Glad to hear they actually paid you.

I have a question though. This is how I read your post - you had a cheque for the month of august. you terminated care for August 8th. you gave their cheque back and they were supposed to pay you for the week in august. they ended up taking holidays for the last week and only ended up paying your drop-in rate for August 1st. WHY is my question? If you gave notice for August 8th why did you not make them pay for August 4-8th? Do you not charge your families when they take holidays?

Personally I would not have let them only pay you for the 1st and would have required payment for the full amount (to August 8th) as that was supposed to be their last day. Why should you be without that money because they left early?