View Single Post
Blackcat31 03:11 PM 10-17-2013
Originally Posted by daycare:
food for thought about making a well call check.

about 10 years ago my best friend age 30 died of a heartattack while he was caring for his then 3 year old daughter. He was a single dad.

He had graves disease and was often on tons of medication. He would flip flop from hyper to hypo and would need to change meds when it did.

He was a single dad and had his daughter 50% of the time. He usually woke about 630 am and dropped her off around 730am. She never arrived at her preschool center that day.

The daycare center that she went to did not call anyone until around 1pm, their nap time to let them know that the daughter did not arrive to the preschool that day and dad was not answering his phone.

They finally called my best-friends mom to find out if maybe dad dropped her off there at her house and the mom said no, I will need to look into this. By this time it was almost 3pm. My best friends mother went to his house and there was no answer, but she could hear her granddaughter in the house.

She called the fire department and they broke the door down to find him lying dead, naked on the bathroom floor, this was around 4:45pm by the time they found him. Later it was found that his time of death was 8:08am. Every part of me wonders if the school would have called sooner would my best friend still be here?? My heart breaks to think about my best friends 3 year old daughter in that house all day long while her dad laid dead on the bathroom floor.

Because of this experience, I call within 20 minutes of them not arriving at the time that they are scheduled to arrive. I know that I can't prevent things or stop things from happening, but I always just think what if......................
First, daycare....I am sorry for your loss. I can completely understand why you feel obligated to call no showing parents. It makes sense.

I also understand how mentally and emotionally the "what if" game can play on your sanity and acceptance and understanding of such a tragedy.

However, I care for 10 kids (sometimes 12). I cannot possibly pick up the slack for those times that a parent doesn't call me or show up at care. I will say that if it is highly unusual for a parent to no show, without calling, then I probably would call them. I might forget though because it does get crazy busy here in the mornings.

In your scenario, why didn't the dad's work call someone when he didn't show up? Why didn't the mom call and check up in her child? There are a lot of others that could've, should've and would've called to check on him too...I just don't always feel like ALL of this should become a child care providers responsibility.

Bottom line is that there will always be "what ifs" in all situations and I don't feel that a child care provider SHOULD have to call to check on a family.... especially because a big majority of the time, the family is simply being irresponsible and disrespectful.

If you have the time to do so, great! I would call. If you don't have the time, I don't think you should feel badly about that. It's simply a matter of what you (general you) as a provider feel lies within your realm of responsibility and what doesn't.

Some providers DO go above and beyond...some don't. NEITHER are wrong.
Reply