In this episode, Kelly Matthews and Paula Drew of the Wisconsin Early Childhood Association describe how to create a family handbook for your child care center. This handbook is key to your bottom line, your reputation and ultimately, your business.
They give the following writing tips:
- Use a consistent font and formatting throughout.
- Review carefully for correct spelling and grammar.
- Write in plain language that is easy to understand. Do you serve families who speak languages other than English? If so, invest in getting your policies translated and remember this step every time you update them.
- Make your documents easy to navigate with page numbers and a table of contents.
- Ensure they include all state-required policies and reflect every aspect of your programming.
- Include a "last updated" date so readers know the information is current.
They also walk through how to organize a handbook and how to avoid the biggest mistakes they see when directors and owners create handbooks.
Want to learn more about the work Kelly and Paula are doing? Feel free to check out www.wisconsinearlychildhood.org or email them at PDREW@wisconsinearlychildhood.org and KMATTHEWS@wisconsinearlychildhood.org.
And their book, which they wrote with Amy Friedlander, is titled "Build it Strong: How to Make your Child Care Business Thrive from Start up to Retirement." It's available in English and Spanish and is for child care center leaders and those doing home care.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
Welcome to the Child Care Business Podcast, brought
to you by ProCare Solutions.
This podcast is all about givingchildcare, preschool, daycare,
afterschool, and other earlyeducation professionals a fun
(00:22):
and upbeat way to learn aboutstrategies and inspiration you
can use to thrive.
You'll hear from a variety ofchildcare thought leaders,
including educators, owners, andindustry experts on ways to
innovate to meet the needs ofthe children you serve.
From practical tips for managingoperations to uplifting stories
of transformation and triumph,this podcast will be chock full
(00:45):
of insights you can use to fullyrealize the potential of your
childcare business.
Let's jump in.
SPEAKER_03 (00:54):
Hello, everyone, and welcome to our newest episode of
the Child Care Business Podcast.
My name is Leah Woodbury.
I'm the head of content here atProCare Solutions, and I'm happy
to have you join us today.
We are thrilled to have twowomen with us to talk about a
topic in child care that oftengets overlooked, but it is
really, really important.
(01:15):
They are Kelly Matthews andPaula Drew of the Wisconsin
Early Childhood Association.
And they're going to walk usthrough how to create a really
solid family handbook for yourchild care center.
We're so glad to have you bothwith us today.
Thanks for having us.
All right.
So before we get started, wealways like to get a little
(01:36):
background on our guests.
So tell us how you becameinvolved in ECE and chose it as
your career path.
SPEAKER_00 (01:44):
So Leah, Kelly and I like to do this thing where we
introduce each other.
As we were talking before westarted recording, we're a
really solid team.
So I am going to introduceeverybody listening to my dear
friend, Kelly Matthews.
She is the Director of FamilyChild Care Strategy and
Advancement at Wisconsin EarlyChildhood Association.
(02:05):
She's a lifelong advocate forearly care and education.
She began her journey at 19 witha lifetime membership to NAEYC
and has spent over 30 yearsmaking meaningful contributions
to the field.
With a master's in humandevelopment from Pacific Oaks
College, rooted in socialjustice, Kelly's work has always
(02:26):
centered children and familiesin high quality care.
Kelly started as a familychildcare substitute and
evolving into nationalconsulting through A Place for
You.
At WECA, since 2011, Kelly'splayed a key role in Youngster,
which is Wisconsin's QRIS.
She's authored the WisconsinFamily Child Care Credential and
(02:48):
built a statewide sharedservices network, Wisconsin
Early Education Shared ServicesNetwork, or WESEN, and I have
been lucky enough to co-directthat network with her.
Today, here at WECA, Kelly and Iboth do our work within WECA's
Center for ECE Policy, Research,and Engagement.
SPEAKER_02 (03:09):
And I am honored to introduce Paula Drew, a
brilliant policy expert andpassionate advocate for early
care and education in Wisconsin.
As director of early care andeducation policy and research at
WECA, Paula brings over 25 yearsof experience from classroom
teaching to leading programs anddriving statewide policy change.
(03:29):
Her background includes amaster's in human ecology from
UW Madison and deep workconnecting educator wellbeing to
quality care.
Together, Paula and I helpedbuild Wisconsin's Shared
Services Network, developed abusiness training for child care
providers, and co-authored abook to support their financial
sustainability named Build ItStrong, How to Make Your Child
(03:50):
Care Business Thrive fromStartup to Retirement.
Whether leading Advocacy Day atthe Capitol or collaborating
with providers in the field,Paula is a tireless force for
more equitable early care in oursystems.
SPEAKER_03 (04:04):
Well, those were very good introductions.
Thank you to both ladies.
So let's shift to today andlet's start with, can you
describe your work at theWisconsin Early Childhood
Association?
SPEAKER_00 (04:15):
Absolutely.
I serve as Director of Policyand Research for the Center for
Early Care and Education PolicyResearch and Engagement.
Very long title.
And that means that I leadefforts to develop and
communicate policy that supportsearly childhood education,
combining data, research,real-world experiences, so that
(04:37):
lived experience from providersand parents that helped us guide
our decision-making around goodpolicy choices.
I also work closely with ouradvocacy team to shape strategic
initiatives, create a range ofpublications, and to keep an eye
on state and federal legislationthat could impact children and
families or the early care andeducation fields.
SPEAKER_02 (05:01):
And then my work really revolves around how to
start, support, strengthen, andretain family child care
providers.
So this means I get to work withproviders through creating
family child care focusedtraining, learning and listening
groups and focus groups,exploring policy impacts, making
or influencing policyrecommendations, and my favorite
part, developing innovatingprogramming that solves problems
(05:22):
and frustrations family childcare providers have expressed.
SPEAKER_03 (05:26):
a problem and frustration.
I'm guessing that's gonna bewhere family handbooks fall for
a lot of providers.
So let's get into the nitty andgritty of these family
handbooks.
And maybe we should start bydefining what a true family
handbook for a childcare centeris.
So we're all working with thesame description.
I think a lot of centers maybehave different versions of what
(05:48):
they consider a handbook.
SPEAKER_02 (05:50):
Absolutely.
So we considered a document thatpulls together all of your
policies and procedures in oneplace so families know what to
expect.
It can be digital or hard copyor both.
It's really your program'sfingerprints.
It's a relationship tool.
It shows how your program isunique and what you have to
offer.
It gets people on the same pageand it gives families
information they need to know ifyour program is going to be a
(06:13):
good fit for them.
I think sometimes people justput out their handbooks and be
like, here you go, and don'teven think parents will read
them.
But actually, we think handbooksare basically your promise to
your community about who you areand how you're going to be.
It includes what happens also ifpolicies are not followed, which
is important to protect yourbusiness, yourself, your staff
if you have them, and of course,your bottom line.
SPEAKER_03 (06:35):
And why is having a family handbook a
non-negotiable?
SPEAKER_00 (06:41):
For so many reasons, Leah, but to get us started.
Right.
A family handbook meets bothyour legal and compliance
expectations for operating aregulated childcare business.
So there's things that yourstate, also like an accrediting
body like NACI or NAFIC, willrequire of you to have in your
(07:03):
family handbook.
They also provide a structure ofyour programming, tells
everybody what to expect, andholds everybody, including
yourself, accountable to whathappens each and every day.
Imagine trying to run a businessthat serves so many people
without any rules orexpectations written down.
It could be total chaos,especially when we're working
with families with youngchildren.
SPEAKER_03 (07:24):
Yeah, and there's already enough chaos in your
days, I would imagine.
That's right.
Why introduce more?
So if a child care centerdirector or owner is writing a
handbook What are the sectionsto focus on?
Can we walk through each sectiona little bit and give an
overview?
SPEAKER_00 (07:43):
Absolutely.
But actually, before we get intothe different sections, we want
to just take a few minutes totalk about the general how to go
about writing a solid familyhandbook.
So these are just somerecommendations we have to help
keep it professional, ensurethat people can easily read and
understand it, and to know whenthere's been changes made to it.
(08:06):
we recommend using a consistentfont and formatting throughout.
So sometimes, you know, you makeyour handbook, you've been in
business for 30 years and you'reupdating one policy.
And guess what?
Your five computers, you know,from the one that you use when
you first created it and youdon't have that font anymore.
So you just, you know, you'rejust quickly doing something.
But at the end of the day, itlooks off.
(08:27):
And you could imagine if you'rereading a legal document, for
example, from your bank, and allof a sudden one section is
written in a different font thatThat might seem strange, out of
the ordinary for you.
So we recommend, you know,keeping it formatted throughout
the same.
We also highly recommendreviewing it for correct
spelling and grammar.
I think it's a great idea tohave a colleague also read it
(08:51):
just to make sure, especially ifyou've been working on it for a
long time, things might makesense to you, but it might not
make sense to somebody else inthe same way.
Or you've just read the samesentence so many times, even
though it's incorrect.
It just makes, you know, youdon't realize it's incorrect.
Write everything in really plainlanguage so it's easy to
understand.
The point of having a familyhandbook is that everybody knows
(09:13):
what to expect.
So that means you don't want touse a bunch of fluffy language
or make it overly complicated.
You want it to be clear.
You also want to make sure ifyou are serving families who
speak languages other thanEnglish, that you are providing
a document that is translatedinto a language that they can
understand.
(09:34):
I think it's worth it to investin getting your policies
translated.
And then also the complicatedpart about this is every time
you update it, you also need tomake sure that you're updating
that translation as well.
But it shows families that youreally do care about them and
want to make sure that they haveeverything they also need to be
(09:55):
able to follow your policies.
I think it's a really good ideato have page numbers and a table
of contents.
I know it's hard to you know,figure out how to make a table
of contents.
Sometimes, you know, wordprocessing programs these days
will almost do that for you.
But that means if a family justcan't remember what, for
example, your vacation policyis, they can open it up and
(10:17):
quickly find that page andprobably more easily follow that
policy.
Make sure that you are includingevery state required policy and
reflect every aspect of yourprogramming.
So not just the you know, whattime do you open, what time do
you close, and how do peoplepay, but really everything
that's going to be happeningwithin your program, and we'll
(10:39):
get into that more in a minute.
And then the last recommendationI would have just overall in
going about your programming isto ensure that when you have
updated it, that you write thedate of your most recent update
on the front cover so thatpeople understand, or you could
do it in a footer in the bottomof every page so that they know
(11:00):
the last time this policy hasbeen updated.
