Season 5, Episode 6: How to Create a Family Handbook for Your Child Care Center, with Kelly Matthews and Paula Drew

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. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:00

Welcome to the Child Care Business Podcast, brought to you by ProCare Solutions. This podcast is all about giving childcare, preschool, daycare, afterschool, and other early education professionals a fun and upbeat way to learn about strategies and inspiration you can use to thrive. You'll hear from a variety of childcare thought leaders, including educators, owners, and industry experts on ways to innovate to meet the needs of the children you serve. From practical tips for managing operations to uplifting stories of transformation and triumph, this podcast will be chock full of insights you can use to fully realize the potential of your childcare business. Let's jump in.

SPEAKER_03: 0:54

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 at ProCare Solutions, and I'm happy to have you join us today. We are thrilled to have two women with us to talk about a topic in child care that often gets overlooked, but it is really, really important. They are Kelly Matthews and Paula Drew of the Wisconsin Early Childhood Association. And they're going to walk us through how to create a really solid family handbook for your child care center. We're so glad to have you both with us today. Thanks for having us. All right. So before we get started, we always like to get a little background on our guests. So tell us how you became involved in ECE and chose it as your career path.

SPEAKER_00: 1:44

So Leah, Kelly and I like to do this thing where we introduce each other. As we were talking before we started recording, we're a really solid team. So I am going to introduce everybody listening to my dear friend, Kelly Matthews. She is the Director of Family Child Care Strategy and Advancement at Wisconsin Early Childhood Association. She's a lifelong advocate for early care and education. She began her journey at 19 with a lifetime membership to NAEYC and has spent over 30 years making meaningful contributions to the field. With a master's in human development from Pacific Oaks College, rooted in social justice, Kelly's work has always centered children and families in high quality care. Kelly started as a family childcare substitute and evolving into national consulting through A Place for You. At WECA, since 2011, Kelly's played a key role in Youngster, which is Wisconsin's QRIS. She's authored the Wisconsin Family Child Care Credential and built a statewide shared services network, Wisconsin Early Education Shared Services Network, or WESEN, and I have been lucky enough to co-direct that network with her. Today, here at WECA, Kelly and I both do our work within WECA's Center for ECE Policy, Research, and Engagement.

SPEAKER_02: 3:09

And I am honored to introduce Paula Drew, a brilliant policy expert and passionate advocate for early care and education in Wisconsin. As director of early care and education policy and research at WECA, Paula brings over 25 years of experience from classroom teaching to leading programs and driving statewide policy change. Her background includes a master's in human ecology from UW Madison and deep work connecting educator wellbeing to quality care. Together, Paula and I helped build Wisconsin's Shared Services Network, developed a business training for child care providers, and co-authored a book to support their financial sustainability named Build It Strong, How to Make Your Child Care Business Thrive from Startup to Retirement. Whether leading Advocacy Day at the Capitol or collaborating with providers in the field, Paula is a tireless force for more equitable early care in our systems.

SPEAKER_03: 4:04

Well, those were very good introductions. Thank you to both ladies. So let's shift to today and let's start with, can you describe your work at the Wisconsin Early Childhood Association?

SPEAKER_00: 4:15

Absolutely. I serve as Director of Policy and Research for the Center for Early Care and Education Policy Research and Engagement. Very long title. And that means that I lead efforts to develop and communicate policy that supports early childhood education, combining data, research, real-world experiences, so that lived experience from providers and parents that helped us guide our decision-making around good policy choices. I also work closely with our advocacy team to shape strategic initiatives, create a range of publications, and to keep an eye on state and federal legislation that could impact children and families or the early care and education fields.

SPEAKER_02: 5:01

And then my work really revolves around how to start, support, strengthen, and retain family child care providers. So this means I get to work with providers through creating family child care focused training, learning and listening groups and focus groups, exploring policy impacts, making or influencing policy recommendations, and my favorite part, developing innovating programming that solves problems and frustrations family child care providers have expressed.

