For Parents

State Day Care Center Regulations

As we are licensed by NY State, we are bound by the regulations set forth by the State. A copy is available for your reference should you ever have any questions regarding Center operations. Some regulations require that we have annual health and fire safety inspections and monthly fire drills. Regulations also tell us about staff requirements, ratios, staff development and program routines. Parents need to be familiar with this Parent Handbook of Center policies and updates as occur. (Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) Rochester Regional Office (RRO) Bureau of Early Childhood Services (BECS).

Parent Responsibilities

1. It is the parent's responsibility to keep informed of (and follow) Center policies and procedures through information given by the Center.
2. Inform the Center of any changes in their income, address/phone number, marital or family status, work place/phone number, release persons authorization, child caring needs, and any other information or changes which might affect the care of their children at the Center.
3. Bring to the attention of the Director any problems, issues or suggestions concerning the Center.
4. It is the responsibility of the CUSTODIAL PARENT (or legal guardian) to enroll the child ("enrolling parent"). All references to "parent" in the handbook and all other verbal or written communication will be referring to the custodial parent or legal guardian. Please see the program director if you have questions. We will follow instructions of the custodial parent or legal guardian with regards to the care of the children enrolled as long as instructions are in compliance with legal documents. Copies of all legal documents regarding custody/visitation/orders of protection, etc. are required to be on file and kept current.
5. At all times make sure the Center has contact/emergency information that will be available immediately for assistance if needed.
6. Keep medical records current, updated and correctly completed by the medical professional (physician, physician assistant, nurse practitioner).
7. Absence - If your child will not attend the Center please call the Center (536-2703) by 8:00 a.m. or let us know in advance. If you have a need for a long-term absence, please contact the director to make arrangements.

PARENT MEETING: Each new family will receive a tour and general description of the Center and activities/policies. The Center may offer an annual group orientation/open house which parents may be required to attend.

NEWS LETTERS: Each program will send home weekly newsletters about their program.

PARENT BOXES: At the time of enrolling your child, you will be given a Parent Box which is located at the entrance of the building. The boxes are arranged by the same line # as in the parent sign in book. If we have any parent letters or other information to give you, we find it does not get lost if we put it in a special area for parents. Be sure to check each day for information in your box.

PARENT NOTICES: Several times a year you will be receiving parent letters dealing with specific issues and or/ program information. It is a good idea to keep all of this information together for easy reference as you will be required to follow any new procedures or policies.

Parental Notifications

IT IS OF THE GREATEST IMPORTANCE THAT WE HAVE ON FILE, FROM THE VERY FIRST DAY OF ENROLLMENT YOUR WORK PHONE NUMBER(S), EMAIL AND THE NAME AND PHONE NUMBER OF A RESPONSIBLE PERSON TO BE NOTIFIED IN CASE OF EMERGENCY OR ILLNESS WHEN WE ARE UNABLE TO CONTACT YOU. THIS INFORMATION IS REQIRED ON THE NYS BLUE FORM. Any person listed on the blue card is placed in our attendance program and must register with the director or office personnel (for their pin/password) as they are required to use the computer to sign the children in/out.

If someone other than a parent is to be allowed to take the child from the Center, we must know in advance. Please remember to leave a note or call us specifying the name of any person other than yourself who will be picking your child up. If you simply have a friend, sitter or relative come without advance notification, we will not release your child without this notice. YOU must notify the Center. Please do not have your child inform the Center of this information. THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS! Please make sure you have notified all emergency and release persons their names are on your child's blue form. To ensure the safety of your child the Center requires the persons picking up the child/ren to be at least 16 years old and of adequate ability to provide for the safety of the child while in his/her care. YOU AND YOUR DESIGNATED RELEASE PERSONS MAY BE ASKED TO SHOW PHOTO IDENTIFICATION by any of our staff if the person is not familiar to us.

If we do not have the parental authorization, we will call the parent for permission. If we are unable to contact the parent, we will not be able to release the child to the un-authorized person. This could be very embarrassing, so please let us know of any changes either in person, writing or by phoning us during the day.

If your child is to be picked up or dropped off at the Center by the school bus, be sure that YOU have arranged transportation with the bus garage, and to notify us to expect your child. We must be alerted before the first day a child rides the bus. The first day a child rides the bus may be the day he rides all over town or arrives home to find no one there. This is very scary for your child, us and you!

INCIDENTS, ACCIDENTS, MISHAPS; These are all noted on a form which details what happened and any injury or action taken. The supervisor or director signs the form and a copy is given to the parent with the original filed in the child’s folder. If a child is enrolled through a mandated program such as foster care or protective/preventive care or probation (under the guidance of an outside agency) copies of the incident reports which may be valid to the child's care program, will be available to the appropriate agency.

MEDICAL DATA: We realize that there is often an unavoidable delay in obtaining a doctor's appointment, but we MUST have a completed medical form including an up-to-date immunization record at time of enrollment of your child. If your child has been examined by your physician within the last month and is current on all immunizations, you may simply take or send the medical form to your doctor and have it completed and faxed (315/536-9934) back to us.

In order to protect all children's health and safety, we must be aware of any special behavior, medical problems, allergies or dietary requirements that need to be monitored. This information should be given to us in writing.

CUSTODIAL/VISITATION ISSUES: We require current copies of custodial or legally established (mediation, orders of protection, etc.) information for each child involved. Legally established visitation and release instructions will supersede parent instructions if they differ. To protect the safety of all children at the Center and to not place the staff at risk for interpreting or enforcing custodial or visitation issues, parents are encouraged to make custodial and visitation arrangements to occur outside of the children’s time at the Center. We will attempt to accommodate reasonable schedules for release or visitation unless it is disruptive to the children, causes confusion or difficulties between parents and or staff. Parents may make changes in release information regarding legal issues only with updated legal paperwork presented. The Center will contact police or the sheriff department if assistance is needed because of an altercation or disruptive/non-cooperating parent. At no time will children or staff be placed at risk. Continued unresolved issues may result in not being able to reasonably accommodate enrollment of the family.

If you are having custody or visitation problems and/or there are individuals who are NOT to take or visit your child, be sure this information is noted on the blue form. We are required to have a copy of any custodial legal paperwork you have.

Center Closings for Holiday / In-Service Days

If your child is scheduled to attend on a day the Center is closed for a holiday or an in-service day, parents will pay their normal weekly or daily rate for the seven holidays and one in-service day that the Center is closed. The six holidays are: New Year's Day, Memorial Day, July Fourth, Labor Day, Thanksgiving (and the day after) and Christmas. The Center is closed one day during President’s Week in February for an in-service day for staff (typically Friday). Three days enrollment per week is considered full time. We close at 12pm on Christmas Eve and 4pm New Year’s Eve. If a holiday falls on a Saturday, we are closed on Friday - if on a Sunday we close on Monday.