Eligibility for Backup Care

What is Backup Care? 

Backup Care can be used anytime your regular care is unavailable and you need to work. Backup Care is available for children, adults and seniors as offered by your employer. 

Who qualifies for Backup Care?

• Children: Children 16 and under, including: a child, stepchild, foster child, or other child for whom you are legal guardian.
• Seniors & Adults (if provided by your employer): Adults & seniors can include yourself, your parents, grandparents, in-laws, spouse/partner, spouse/partner’s parents, adult children, or any adult for whom you provide primary care.

How Backup Care works

What caregiver options are available through Backup Care? 

Find the Backup Care that fits your needs whether that is in-home or in-center*

• In-home: A caregiver comes to your home to help with your child or children. If providing adult in-home care, the caregiver will go to their home – whether that is your home or another location. 
• In-center: Placement of a child or children, typically ages 6 weeks to 12 years, in a childcare center.* 

*Not all employers currently offer daycare centers as a Backup care option. Please check your care options when making a booking.

What services does the Backup Care caregiver provide? 

• In-home, for children: Services include various responsibilities requested by you, including feeding, diapering and clothing, help with homework, playtime (e.g., reading, arts and crafts, etc.) and preparing children for bedtime.
• In-center, for children: Services include age-appropriate duties including feeding, diapering and clothing; playtime (e.g., reading, arts and crafts, etc.); and supervised indoor and outdoor physical activities.*
• In-home, for adults: Services are non-medical and may include companionship, preparing meals, light housekeeping, prompting for medication, socialization, accompanying a patient to a doctor’s appointment, and assistance with activities of daily living, such as bathing and dressing.

*Not all employers currently offer daycare centers as a Backup care option. Please check your care options when making a booking.

What are the steps for booking care?

1. Log into your Care.com account and select “Child Backup care” or “Adult Backup care.”
2. Select the reason why you need Backup Care. 
3. Indicate where the care will take place and the date(s) and time(s) needed. 
4. Add or choose the care recipient. 
5. Add or confirm the emergency contact. 
6. Select whether you’d like to utilize an in-home or in-center care provider.
   • If utilizing an in-home care provider, you’ll need to provide additional information such as if there are any pets in the home. 
7. Confirm your request. 
8. We’ll send you an email to indicate we’ve received the request.
9. You will get another email once the care provider is confirmed. 

How do you find in-home caregivers? 

We utilize both full-time Care employees and agency partners to provide child in-home Backup Care. All in-home caregivers are vetted and must complete a Backup Care orientation and screening process that includes: a criminal background check, national sex offender public website check and social security number trace.

Adult in-home Backup Care caregivers come from adult and senior care agencies are experienced elder care companions. These caregivers go through a screening process that includes a criminal background check in accordance with state guidelines. 

Does Care own and operate the Backup Care childcare centers?

No, Care partners with licensed or registered childcare centers nationwide. In order to partner with Care.com, childcare centers must meet our detailed standards. We use a wide range of quality indicators including but not limited to: insurance coverage, accreditations, hiring and training protocols, adherence to state and local licensure requirements, and reputation. 

How far in advance or how close to the day of care can I book? 

Backup Care with an in-home provider can be requested up to 90 days in advance, while in-center Backup Care can be requested up to 30 days in advance. We also can accommodate urgent or same-day care requests, however,  we require 3 hours advance notice from the time an employee requests care to the time the care starts.  For first time users of Adult Backup Care, we typically need to first conduct an in-home assessment, a policy that is mandatory in certain states, which requires a longer lead time. We recommend requesting Backup Care as soon as you know you’ll need the care to ensure caregiver availability. 

Can I change my reservation?

You may request a change in the hours of your reservation at no penalty by calling or emailing The Care Team. If requesting a change of date, the first day of your current reservation will be treated as a cancellation. Requested hour or day changes are not guaranteed until you receive a confirmation email. 

*Note: Under Contact Us at the top of your screen you’ll find the phone number and email needed to reach out to The Care Team.

What is the cancellation policy?