SPEAKER_03: 5:26

a problem and frustration. I'm guessing that's gonna be where family handbooks fall for a lot of providers. So let's get into the nitty and gritty of these family handbooks. And maybe we should start by defining what a true family handbook for a childcare center is. So we're all working with the same description. I think a lot of centers maybe have different versions of what they consider a handbook.

SPEAKER_02: 5:50

Absolutely. So we considered a document that pulls together all of your policies and procedures in one place so families know what to expect. It can be digital or hard copy or both. It's really your program's fingerprints. It's a relationship tool. It shows how your program is unique and what you have to offer. It gets people on the same page and it gives families information they need to know if your program is going to be a good fit for them. I think sometimes people just put out their handbooks and be like, here you go, and don't even think parents will read them. But actually, we think handbooks are basically your promise to your community about who you are and how you're going to be. It includes what happens also if policies are not followed, which is important to protect your business, yourself, your staff if you have them, and of course, your bottom line.

SPEAKER_03: 6:35

And why is having a family handbook a non-negotiable?

SPEAKER_00: 6:41

For so many reasons, Leah, but to get us started. Right. A family handbook meets both your legal and compliance expectations for operating a regulated childcare business. So there's things that your state, also like an accrediting body like NACI or NAFIC, will require of you to have in your family handbook. They also provide a structure of your programming, tells everybody what to expect, and holds everybody, including yourself, accountable to what happens each and every day. Imagine trying to run a business that serves so many people without any rules or expectations written down. It could be total chaos, especially when we're working with families with young children.

SPEAKER_03: 7:24

Yeah, and there's already enough chaos in your days, I would imagine. That's right. Why introduce more? So if a child care center director or owner is writing a handbook What are the sections to focus on? Can we walk through each section a little bit and give an overview?

SPEAKER_00: 7:43

Absolutely. But actually, before we get into the different sections, we want to just take a few minutes to talk about the general how to go about writing a solid family handbook. So these are just some recommendations we have to help keep it professional, ensure that people can easily read and understand it, and to know when there's been changes made to it. we recommend using a consistent font and formatting throughout. So sometimes, you know, you make your handbook, you've been in business for 30 years and you're updating one policy. And guess what? Your five computers, you know, from the one that you use when you first created it and you don't have that font anymore. So you just, you know, you're just quickly doing something. But at the end of the day, it looks off. And you could imagine if you're reading a legal document, for example, from your bank, and all of a sudden one section is written in a different font that That might seem strange, out of the ordinary for you. So we recommend, you know, keeping it formatted throughout the same. We also highly recommend reviewing it for correct spelling and grammar. I think it's a great idea to have a colleague also read it just to make sure, especially if you've been working on it for a long time, things might make sense to you, but it might not make sense to somebody else in the same way. Or you've just read the same sentence so many times, even though it's incorrect. It just makes, you know, you don't realize it's incorrect. Write everything in really plain language so it's easy to understand. The point of having a family handbook is that everybody knows what to expect. So that means you don't want to use a bunch of fluffy language or make it overly complicated. You want it to be clear. You also want to make sure if you are serving families who speak languages other than English, that you are providing a document that is translated into a language that they can understand. I think it's worth it to invest in getting your policies translated. And then also the complicated part about this is every time you update it, you also need to make sure that you're updating that translation as well. But it shows families that you really do care about them and want to make sure that they have everything they also need to be able to follow your policies. I think it's a really good idea to 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, word processing programs these days will almost do that for you. But that means if a family just can't remember what, for example, your vacation policy is, they can open it up and quickly find that page and probably more easily follow that policy. Make sure that you are including every state required policy and reflect every aspect of your programming. So not just the you know, what time do you open, what time do you close, and how do people pay, but really everything that's going to be happening within your program, and we'll get into that more in a minute. And then the last recommendation I would have just overall in going about your programming is to ensure that when you have updated it, that you write the date of your most recent update on the front cover so that people understand, or you could do it in a footer in the bottom of every page so that they know the last time this policy has been 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 English degree coming out. Like really think it through about what you're trying to say and why you are saying it, right? Sometimes like you have a policy and it doesn't actually capture what you are trying to manifest for your program. So you really need to be specific. And once you've thought it through, think it through again because you may have unintended consequences to your policy that you haven't really thought about as you put it out first. We like to say parents' pay on time is a dream, not a policy. So you need to create a policy that instills respect for you and your program and the one that has consequences if it isn't followed. So going back to that parents' pay on time, let's look at a more specific example. A new policy could be the financially responsible party must pay by the last Friday of the month by 5 p.m. Central Standard, because that's where we are, for the following month of care. Notice it says financially responsible party. That may mean that there are other folks involved, not necessarily parents or the direct caregiver that might be paying for those things. So you really want to make sure that you're clear on who is responsible for that payment. Payments will be made electronically through our child management software system. Delays in processing by the bank or entity, other entity is not an excuse for late payments. Late payments will be charged at late fee according to our policy on page, whatever that is, because Paul and Drew told us to write page numbers for all of our policies. Failure to pay, cost of care, or any associated fees, as well as excessive late payments can be grounds for termination. So as you think about this, it is much more specific. It's much more clear. It lets you know how it's going to happen, when it's going to happen, and by what methods. You may lose some customers when you really think about those unintended consequences who don't want to pay that way. But you also may gain customers who don't want to be bothered by not paying electronically. Some clients these days don't even own checkbooks. We are folks of a certain age, I think, and that may have been our reality growing up, but it's not everybody's now. And most importantly, this policy protects your bottom line as you are more likely to be paid on time every time with this method.

