Is this a conflict of interest?

[Artsand crafts]

I think what she is doing is wrong, but she is not breaking any law or contract. I would schedule meetings with potential clients when she is not there and limit her contact with clients or make her sign a contract and/or daycare rules/policies asap so you are protected and she is liable in case she snatch your clients

[Lee-Bee]

The time has long passed for this to have been discussed (it should have been agreed upon before hiring her). They have formed an agreement and you can't do anything to change that.

Discussing it with her won't change the fact they have created a plan/contract together for future care. Would you really want to force the family to stay with you? I would expect that would cause great tension and resentment.

All you can do is move on. When you hire a new staff member ensure you have something in writing to prevent this from happening again...but the reality is even with a contract saying they won't take your current families with you there likely isn't much you can do. Would you really take them to court? What financial and reputable costs would that entail?

The best you can do is keep things smooth and civil with both those parties...who knows what the future will hold, they may come back to you in short time realizing they left something good behind. Don't burn those bridges now!

[Suzie_Homemaker]

I think what she is doing is wrong, but she is not breaking any law or contract. I would schedule meetings with potential clients when she is not there and limit her contact with clients or make her sign a contract and/or daycare rules/policies asap so you are protected and she is liable in case she snatch your clients

I don't because she given permission to approach client. She said

I knew there was a possibility that she would open a daycare again when she got settled and wasn't too worried about it because there is such a demand in our area. I knew it was likely that some of the children would get juggled around and even told her she should approach one of my mothers' because I thought it would be better for the child (and family) if they were able to put her full-time in one daycare then juggling her around three.

She have no loyalty clause in contract. It common service people take client's with them if move or set up on own. But she given permission to approach clients not able complain now some surprises in how going.

You cannot make her sign contract in retrospect. That viewed as employer abuse. There labour standard laws to protect employees from these sort actions.