[motherof2]

I agree, charging for a service you then refuse to provide is not right.

Not all child care centres do this so why does Goodstart? I recall when I posted something along these lines a while ago the staff replied it was industry practice - it's not anywhere around us that is not Goodstart!!

Also at the centre we now attend you have to pay if your child is absent due to holidays/illness etc- fair enough as you need to keep their place open and staff are empoyed on a permanent basis and not on a casual basis. HOWEVER if you advise in advance that you are going to be away on holidays or a certain day for whatever reason and are happy for another child to take your childs place then the they 'advertise' those days to other parents in your childs room (the child must already be enrolled in the centre and in your childs room). If another child can fill the days you will be away then you are NOT charged for it, instead the parent of the child going in place of your child pays the fees for that day(s) - the other parent has to sign in advance to say they accept the days and will pay. Apparently this is not hard at all in regards to administration (and this centre would be classed as an average size centre approx 58 heads per day all rooms combined) and its not hard from a CCB/CCR perspective either. It seems to be popular from both ends as you are not getting charged for days you are not there and parents with kids only in a couple of days a week get a chance to occasionally increase their kids days to enable them a little more 'me time' once in a while. It seems to be popular in the preschool room especially and in the toddlers room but is not taken up so much in the babies room.

[reeree]

My husband and I are glad to find this forum. trying to get straight answers out of abc is near impossibe.

What annoys us is that we were never told any of this by anyone! not a whisper! Our little girl was in on 1 day only, which we chose to be a Monday, at the time.
We Paid each visit, and everything was fine.
One day I dropped off our kid, and the worker asked me if I could sign for all of her absent days. I said to them she has never been absent, so how could we be sooo far in arrears with payments? she just smiled and shrugged. When I asked the director about it she said it was because it was a public holiday. No warning, no notice, and then they tried to brush it under the rug. On top of that, the director is now treating us as though we are problem payers, always in Arrears!
Im a casual. If my place of work isnt open, i dont get paid! surely it not our responsibility to pay for their leave?
surely this cost should be absorbed by the usual fees, or at least some honest, upfront disclosure is necessary.