SPEAKER_00: 13:19

Much more reliable. Yeah, for sure. So now we'll actually get to your question, Leah. On to organizing a family handbook. You can think about organizing your handbook as what a family might experience sequentially. So first they enroll. So maybe you would start with enrollment. Having that information first may make sense as they're reading through it. Some states have templates that programs need to follow. So if that's the case, we would first and foremost recommend that you are following your state's recommendations. I think it's important to start with a warm welcome section that shows how you value the families you've enrolled, your staff, what makes your program what it is. So if you have a mission or a vision statement or a learning philosophy, that's a great place to kind of lay that out so they really know a little bit more about who you are before you're getting into sort of like the nuts and bolts of what's happening next. Because you really want to sort of connect on a relational level before just jumping into those technical things. So after you do that general welcome, then we want you to get into sequentially. So what are the general operations? What time do you open? And not only that, but what time are people expected to drop off? So does their contract state the exact time from start and end? So I know Kelly's program, when she was operating it, each family had a particular window of hours that they received care. So you needed to show up when your contracted hours started and you needed to pick up by the time your contracted hours end. Some programs provide sort of like a school day, which is, let's say, eight to three, and then they have wraparound care for either early drop-offs or care after that three o'clock time. So you want to be really specific about what's expected during that drop-off and also that pickup time. what's your yearly calendar? So are there times of the year that you close? Do you close for certain holidays? Are there professional development days in which you close? Are there things that you know you do every year, like a family night at the beginning of the year? So those are the things that you want to put right in the handbook so they're easy for people to locate and sort of keep track of. You want to talk about things that happen that need a little bit more structure around like field trips. So if you are taking the whole school or a particular classroom on a field trip, what does that mean? Are we gonna need permission slips from parents? Yes. Are we gonna need packing of lunches? Are we gonna need$5 for the field trip? Can parents support other children? Can parents come help volunteer? If they can, what's required of that parent to volunteer before they show up on that specific day? I know in the state of Wisconsin, those parents would have to pass a background check. So, you know, having all the logistics sort of in that same place of, oh, this is what they do for field trips. I'd love to volunteer. And here's exactly what I need to do in order to volunteer for that field trip. Another kind of, you know, big event that happens in early care and education is toilet training, right? And everybody does that a little bit differently. And a well thought out program has a philosophy around that. So parents understand, Maybe at home, every time your child goes to the bathroom, you reward them with an M&M. But perhaps at school, it's a different learning philosophy in which M&Ms are not part of that philosophy. And it's really important, actually, to be sort of forthright about what your philosophy is, because I have personally, you know, when I was teaching, been in experiences where the parents' expectations were very, very different, and they There was no communication before. They just sort of dropped off and said, and now Ms. Paula is going to give you an M&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 things here, but here's how we do things. So laying that out in the beginning sort of helps everybody stay on the same page and think about those things right ahead of time. And then also general other expectations for the day. So are you providing lunch at the school? Do children bring their own lunch and snacks? That's a big thing. And if you do provide lunch, are you also providing variations of that based on food preferences or allergies? And how do people know what you're serving every day? So are you posting your menu once a week, once a month? Those general types of things. If you provide specialist classes like a Spanish language class or a music class, or yoga class, and if that's outside of the regular programming, if that's an extra fee, or if that's a different teacher that would come, those are all things that you would include in your general operations. And I'm generalizing your general operations. I understand every program is different. We know we have programs that operate exclusively outside. And so their general operations programs might include a very long list of what the children need to bring to where, in all types of weather. So those operations are really gonna be particular to your environment. Another really important thing is your emergency procedures. So a lot of people write these because the state requires you to have your emergency procedures. But what I will tell you is that in an emergency, you're gonna be really glad that you've written that out a million times, that your staff have been trained on it routinely and that parents know what to do. Example, a program that I used to work at, there was a really significant fire next door to the program. And not only did the entire childcare program serving 150 children have to evacuate to a church nearby, but parents had to pick up at that church nearby. And because it was such a big event downtown, the cell service was a little wonky. And so they actually used their childcare management software system to send a message through there to every parent to let them know that there would be an alternative pickup site. So having that sort of additional level of information about what to expect in an emergency, not just that you're going down to the church or that you practice once a month and that your staff are trained in that. What are the next steps? What would happen if you weren't able to go back to the program? And a lot of times when you're evacuating, it's probably likely that you're not going to be going back to that program, whether it's a gas leak or radon or something. you know, that is requiring you to leave probably is going to keep you there for a little while. So thinking out the logistics of even does that church or wherever you're evacuating to have enough parking? Where should parents park? Would there be an additional window of time for late pickups to accommodate that? So those are just some, you