Oh, that's a good one.
SPEAKER_02 (11:06):
So let's talk about what makes a good policy.
Language totally matters.
Be specific.
And this is my undergrad Englishdegree coming out.
Like really think it throughabout what you're trying to say
and why you are saying it,right?
Sometimes like you have a policyand it doesn't actually capture
what you are trying to manifestfor your program.
So you really need to bespecific.
(11:27):
And once you've thought itthrough, think it through again
because you may have unintendedconsequences to your policy that
you haven't really thought aboutas you put it out first.
We like to say parents' pay ontime is a dream, not a policy.
So you need to create a policythat instills respect for you
and your program and the onethat has consequences if it
isn't followed.
(11:48):
So going back to that parents'pay on time, let's look at a
more specific example.
A new policy could be thefinancially responsible party
must pay by the last Friday ofthe month by 5 p.m.
Central Standard, because that'swhere we are, for the following
month of care.
Notice it says financiallyresponsible party.
That may mean that there areother folks involved, not
(12:09):
necessarily parents or thedirect caregiver that might be
paying for those things.
So you really want to make surethat you're clear on who is
responsible for that payment.
Payments will be madeelectronically through our child
management software system.
Delays in processing by the bankor entity, other entity is not
an excuse for late payments.
Late payments will be charged atlate fee according to our policy
(12:31):
on page, whatever that is,because Paul and Drew told us to
write page numbers for all ofour policies.
Failure to pay, cost of care, orany associated fees, as well as
excessive late payments can begrounds for termination.
So as you think about this, itis much more specific.
It's much more clear.
It lets you know how it's goingto happen, when it's going to
happen, and by what methods.
(12:53):
You may lose some customers whenyou really think about those
unintended consequences whodon't want to pay that way.
But you also may gain customerswho don't want to be bothered by
not paying electronically.
Some clients these days don'teven own checkbooks.
We are folks of a certain age, Ithink, and that may have been
our reality growing up, but it'snot everybody's now.
And most importantly, thispolicy protects your bottom line
(13:15):
as you are more likely to bepaid on time every time with
this method.
SPEAKER_00 (13:19):
Much more reliable.
Yeah, for sure.
So now we'll actually get toyour question, Leah.
On to organizing a familyhandbook.
You can think about organizingyour handbook as what a family
might experience sequentially.
So first they enroll.
So maybe you would start withenrollment.
Having that information firstmay make sense as they're
(13:42):
reading through it.
Some states have templates thatprograms need to follow.
So if that's the case, we wouldfirst and foremost recommend
that you are following yourstate's recommendations.
I think it's important to startwith a warm welcome section that
shows how you value the familiesyou've enrolled, your staff,
what makes your program what itis.
So if you have a mission or avision statement or a learning
(14:05):
philosophy, that's a great placeto kind of lay that out so they
really know a little bit moreabout who you are before you're
getting into sort of like thenuts and bolts of what's
happening next.
Because you really want to sortof connect on a relational level
before just jumping into thosetechnical things.
So after you do that generalwelcome, then we want you to get
(14:26):
into sequentially.
So what are the generaloperations?
What time do you open?
And not only that, but what timeare people expected to drop off?
So does their contract state theexact time from start and end?
So I know Kelly's program, whenshe was operating it, each
family had a particular windowof hours that they received
(14:48):
care.
So you needed to show up whenyour contracted hours started
and you needed to pick up by thetime your contracted hours end.
Some programs provide sort oflike a school day, which is,
let's say, eight to three, andthen they have wraparound care
for either early drop-offs orcare after that three o'clock
(15:10):
time.
So you want to be reallyspecific about what's expected
during that drop-off and alsothat pickup time.
what's your yearly calendar?
So are there times of the yearthat you close?
Do you close for certainholidays?
Are there professionaldevelopment days in which you
close?
Are there things that you knowyou do every year, like a family
(15:30):
night at the beginning of theyear?
So those are the things that youwant to put right in the
handbook so they're easy forpeople to locate and sort of
keep track of.
You want to talk about thingsthat happen that need a little
bit more structure around likefield trips.
So if you are taking the wholeschool or a particular classroom
on a field trip, what does thatmean?
(15:51):
Are we gonna need permissionslips from parents?
Yes.
Are we gonna need packing oflunches?
Are we gonna need$5 for thefield trip?
Can parents support otherchildren?
Can parents come help volunteer?
If they can, what's required ofthat parent to volunteer before
they show up on that specificday?
I know in the state ofWisconsin, those parents would
(16:13):
have to pass a background check.
So, you know, having all thelogistics sort of in that same
place of, oh, this is what theydo for field trips.
I'd love to volunteer.
And here's exactly what I needto do in order to volunteer for
that field trip.
Another kind of, you know, bigevent that happens in early care
and education is toilettraining, right?
And everybody does that a littlebit differently.
(16:36):
And a well thought out programhas a philosophy around that.
So parents understand, Maybe athome, every time your child goes
to the bathroom, you reward themwith an M&M.
But perhaps at school, it's adifferent learning philosophy in
which M&Ms are not part of thatphilosophy.
And it's really important,actually, to be sort of
forthright about what yourphilosophy is, because I have
(16:58):
personally, you know, when I wasteaching, been in experiences
where the parents' expectationswere very, very different, and
they There was no communicationbefore.
They just sort of dropped offand said, and now Ms.
Paula is going to give you anM&M, actually, every time you
use the potty.
And I had to say, well,actually, I can't do that.
That's not how we do thingshere, but here's how we do
(17:19):
things.
So laying that out in thebeginning sort of helps
everybody stay on the same pageand think about those things
right ahead of time.
And then also general otherexpectations for the day.
So are you providing lunch atthe school?
Do children bring their ownlunch and snacks?
That's a big thing.
And if you do provide lunch, areyou also providing variations of
(17:43):
that based on food preferencesor allergies?
And how do people know whatyou're serving every day?
So are you posting your menuonce a week, once a month?
Those general types of things.
If you provide specialistclasses like a Spanish language
class or a music class, or yogaclass, and if that's outside of
(18:04):
the regular programming, ifthat's an extra fee, or if
that's a different teacher thatwould come, those are all things
that you would include in yourgeneral operations.
And I'm generalizing yourgeneral operations.
I understand every program isdifferent.
We know we have programs thatoperate exclusively outside.
And so their general operationsprograms might include a very
(18:26):
long list of what the childrenneed to bring to where, in all
types of weather.
So those operations are reallygonna be particular to your
environment.
Another really important thingis your emergency procedures.
So a lot of people write thesebecause the state requires you
to have your emergencyprocedures.
(18:47):
But what I will tell you is thatin an emergency, you're gonna be
really glad that you've writtenthat out a million times, that
your staff have been trained onit routinely and that parents
know what to do.
Example, a program that I usedto work at, there was a really
significant fire next door tothe program.
And not only did the entirechildcare program serving 150
(19:10):
children have to evacuate to achurch nearby, but parents had
to pick up at that churchnearby.
And because it was such a bigevent downtown, the cell service
was a little wonky.
And so they actually used theirchildcare management software
system to send a message throughthere to every parent to let
them know that there would be analternative pickup site.
So having that sort ofadditional level of information
(19:33):
about what to expect in anemergency, not just that you're
going down to the church or thatyou practice once a month and
that your staff are trained inthat.
What are the next steps?
What would happen if you weren'table to go back to the program?
And a lot of times when you'reevacuating, it's probably likely
that you're not going to begoing back to that program,
whether it's a gas leak or radonor something.
(19:55):
you know, that is requiring youto leave probably is going to
keep you there for a littlewhile.
So thinking out the logistics ofeven does that church or
wherever you're evacuating tohave enough parking?
Where should parents park?
Would there be an additionalwindow of time for late pickups
to accommodate that?
So those are just some, youknow, recommendations around
(20:17):
emergency procedures.
Another really important sectionof a family handbook is what's
expected for attendance.
So are you required to callahead of time if your child will
not be there for the day?
So everybody's not wondering ifthey're okay.
Are they sick?
(20:37):
Do they have a communicabledisease?
If you're taking a vacation fortwo weeks, those things are
really important for programs toknow.
Also, if you're planning onleaving the program, say your
caregiver gets a job in anotherstate, what is the procedure for
withdrawal?
You signed a contract throughthe end of the year, but now it
turns out three months beforethe end of the year, you're
(20:58):
planning to move to anotherstate.
So as a program, you're gonnawanna think through the
logistics of how you wouldhandle that.
And also to Kelly's pointearlier about late payments,
what is your termination policy?
So what are the steps that wouldbe followed and what would be
grounds for termination so thateverybody understands that
(21:19):
upfront?
And sort of in alignment withthat is sort of how you plan to
communicate with parents and howyou are planning events that
include parents.
So do you have an open doorpolicy in which they can come
into the office anytime?
Maybe you're not there anytime.
So maybe every week, three daysa week, you have open office
(21:40):
hours, two hours in the morningor in the evening.
Maybe you do have that familynight twice a year in which you
review the handbook in total andtalk about where their tuition
money is going in your programand you're talking about your
budget.
So thinking through how to havegood communication and not just
thinking it through, but layingit out in your handbook.
(22:04):
We all know that caring forchildren is a business and it is
also a very, it's a very closeenvironment in which you have to
have open communication forthings to work, especially to
like my small family, exampleearlier about toilet training
like these these things in thelives of families are really big
deals and you have to be able totalk openly about them so
(22:27):
setting the stage for how you'regoing to encourage and
facilitate that communicationand also thinking through again
if you're serving families thatdon't speak english and if you
don't yourself speak otherlanguages how are you going to
ensure that those family memberscan have that same level of open
communication with youSimilarly, when you're having
(22:49):
deep, great, open communication,how are you ensuring that that
communication and any paperworkyou have is confidential?
So how are you ensuring thatchildren's files are not
accessible, that a parent ishaving a conversation with you
about something that's happeningat home and a teacher sitting in
(23:10):
the office isn't going to sharethat information with somebody
else, having a very easy tounderstand and follow
confidentiality policy, helpseverybody in the program
understand what's expected ofthem and helps keep everybody
safe.
And then the big part of yourprogramming, right?
Your curriculum, your learningphilosophy, your assessments,
(23:30):
how those things work, howparents can be a part of that
and how teachers, educators aregoing to communicate through the
curricula.
