Who asks a foster care agency for what
| Who | What they usually want to see |
|---|---|
| Grant funders & government contracts | General liability, professional and abuse coverage at stated limits, directors and officers, and a crime bond over any funds held |
| Landlords & commercial leases | General liability with the landlord as additional insured, property coverage on tenant improvements and workers' compensation |
| Cities, counties & permits | General liability, auto and workers' compensation at the limits in the permit or contract |
Each of them wants a certificate, and most want it again at every renewal. A live certificate link from the wallet shows today's coverage to every holder and tells them when it changes.
How to check what you already have
- General liability declarations page. Three liability numbers matter: each occurrence, general aggregate and the products–completed operations aggregate. Then the forms list: blanket additional insured, waiver of subrogation and primary and non-contributory wording satisfy every contract; scheduled forms satisfy one.
- Abuse and molestation. A separate limit, not a sublimit of general liability; whether it is occurrence or claims-made; and whether the organisation and the individual are both covered.
- Directors and officers declarations. Entity coverage, employment practices if packaged, the retention, and the exclusions for prior and pending matters.
- Professional liability declarations. Claims-made or occurrence, the retroactive date (it should not have moved), the limit per claim and aggregate, the deductible, and whether defence costs sit inside or outside the limit.
- Workers' compensation information page. Item 3.A must list every state you work in, item 4 must carry the right class codes, and the employers' liability limits should meet what contracts ask. Check that the estimated payroll is close to this year's.
- Property section. Limits for building, business personal property and tenant improvements against replacement cost, the coinsurance percentage, the deductible, and whether flood and earthquake are excluded (they usually are).
- Hired and non-owned auto. Look for the symbols 8 and 9 or an endorsement by that name on the auto or general liability policy; without it, staff in their own cars are uninsured on company business.
- Cyber declarations. The headline limit matters less than the sublimits: social engineering, funds-transfer fraud, ransomware and business interruption, plus the regulatory coverage and the panel of breach vendors.
- Auto schedule. Every vehicle listed with the right garaging address and use; symbols that include hired and non-owned auto; physical damage with the lender as loss payee where the vehicle is financed.
- Participant accident. The medical limit per injury, the deductible, whether it pays primary or excess of the family's health plan, and the activities covered.
- Employment practices declarations. Limit and retention, third-party coverage for claims by customers, and whether wage-and-hour claims carry any defence sublimit.
What usually goes wrong for foster care and adoption agencies
- Foster parents' homes and conduct, which the agency is sued over as if they were its own.
- Caseworker caseloads above the standard, discovered after an incident.
- An abuse limit far below the general liability limit, buried as a sublimit.
- Field trips in staff cars with no hired and non-owned auto.
- Payer and licensing contracts that require limits higher than the policy carries, discovered at survey time.
- Volunteers assumed to be covered by workers' compensation; in most states they are not.
What underwriters will ask a foster care agency
- Children placed and caseworker caseloads, foster parent certification and coverage, records systems, and state contracts
- Licensed capacity, ages served and staff-to-child ratios
- Background-check and two-adult policies, and whether you transport children
- Level of care, whether any medical procedures are performed, and staff credentials
- Background checks, incident reporting and any state survey findings
- Number of volunteers, background checks and what they do
Have the answers in the wallet before the renewal and the quote request fills itself in; CoverMatch sends one application to every eligible carrier and lines the quotes up against what you have.
Renewal timing
Workers' compensation is audited on actual payroll and liability on sales, so a busy year ends with a bill unless the estimates were kept honest; pay-as-you-go billing through your payroll company removes most of that. Renewal autopilot starts the comparison sixty days out, prefilled from the wallet.