know, recommendations around emergency procedures. Another really important section of a family handbook is what's expected for attendance. So are you required to call ahead of time if your child will not be there for the day? So everybody's not wondering if they're okay. Are they sick? Do they have a communicable disease? If you're taking a vacation for two weeks, those things are really important for programs to know. Also, if you're planning on leaving the program, say your caregiver gets a job in another state, what is the procedure for withdrawal? You signed a contract through the end of the year, but now it turns out three months before the end of the year, you're planning to move to another state. So as a program, you're gonna wanna think through the logistics of how you would handle that. And also to Kelly's point earlier about late payments, what is your termination policy? So what are the steps that would be followed and what would be grounds for termination so that everybody understands that upfront? And sort of in alignment with that is sort of how you plan to communicate with parents and how you are planning events that include parents. So do you have an open door policy in which they can come into the office anytime? Maybe you're not there anytime. So maybe every week, three days a week, you have open office hours, two hours in the morning or in the evening. Maybe you do have that family night twice a year in which you review the handbook in total and talk about where their tuition money is going in your program and you're talking about your budget. So thinking through how to have good communication and not just thinking it through, but laying it out in your handbook. We all know that caring for children is a business and it is also a very, it's a very close environment in which you have to have open communication for things to work, especially to like my small family, example earlier about toilet training like these these things in the lives of families are really big deals and you have to be able to talk openly about them so setting the stage for how you're going to encourage and facilitate that communication and also thinking through again if you're serving families that don't speak english and if you don't yourself speak other languages how are you going to ensure that those family members can have that same level of open communication with you Similarly, when you're having deep, great, open communication, how are you ensuring that that communication and any paperwork you have is confidential? So how are you ensuring that children's files are not accessible, that a parent is having a conversation with you about something that's happening at home and a teacher sitting in the office isn't going to share that information with somebody else, having a very easy to understand and follow confidentiality policy, helps everybody in the program understand what's expected of them and helps keep everybody safe. And then the big part of your programming, right? Your curriculum, your learning philosophy, your assessments, how those things work, how parents can be a part of that and how teachers, educators are going to communicate through the curricula. Are you gonna get an update? every month through your childcare management software system or every day, are you gonna get a paper every day at the end of the day saying what's happened to their child? What milestones did they learn? Are there gonna be parent-teacher conferences? How often will those take place? Similarly but different, all of your health and safety policies. So parents of course wanna know, how are you keeping my kiddo safe? And it's not just necessarily locking the gate out on the playground but it's also including things like monitoring in the state of wisconsin child care providers are required to monitor the immunization schedules of all children and take in a paper that has that list of immunizations as well as getting a health physical and parents signing that paperwork and bringing it in since covid many people have done daily health checks to ensure that you know a child with a communicable disease is not sharing it with half the class so being really forthright and clear about how those things work. If somebody is required to bring in a piece of paperwork, how are they going to be notified and what'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 people to bring the paper back in because I was required by state law 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 policy about what your expectations are for people to bring those papers in is really important from the start. So then it's not sort of this like push and pull of, you know, well, why are you keep bugging me about this? Like this isn't, you know, I'm really busy. Yes, but you signed a policy handbook that said these were expectations and this is why, this is why we have them. So a few last policies, I know I'm kind of just like giving you the whole laundry list, but this is why you're here. That's why you want to hear these things. What is your policy around inclusion of all abilities, your non-discrimination policy? What are your staff qualifications? So how do you ensure that every teacher in your program has the qualifications you require both for your state licensing, your accreditation standards, and your old learning philosophy? What are those ratios? You want parents to understand, and you want it to be in your policy book, how many teachers are going to be in a classroom or a learning environment for how many children? What's that maximum? So everybody understands how you're keeping kids safe. Again, around those payment policies, what's the tuition? How often are you going to raise tuition? Are there other fees that happen throughout the year? Sometimes you could give a little explainer. Yes, we charge a registration fee every year. And this is why it takes a lot of time to process your new paperwork every year. And so we use that the fee to help subsidize the salary costs of the extra admin that we have to use to process those payments. When parents kind of understand why they're paying a fee, it might be a little bit easier for them to understand that it's expected of them. And last but not least, like after they've read every policy in your handbook, we want them to turn in an acknowledgement form, signed, dated. I have read these policies. I understand what's expected of me. And I am giving you my signature saying that I will uphold them. When you update your policies, you're going to do that same thing. You're going to put out a new form. Maybe if it's just two or three policies you're updating, you could also include them on the form. So it's very clear to parents what's changed. And then you're going to have them resign the document. So they are showing you that they understand what's changed.