Are you gonna get an update?
every month through yourchildcare management software
system or every day, are yougonna get a paper every day at
the end of the day saying what'shappened to their child?
What milestones did they learn?
(23:51):
Are there gonna beparent-teacher conferences?
How often will those take place?
Similarly but different, all ofyour health and safety policies.
So parents of course wanna know,how are you keeping my kiddo
safe?
And it's not just necessarilylocking the gate out on the
playground but it's alsoincluding things like monitoring
(24:13):
in the state of wisconsin childcare providers are required to
monitor the immunizationschedules of all children and
take in a paper that has thatlist of immunizations as well as
getting a health physical andparents signing that paperwork
and bringing it in since covidmany people have done daily
health checks to ensure that youknow a child with a communicable
(24:34):
disease is not sharing it withhalf the class so being really
forthright and clear about howthose things work.
If somebody is required to bringin a piece of paperwork, how are
they going to be notified andwhat's going to happen if they
continually don't bring that in?
And as a former director myself,I remember that was one of the
hardest things is getting peopleto bring the paper back in
(24:58):
because I was required by statelaw to have that on file.
So if they didn't bring it in,that meant I was out of
compliance.
So having a really clear policyabout what your expectations are
for people to bring those papersin is really important from the
start.
So then it's not sort of thislike push and pull of, you know,
well, why are you keep buggingme about this?
(25:19):
Like this isn't, you know, I'mreally busy.
Yes, but you signed a policyhandbook that said these were
expectations and this is why,this is why we have them.
So a few last policies, I knowI'm kind of just like giving you
the whole laundry list, but thisis why you're here.
That's why you want to hearthese things.
What is your policy aroundinclusion of all abilities, your
(25:42):
non-discrimination policy?
What are your staffqualifications?
So how do you ensure that everyteacher in your program has the
qualifications you require bothfor your state licensing, your
accreditation standards, andyour old learning philosophy?
What are those ratios?
You want parents to understand,and you want it to be in your
policy book, how many teachersare going to be in a classroom
(26:07):
or a learning environment forhow many children?
What's that maximum?
So everybody understands howyou're keeping kids safe.
Again, around those paymentpolicies, what's the tuition?
How often are you going to raisetuition?
Are there other fees that happenthroughout the year?
Sometimes you could give alittle explainer.
Yes, we charge a registrationfee every year.
(26:28):
And this is why it takes a lotof time to process your new
paperwork every year.
And so we use that the fee tohelp subsidize the salary costs
of the extra admin that we haveto use to process those
payments.
When parents kind of understandwhy they're paying a fee, it
might be a little bit easier forthem to understand that it's
(26:50):
expected of them.
And last but not least, likeafter they've read every policy
in your handbook, we want themto turn in an acknowledgement
form, signed, dated.
I have read these policies.
I understand what's expected ofme.
And I am giving you my signaturesaying that I will uphold them.
When you update your policies,you're going to do that same
(27:11):
thing.
You're going to put out a newform.
Maybe if it's just two or threepolicies you're updating, you
could also include them on theform.
So it's very clear to parentswhat's changed.
And then you're going to havethem resign the document.
So they are showing you thatthey understand what's changed.
SPEAKER_03 (27:29):
So Paula, when you said that section about making
sure there's a yearly calendarshowing the days that are going
to be off, As a working mom andmy youngest just finished up
childcare, he's in kindergartennow, I wanted to jump up and
say, yes, thank you.
We need that to make our plansfor who's going to take the day
(27:49):
off.
And I mean, even from beyond acompliance standpoint, it's just
so appreciated from the parent'sperspective, which I'm sure you
know.
SPEAKER_00 (28:00):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, I remember even when myown daughter was in care not too
long ago, we would plan our ownvacation around when the school
had their PD and sort of likecleaning time because they were
going to be closed anyways.
And parents' time off is thesame as educators' time off and
we need to manage that.
So yeah, it's very helpful tohave those, the cadence of your
(28:22):
calendar.
And of course there are thingsthat come up, right?
And you're going to do the bestyou can to communicate outside
of that, but as best you cansticking to a calendar is very
helpful to everybody, staff andfamilies.
SPEAKER_02 (28:35):
As a family childcare provider, I made an
agreement with my families thatI would schedule out my vacation
and close days at the beginningof the year.
So they would have that as well.
Just, you know, it's giving upsome flexibility as a family
care provider to be able to flexsome of those vacation days.
But I just felt like if I wasgoing to be closed, that is a
major interruption for family'scare.
(28:56):
And so that was the compromise Iwas willing to make to say, this
is what I'm going to be off.
That way you can plan your life.
we both sort of have a plan nowfor the year.
So I very much agree with givingthat information as soon as
possible.
SPEAKER_03 (29:10):
Exactly, that having a plan for the year is, you can
plug it into your phone, youknow those days off, you can
look.
I agree 1000%.
So Kelly, do you recommend thatcenters share the handbook over
email or an electronic way?
Or do you think printing it outand handing it to a parent is
(29:31):
the way to go?
SPEAKER_02 (29:32):
So it really depends on what the family needs and
what your budget can handle.
I know some programs post theirhandbook on the website so a
parent can easily find it.
Having a PDF of the documentmakes search for topics easier
with the magical control F findfunction.
So if that's not something y'allare familiar with, control F on
a PDF and you type in a word andit can help you find it wherever
(29:53):
it shows up in the document.
But some people want to have itin hand and with a good table of
contents and page numbers, youcan easily find what's needed in
the moment.
I interviewed a family once inmy program and I sent the
handbook ahead of time because Ifeel like it helps the program
understand who I am and what I'mabout.
The parent came back with itinked all over, things circled,
(30:15):
question marks, thingsunderlined, and I knew
immediately they would be a goodfit because they were really
being intentional about readingand understanding this document.
And as I look at it as arelationship document, I feel
like they really invested inthat relationship before we even
met.
This parent had interviewed atover a dozen other places.
(30:36):
And actually that made me reallyhappy rather than being
concerned.
I think some people would belike, oh my gosh, they're like
too high maintenance for me.
I was delighted.
It meant that she knew what shewas looking for.
And our handbooks help parentsunderstand that.
So I actually did enroll thatfamily and they were probably
one of my strongest, mostrespectful clients for the
entire time they were with me.
SPEAKER_03 (30:56):
Oh, that's great.
And I do want to throw in,CoCare does have a feature, it's
called eDocuments, where you canelectronically sign and return
things too.
Beautiful.
Yeah, we've had great feedbackon the parents who do like that
electronic option, and thenyou're not sitting around
waiting for somebody to hand itto you and print it out and all
(31:18):
that stuff.
Right.
So you touched on this beforeabout how to update a handbook,
put the date and that kind ofthing.
How often should a handbook beupdated?
SPEAKER_00 (31:32):
I think a handbook should be updated at least
yearly.
And I would recommend consultinga small group of folks.
Ask a parent, hey, you've beenhere for a year or two.
We're thinking about updatingour policies and our handbook.
Do you have questions or arethere things unclear?
If you employ staff, I would dothe same with them.
(31:52):
They are implementing yourhandbook every day, right?
They're in the weeds of yourprogramming.
So they may have a perspectivethat you don't.
So at least once a yearintentionally, but also things,
you know, opportunities pop upto update your policies when you
least expect it.
(32:13):
I think we all have that onechild or family that we know is
why we have this new policyabout X, Y, or Z because
something happened and we didn'thave a policy for it and it was
a hard time.
And so, yeah.
So you're creating a policy inresponse to some things and
you're also just creating policybecause things change.
(32:35):
Leah, for example, you mentionedProCare having the e-documents
and e-signature.
I don't think that was a thingwhen I was a director when we
used ProCare.
And I know, I think a lot ofparents would appreciate that.
Normally when we're doing ourparental work, it's when our
kids are asleep and a lot oftimes we're doing it on our
phones, right?
making things easy like that.
(32:58):
So I would recommend both ofthose different things.
And then again, making sure whenyou do make those updates,
making sure that everybodyacknowledges that they've seen
the new updates.
I think it could be really niceif you are doing that sort of
like yearly update, holding aconsistent parent night in which
(33:21):
you talk through the policiesand people can ask questions.
Because one thing to just sign apaper and give it back, but it's
another thing to make sure thatthey really understand and can
ask questions about what,especially a new policy might be
that's different from somethingyou were doing before.
And if you can't hold the nightin which everybody can hear
about those things together, orin addition to that, you know,
(33:43):
holding some type of open officehours for parents to stop in and
make sure, you know, they mighthave a question about your new
calendar.
That's very different from yourold one.
And then you can explain that.
you know, why that is and howyou came to that decision.
And also if other people helpedyou in forming that decision.
So those are my recommendationsaround updates.
SPEAKER_03 (34:07):
So let's say someone's listening to this
podcast and thinks, you know,this sounds like too much work
and I'm not going to do it,which we hope you would
definitely are not thinking.
And why is that type of thinkinga mistake?
SPEAKER_02 (34:23):
So first I would say, I think that's a totally
natural reaction.
A thorough handbook isabsolutely a big undertaking,
but with any project, just breakit down.
You don't have to do it all atonce.
And we would probably recommendthat you don't because your
brain will start spinning aroundand like, did I write that down
already?
Was that somewhere else?
Is that page 17 or 34?
Right?
So you want to just keepyourself organized as you do it.
(34:43):
Take a section at a time.
As Paul said, it is okay to askfor help.
If you're a family provider, isthere another provider that you
trust?
Or are you part of a network ofdirectors or family child care
providers that you can bounceideas off of?
We know that several states haveportals that may have templates
(35:05):
that folks can use.
as starting places or to checkand go, oh, I didn't have a cell
phone policy, or I didn't have akid breaks something of value in
the program policy, I shouldprobably think about that.
And here's some wording I canstart with.
As Paula said, the staff in yourprogram, if you have them, have
so much to offer around howthose policies are actually
(35:29):
capturing what's needed or mayhave gaps that just need to be
filled in a little bit becausethey're hearing that out every
day.
It's also good, I think, toinclude staff if you have them
for the buy-in, right?
Like the more they help createthese things, they're really a
part of that programming.
As a family provider, you maywant to run it past any family
members that are in yourhousehold too, to just say like,
(35:50):
does this make sense?
Does it protect your needs as afamily member?
Like as far as how space is usedor pickup timing or whatever
that might be.
But really the bottom line isyou can't afford not to do this.
