"In case of an outbreak"

[lboosmommy]

We were, of course, told that 'in case of an outbreak' our kids may be kept out of the child care center, and I have a question about this.

I understand their reasoning - if there's a case of, say, measles, they know that my kids aren't vaccinated and therefor could get it. This also means that my kids could continue the spread, however, I was wondering if there's any way around this.

Say, for instance, it's Chicken Pox. I don't care if my kids get Chicken Pox, in fact, I would WELCOME it in the case of an outbreak. Should that happen and they say my kids can't come in, has anyone had any experience in being able to say "that's okay, I don't mind" or whatever?

Is it something they can legally enforce? Do I even have the option to 'opt-in'?

[ma2two]

Only the county health department should be able to exclude your child during an outbreak. They would not allow you to "opt-in," unfortunately. But perhaps you could somehow find out who is sick, and ask for a playdate. They might welcome the company during their seclusion.

[lboosmommy]

Okay, so it's declared by the health department, not by the individual center.

That helps too. It's been an interesting process getting the waivers since it's a military day care center and while the home child care department (FCC - Family Child Care) has been super nice and friendly, the CDC (Child Development Center) - not so much. I was worried they might use it as a reason to refuse my kids one day, especially since it's not full enrollment, it's for hourly care and their "Parents Night Out" programs during deployment.

Now, yeah, they could still just claim they're full, but that's a whole other ball of yarn, lol.