Speaker 1: Hello, in this presentation we will discuss how to create and write policies to ensure your child care business will run smoothly. The information contained here has been prepared by Civitas Strategies on behalf of the New Mexico Early Childhood Education and Care Department, West, and Growing Up New Mexico, and is not intended to constitute legal, tax, or financial advice. The Civitas Strategies team has used reasonable efforts in collecting, preparing, and providing this information, but does not guarantee its accuracy, completeness, adequacy, or currency. The publication and distribution of this information is not intended to create, and receipt does not constitute an attorney-client or any other advisory relationship. Reproduction of this information is expressly prohibited. Only non-commercial uses of this work are permitted. Having a defined set of rules for all aspects of your child care business plays an important role in establishing smooth operations. However, writing these policies and procedures can be daunting. It can be hard to know where to begin, especially when starting from square one. What do you need to include? What is the best way to word your policies? In today's conversation, we will cover how to create these necessary rules and offer suggestions on content to include, the best terminology to use in an official document, and how to write and format your policies and procedures. Policies and procedures are guidelines that ensure safety, organization, and stability among all parties involved with your business. It is crucial to have all policies and procedures in writing for employees, families, and yourself to reference to maintain consistency in tasks and routines. Among other things, this document should require that all employees are trained and treated fairly, schedules remain consistent for the children in your care, and that you are prepared in case of an emergency. Essentially, your policies and procedures should act as the guidebook that anyone can turn to with any questions about your business. Before you start, determine what information your policies and procedures will include. The first step is to decide and clarify what each day will look like for the children in your care, how important tasks will be handled, and what the responsibilities of your staff will be. Once you have this information, it is time to create your policies and procedures. You will also want to include state and legal guidelines, as well as identify guidelines that are needed for efficient operations. Let's take a closer look at those. It's important to do your research. Be aware of the rules and regulations that will affect your operations and use these standards as a foundation for your policies and procedures. For example, your state may require all individuals working with children to undergo a background check. This requirement would be a part of your hiring policy. Additionally, your state's Department of Health may mandate immunization requirements for all children attending child care centers. This would be a part of your admission policy. Check your state's requirements for child care centers including safety standards, nutrition standards, and staff qualifications. Once you are aware of mandates you are required to follow as a child care business, determine where else specific guidelines are needed. There may not be legal requirements surrounding drop-off and pick-up times and locations, but you should have a clear policy dictating where and when families should be bringing and picking up children. Consider including procedures surrounding the daily schedule, routine and curriculum, staff training, and management, safety protocols, communication policies, and emergency procedures, among others. Once you know what information you want to include, it's time to begin drafting your document. When writing your policies and procedures, it's best to use simple phrasing so that your document is easily understandable. Refrain from using complex vocabulary and business-specific references so that anyone can understand your policies, even if they're not heavily involved in your work. Both your employees and the families of the children you care for should be able to understand your procedures without issue. You will want to strike a balance between sharing enough specific information and keeping it short and simple. Be specific. Include as many details as possible in your procedures and specify who is responsible for each step, when it should happen, where, and how should it be done. For example, instead of writing, after children arrive, all will gather for circle time, use After the scheduled arrival time at 8 a.m., the lead and assistant teachers will gather all students to the rug in the classroom to begin circle time by 8.15 a.m. Be as concise as possible. While you want to be as detailed as possible in your policies, you also want to be concise. Lengthy sentences with excess words can be tricky to understand. As you can see, the policy on the left is hard to understand upon first read. It is wordy and hard to follow. You want your policies to be digestible to anyone who needs to read them. To make the example from your sick policy easier to understand, consider the following example shown on the right. If your child displays signs of illness while at the facility, we require that they are promptly picked up. To safeguard the health of all, we mandate that children with contagious symptoms remain home until they have been symptom-free for 24 hours and can fully participate. This ensures a healthy environment for everyone. This new sick policy includes all necessary details and communicates the required procedures in a concise and clear way. Examples of effective phrasing. When writing out your policies and procedures, try to use direct and undisputable language. Because your policies are mandatory and not mere suggestions, use words that communicate that clearly. A phrase like you must leaves less room for debate than you should. It can be hard to know how to phrase your sentences when writing your policies and procedures. In an official document that will be distributed and referred to frequently, you will want to sound professional yet understandable. Shown here are some examples of how you can reword your sentences to be more effective, such as changing the word should to must or using the word will instead of may. Here are some other examples of effective phrasing, such as upon arrival, children will and in case of emergency, follow the evacuation plan located at. It can also be helpful to look at policies from other child care businesses to see examples of language, formatting, and content. Once all your policies and procedures are written, it's time to organize your document. Create sections for the various kinds of procedures you may be including and organized by chronological order. Start with the policies that naturally come first in a normal day of operation, like drop off, a morning routine, or an employee check-in, and arrange the tasks in the order that they occur throughout the day. Be sure to also add headers labeling each section, bolded phrases to emphasize importance, and lists to help with organization and readability. Some examples of sections are daily operation, nutrition and meal policies, communication policies, records and documentation, enrollment and admission, staff training, emergency procedures. Once your document is complete, organize your new policies and procedures into a manual or handbook so that it is easily accessible. Add a table of contents so that sections can be clearly found and keep both digital and hard copies of your procedures. Also add an introduction to your document. Explain why it is important to learn and follow all your set procedures. Emphasize the importance of safety, communication, and consistency and how your policies ensure smooth operations. Be sure to set a regular revision schedule to change or add procedures as needed to ensure all information is up to date and that your document stays relevant as your business grows. You now have a reliable document that details your child care business's policies and procedures. Give a copy of these procedures to employees and families. Require them to review the text and encourage questions. Your policies and procedures will become a key part of the smooth and efficient operation of your child care business. Visit www.creserenm.org to find our contact information, sign up for coaching, access Crescer New Mexico provider resources, ECECD recommended tools to help build your business, and more. All resources are available in English and Spanish.