If there's an issue at yourprogram, there may be an
investigation into your policiesand procedures and if they were
followed.
And if not, you might be foundat fault.
(36:12):
And nobody wants to be in thatposition.
It's already scary enough whensomething happens.
So just knowing you've doneeverything you can through your
policies, procedures, andtraining folks on them is really
important.
For example, a simple cell phonepolicy.
If a cell phone draws ateacher's attention away from
what's happening in class, let'ssay the playground or outdoor
environment, an accident occurswhile somebody is texting, your
(36:36):
program could be found liable.
Good policies and proceduresserve three functions, risk
mitigation, and mitigation justmeans to like minimize as much
as possible, it's just a bigfancy word for it, compliance
and protection.
SPEAKER_00 (36:52):
Break those down a little bit.
So risk mitigation simply put isthey help prevent bad things
from happening, right?
For example, hand washingreduces illness.
Maintaining proper refrigerationtemperatures prevents foodborne
illnesses.
Actively supervising childrenhelps prevent accidents and
injuries.
If you've ever talked to aninsurance agent that provides
(37:18):
liability insurance to childcareproviders, they could give you
pages upon pages of riskmitigation policies that you
should consider having in yourhandbook.
The next part Kelly mentionedwas compliance.
So ensuring that you have clearpolicies helps ensure that
you're meeting your legal andregulatory requirements, such as
(37:40):
maintaining confidentiality,health and safety standards, but
also what happens.
Failing to comply can result in,for you, perhaps losing your
license or facing legalconsequences.
And how are you ensuring thatother people are following your
policies?
Your policies also protect you.
(38:01):
If you've ever been sued orinvestigated, one of the first
things courts or licensingagencies will look at is whether
you have followed your ownpolicies and documented your
actions.
So I'm going to say that onemore time just so everybody
really, really hears me saythat.
If you've ever been sued orinvestigated or this could
happen, it could happen to anyof us any day of the week, even
(38:22):
if we're doing everything right.
And if we're doing everythingright, that risk mitigation will
be lowered because you havefollowed the policies you have
in your book, you've documentedall the things that you say that
you're gonna do and how you didthem.
Violations, especially thoseinvolving civil rights or HIPAA
(38:43):
can be considered what's calleddeliberate indifference if
proper procedures weren'tfollowed in which a person
knowingly sort of ignores theharm by not following their
policies.
Let's say you had a policy thatsaid we keep people's personal
information confidential, butone night you were running out
(39:04):
of the office and you left abunch of folders on the table.
Next day, somebody else openedthe office for you and those
folders were out for 18 hoursunattended and children had
their identities stolen.
So that's a perfect example ofyou had this policy, you didn't
follow it yourself.
So sort of like ignoring therisk or harm and something
(39:28):
happened in which you're liable.
So bottom line is this allprotects you.
It protects your business, yourreputation, the children you
serve, the staff you employ ifyou have them.
So I know this is a reallytechnical part of this
conversation, but I feel likeit's our duty to really say
(39:48):
these things Make sure that thepolicies you're writing really
reflect how you want to conductyour business, and then make
sure everybody who's workingwithin your program is
understanding that they have tofollow them at all times.
SPEAKER_02 (40:02):
The other thing I really love about having some of
these policies written out andacknowledged by the parents,
when they sign that documentsaying, I acknowledge your
policies and will follow themand all that, it's not legally
binding.
You can't take them to courtbecause they didn't follow your
policies.
toilet training policy but whatit does is it makes people
accountable to the document andyou aren't the bad guy I'm just
(40:25):
helping you understand that thisis what you agreed to and so
let's figure out how to makethat work right I'm not mad at
you I don't hate you I'm notcoming after you I just need you
to do what you said you weregoing to do which is follow the
policies so That's one element Ithink is really important to
just remind folks.
It really takes sort of a loadoff you as like the
(40:47):
interpersonal part of it andkeeps folks following what they
said they were going to do.
Accountability on both sides.
Yeah, accountability on bothsides.
Absolutely.
But thinking about thatprotection piece that Paula was
just talking about, thatprotection only works if your
policies are up to date.
(41:08):
So making sure that if yourstate requires something new or
there is something that happensin your program that you need a
new policy, that you actuallyget them updated and include
those revision dates.
They have to be comprehensive.
I mean, Paula gave us a list andthat was big buckets, even that,
right?
There's still all of those subpoints underneath, but it really
is important to lay out as muchas possible.
(41:30):
You want to bewell-communicated.
So family child care providers,if you have a sub or someone
that is an assistant to you,making sure they're trained.
If you're a center director,making sure your staff, your
volunteers, teacher assistants,if you have college kids coming
in to help in any way, likeeverybody needs to know and that
they are consistently followedand documented.
(41:51):
Like you can have the mostbeautiful handbook in the world,
but if it just sits there, itwon't do you any good.
SPEAKER_03 (41:57):
Got
SPEAKER_02 (41:59):
to use
SPEAKER_03 (42:00):
it.
SPEAKER_02 (42:00):
Gotta use
SPEAKER_03 (42:01):
it.
Gotta use it.
So as we start to wrap up, couldyou give us a rundown of the
biggest mistakes you see wheneducators create family
handbooks?
SPEAKER_02 (42:13):
One of my favorite examples was just copying a
handbook outright.
There was a family child careprovider I know, and a group
program in another state justtook all of her policies, even
though it said family childcare, and made No sense.
I can see why they did itbecause she's brilliant and she
has really excellent policies.
But obviously, if anything wouldhappen, those aren't their
(42:34):
policies.
They're not for that program.
And it was pretty clear.
So she actually had to do acease and desist letter.
But make sure they're actuallyyours because you have you're
the one that has to carry themout.
UNKNOWN (42:49):
Mm hmm.
SPEAKER_00 (42:51):
I would also just, I think we've said this several
times, but just make surethey're really clearly defined
policies and also theprocedures.
This is the policy and this ishow we're going to carry it out.
If people don't understand whatthe policy is or what's expected
of them, they're not going tofollow it.
The policy is sort of the rule,right?
(43:11):
This is what we expect or notexpect of you and others.
And then the procedures is howwe're going to carry out this
policy and how we expect you tocarry out this policy.
So
SPEAKER_02 (43:23):
for example, teachers will not use their
personal cell phones in theclassroom.
SPEAKER_00 (43:26):
Yeah, so that's a policy, but the procedure would
be people will take their, staffwill take their cell phones and
put it in their personalworkspace at the beginning of
the day.
They'll take it out when they'renot included in ratio and and at
(43:47):
the end of the day.
So that's sort of the procedurethat goes along with the policy.
SPEAKER_02 (43:52):
But you also must clearly state how that policy
and procedure will be enforced.
So for example, staff who usepersonal phones while in a
classroom or counted in ratiowill receive a written warning
and that second infraction willresult in dismissal.
SPEAKER_00 (44:08):
And Kelly and I picked this policy in particular
because You know, it's on simpleface value.
It might not seem like it'sgoing to impact your business,
but we've seen firsthand wheresomebody picks up their phone to
take a picture of a kid and thenthey see a text from somebody
and they're, you know, you're inthe moment, your attention is on
(44:30):
your phone and somebody fallsoff the playground slide and
really hurts themselves.
The insurer is going to ask ifsomebody was on their cell
phone, your licensor orregulatory body is going to ask
that.
And you could be sort of deemedout of ratio because that person
(44:51):
was not paying attention to thesight and sound of the child in
front of them.
So it really could have a bigimpact on your bottom line, on
your business.
So we don't want you to loseyour license or face huge
insurance increases.
We particularly made thisexample because we really want
to help people understand,especially today, you know, cell
(45:14):
phones are really addicting andthey do take the attention away
from caregiving to children.
SPEAKER_02 (45:18):
And I just want to say, like, we've been really
focused on this notion of likethe bottom line and protecting
your business.
We say that so that you can carefor the people in your program.
We're not being heartless.
It's not just about profit or,you know, making money or that
sort of thing.
It's about being able to keepyour doors open to do the really
excellent care that you want todo.
(45:39):
So I just want to be reallyclear about that, that we are
using that bottom lineprotection to help support the
people in your program that youemploy.
If you have employees that youcare about and for your own
wellbeing as well.
So I think another big mistakethat we see though is not
thinking about the financialimplications of the policies you
(46:00):
have and making sure thatthey're covered in your budget.
So if you have a siblingdiscount of say 25% a month, but
you haven't accounted for whatthat estimated cost and how many
families could be taking up thator for how long those families
could be utilizing thatdiscount, you could literally be
giving away thousands andthousands of dollars over the
lifetime of those families withyou, enough to potentially pay
(46:23):
for healthcare for youremployees or if you're a family
provider to fund yourretirement.
So it really is something wherewe say you gotta do the math.
UNKNOWN (46:34):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (46:35):
Yeah, not give away all that money.
All right, and that is a wrap.
Thank you so much for coming,Kelly and Paula.
That was a lot of greatinformation.
And if anybody wants to reachout to you or learn more about
your organization, what's thebest way to do that?
And could you tell us a littlebit about your book as well?
SPEAKER_00 (46:53):
Absolutely.
So if you're interested to hearmore about the Wisconsin Early
Childhood Association, you cango to
wisconsinearlychildhood.org.
and find out about all theprograms and services we offer
to providers in Wisconsin.
My email, if you are interestedin contacting me, is
prepauladrew, D-R-E-W, atwisconsinearlychildhood.org.
(47:20):
A very, very long email, but itmakes sense.
wisconsinearlychildhood.org,same as the website.
My
SPEAKER_02 (47:28):
email is K as in Kelly, Matthews, and if you want
to double check the spelling,it's on the screen if you can
see it, M-A-T-T-H-E-W-S, atwisconsinearlychildhood.org.
And our book that we wrote alongwith Amy Friedlander from
Opportunities Exchange is onAmazon, and it's available in
English and Spanish, which we'revery proud of.
We know there's not a lot ofgreat resources out there that
(47:50):
are comprehensive for Spanishproviders as far as business
practices go.
The name of it is Build ItStrong, How to Make Your Child
Care Business Thrive fromStartup to Retirement.
It's written for both group andfamily care.
Paula's background is incenter-based, mine is in family
child care, and we really wrotebest practices for both settings
(48:10):
as the majority.
And then there's little pull-outsections for both center
directors, administrators, andfamily child care providers.
So we're just really delightedto That is
SPEAKER_03 (48:20):
huge.
