All active Brown degree-seeking graduate students are eligible for the Care.com benefit, including students on parental relief. Graduate students on leave are not eligible and non-degree/visiting students are not eligible.

On a desktop computer, just log in to your Care.com account via browngradfamilies.care.com using your Banner ID as your user name.

Unlimited access to the world’s largest network of caregivers. You can explore detailed provider profiles, access background check options, use safety tools and send real-time payments to caregivers. Types of caregivers include: nannies and sitters, dog walkers, sitters, and groomers, senior caregivers, summer or vacation camps, special needs caregivers, house cleaners, tutors, transportation assistance, childcare centers and more.

You can find, schedule, manage, and pay for care on the Care.com app or desktop site.

• Self Service search for care needs: access to a database of providers for your family care needs including care for an elderly adult, child, home, pet, or tutoring.
• Subsidized Backup Care: caregivers for in-home or in-center childcare, summer kids' camps.

Students who are registered can visit the brownfamilies.care.com portal or call Care.com directly at 855-781-1303 to request backup child care. Identify yourself as a Brown graduate student. The child care specialist will confirm your eligibility and discuss the fees for which you are responsible (Brown provides a subsidy for child care services, but you're still responsible for a portion of the cost). Your credit card information will be taken down, and Care.com will identify a provider for you who meets your specific needs. You will receive two confirmations:

• Care.com will call to tell you about your caregiver.
• The caregiver will call to confirm the date, time and location of the job.

When the child care has been completed for the day, your credit card will be charged the appropriate fees depending on the length of time and the number of children cared for that day.

Find details about what is considered eligible and how the reimbursement process works on the Backup Care for Camps FAQ page.

At care.com/safety-center, you can find:

• Safety guides to help you make safer decisions throughout your caregiver search
• Information on the vetting, health and safety training, and screening process that caregivers undergo who are employed by either Care.com or its network of agencies
• Background Check Guide
• Option to request and run a background check on a caregiver
• Safety Resources such as how to handle reference checks
• Safety FAQs

All graduate students are encouraged to review this information carefully and to take any steps they feel are necessary to vet caregivers.

• If you choose to use backup care benefit, you will be charged a subsidized rate of $4.00/hour for in-home care and $10 per child per day at a childcare center.
• There is no cost to find care providers on the self-service website. Once you identify someone you would like to hire, the cost of care should be discussed directly with your potential caregiver. Please be sure to review the safety information at care.com/safety-center.

• For backup care, each eligible graduate student will receive a maximum of five subsidized days of care per year (January 1– December 31) for backup child care.
• There is no limit to the number of times you can use the self-service website.
• Any use of the subsidized care is considered one "day." (For in-home back-up care, the minimum use is 4 hours and maximum is 10 hours; each is considered one day. Any-center backup care is also considered one day.)

Each graduate student is eligible for 5 days of subsidized child backup care (other care or services are not eligible for the subsidy). Graduate students who would like to use more than the 5 days of care will pay the full hourly cost by credit card.

You can pay caregivers directly or through enrollment in the Care.com HomePay service. Visit care.com/homepay to learn more.

If you cancel after a provider has already been reserved for your job, your credit card will be charged a cancellation fee.

Care.com may be able to supply care if they have providers available in the geographic area of your conference in the United States. Care cannot be provided outside of the U.S.

For U.S. locations, call Care.com the same way you would call for an in-home care arrangement. More advance notice is required for non-local arrangements. Care.com will need to research whether there are appropriate backup child care resources in the community where you will stay. Once Care.com identifies a caregiver for your assignment, you will be contacted in the same way as for local care, your credit card information will be taken for your co-pay obligation at the same rate as for in-home care, and you will receive and orient the caregiver to the hotel space in which the care will be provided just as you would to your home. 

To ensure your care needs are met, the following information will be asked during registration:

• Name
• Age
• Gender
• Any special needs

• Visit browngradfamilies.care.com
• Click "Enroll Now"
• When asked if you are new to care.com? Click “No”
• The prompts will ask you to enter in your credentials for your current account and may ask additional questions to validate as a Brown graduate student
• Need help? Dial our member care team at 855-781-1303

You can email Graduate_School@brown.edu with questions about this benefit or contact Care.com directly by calling 855-781-1303 or by emailing careteam@care.com.