Wait List?

So many people lately have asked if I have a wait list. So how does it work? People don't go to work until you have an opening? They get shoddy care elsewhere until they receive your call? It confuses me.

I have a client who needed care in March, I didn't have room until May so she placed her son with another caregiver until I have room. He's with me one day a week until I have room for a full time. I'm hoping it works out and it's not too confusing for him.

I always have a waiting list. When a spot comes available I send out the emails letting everyone know, I rarely get a response. I think people just want to be on the wait list in case something comes up earlier.

Like Apples and Bananas said, I have a waitlist, but I think of it more of a call-back list than a waitlist. By the time I contact those on the list to tell them I have a space, they have all found other care and I wouldn't even want them to uproot the child and move them to me (unless they were really not happy with the current situation). However, it's nice to have a list in case you have a sudden opening and someone on your list is still looking.

Ya - in home childcare IME anyway it is hard to maintain a waitlist because A) our spots do not come open as often and as predictable as in a 'centre' where waitlists are common B) parents tend to leave looking to home care until the 'last minute' anyway verses centre care where they are able to prebook spaces months and months in advance because they know a toddler will graduate to preschool and make an 'infant spot' available on X date by attrition.

That said - I too have one and at times I have had as many as 25 people on it looking for both ASAP care as well as future care ... only once have I ever called back someone to offer and had them come for an interview and sign on all the other times I was never able to help the person out and they eventually found care they were happy with and I 'deleted' them from the list. I also delete anyone who has not 'kept in touch' about still needing a space -once their 'in need of care' date is past 3 months I just 'delete' them anyway assuming they have found care since they are not still emailing once a month 'asking' how things are looking.

I know Alpha, a waiting list confuses me too. Mine includes a lot of people that have been recommended by my current clients and they love everything they hear about me and have checked out my website so I always tell them I'll keep their names on file.

Then they email me again months later but I'm still full and I was thinking if I did have a space come available and I called all these people they probably would already have found care, right? So I don't get it either.

Some people are able to arrange for family or friends to care for their kids in the interim. Or, work an alternate schedule temporarily, until the space opens. I also keep people's names on file but have never yet called and had someone take a spot that is offered. Everyone has found care.
I think it's also kind of a nicey-nice way for providers to "let people down" a little easier. As in, tell them that you're sorry, you have filled the space, but you will put their name on your waiting list.

I have a wait list most often as well. Like the other ladies have said though, by the time an opening does come up most of those families have found alternate care. Right now I have a wait list for a spot coming up in September when my one little one heads off to school. I have 4 families wanting that particular spot and they are all wonderful families so I'm not sure who to chose! This is one of those times that I wish I could take everyone because they all seemed to be a 'perfect' fit and that doesn't happen often! I have only ever filled a spot with a wait list family once and it was because I had met with them a couple weeks prior and then I decided to terminate a family who wasn't working out.