Yeah.
To have it in and to have it inboth languages, too.
We will put a link to that inthe show notes.
Thank you.
So that's that's the end of endof our time together today.
Thank you so much for taking thetime to share all that
information and really get getinto the nitty gritty to show
how to do this.
(48:40):
And once again, from ProCareSolutions, we want to say thank
you to all the child careproviders and ECE programs out
there doing the important work.
Thank you so much.
Thanks for having us.
Yes.
Everybody have a great day.
We'll see you again soon.
Goodbye.
SPEAKER_01 (48:59):
Until next time.
Welcome to the Child Care Business Podcast, brought
to you by ProCare Solutions.
This podcast is all about givingchildcare, preschool, daycare,
afterschool, and other earlyeducation professionals a fun
(00:22):
and upbeat way to learn aboutstrategies and inspiration you
can use to thrive.
You'll hear from a variety ofchildcare thought leaders,
including educators, owners, andindustry experts on ways to
innovate to meet the needs ofthe children you serve.
From practical tips for managingoperations to uplifting stories
of transformation and triumph,this podcast will be chock full
(00:45):
of insights you can use to fullyrealize the potential of your
childcare business.
Let's jump in.
SPEAKER_03 (00:54):
Hello, everyone, and welcome to our newest episode of
the Child Care Business Podcast.
My name is Leah Woodbury.
I'm the head of content here atProCare Solutions, and I'm happy
to have you join us today.
We are thrilled to have twowomen with us to talk about a
topic in child care that oftengets overlooked, but it is
really, really important.
(01:15):
They are Kelly Matthews andPaula Drew of the Wisconsin
Early Childhood Association.
And they're going to walk usthrough how to create a really
solid family handbook for yourchild care center.
We're so glad to have you bothwith us today.
Thanks for having us.
All right.
So before we get started, wealways like to get a little
(01:36):
background on our guests.
So tell us how you becameinvolved in ECE and chose it as
your career path.
SPEAKER_00 (01:44):
So Leah, Kelly and I like to do this thing where we
introduce each other.
As we were talking before westarted recording, we're a
really solid team.
So I am going to introduceeverybody listening to my dear
friend, Kelly Matthews.
She is the Director of FamilyChild Care Strategy and
Advancement at Wisconsin EarlyChildhood Association.
(02:05):
She's a lifelong advocate forearly care and education.
She began her journey at 19 witha lifetime membership to NAEYC
and has spent over 30 yearsmaking meaningful contributions
to the field.
With a master's in humandevelopment from Pacific Oaks
College, rooted in socialjustice, Kelly's work has always
(02:26):
centered children and familiesin high quality care.
Kelly started as a familychildcare substitute and
evolving into nationalconsulting through A Place for
You.
At WECA, since 2011, Kelly'splayed a key role in Youngster,
which is Wisconsin's QRIS.
She's authored the WisconsinFamily Child Care Credential and
(02:48):
built a statewide sharedservices network, Wisconsin
Early Education Shared ServicesNetwork, or WESEN, and I have
been lucky enough to co-directthat network with her.
Today, here at WECA, Kelly and Iboth do our work within WECA's
Center for ECE Policy, Research,and Engagement.
SPEAKER_02 (03:09):
And I am honored to introduce Paula Drew, a
brilliant policy expert andpassionate advocate for early
care and education in Wisconsin.
As director of early care andeducation policy and research at
WECA, Paula brings over 25 yearsof experience from classroom
teaching to leading programs anddriving statewide policy change.
(03:29):
Her background includes amaster's in human ecology from
UW Madison and deep workconnecting educator wellbeing to
quality care.
Together, Paula and I helpedbuild Wisconsin's Shared
Services Network, developed abusiness training for child care
providers, and co-authored abook to support their financial
sustainability named Build ItStrong, How to Make Your Child
(03:50):
Care Business Thrive fromStartup to Retirement.
Whether leading Advocacy Day atthe Capitol or collaborating
with providers in the field,Paula is a tireless force for
more equitable early care in oursystems.
SPEAKER_03 (04:04):
Well, those were very good introductions.
Thank you to both ladies.
So let's shift to today andlet's start with, can you
describe your work at theWisconsin Early Childhood
Association?
SPEAKER_00 (04:15):
Absolutely.
I serve as Director of Policyand Research for the Center for
Early Care and Education PolicyResearch and Engagement.
Very long title.
And that means that I leadefforts to develop and
communicate policy that supportsearly childhood education,
combining data, research,real-world experiences, so that
(04:37):
lived experience from providersand parents that helped us guide
our decision-making around goodpolicy choices.
I also work closely with ouradvocacy team to shape strategic
initiatives, create a range ofpublications, and to keep an eye
on state and federal legislationthat could impact children and
families or the early care andeducation fields.
SPEAKER_02 (05:01):
And then my work really revolves around how to
start, support, strengthen, andretain family child care
providers.
So this means I get to work withproviders through creating
family child care focusedtraining, learning and listening
groups and focus groups,exploring policy impacts, making
or influencing policyrecommendations, and my favorite
part, developing innovatingprogramming that solves problems
(05:22):
and frustrations family childcare providers have expressed.
SPEAKER_03 (05:26):
a problem and frustration.
I'm guessing that's gonna bewhere family handbooks fall for
a lot of providers.
So let's get into the nitty andgritty of these family
handbooks.
And maybe we should start bydefining what a true family
handbook for a childcare centeris.
So we're all working with thesame description.
I think a lot of centers maybehave different versions of what
(05:48):
they consider a handbook.
SPEAKER_02 (05:50):
Absolutely.
So we considered a document thatpulls together all of your
policies and procedures in oneplace so families know what to
expect.
It can be digital or hard copyor both.
It's really your program'sfingerprints.
It's a relationship tool.
It shows how your program isunique and what you have to
offer.
It gets people on the same pageand it gives families
information they need to know ifyour program is going to be a
(06:13):
good fit for them.
I think sometimes people justput out their handbooks and be
like, here you go, and don'teven think parents will read
them.
But actually, we think handbooksare basically your promise to
your community about who you areand how you're going to be.
It includes what happens also ifpolicies are not followed, which
is important to protect yourbusiness, yourself, your staff
if you have them, and of course,your bottom line.
SPEAKER_03 (06:35):
And why is having a family handbook a
non-negotiable?
SPEAKER_00 (06:41):
For so many reasons, Leah, but to get us started.
Right.
A family handbook meets bothyour legal and compliance
expectations for operating aregulated childcare business.
So there's things that yourstate, also like an accrediting
body like NACI or NAFIC, willrequire of you to have in your
(07:03):
family handbook.
They also provide a structure ofyour programming, tells
everybody what to expect, andholds everybody, including
yourself, accountable to whathappens each and every day.
Imagine trying to run a businessthat serves so many people
without any rules orexpectations written down.
It could be total chaos,especially when we're working
with families with youngchildren.
SPEAKER_03 (07:24):
Yeah, and there's already enough chaos in your
days, I would imagine.
That's right.
Why introduce more?
So if a child care centerdirector or owner is writing a
handbook What are the sectionsto focus on?
Can we walk through each sectiona little bit and give an
overview?
SPEAKER_00 (07:43):
Absolutely.
But actually, before we get intothe different sections, we want
to just take a few minutes totalk about the general how to go
about writing a solid familyhandbook.
So these are just somerecommendations we have to help
keep it professional, ensurethat people can easily read and
understand it, and to know whenthere's been changes made to it.
(08:06):
we recommend using a consistentfont and formatting throughout.
So sometimes, you know, you makeyour handbook, you've been in
business for 30 years and you'reupdating one policy.
And guess what?
Your five computers, you know,from the one that you use when
you first created it and youdon't have that font anymore.
So you just, you know, you'rejust quickly doing something.
But at the end of the day, itlooks off.
(08:27):
And you could imagine if you'rereading a legal document, for
example, from your bank, and allof a sudden one section is
written in a different font thatThat might seem strange, out of
the ordinary for you.
So we recommend, you know,keeping it formatted throughout
the same.
We also highly recommendreviewing it for correct
spelling and grammar.
I think it's a great idea tohave a colleague also read it
(08:51):
just to make sure, especially ifyou've been working on it for a
long time, things might makesense to you, but it might not
make sense to somebody else inthe same way.
Or you've just read the samesentence so many times, even
though it's incorrect.
It just makes, you know, youdon't realize it's incorrect.
Write everything in really plainlanguage so it's easy to
understand.
The point of having a familyhandbook is that everybody knows
(09:13):
what to expect.
So that means you don't want touse a bunch of fluffy language
or make it overly complicated.
You want it to be clear.
You also want to make sure ifyou are serving families who
speak languages other thanEnglish, that you are providing
a document that is translatedinto a language that they can
understand.
(09:34):
I think it's worth it to investin getting your policies
translated.
And then also the complicatedpart about this is every time
you update it, you also need tomake sure that you're updating
that translation as well.
But it shows families that youreally do care about them and
want to make sure that they haveeverything they also need to be
(09:55):
able to follow your policies.
I think it's a really good ideato have page numbers and a table
of contents.
I know it's hard to you know,figure out how to make a table
of contents.
Sometimes, you know, wordprocessing programs these days
will almost do that for you.
But that means if a family justcan't remember what, for
example, your vacation policyis, they can open it up and
(10:17):
quickly find that page andprobably more easily follow that
policy.
Make sure that you are includingevery state required policy and
reflect every aspect of yourprogramming.
So not just the you know, whattime do you open, what time do
you close, and how do peoplepay, but really everything
that's going to be happeningwithin your program, and we'll
(10:39):
get into that more in a minute.
And then the last recommendationI would have just overall in
going about your programming isto ensure that when you have
updated it, that you write thedate of your most recent update
on the front cover so thatpeople understand, or you could
do it in a footer in the bottomof every page so that they know
(11:00):
the last time this policy hasbeen updated.
Oh, that's a good one.
SPEAKER_02 (11:06):
So let's talk about what makes a good policy.
Language totally matters.
Be specific.
And this is my undergrad Englishdegree coming out.
Like really think it throughabout what you're trying to say
and why you are saying it,right?
Sometimes like you have a policyand it doesn't actually capture
what you are trying to manifestfor your program.
So you really need to bespecific.
(11:27):
And once you've thought itthrough, think it through again
because you may have unintendedconsequences to your policy that
you haven't really thought aboutas you put it out first.
