them in your home daycare. After each one, talk about how you will provide that to them while in your home daycare. I will list for you the services on my home daycare contract. You will need to write a small paragraph under each one stating how you will provide each. I have given you an example with my first service as it appears in my home daycare contract.
A. SAFETY: My ultimate goal is to protect the children in my care. I will do everything possible to create a safe environment by keeping my house and toys clean. I will fix or discard broken items immediately.
B. EDUCATION
C. FOOD
D. ART
E. SLEEP
F. BATHROOM DIAPERING
G. READING
H. DISCIPLINE
I. COMMUNICATION
J. FIELD TRIPS
Now this is your only chance to define any rules in each of these services in your home daycare contract. Make the paragraphs as lengthy as possible ensuring you have stated any rules. For example, in my SLEEP section, I talk about the children bringing with them a “lovey” from home to sleep with and how I will not be responsible if something happens to the toy. They are taking the risk by sending it with their child. Stuff like that NEEDS to be added to your home daycare contract to protect yourself and your business.
Home Daycare Contract Section 3:
FEES AND OPERATING POLICIES
This is where you have things like the agreed drop off time with a blank line so you can fill it out with each family etc. Be sure and have the following information covered in this section of your home daycare contract.
Agreed upon drop off time, agreed upon pick up time, business hours, your rates for full time and part time, late pick up fees, overtime fees and late payment fees.
Establish here when payment is due and how it can be made (cash, check etc.).
Home Daycare Contract Section 4:
Here you need to have little sections on holidays, late pick up policies, vacations, sick child policy and termination of services.
I strongly suggest that you have a firm policy backed up by your home daycare contract that your clients must give a 2 week notice before terminating your services. This will save you so much grief. Have all your rules for this written in your home daycare contract in this section. You will probably need to use your home daycare contract in court at one time or another so keep that in mind. It needs to be direct and definite.
Home Daycare Contract Section 5:
The last part of your home daycare contract is where your clients sign it. My advice to you is if 2 parents are present during the interview, have them both sign the contract. This give you more leverage if you ever need to take them to court. This is the way my contract ends to protect my home daycare business and me, personally.
I _______________________ have read and understand this 7 page home daycare contract for childcare. In signing this 7 page home daycare contract, I agree to abide by it while my child _______________ is in the care of Sonya Covert.
__________________________
Parent’s Signature and Date
It is essential that you state how many pages your contract is so that no one can accuse you of adding more pages later. Also, as a precaution, I always have the clients initial every page of my home daycare contract as they sign the contract.
You can add anything you like to your home daycare contract. When I started, I was afraid that the clients would read my home daycare contract and turn around and leave since it seemed harsh. Every parent seems to understand instantly that it is for my protection and for theirs. Usually when I start to become defensive about it before they even complain, they assure me that every daycare they have gone to has a similar contract. Remember to add now anything you have to say while they are agreeing and signing your home daycare contract. Good luck