Cancellation requests can be made by phone or online. A cancellation fee, typically $30, will be applied if your Backup Care request is canceled within 48 hours of the date of care. If canceled within 24 hours of the date of care, you typically will also have one Backup Care day deducted from your balance. For multi-day bookings, cancellation fees are for the first scheduled day – the additional days have no additional cancellation penalties. 

What is the maximum / minimum number of hours I can book for? 

One day of in-home Backup Care is considered a minimum of 4 hours and a maximum of 10 hours. Requests for more than ten hours of in-home Backup Care Services will count as a second day of care. In center Backup Childcare has a minimum reservation of one day.  You can book multiple days at once to ensure your needs are met. 

What if I have multiple children needing care at the same time?

If booking in-home Backup Care, one Backup Care day can be used for up to three children. If booking in-center Backup Care, one Backup Care day will be deducted for each child needing care.

Can you accommodate Backup Care during eventing/night shifts?

Our flexible Backup Care solution can accommodate almost any schedule, including shift work, weekend and holiday care. Since most child care centers operate during normal business hours Monday through Friday, requests for non-traditional hours are best accommodated with in- home caregivers. 

For in-home care, we can accommodate any schedule, however, requests for care over 10 hours will utilize two days of Backup Care and may require multiple caregivers, depending on length of time and job requirements. For late night bookings, hours when the caregiver would be allowed to sleep are still a part of booking hours. Sleeping accommodations, bedding requirements and emergency contacts should be made clear to the caregiver and Backup Care Team.

Can I use Backup Care if I have a child or adult with disabilities? 

We can accommodate the needs of many children or adults with disabilities. When requesting Backup Care, document the special needs of your dependent(s) in the request, and we will do our best to match a caregiver or in-center program based upon those needs. 

Safety and screening

How are in-home Backup Care caregivers screened? 

Before providing in-home Backup Care, each care provider has completed a backup care services orientation and screening process that includes:  

• Criminal Background Check
• National Sex Offender Public Website Check
• Social Security Number Trace

Care’s network of adult care agencies maintains a rigorous screening process for the care providers they employ. Providers may be certified nurse’s aides, home health aides, or experienced elder care companions, and we require a screening process that includes:  

• Criminal Background Check as applicable by law
• National Sex Offender Public Website Check
• Social Security Number Trace

How are daycares screened? 

In order to partner with Care.com, child care centers must meet our strict standards. We use a wide range of quality indicators including but not limited to: insurance coverage, accreditations, hiring and training protocols, adherence to state licensure requirements, and reputation. 

Care contractually requires the center network to screen its employees in accordance with state and local licensing regulations. Traditional child care centers or family childcare centers (FCCs) must be state licensed and perform the following on the staff they employ: 

• Background check
• National Sex Offender Registry check
• Central Abuse and Neglect Registry
• Confirmed Eligibility to work in the U.S.

Many child care centers also have in place additional qualifications to achieve “best in class” practices. For example, the large majority of the centers in our network are accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), National Accreditation Commission (NAC), or National Early Childhood Program Accreditation (NECPA).

What else do you do to ensure the safety of my loved one? 

Our caregivers are screened in accordance with and against the cadence of applicable law. We do ongoing review and review feedback and ratings from completed backup care jobs and periodically re-vet network centers against our proprietary safety criteria and audit network agencies to ensure ongoing quality and compliance.

Payments

How do the copays work? 

You will be charged a daily copay rate for each used day of Backup Care. Copays can vary by employer but allow you to receive care at a highly subsidized rate. 

When do I pay the copay? 

You will be charged your daily copay rate after the care takes place. You can select or change your credit card when requesting Backup Care.

How do the reimbursements work?

To learn more about Backup Care reimbursement, read this article.

Am I charged for cancellations? 

A cancellation fee will be applied if your Backup Care request is canceled within 48 hours of the date of care. If canceled within 24 hours of the date of care, you will be charged 1 day of Backup Care. For multi-day bookings, cancellation fees are for the first scheduled day, additional days have no additional cancellation penalties.