We like to say parents' pay ontime is a dream, not a policy.
So you need to create a policythat instills respect for you
and your program and the onethat has consequences if it
isn't followed.
(11:48):
So going back to that parents'pay on time, let's look at a
more specific example.
A new policy could be thefinancially responsible party
must pay by the last Friday ofthe month by 5 p.m.
Central Standard, because that'swhere we are, for the following
month of care.
Notice it says financiallyresponsible party.
That may mean that there areother folks involved, not
(12:09):
necessarily parents or thedirect caregiver that might be
paying for those things.
So you really want to make surethat you're clear on who is
responsible for that payment.
Payments will be madeelectronically through our child
management software system.
Delays in processing by the bankor entity, other entity is not
an excuse for late payments.
Late payments will be charged atlate fee according to our policy
(12:31):
on page, whatever that is,because Paul and Drew told us to
write page numbers for all ofour policies.
Failure to pay, cost of care, orany associated fees, as well as
excessive late payments can begrounds for termination.
So as you think about this, itis much more specific.
It's much more clear.
It lets you know how it's goingto happen, when it's going to
happen, and by what methods.
(12:53):
You may lose some customers whenyou really think about those
unintended consequences whodon't want to pay that way.
But you also may gain customerswho don't want to be bothered by
not paying electronically.
Some clients these days don'teven own checkbooks.
We are folks of a certain age, Ithink, and that may have been
our reality growing up, but it'snot everybody's now.
And most importantly, thispolicy protects your bottom line
(13:15):
as you are more likely to bepaid on time every time with
this method.
SPEAKER_00 (13:19):
Much more reliable.
Yeah, for sure.
So now we'll actually get toyour question, Leah.
On to organizing a familyhandbook.
You can think about organizingyour handbook as what a family
might experience sequentially.
So first they enroll.
So maybe you would start withenrollment.
Having that information firstmay make sense as they're
(13:42):
reading through it.
Some states have templates thatprograms need to follow.
So if that's the case, we wouldfirst and foremost recommend
that you are following yourstate's recommendations.
I think it's important to startwith a warm welcome section that
shows how you value the familiesyou've enrolled, your staff,
what makes your program what itis.
So if you have a mission or avision statement or a learning
(14:05):
philosophy, that's a great placeto kind of lay that out so they
really know a little bit moreabout who you are before you're
getting into sort of like thenuts and bolts of what's
happening next.
Because you really want to sortof connect on a relational level
before just jumping into thosetechnical things.
So after you do that generalwelcome, then we want you to get
(14:26):
into sequentially.
So what are the generaloperations?
What time do you open?
And not only that, but what timeare people expected to drop off?
So does their contract state theexact time from start and end?
So I know Kelly's program, whenshe was operating it, each
family had a particular windowof hours that they received
(14:48):
care.
So you needed to show up whenyour contracted hours started
and you needed to pick up by thetime your contracted hours end.
Some programs provide sort oflike a school day, which is,
let's say, eight to three, andthen they have wraparound care
for either early drop-offs orcare after that three o'clock
(15:10):
time.
So you want to be reallyspecific about what's expected
during that drop-off and alsothat pickup time.
what's your yearly calendar?
So are there times of the yearthat you close?
Do you close for certainholidays?
Are there professionaldevelopment days in which you
close?
Are there things that you knowyou do every year, like a family
(15:30):
night at the beginning of theyear?
So those are the things that youwant to put right in the
handbook so they're easy forpeople to locate and sort of
keep track of.
You want to talk about thingsthat happen that need a little
bit more structure around likefield trips.
So if you are taking the wholeschool or a particular classroom
on a field trip, what does thatmean?
(15:51):
Are we gonna need permissionslips from parents?
Yes.
Are we gonna need packing oflunches?
Are we gonna need$5 for thefield trip?
Can parents support otherchildren?
Can parents come help volunteer?
If they can, what's required ofthat parent to volunteer before
they show up on that specificday?
I know in the state ofWisconsin, those parents would
(16:13):
have to pass a background check.
So, you know, having all thelogistics sort of in that same
place of, oh, this is what theydo for field trips.
I'd love to volunteer.
And here's exactly what I needto do in order to volunteer for
that field trip.
Another kind of, you know, bigevent that happens in early care
and education is toilettraining, right?
And everybody does that a littlebit differently.
(16:36):
And a well thought out programhas a philosophy around that.
So parents understand, Maybe athome, every time your child goes
to the bathroom, you reward themwith an M&M.
But perhaps at school, it's adifferent learning philosophy in
which M&Ms are not part of thatphilosophy.
And it's really important,actually, to be sort of
forthright about what yourphilosophy is, because I have
(16:58):
personally, you know, when I wasteaching, been in experiences
where the parents' expectationswere very, very different, and
they There was no communicationbefore.
They just sort of dropped offand said, and now Ms.
Paula is going to give you anM&M, actually, every time you
use the potty.
And I had to say, well,actually, I can't do that.
That's not how we do thingshere, but here's how we do
(17:19):
things.
So laying that out in thebeginning sort of helps
everybody stay on the same pageand think about those things
right ahead of time.
And then also general otherexpectations for the day.
So are you providing lunch atthe school?
Do children bring their ownlunch and snacks?
That's a big thing.
And if you do provide lunch, areyou also providing variations of
(17:43):
that based on food preferencesor allergies?
And how do people know whatyou're serving every day?
So are you posting your menuonce a week, once a month?
Those general types of things.
If you provide specialistclasses like a Spanish language
class or a music class, or yogaclass, and if that's outside of
(18:04):
the regular programming, ifthat's an extra fee, or if
that's a different teacher thatwould come, those are all things
that you would include in yourgeneral operations.
And I'm generalizing yourgeneral operations.
I understand every program isdifferent.
We know we have programs thatoperate exclusively outside.
And so their general operationsprograms might include a very
(18:26):
long list of what the childrenneed to bring to where, in all
types of weather.
So those operations are reallygonna be particular to your
environment.
Another really important thingis your emergency procedures.
So a lot of people write thesebecause the state requires you
to have your emergencyprocedures.
(18:47):
But what I will tell you is thatin an emergency, you're gonna be
really glad that you've writtenthat out a million times, that
your staff have been trained onit routinely and that parents
know what to do.
Example, a program that I usedto work at, there was a really
significant fire next door tothe program.
And not only did the entirechildcare program serving 150
(19:10):
children have to evacuate to achurch nearby, but parents had
to pick up at that churchnearby.
And because it was such a bigevent downtown, the cell service
was a little wonky.
And so they actually used theirchildcare management software
system to send a message throughthere to every parent to let
them know that there would be analternative pickup site.
So having that sort ofadditional level of information
(19:33):
about what to expect in anemergency, not just that you're
going down to the church or thatyou practice once a month and
that your staff are trained inthat.
What are the next steps?
What would happen if you weren'table to go back to the program?
And a lot of times when you'reevacuating, it's probably likely
that you're not going to begoing back to that program,
whether it's a gas leak or radonor something.
(19:55):
you know, that is requiring youto leave probably is going to
keep you there for a littlewhile.
So thinking out the logistics ofeven does that church or
wherever you're evacuating tohave enough parking?
Where should parents park?
Would there be an additionalwindow of time for late pickups
to accommodate that?
So those are just some, youknow, recommendations around
(20:17):
emergency procedures.
Another really important sectionof a family handbook is what's
expected for attendance.
So are you required to callahead of time if your child will
not be there for the day?
So everybody's not wondering ifthey're okay.
Are they sick?
(20:37):
Do they have a communicabledisease?
If you're taking a vacation fortwo weeks, those things are
really important for programs toknow.
Also, if you're planning onleaving the program, say your
caregiver gets a job in anotherstate, what is the procedure for
withdrawal?
You signed a contract throughthe end of the year, but now it
turns out three months beforethe end of the year, you're
(20:58):
planning to move to anotherstate.
So as a program, you're gonnawanna think through the
logistics of how you wouldhandle that.
And also to Kelly's pointearlier about late payments,
what is your termination policy?
So what are the steps that wouldbe followed and what would be
grounds for termination so thateverybody understands that
(21:19):
upfront?
And sort of in alignment withthat is sort of how you plan to
communicate with parents and howyou are planning events that
include parents.
So do you have an open doorpolicy in which they can come
into the office anytime?
Maybe you're not there anytime.
So maybe every week, three daysa week, you have open office
(21:40):
hours, two hours in the morningor in the evening.
Maybe you do have that familynight twice a year in which you
review the handbook in total andtalk about where their tuition
money is going in your programand you're talking about your
budget.
So thinking through how to havegood communication and not just
thinking it through, but layingit out in your handbook.
(22:04):
We all know that caring forchildren is a business and it is
also a very, it's a very closeenvironment in which you have to
have open communication forthings to work, especially to
like my small family, exampleearlier about toilet training
like these these things in thelives of families are really big
deals and you have to be able totalk openly about them so
(22:27):
setting the stage for how you'regoing to encourage and
facilitate that communicationand also thinking through again
if you're serving families thatdon't speak english and if you
don't yourself speak otherlanguages how are you going to
ensure that those family memberscan have that same level of open
communication with youSimilarly, when you're having
(22:49):
deep, great, open communication,how are you ensuring that that
communication and any paperworkyou have is confidential?
So how are you ensuring thatchildren's files are not
accessible, that a parent ishaving a conversation with you
about something that's happeningat home and a teacher sitting in
(23:10):
the office isn't going to sharethat information with somebody
else, having a very easy tounderstand and follow
confidentiality policy, helpseverybody in the program
understand what's expected ofthem and helps keep everybody
safe.
And then the big part of yourprogramming, right?
Your curriculum, your learningphilosophy, your assessments,
(23:30):
how those things work, howparents can be a part of that
and how teachers, educators aregoing to communicate through the
curricula.
Are you gonna get an update?
every month through yourchildcare management software
system or every day, are yougonna get a paper every day at
the end of the day saying what'shappened to their child?
What milestones did they learn?
(23:51):
Are there gonna beparent-teacher conferences?
How often will those take place?
Similarly but different, all ofyour health and safety policies.
So parents of course wanna know,how are you keeping my kiddo
safe?
