White, Kathy A

We found this daycare provider through a provider search on Children's Home and Aid's website. She was listed as a provider accepting CHASI payments for parents who needed assistance with covering child care costs.

I met with her in person and found her home daycare to be clean, well-furnished with activities and educational items for children, and set up to engage children. I let her know from the start that my daughter was in the CHASI program and asked her if she would accept this program. She stated that she would. She told me that we would have to pay the full rate weekly until CHASI was approved and she was paid. My daughter completed all of the enrollment forms, and my granddaughter began on 10-1-21 with fulltime care.

We paid the costs of the weekly care for the first month (October) waiting for the provider to receive her first CHASI payment. At the beginning of November, she indicated that we needed to continue to pay her weekly ($215/per week) and any CHASI payments she received would be a "credit" on the account and applied for future weeks of care. This was NOT how we interpreted the agreement with her accepting CHASI. CHASI is for people who fundamentally cannot afford full child care costs. As grandparents, we were assisting our daughter while she finished school and began her enrollment in the police academy. But we could not continue to pay the full rate every week indefinitely.

On 11-5-21, we gave the provider written notice that we would have to end the day care with her effective 11-19-21.

Our granddaughter enjoyed attending this day care and the provider was good with the children. However, her manner with us, the only African-American child's family, in dealing with the CHASI situation was very rigid and unyielding. She would not work with us or adhere to CHASI guidelines. In contacting the CHASI case worker about this situation, the case worker stated that she never in 15 years of working for CHASI had a provider demand full payment each week from a CHASI parent.

In late December 2021, after our granddaughter was no longer attending, we reached out to this provider asking if she was paid from CHASI for 10-1-21 through 11-19-21. We asked if she could send us these funds since she had already been paid in advance for her child care for those dates.

This provider informed us that she returned the UNCASHED checks to CHASI since our daughter was no longer a client of hers. I contacted CHASI about this and was told that this was unheard of and that providers needed to deposit the checks and provide any reimbursement to us. CHASI cannot cancel checks and return overpayments to parents.

I texted this information to this provider on 1-4-22 asking if CHASI could mail the checks for October and November 2021 payments to her and she deposit them and issue reimbursement to us.

This provider refused to work with us and stated in text:

"Your daughter is not a client any longer therefore I will not accept payment. The original terms were that when the credit came through, it would be applied to her account. She is no longer a client and has a zero balance therefore I have returned the checks."

When I responded that the payments were for when my daughter was a client and that we paid her in advance weekly knowing CHASI would pay her for most of those costs, she texted:

"CHASI does not dictate how I receive funds for childcare. I can charge weekly or monthly or however I wish. I charge everyone the same amount and this is fair. The fact that you agreed to pay weekly and then accept the CHASI payment as a credit to your account when it came in which would pay for the next few weeks of childcare was your choice. The fact that you got mad and decided to remove the child from my care because you didn't like paying in advance was also your choice. The account has a zero balance and I will not accept a payment on an account with a zero balance and the client is no longer here."

I responded in text:

"Kathy, you provided a very nice daycare for Penny and she enjoyed it there. Unfortunately, it was not us getting mad but your policies not working for us and my daughter who was needing help with child care and sought out a nice place for my granddaughter to be during the day.

We appreciated the environment you provided for Penny. This was a decision based on what could work long term for us and our daughter. Although there is a zero balance, the only thing that needs to happen is a deposit of the checks and an immediate refund to us. We are asking you kindly to do this. Please reconsider this as it does not lower the funds or take away from the funds you would have received for those weeks."

This provider responded in text:

"You need to contact Chasis to resolve the problem."

I then texted her:

"I did contact CHASI this morning as I told you. Since you were the provider for those weeks and the checks were made out to you, the only way to have funds return is through you depositing the checks and immediately refunding that amount. That is the only way to have it done."

She did not reply to this additional request. We are not rich people, but wanted to help our daughter. We need the money we advanced returned to us.

This provider charged $215 per week which is $43 per day. CHASI reimbursed her at $38.31 per day for the days she cared for our granddaughter. We paid in advance a total of $1655 to this provider. CHASI issued her checks totaling anywhere from $1200-$1300. If she would deposit these checks issued to her from CHASI (a program she agreed to participate in) and then return this money to us, it would be the fair and right thing to do. But for whatever reason, pride, vindictiveness, or that she was upset we ended our relationship with her daycare ... it is simply wrong of her to deny the refund knowing her cashing these checks and refunding us herself is the only way we can get the money back. This is small and unprofessional.