Keep a list of who may look after the children

Caregivers are the people both of you have agreed may look after the children: a grandparent, a regular sitter, the daycare. They are contacts, not accounts. Nobody is invited and nothing is sent to them. The list is where their number lives, and it says which of them both parents have said yes to.

Before you start. You need to be a parent in the family. Helpers can read the list but cannot add to it or approve anyone.

Add a caregiver

If they already help with your children in Coparia, open Settings, then Family, select them under Helpers and choose Add to caregivers. Their name and email come across and you add the phone number. Otherwise:

1. Open Caregivers.
2. Select Add caregiver.
3. Enter their name, who they are to the family, and a phone number or an email address. A note is optional: “Has a car seat”, “Thursdays after school”.
4. Leave I approve on if you are happy for them to look after the children, or turn it off to add the name for the other parent to consider first.
5. Select Add caregiver.

Everyone in the family, helpers included, can see the caregiver and the note. The other parents get a notification and an email saying a caregiver is waiting for their answer, and a red dot appears on their menu and beside Caregivers until they answer.

Approve, say you don’t, or take your answer back

Each parent answers for themselves, with I approve or I don’t approve on the caregiver’s row. When every parent in the family has approved, the row shows a green check and the words Approved by both parents. Until then it says who it is still waiting for.

If any parent chooses I don’t approve, the row says Not approved by and their name, and that stays until they change their answer. Nobody is sent a message about it.

Press the other answer to change yours, or press your answer again to take it back. The other parent is not sent a message either way. The list simply shows that it is waiting for you again.

The green check means one thing only: both parents in this family said yes. Coparia has checked nothing about the person.

Call or email them

Select the phone number to call, or the email address to write. Both open your phone’s own dialer or mail app.

Remove a caregiver

Select the three dots on their row, then Remove. Either parent can do this on their own. The record of who approved them stays in the family’s history and in the family record download, which lists every caregiver with the parents who approved them and the day they did.

When it does not work

You cannot find Caregivers. It is its own page, under Need to know and Help requests. On a phone it is in the menu behind the Coparia mark.

The row says “Waiting for you” but you already approved. A parent who joins the family later starts with no approvals, so every caregiver waits for them. If that parent is you, answer on each row.

There is a red dot on the menu. A caregiver is waiting for your answer. Open Caregivers and choose I approve or I don’t approve on the rows that say “Waiting for you”.

A sitter asks to be taken off. Remove them from the list. If they ask for their details to be erased from Coparia altogether, write to support@coparia.app and say which family listed them.