What are child care options for single mother when child is sick?

I am a manager and one of my employees is having some attendance problems.  Her child gets sick occasionally and she does not have other family who can help take care of them so she has to take off of work. They are all legitimate illnesses, but they are more than allowed by company policy and I really want to help her because she is responsible and reliable when at work.  Are there any childcare options for her when her child is sick?

Unfortunately unless she has family friends or a private sitter there is not much she can do except take care of her child.

But to help you, I work in HR...

If the child is diagnosed with a chronic illness (asthma as an example) then she would be qualified for FMLA in the US.  That would allow her to miss up to 12 weeks of work w/o being penalized.  The days do not have to consecutive it can be one day here and 2 days there.  She would be protected for for a total of 12 weeks off for a rolling yr not a calendar yr..

Get her FMLA papers and have her take them to her doctor to have filled out, the doctor will know if the child has an illness that is covered.

Also once she has missed 3days of work have her bring in doctors notes from the childs doctor to keep her covered from losing her job until the FMLA papers are completed.

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How to give child care provider your two weeks notice?

I am ready to change child care providers for a multitude of reasons.  My main concern now, is how to tell my current child care provider without burning any bridges or hurting any feelings.  I want to be professional about this.  I don't want to go into the whole laundry list of reasons why she isn't right for my child anymore.  Basically my child is going from the infant stage to the toddler stage and I am wanting something more structured and planned for him.  What should I say?

I am assuming your child is in a home setting, and not a center, which is why you are concerned about hurt feelings. I own a center, and we occasionally lose children for a variety of reasons. One of the last ones we lost just turned three, and the mother wanted him in a Christian-based preschool, which he was not eligible for until his birthday. She explained to me why she was taking him out - this little boy had been with us since he was a baby, so we were definitely going to miss him. But she was honest that we couldn't provide something she wanted, and so we understood.

I would simply tell your provider the truth, thank her for the care she has provided to this point, but as your child is getting older, you think a more structured setting would be better. You don't have to go into any of the other reasons why she's not the right one. If she's a mature caretaker, she should understand. If not, you have more reasons why your child shouldn't be with her. Offer to bring your child by to visit when you have time, so she can see how s/he is growing - a good caretaker gets attached to "her kids" and wants to know they're growing well.

Being honest is always the best policy. FWIW, the little boy who left us for the Christian preschool is coming back next month. He never could get adjusted to the new teachers, he missed us too much! We'll be happy to have him back.

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How do the tax benefits work with child care expenses? We will spend 24,000 in child care this year.?

We have 2 children, both under 5. This year we will spend 24,000 in child care expenses. I am not sure how this will work on our taxes. I know you can claim child care expenses, but how much do you usually get back for child care expenses?

You can only claim $6,000 of that and depending on your income you can get a credit of up to 35% of that

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How hard is it to find affordable Child Care in the Rural areas?

Would you like the rural areas to have a custom built child safe building, local child care providers, 24 hour child care to cover shift workers, Government child care subsidised and provisions for child care for no more then 6 children per building?

The bigger question is:

How hard is it to find AFFORDABLE child care ANYWHERE?

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