One side issue worth mentioning for newer providers....Be careful how you word the reasons for the deposit.

If you label it as a "Deposit for Day Care/Day Care Services" regardless of what your contracts state, you will not be entitled to keep it should the parents change their mind.

Legally, if you take a deposit for a service which doesn't end up happening, then a full-refund has to be given because the service was never provided. However, if you explain, label, write on the deposit receipt that it is a "Deposit to hold a place" then you can keep it.

This applies to all service related industries in Canada.

i.e. If a photographer charges a deposit for a wedding and refers to that as a "Deposit for Wedding Photography Services" if the wedding is cancelled and the service not required, in court he/she would be forced to hand it back. If they call it a "Deposit to hold the date for wedding photography services to be available" then they keep it.

I know wedding photographers who referred to their deposits as part of their wedding package and had to hand it back when they initially refused and were taken to court.