Written Agreement for DCP

brandy4nicole

Hi Ladies, 

Our DCP is a lady from church who watches our DD at her home, and does not keep other children.  She has been keeping DD since she was about 6 months old, and we have never had anything other than a "verbal agreement," but will be switching to a more specific written agreement.  I was hoping for some suggestions on what is needed in this agreement.  Our biggest reason for needing something in writing is that DCP requests a lot of time off, with the expectation of still getting her full check.  I am a teacher, so she currently gets school holidays off, paid, and only keeps DD in the summer maybe a half day per week if I have an appointment or something.

 Thanks for your help! 

cecilyandgautam

The state licensing authority might have a template you can use. In general, I think weekly rate, specific paid holidays, number of paid leave & sick days, what you provide (ie - diapers, milk), what she provides (toys, food) should take care of most disputes. 

I think it's fair that she has some flexibility to take the occasional day off but it sounds like she's a part time employee - so maybe 5 days paid leave apart from the paid holidays you already give her would be quite generous on your part. 

rockychryslerb2010

Our agreement with our nanny has salary, benefits (paid vacation days, snow days, etc), rules about visitors and traveling with E, schedule and activity information.  Our first copy (when E was 3-15 months old) had more detailed info about handling breastmilk, bottles, feedings, nap, etc, but she has been with us over a year, so our second version has things more relevant to the current stage. It also has contact info in case of emergencies, our parents, our pedi, the vet, etc.  We keep a copy in our kitchen, as well as an emergency contact phone list on the fridge.

We use our nanny full time, so she gets 10 vacation days, 5 when we are on vacation and 5 she can use whenever.  

boogerbearoriginal

I think any care provider agreement should cover: pay rate, paid time off vs unpaid time off (sick/vacation/holidays), sick/vacation policies (time to notify, etc), regular schedule including drop off/pick up times, emergency contacts, expectations of care (feeding/diapering), who will provide what supplies, policy about outings with LO, and time frame to notice if either wants to end care relationship.

I may be forgetting something, or you may want to add other things based on your relationship. Google should have some good examples too. 

ninjette04

My Mom does in home Day Care and her agreement with parents is: They take off, she gets paid, she takes off they don't pay.  However, my mom NEVER takes off.  Over twenty years doing this and has never had a true sick day.  She has taken a full day off a hand full of times for family funerals.