And it's not just necessarilylocking the gate out on the
playground but it's alsoincluding things like monitoring
(24:13):
in the state of wisconsin childcare providers are required to
monitor the immunizationschedules of all children and
take in a paper that has thatlist of immunizations as well as
getting a health physical andparents signing that paperwork
and bringing it in since covidmany people have done daily
health checks to ensure that youknow a child with a communicable
(24:34):
disease is not sharing it withhalf the class so being really
forthright and clear about howthose things work.
If somebody is required to bringin a piece of paperwork, how are
they going to be notified andwhat's going to happen if they
continually don't bring that in?
And as a former director myself,I remember that was one of the
hardest things is getting peopleto bring the paper back in
(24:58):
because I was required by statelaw to have that on file.
So if they didn't bring it in,that meant I was out of
compliance.
So having a really clear policyabout what your expectations are
for people to bring those papersin is really important from the
start.
So then it's not sort of thislike push and pull of, you know,
well, why are you keep buggingme about this?
(25:19):
Like this isn't, you know, I'mreally busy.
Yes, but you signed a policyhandbook that said these were
expectations and this is why,this is why we have them.
So a few last policies, I knowI'm kind of just like giving you
the whole laundry list, but thisis why you're here.
That's why you want to hearthese things.
What is your policy aroundinclusion of all abilities, your
(25:42):
non-discrimination policy?
What are your staffqualifications?
So how do you ensure that everyteacher in your program has the
qualifications you require bothfor your state licensing, your
accreditation standards, andyour old learning philosophy?
What are those ratios?
You want parents to understand,and you want it to be in your
policy book, how many teachersare going to be in a classroom
(26:07):
or a learning environment forhow many children?
What's that maximum?
So everybody understands howyou're keeping kids safe.
Again, around those paymentpolicies, what's the tuition?
How often are you going to raisetuition?
Are there other fees that happenthroughout the year?
Sometimes you could give alittle explainer.
Yes, we charge a registrationfee every year.
(26:28):
And this is why it takes a lotof time to process your new
paperwork every year.
And so we use that the fee tohelp subsidize the salary costs
of the extra admin that we haveto use to process those
payments.
When parents kind of understandwhy they're paying a fee, it
might be a little bit easier forthem to understand that it's
(26:50):
expected of them.
And last but not least, likeafter they've read every policy
in your handbook, we want themto turn in an acknowledgement
form, signed, dated.
I have read these policies.
I understand what's expected ofme.
And I am giving you my signaturesaying that I will uphold them.
When you update your policies,you're going to do that same
(27:11):
thing.
You're going to put out a newform.
Maybe if it's just two or threepolicies you're updating, you
could also include them on theform.
So it's very clear to parentswhat's changed.
And then you're going to havethem resign the document.
So they are showing you thatthey understand what's changed.
SPEAKER_03 (27:29):
So Paula, when you said that section about making
sure there's a yearly calendarshowing the days that are going
to be off, As a working mom andmy youngest just finished up
childcare, he's in kindergartennow, I wanted to jump up and
say, yes, thank you.
We need that to make our plansfor who's going to take the day
(27:49):
off.
And I mean, even from beyond acompliance standpoint, it's just
so appreciated from the parent'sperspective, which I'm sure you
know.
SPEAKER_00 (28:00):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, I remember even when myown daughter was in care not too
long ago, we would plan our ownvacation around when the school
had their PD and sort of likecleaning time because they were
going to be closed anyways.
And parents' time off is thesame as educators' time off and
we need to manage that.
So yeah, it's very helpful tohave those, the cadence of your
(28:22):
calendar.
And of course there are thingsthat come up, right?
And you're going to do the bestyou can to communicate outside
of that, but as best you cansticking to a calendar is very
helpful to everybody, staff andfamilies.
SPEAKER_02 (28:35):
As a family childcare provider, I made an
agreement with my families thatI would schedule out my vacation
and close days at the beginningof the year.
So they would have that as well.
Just, you know, it's giving upsome flexibility as a family
care provider to be able to flexsome of those vacation days.
But I just felt like if I wasgoing to be closed, that is a
major interruption for family'scare.
(28:56):
And so that was the compromise Iwas willing to make to say, this
is what I'm going to be off.
That way you can plan your life.
we both sort of have a plan nowfor the year.
So I very much agree with givingthat information as soon as
possible.
SPEAKER_03 (29:10):
Exactly, that having a plan for the year is, you can
plug it into your phone, youknow those days off, you can
look.
I agree 1000%.
So Kelly, do you recommend thatcenters share the handbook over
email or an electronic way?
Or do you think printing it outand handing it to a parent is
(29:31):
the way to go?
SPEAKER_02 (29:32):
So it really depends on what the family needs and
what your budget can handle.
I know some programs post theirhandbook on the website so a
parent can easily find it.
Having a PDF of the documentmakes search for topics easier
with the magical control F findfunction.
So if that's not something y'allare familiar with, control F on
a PDF and you type in a word andit can help you find it wherever
(29:53):
it shows up in the document.
But some people want to have itin hand and with a good table of
contents and page numbers, youcan easily find what's needed in
the moment.
I interviewed a family once inmy program and I sent the
handbook ahead of time because Ifeel like it helps the program
understand who I am and what I'mabout.
The parent came back with itinked all over, things circled,
(30:15):
question marks, thingsunderlined, and I knew
immediately they would be a goodfit because they were really
being intentional about readingand understanding this document.
And as I look at it as arelationship document, I feel
like they really invested inthat relationship before we even
met.
This parent had interviewed atover a dozen other places.
(30:36):
And actually that made me reallyhappy rather than being
concerned.
I think some people would belike, oh my gosh, they're like
too high maintenance for me.
I was delighted.
It meant that she knew what shewas looking for.
And our handbooks help parentsunderstand that.
So I actually did enroll thatfamily and they were probably
one of my strongest, mostrespectful clients for the
entire time they were with me.
SPEAKER_03 (30:56):
Oh, that's great.
And I do want to throw in,CoCare does have a feature, it's
called eDocuments, where you canelectronically sign and return
things too.
Beautiful.
Yeah, we've had great feedbackon the parents who do like that
electronic option, and thenyou're not sitting around
waiting for somebody to hand itto you and print it out and all
(31:18):
that stuff.
Right.
So you touched on this beforeabout how to update a handbook,
put the date and that kind ofthing.
How often should a handbook beupdated?
SPEAKER_00 (31:32):
I think a handbook should be updated at least
yearly.
And I would recommend consultinga small group of folks.
Ask a parent, hey, you've beenhere for a year or two.
We're thinking about updatingour policies and our handbook.
Do you have questions or arethere things unclear?
If you employ staff, I would dothe same with them.
(31:52):
They are implementing yourhandbook every day, right?
They're in the weeds of yourprogramming.
So they may have a perspectivethat you don't.
So at least once a yearintentionally, but also things,
you know, opportunities pop upto update your policies when you
least expect it.
(32:13):
I think we all have that onechild or family that we know is
why we have this new policyabout X, Y, or Z because
something happened and we didn'thave a policy for it and it was
a hard time.
And so, yeah.
So you're creating a policy inresponse to some things and
you're also just creating policybecause things change.
(32:35):
Leah, for example, you mentionedProCare having the e-documents
and e-signature.
I don't think that was a thingwhen I was a director when we
used ProCare.
And I know, I think a lot ofparents would appreciate that.
Normally when we're doing ourparental work, it's when our
kids are asleep and a lot oftimes we're doing it on our
phones, right?
making things easy like that.
(32:58):
So I would recommend both ofthose different things.
And then again, making sure whenyou do make those updates,
making sure that everybodyacknowledges that they've seen
the new updates.
I think it could be really niceif you are doing that sort of
like yearly update, holding aconsistent parent night in which
(33:21):
you talk through the policiesand people can ask questions.
Because one thing to just sign apaper and give it back, but it's
another thing to make sure thatthey really understand and can
ask questions about what,especially a new policy might be
that's different from somethingyou were doing before.
And if you can't hold the nightin which everybody can hear
about those things together, orin addition to that, you know,
(33:43):
holding some type of open officehours for parents to stop in and
make sure, you know, they mighthave a question about your new
calendar.
That's very different from yourold one.
And then you can explain that.
you know, why that is and howyou came to that decision.
And also if other people helpedyou in forming that decision.
So those are my recommendationsaround updates.
SPEAKER_03 (34:07):
So let's say someone's listening to this
podcast and thinks, you know,this sounds like too much work
and I'm not going to do it,which we hope you would
definitely are not thinking.
And why is that type of thinkinga mistake?
SPEAKER_02 (34:23):
So first I would say, I think that's a totally
natural reaction.
A thorough handbook isabsolutely a big undertaking,
but with any project, just breakit down.
You don't have to do it all atonce.
And we would probably recommendthat you don't because your
brain will start spinning aroundand like, did I write that down
already?
Was that somewhere else?
Is that page 17 or 34?
Right?
So you want to just keepyourself organized as you do it.
(34:43):
Take a section at a time.
As Paul said, it is okay to askfor help.
If you're a family provider, isthere another provider that you
trust?
Or are you part of a network ofdirectors or family child care
providers that you can bounceideas off of?
We know that several states haveportals that may have templates
(35:05):
that folks can use.
as starting places or to checkand go, oh, I didn't have a cell
phone policy, or I didn't have akid breaks something of value in
the program policy, I shouldprobably think about that.
And here's some wording I canstart with.
As Paula said, the staff in yourprogram, if you have them, have
so much to offer around howthose policies are actually
(35:29):
capturing what's needed or mayhave gaps that just need to be
filled in a little bit becausethey're hearing that out every
day.
It's also good, I think, toinclude staff if you have them
for the buy-in, right?
Like the more they help createthese things, they're really a
part of that programming.
As a family provider, you maywant to run it past any family
members that are in yourhousehold too, to just say like,
(35:50):
does this make sense?
Does it protect your needs as afamily member?
Like as far as how space is usedor pickup timing or whatever
that might be.
But really the bottom line isyou can't afford not to do this.
If there's an issue at yourprogram, there may be an
investigation into your policiesand procedures and if they were
followed.
And if not, you might be foundat fault.
(36:12):
And nobody wants to be in thatposition.
It's already scary enough whensomething happens.
So just knowing you've doneeverything you can through your
policies, procedures, andtraining folks on them is really
important.
For example, a simple cell phonepolicy.
If a cell phone draws ateacher's attention away from
what's happening in class, let'ssay the playground or outdoor
environment, an accident occurswhile somebody is texting, your
(36:36):
program could be found liable.
