7.2.23-C19: Safe Arrival and Departure

Arrival at The Centre

Drop-off Steps for Primary Contacts  

Primary Contacts must follow these steps when dropping off their child at the Child Care Centre:

  • The child must be dropped off at the designated drop-off time and spot.
  • As much as possible, Primary Contacts should not go past the screening area
  • Personal belongings (e.g. backpacks, clothing) should be minimized. If brought, belongings should be labelled and kept is the child’s cubby/designated area. Strollers will not be permitted inside the Child Care Centre.
  • Primary Contacts must plan accordingly to ensure they arrive safely and on time.
  • If a child has not arrived at the Child Care Centre by their designated drop-off time, LEF will not be able to provide care for the child on that day.
  • If families arrive before the designated drop-off time, the Primary Contact must wait nearby and maintain a safe distance from others, ideally two (2) metres.
  • If the child will not be attending, the Primary Contact must contact the Supervisor no later than 30 minutes before the designated drop-off time and inform staff of the reason for the absence.

Daily Sign-In Procedures

The following procedures must be carried out on a daily basis:

  • It is the responsibility of the staff who greets children at the designated pick-up spot to sign children into the Child Care Centre.
  • Attendance of each child in a Cohort must be verified by Educators throughout the day.

Daily Screening During Arrivals

  • For protocols around health screening upon arrival at the Child Care Centre, please refer to Health Screening 7.2.59.

Departure from The Centre

Daily Sign-Out Procedures

The following procedures must be carried out on a daily basis:

  • It is the responsibility of the staff who sends off children at the designated drop-off spot to sign children out of the Child Care Centre.

Authorized Pick Up Persons

Children will only be released to authorized pick-up persons during their designated pick-up time period.   

To authorize a child’s release to a person between 12-18 years of age, Primary Contacts are required to complete Authority and Release for Child to Depart Form 7.4.02.

In an effort to limit the number of people who have contact with the child, LEF does not support having persons from outside the household pick up children at this time. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, the preference is for Primary Contacts to do the pick-up.  Primary Contacts are required to fill out Permission to Pick Up My Child Form 7.4.08.

Primary Contact Unable to Pick Up

If a Primary Contact or someone from the household is unable to pick up their child during the pick-up time period, it is the Primary Contact’s responsibility to contact the Supervisor to determine appropriate alternate arrangements.  Such alternate arrangements will be made only in limited circumstances and on a case-by-case basis, according to individual circumstances and at the discretion of the Supervisor.

No Show

If a Primary Contact does not show up to pick up their child, the C&F Employee will take the following steps:

  1. Contact the Primary Contact.
  2. If unable to reach the Primary Contact, contact the emergency contact phone numbers.  Educators should also contact the Supervisor and/or Senior Manager.
  3. If unable to reach any of the emergency contacts, follow through with the Emergency Child Care Policy 7.2.53, which states that after 7:00 p.m. they are to call the Toronto Children’s Aid Society or the Catholic Children’s Aid Society of Toronto.
  4. If no next of kin or guardian is available to care for a child, either temporarily or permanently, because the next of kin or guardian is ill, in hospital, or has died, follow through with the Emergency Child Care Policy 7.2.53, which states that after 7:00 p.m. they are to call the Toronto Children’s Aid Society or the Catholic Children’s Aid Society of Toronto. 

Impaired Pick Up Person

Staff Responsibilities:

A staff member, who has reason to believe the person arriving to pick up a child is impaired, should:

  • Request that a cab be called, if the adult is driving.
  • In extreme cases, where educators doubt the safety of the child in the care of the adult due to impairment, we have been advised that if the adult is authorized to pick up the child, the child must be released.  However, staff must immediately call the police and indicate their concern.
  • Educators taking either of the above steps should immediately notify their Supervisor or Senior Manager.

Responsibilities of Supervisor/Senior Manager:

The Supervisor or Senior Manager will, no later next business day, approach the Primary Contact to communicate the seriousness of the incident and indicate that the re-occurrence of this problem will result in a request to withdraw their child from the program.

End of Day Procedures

Before leaving the Child Care Centre at the end of the day, the designated C&F Employee must:

  • Review the attendance records to ensure everyone has been signed out.
  • Do a thorough check of the Centre to make sure all children have indeed gone home and there is no one left other than the closing team member.  

Caretakers and cleaning companies are required to follow the cleaning regiment set out for the Child Care Centre.  

Review and Signature

Safe Arrival and Departure Policy 7.2.23-C19 must be reviewed and signed at least annually by all C&F Employees.

7.2.23-C19:  Safe Arrival and Departure

Effective Date: July 2, 2020

Revised:            

Prepared and Approved by Executive Director