Not sure what the wage is that the agency but if you could advertise for that same amount as your private income you would at least be able to attract the younger families since the age restrictions would be gone.

Is the family willing to pay the higher fee now with the understanding they go to the subsidized rate as soon as that is approved.
The agency rate is only $2 and $5 (I am with 2 agencies) less then mine. But the clients I get through the agency are not full fee clients they are all subsidized so they pay according to their income. They can pay as little as $0 up to just below full fee.

As for the family paying full fee know. Its not that simple. i had a client a who wanted to start before their subsidy meeting. I was told that they could pay me my fee for the few days until they had the meeting. But I could NOT spend the money. If they did not get subsidy I got to keep the money, but if they got subsidy I had to give the money back and subsidy would back pay me. This freeze can last a few weeks to a few months (even to the end of the year) so their is NO way I will do this. If I know for sure that the freeze will be over with in 2 weeks I would budget for it, but not knowing for sure how long it will last, I just can't do it.