SPEAKER_03: 27:29

So Paula, when you said that section about making sure there's a yearly calendar showing the days that are going to be off, As a working mom and my youngest just finished up childcare, he's in kindergarten now, I wanted to jump up and say, yes, thank you. We need that to make our plans for who's going to take the day off. And I mean, even from beyond a compliance standpoint, it's just so appreciated from the parent's perspective, which I'm sure you know.

SPEAKER_00: 28:00

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I remember even when my own daughter was in care not too long ago, we would plan our own vacation around when the school had their PD and sort of like cleaning time because they were going to be closed anyways. And parents' time off is the same as educators' time off and we need to manage that. So yeah, it's very helpful to have those, the cadence of your calendar. And of course there are things that come up, right? And you're going to do the best you can to communicate outside of that, but as best you can sticking to a calendar is very helpful to everybody, staff and families.

SPEAKER_02: 28:35

As a family childcare provider, I made an agreement with my families that I would schedule out my vacation and close days at the beginning of the year. So they would have that as well. Just, you know, it's giving up some flexibility as a family care provider to be able to flex some of those vacation days. But I just felt like if I was going to be closed, that is a major interruption for family's care. And so that was the compromise I was 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 now for the year. So I very much agree with giving that 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, you know those days off, you can look. I agree 1000%. So Kelly, do you recommend that centers share the handbook over email or an electronic way? Or do you think printing it out and handing it to a parent is 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 their handbook on the website so a parent can easily find it. Having a PDF of the document makes search for topics easier with the magical control F find function. So if that's not something y'all are familiar with, control F on a PDF and you type in a word and it can help you find it wherever it shows up in the document. But some people want to have it in hand and with a good table of contents and page numbers, you can easily find what's needed in the moment. I interviewed a family once in my program and I sent the handbook ahead of time because I feel like it helps the program understand who I am and what I'm about. The parent came back with it inked all over, things circled, question marks, things underlined, and I knew immediately they would be a good fit because they were really being intentional about reading and understanding this document. And as I look at it as a relationship document, I feel like they really invested in that relationship before we even met. This parent had interviewed at over a dozen other places. And actually that made me really happy rather than being concerned. I think some people would be like, oh my gosh, they're like too high maintenance for me. I was delighted. It meant that she knew what she was looking for. And our handbooks help parents understand that. So I actually did enroll that family and they were probably one of my strongest, most respectful 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 can electronically sign and return things too. Beautiful. Yeah, we've had great feedback on the parents who do like that electronic option, and then you're not sitting around waiting for somebody to hand it to you and print it out and all that stuff. Right. So you touched on this before about how to update a handbook, put the date and that kind of thing. How often should a handbook be updated?

SPEAKER_00: 31:32