Good policies and proceduresserve three functions, risk
mitigation, and mitigation justmeans to like minimize as much
as possible, it's just a bigfancy word for it, compliance
and protection.
SPEAKER_00 (36:52):
Break those down a little bit.
So risk mitigation simply put isthey help prevent bad things
from happening, right?
For example, hand washingreduces illness.
Maintaining proper refrigerationtemperatures prevents foodborne
illnesses.
Actively supervising childrenhelps prevent accidents and
injuries.
If you've ever talked to aninsurance agent that provides
(37:18):
liability insurance to childcareproviders, they could give you
pages upon pages of riskmitigation policies that you
should consider having in yourhandbook.
The next part Kelly mentionedwas compliance.
So ensuring that you have clearpolicies helps ensure that
you're meeting your legal andregulatory requirements, such as
(37:40):
maintaining confidentiality,health and safety standards, but
also what happens.
Failing to comply can result in,for you, perhaps losing your
license or facing legalconsequences.
And how are you ensuring thatother people are following your
policies?
Your policies also protect you.
(38:01):
If you've ever been sued orinvestigated, one of the first
things courts or licensingagencies will look at is whether
you have followed your ownpolicies and documented your
actions.
So I'm going to say that onemore time just so everybody
really, really hears me saythat.
If you've ever been sued orinvestigated or this could
happen, it could happen to anyof us any day of the week, even
(38:22):
if we're doing everything right.
And if we're doing everythingright, that risk mitigation will
be lowered because you havefollowed the policies you have
in your book, you've documentedall the things that you say that
you're gonna do and how you didthem.
Violations, especially thoseinvolving civil rights or HIPAA
(38:43):
can be considered what's calleddeliberate indifference if
proper procedures weren'tfollowed in which a person
knowingly sort of ignores theharm by not following their
policies.
Let's say you had a policy thatsaid we keep people's personal
information confidential, butone night you were running out
(39:04):
of the office and you left abunch of folders on the table.
Next day, somebody else openedthe office for you and those
folders were out for 18 hoursunattended and children had
their identities stolen.
So that's a perfect example ofyou had this policy, you didn't
follow it yourself.
So sort of like ignoring therisk or harm and something
(39:28):
happened in which you're liable.
So bottom line is this allprotects you.
It protects your business, yourreputation, the children you
serve, the staff you employ ifyou have them.
So I know this is a reallytechnical part of this
conversation, but I feel likeit's our duty to really say
(39:48):
these things Make sure that thepolicies you're writing really
reflect how you want to conductyour business, and then make
sure everybody who's workingwithin your program is
understanding that they have tofollow them at all times.
SPEAKER_02 (40:02):
The other thing I really love about having some of
these policies written out andacknowledged by the parents,
when they sign that documentsaying, I acknowledge your
policies and will follow themand all that, it's not legally
binding.
You can't take them to courtbecause they didn't follow your
policies.
toilet training policy but whatit does is it makes people
accountable to the document andyou aren't the bad guy I'm just
(40:25):
helping you understand that thisis what you agreed to and so
let's figure out how to makethat work right I'm not mad at
you I don't hate you I'm notcoming after you I just need you
to do what you said you weregoing to do which is follow the
policies so That's one element Ithink is really important to
just remind folks.
It really takes sort of a loadoff you as like the
(40:47):
interpersonal part of it andkeeps folks following what they
said they were going to do.
Accountability on both sides.
Yeah, accountability on bothsides.
Absolutely.
But thinking about thatprotection piece that Paula was
just talking about, thatprotection only works if your
policies are up to date.
(41:08):
So making sure that if yourstate requires something new or
there is something that happensin your program that you need a
new policy, that you actuallyget them updated and include
those revision dates.
They have to be comprehensive.
I mean, Paula gave us a list andthat was big buckets, even that,
right?
There's still all of those subpoints underneath, but it really
is important to lay out as muchas possible.
(41:30):
You want to bewell-communicated.
So family child care providers,if you have a sub or someone
that is an assistant to you,making sure they're trained.
If you're a center director,making sure your staff, your
volunteers, teacher assistants,if you have college kids coming
in to help in any way, likeeverybody needs to know and that
they are consistently followedand documented.
(41:51):
Like you can have the mostbeautiful handbook in the world,
but if it just sits there, itwon't do you any good.
SPEAKER_03 (41:57):
Got
SPEAKER_02 (41:59):
to use
SPEAKER_03 (42:00):
it.
SPEAKER_02 (42:00):
Gotta use
SPEAKER_03 (42:01):
it.
Gotta use it.
So as we start to wrap up, couldyou give us a rundown of the
biggest mistakes you see wheneducators create family
handbooks?
SPEAKER_02 (42:13):
One of my favorite examples was just copying a
handbook outright.
There was a family child careprovider I know, and a group
program in another state justtook all of her policies, even
though it said family childcare, and made No sense.
I can see why they did itbecause she's brilliant and she
has really excellent policies.
But obviously, if anything wouldhappen, those aren't their
(42:34):
policies.
They're not for that program.
And it was pretty clear.
So she actually had to do acease and desist letter.
But make sure they're actuallyyours because you have you're
the one that has to carry themout.
UNKNOWN (42:49):
Mm hmm.
SPEAKER_00 (42:51):
I would also just, I think we've said this several
times, but just make surethey're really clearly defined
policies and also theprocedures.
This is the policy and this ishow we're going to carry it out.
If people don't understand whatthe policy is or what's expected
of them, they're not going tofollow it.
The policy is sort of the rule,right?
(43:11):
This is what we expect or notexpect of you and others.
And then the procedures is howwe're going to carry out this
policy and how we expect you tocarry out this policy.
So
SPEAKER_02 (43:23):
for example, teachers will not use their
personal cell phones in theclassroom.
SPEAKER_00 (43:26):
Yeah, so that's a policy, but the procedure would
be people will take their, staffwill take their cell phones and
put it in their personalworkspace at the beginning of
the day.
They'll take it out when they'renot included in ratio and and at
(43:47):
the end of the day.
So that's sort of the procedurethat goes along with the policy.
SPEAKER_02 (43:52):
But you also must clearly state how that policy
and procedure will be enforced.
So for example, staff who usepersonal phones while in a
classroom or counted in ratiowill receive a written warning
and that second infraction willresult in dismissal.
SPEAKER_00 (44:08):
And Kelly and I picked this policy in particular
because You know, it's on simpleface value.
It might not seem like it'sgoing to impact your business,
but we've seen firsthand wheresomebody picks up their phone to
take a picture of a kid and thenthey see a text from somebody
and they're, you know, you're inthe moment, your attention is on
(44:30):
your phone and somebody fallsoff the playground slide and
really hurts themselves.
The insurer is going to ask ifsomebody was on their cell
phone, your licensor orregulatory body is going to ask
that.
And you could be sort of deemedout of ratio because that person
(44:51):
was not paying attention to thesight and sound of the child in
front of them.
So it really could have a bigimpact on your bottom line, on
your business.
So we don't want you to loseyour license or face huge
insurance increases.
We particularly made thisexample because we really want
to help people understand,especially today, you know, cell
(45:14):
phones are really addicting andthey do take the attention away
from caregiving to children.
SPEAKER_02 (45:18):
And I just want to say, like, we've been really
focused on this notion of likethe bottom line and protecting
your business.
We say that so that you can carefor the people in your program.
We're not being heartless.
It's not just about profit or,you know, making money or that
sort of thing.
It's about being able to keepyour doors open to do the really
excellent care that you want todo.
(45:39):
So I just want to be reallyclear about that, that we are
using that bottom lineprotection to help support the
people in your program that youemploy.
If you have employees that youcare about and for your own
wellbeing as well.
So I think another big mistakethat we see though is not
thinking about the financialimplications of the policies you
(46:00):
have and making sure thatthey're covered in your budget.
So if you have a siblingdiscount of say 25% a month, but
you haven't accounted for whatthat estimated cost and how many
families could be taking up thator for how long those families
could be utilizing thatdiscount, you could literally be
giving away thousands andthousands of dollars over the
lifetime of those families withyou, enough to potentially pay
(46:23):
for healthcare for youremployees or if you're a family
provider to fund yourretirement.
So it really is something wherewe say you gotta do the math.
UNKNOWN (46:34):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (46:35):
Yeah, not give away all that money.
All right, and that is a wrap.
Thank you so much for coming,Kelly and Paula.
That was a lot of greatinformation.
And if anybody wants to reachout to you or learn more about
your organization, what's thebest way to do that?
And could you tell us a littlebit about your book as well?
SPEAKER_00 (46:53):
Absolutely.
So if you're interested to hearmore about the Wisconsin Early
Childhood Association, you cango to
wisconsinearlychildhood.org.
and find out about all theprograms and services we offer
to providers in Wisconsin.
My email, if you are interestedin contacting me, is
prepauladrew, D-R-E-W, atwisconsinearlychildhood.org.
(47:20):
A very, very long email, but itmakes sense.
wisconsinearlychildhood.org,same as the website.
My
SPEAKER_02 (47:28):
email is K as in Kelly, Matthews, and if you want
to double check the spelling,it's on the screen if you can
see it, M-A-T-T-H-E-W-S, atwisconsinearlychildhood.org.
And our book that we wrote alongwith Amy Friedlander from
Opportunities Exchange is onAmazon, and it's available in
English and Spanish, which we'revery proud of.
We know there's not a lot ofgreat resources out there that
(47:50):
are comprehensive for Spanishproviders as far as business
practices go.
The name of it is Build ItStrong, How to Make Your Child
Care Business Thrive fromStartup to Retirement.
It's written for both group andfamily care.
Paula's background is incenter-based, mine is in family
child care, and we really wrotebest practices for both settings
(48:10):
as the majority.
And then there's little pull-outsections for both center
directors, administrators, andfamily child care providers.
So we're just really delightedto That is
SPEAKER_03 (48:20):
huge.
Yeah.
To have it in and to have it inboth languages, too.
We will put a link to that inthe show notes.
Thank you.
So that's that's the end of endof our time together today.
Thank you so much for taking thetime to share all that
information and really get getinto the nitty gritty to show
how to do this.
(48:40):
And once again, from ProCareSolutions, we want to say thank
you to all the child careproviders and ECE programs out
there doing the important work.
Thank you so much.
Thanks for having us.
Yes.
Everybody have a great day.
We'll see you again soon.
Goodbye.
SPEAKER_01 (48:59):
Until next time.
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