The Basics of a Parent/Provider Agreement

The Basics of a Parent/Provider Agreement

by Tom Copeland

Family child care providers are generally free to construct their own contract with the parents of the children in their care. There are two exceptions:
	1.	Some state licensing rules define what should be in your contract, so check with your local licensor before finalizing your agreement.
	2.	Federal anti-discrimination laws make it illegal for providers to discriminate in their contract on the basis of race, color, gender, religion, age, disability, or national origin. Your state or local government may add additional categories such as sexual orientation.

Other than these limitations, providers can establish whatever rules they want in their contract. All contracts, however, should contain the following four clauses:

	1.	The names of the parties to the contract (the parent(s) and the provider), as well as the name(s) of the children.
	2.	The terms of the contract: the days and hours the provider is open and the parent fees for care. These are the only rules that can be legally enforced by a court of law. In other words, if the provider refuses to provide care on a particular day that is covered by the contract, the parent is not legally required to pay for that day. If the parent refuses to pay for care that is covered by the contract, the provider can go to court to enforce this rule. All other rules established by the provider are not legally enforceable. These are defined as policies such as: authorized persons who can pick up children, illness and emergency policies, activities, meals, naps, toilet learning, discipline, etc. If a parent or provider is unhappy because the other person is not abiding by these policies, the solution is to end the agreement, not take the person to court.
	3.	The method to terminate the contract. Usually providers will require parents to give them at least a two week written notice before the agreement can be terminated. We recommend that providers do not require the same notice for them to end the contract. Instead, providers should include this language: "Provider may terminate the contract at will." The reason why providers should do this is to allow themselves to immediately end the agreement if a parent becomes disruptive to their business (such as making a false complaint to licensing, bad mouthing to other parents, threat of violence, etc.).
	4.	Signatures of the parent and provider. When both parents are caring for their child, providers should get both parents to sign their contract so that it can be enforced against either parent.

This handout was produced by Think Small (www.thinksmall.org).

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