I think a handbook should be updated at least yearly. And I would recommend consulting a small group of folks. Ask a parent, hey, you've been here for a year or two. We're thinking about updating our policies and our handbook. Do you have questions or are there things unclear? If you employ staff, I would do the same with them. They are implementing your handbook every day, right? They're in the weeds of your programming. So they may have a perspective that you don't. So at least once a year intentionally, but also things, you know, opportunities pop up to update your policies when you least expect it. I think we all have that one child or family that we know is why we have this new policy about X, Y, or Z because something happened and we didn't have a policy for it and it was a hard time. And so, yeah. So you're creating a policy in response to some things and you're also just creating policy because things change. Leah, for example, you mentioned ProCare having the e-documents and e-signature. I don't think that was a thing when I was a director when we used ProCare. And I know, I think a lot of parents would appreciate that. Normally when we're doing our parental work, it's when our kids are asleep and a lot of times we're doing it on our phones, right? making things easy like that. So I would recommend both of those different things. And then again, making sure when you do make those updates, making sure that everybody acknowledges that they've seen the new updates. I think it could be really nice if you are doing that sort of like yearly update, holding a consistent parent night in which you talk through the policies and people can ask questions. Because one thing to just sign a paper and give it back, but it's another thing to make sure that they really understand and can ask questions about what, especially a new policy might be that's different from something you were doing before. And if you can't hold the night in which everybody can hear about those things together, or in addition to that, you know, holding some type of open office hours for parents to stop in and make sure, you know, they might have a question about your new calendar. That's very different from your old one. And then you can explain that. you know, why that is and how you came to that decision. And also if other people helped you in forming that decision. So those are my recommendations around 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 thinking a mistake?

SPEAKER_02: 34:23

So first I would say, I think that's a totally natural reaction. A thorough handbook is absolutely a big undertaking, but with any project, just break it down. You don't have to do it all at once. And we would probably recommend that you don't because your brain will start spinning around and like, did I write that down already? Was that somewhere else? Is that page 17 or 34? Right? So you want to just keep yourself organized as you do it. Take a section at a time. As Paul said, it is okay to ask for help. If you're a family provider, is there another provider that you trust? Or are you part of a network of directors or family child care providers that you can bounce ideas off of? We know that several states have portals that may have templates that folks can use. as starting places or to check and go, oh, I didn't have a cell phone policy, or I didn't have a kid breaks something of value in the program policy, I should probably think about that. And here's some wording I can start with. As Paula said, the staff in your program, if you have them, have so much to offer around how those policies are actually capturing what's needed or may have gaps that just need to be filled in a little bit because they're hearing that out every day. It's also good, I think, to include staff if you have them for the buy-in, right? Like the more they help create these things, they're really a part of that programming. As a family provider, you may want to run it past any family members that are in your household too, to just say like, does this make sense? Does it protect your needs as a family member? Like as far as how space is used or pickup timing or whatever that might be. But really the bottom line is you can't afford not to do this. If there's an issue at your program, there may be an investigation into your policies and procedures and if they were followed. And if not, you might be found at fault. And nobody wants to be in that position. It's already scary enough when something happens. So just knowing you've done everything you can through your policies, procedures, and training folks on them is really important. For example, a simple cell phone policy. If a cell phone draws a teacher's attention away from what's happening in class, let's say the playground or outdoor environment, an accident occurs while somebody is texting, your program could be found liable. Good policies and procedures serve three functions, risk mitigation, and mitigation just means to like minimize as much as possible, it's just a big fancy word for it, compliance and protection.

