Every daycare provider needs a contract. It will cover your butt, and it might even be required by state law. This free daycare contract has many components, but it isn’t full of legal jargon. Keep reading for a breakdown of what to include in your daycare contract, and scroll to the bottom to download this FREE daycare contract to use yourself!

How to Make a Daycare Contract [FREE DOWNLOAD]

These templates include all of the information required by Pennsylvania law. My inspector has even reviewed this free daycare contract and my other forms and mentioned how it includes everything that legally needs to be covered! I am not a lawyer, but I did take the wording from the templates that my state provides and make an easier and prettier template.

Daycare Agreement

This is the meat of your contract. The agreement page should list out the child’s name, days and times of care, rates, and late fees. You should also include any other services that are included in the cost of care or available, such as after hours care, food, crafts, etc.

This page of the template also has a place for parents to list authorized pickup people and signatures.

Additional Permissions

Your state might be different, but mine requires additional signatures for specific permissions. Either way, it’s not going to hurt to print out this page and cover your butt!

The lines on this template deal with transportation, walks and trips, swimming, wading, and social media. I’ve also included my permission lines about communication, hand sanitizer, and most importantly agreeing to the parent handbook.

Child Pick Up Authorization

This is a pretty important form for daycare. Hopefully, you’ll never have to enforce it. But in case you do, you’ll have documentation about who is and isn’t allowed to pick up each child in your care.

This page also includes a space for emergency contacts, should parents be unavailable when you try to reach them.

Medical Information

This is the form that I always check before a kid enters my care. I have two reasons for this:

#1 check for allergies and medications. I’ve never had a child with a severe allergy, but I’d rather be safe than sorry. Always check before risking a sting or serving a meal.

#2 Make sure parents fill out the insurance information. Though this seems silly, I know in PA you won’t pass an inspection unless this part is filled out. But mostly, should a child become injured during care, you will need to have this information to have them treated in an emergency room.

Download This Free Daycare Contract

Here you go! I hope this really helps you get started and feel confident about the quality of your business. It’s hard to stand up for your business, and this contract should give you a boost of confidence knowing that you’re legal and look professional, too.

This template will open in Microsoft Word or Pages on a Mac. It’s totally editable! So you can add or change any lines you want.

Please comment below or send me an email and let me know if this is helpful for you! What other kinds of questions or forms do you need for your business? I’m happy to help – just let me know what you need!