SPEAKER_00: 36:52

Break those down a little bit. So risk mitigation simply put is they help prevent bad things from happening, right? For example, hand washing reduces illness. Maintaining proper refrigeration temperatures prevents foodborne illnesses. Actively supervising children helps prevent accidents and injuries. If you've ever talked to an insurance agent that provides liability insurance to childcare providers, they could give you pages upon pages of risk mitigation policies that you should consider having in your handbook. The next part Kelly mentioned was compliance. So ensuring that you have clear policies helps ensure that you're meeting your legal and regulatory requirements, such as maintaining confidentiality, health and safety standards, but also what happens. Failing to comply can result in, for you, perhaps losing your license or facing legal consequences. And how are you ensuring that other people are following your policies? Your policies also protect you. If you've ever been sued or investigated, one of the first things courts or licensing agencies will look at is whether you have followed your own policies and documented your actions. So I'm going to say that one more time just so everybody really, really hears me say that. If you've ever been sued or investigated or this could happen, it could happen to any of us any day of the week, even if we're doing everything right. And if we're doing everything right, that risk mitigation will be lowered because you have followed the policies you have in your book, you've documented all the things that you say that you're gonna do and how you did them. Violations, especially those involving civil rights or HIPAA can be considered what's called deliberate indifference if proper procedures weren't followed in which a person knowingly sort of ignores the harm by not following their policies. Let's say you had a policy that said we keep people's personal information confidential, but one night you were running out of the office and you left a bunch of folders on the table. Next day, somebody else opened the office for you and those folders were out for 18 hours unattended and children had their identities stolen. So that's a perfect example of you had this policy, you didn't follow it yourself. So sort of like ignoring the risk or harm and something happened in which you're liable. So bottom line is this all protects you. It protects your business, your reputation, the children you serve, the staff you employ if you have them. So I know this is a really technical part of this conversation, but I feel like it's our duty to really say these things Make sure that the policies you're writing really reflect how you want to conduct your business, and then make sure everybody who's working within your program is understanding that they have to follow them at all times.

SPEAKER_02: 40:02

The other thing I really love about having some of these policies written out and acknowledged by the parents, when they sign that document saying, I acknowledge your policies and will follow them and all that, it's not legally binding. You can't take them to court because they didn't follow your policies. toilet training policy but what it does is it makes people accountable to the document and you aren't the bad guy I'm just helping you understand that this is what you agreed to and so let's figure out how to make that work right I'm not mad at you I don't hate you I'm not coming after you I just need you to do what you said you were going to do which is follow the policies so That's one element I think is really important to just remind folks. It really takes sort of a load off you as like the interpersonal part of it and keeps folks following what they said they were going to do. Accountability on both sides. Yeah, accountability on both sides. Absolutely. But thinking about that protection piece that Paula was just talking about, that protection only works if your policies are up to date. So making sure that if your state requires something new or there is something that happens in your program that you need a new policy, that you actually get them updated and include those revision dates. They have to be comprehensive. I mean, Paula gave us a list and that was big buckets, even that, right? There's still all of those sub points underneath, but it really is important to lay out as much as possible. You want to be well-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, like everybody needs to know and that they are consistently followed and documented. Like you can have the most beautiful handbook in the world, but if it just sits there, it won'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, could you give us a rundown of the biggest mistakes you see when educators create family handbooks?

SPEAKER_02: 42:13

One of my favorite examples was just copying a handbook outright. There was a family child care provider I know, and a group program in another state just took all of her policies, even though it said family child care, and made No sense. I can see why they did it because she's brilliant and she has really excellent policies. But obviously, if anything would happen, those aren't their policies. They're not for that program. And it was pretty clear. So she actually had to do a cease and desist letter. But make sure they're actually yours because you have you're the one that has to carry them out.

UNKNOWN: 42:49

Mm hmm.

SPEAKER_00: 42:51

I would also just, I think we've said this several times, but just make sure they're really clearly defined policies and also the procedures. This is the policy and this is how we're going to carry it out. If people don't understand what the policy is or what's expected of them, they're not going to follow it. The policy is sort of the rule, right? This is what we expect or not expect of you and others. And then the procedures is how we're going to carry out this policy and how we expect you to carry out this policy. So

SPEAKER_02: 43:23

for example, teachers will not use their personal cell phones in the classroom.

SPEAKER_00: 43:26

Yeah, so that's a policy, but the procedure would be people will take their, staff will take their cell phones and put it in their personal workspace at the beginning of the day. They'll take it out when they're not included in ratio and and at the end of the day. So that's sort of the procedure that 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 use personal phones while in a classroom or counted in ratio will receive a written warning and that second infraction will result in dismissal.

SPEAKER_00: 44:08

And Kelly and I picked this policy in particular because You know, it's on simple face value. It might not seem like it's going to impact your business, but we've seen firsthand where somebody picks up their phone to take a picture of a kid and then they see a text from somebody and they're, you know, you're in the moment, your attention is on your phone and somebody falls off the playground slide and really hurts themselves. The insurer is going to ask if somebody was on their cell phone, your licensor or regulatory body is going to ask that. And you could be sort of deemed out of ratio because that person was not paying attention to the sight and sound of the child in front of them. So it really could have a big impact on your bottom line, on your business. So we don't want you to lose your license or face huge insurance increases. We particularly made this example because we really want to help people understand, especially today, you know, cell phones are really addicting and they 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 like the bottom line and protecting your business. We say that so that you can care for 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 keep your doors open to do the really excellent care that you want to do. So I just want to be really clear about that, that we are using that bottom line protection to help support the people in your program that you employ. If you have employees that you care about and for your own wellbeing as well. So I think another big mistake that we see though is not thinking about the financial implications of the policies you have and making sure that they're covered in your budget. So if you have a sibling discount of say 25% a month, but you haven't accounted for what that estimated cost and how many families could be taking up that or for how long those families could be utilizing that discount, you could literally be giving away thousands and thousands of dollars over the lifetime of those families with you, enough to potentially pay for healthcare for your employees or if you're a family provider to fund your retirement. So it really is something where we 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 great information. And if anybody wants to reach out to you or learn more about your organization, what's the best way to do that? And could you tell us a little bit about your book as well?

SPEAKER_00: 46:53

Absolutely. So if you're interested to hear more about the Wisconsin Early Childhood Association, you can go to wisconsinearlychildhood.org. and find out about all the programs and services we offer to providers in Wisconsin. My email, if you are interested in contacting me, is prepauladrew, D-R-E-W, at wisconsinearlychildhood.org. A very, very long email, but it makes 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, at wisconsinearlychildhood.org. And our book that we wrote along with Amy Friedlander from Opportunities Exchange is on Amazon, and it's available in English and Spanish, which we're very proud of. We know there's not a lot of great resources out there that are comprehensive for Spanish providers as far as business practices go. The name of it is Build It Strong, How to Make Your Child Care Business Thrive from Startup to Retirement. It's written for both group and family care. Paula's background is in center-based, mine is in family child care, and we really wrote best practices for both settings as the majority. And then there's little pull-out sections for both center directors, administrators, and family child care providers. So we're just really delighted to That is

SPEAKER_03: 48:20

huge. Yeah. To have it in and to have it in both languages, too. We will put a link to that in the show notes. Thank you. So that's that's the end of end of our time together today. Thank you so much for taking the time to share all that information and really get get into the nitty gritty to show how to do this. And once again, from ProCare Solutions, we want to say thank you to all the child care providers 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.