Question 1

What is FillCare?

Accepted Answer

FillCare is on-call booking and staffing software for licensed child care. It replaces the paper sub list and the 6:15am group-text scramble with a live roster, multi-day Shift Cart booking, SMS Quick-Blast, and a morning coverage board. There are two sides: daycares run staffing from the facility portal, and on-call educators share a free booking link and respond to requests.

Question 2

How do I sign in?

Accepted Answer

FillCare uses passwordless magic links. Enter your email on the sign-in page and tap the link we send you — no password to remember. If the email never arrives, check spam and promotions folders, allow mail from fill.care, then request a fresh link from the sign-in screen.

Question 3

Educator or facility — which account do I need?

Accepted Answer

If you work on-call shifts at centers, sign up as an educator to get your free booking link. If you run a daycare or child care center, create a facility account to build your roster and book coverage. The two account types are separate: educators never see facility-private notes, and facilities only see their own center's data.

Question 4

Where do I get help from a human?

Accepted Answer

Use the contact page any time. If you're logged in, tap the chat bubble in the bottom-right corner of your dashboard — it goes straight to the team, no form required.

Question 5

How do I get my booking link?

Accepted Answer

Sign up (free), finish onboarding, and choose a unique slug. Your public page lives at fill.care/your-slug — share it with any daycare or coordinator you work with. Centers can request shifts from your link even without their own FillCare account.

Question 6

How does a facility book me?

Accepted Answer

They open your link, pick one or more days, set start and end times within your rules (min/max hours, lead time), add their details, and submit everything in one Shift Cart checkout — instead of a text thread per day. You get notified by email. On the free tier, eligible requests are auto-approved; Educator Pro lets you review each request manually before it's confirmed.

Question 7

How do I control when I can be booked?

Accepted Answer

Set your weekly availability, minimum and maximum shift hours, lead time, and manual blocks in your dashboard. FillCare enforces these guardrails before a request ever reaches you. Times are stored in UTC and shown in your profile timezone — double-check your timezone in Settings after daylight-saving changes.

Question 8

Why connect Google Calendar?

Accepted Answer

It's optional. FillCare already uses your saved weekly availability, approved shifts, and manual blocks. Connecting Google adds your external busy times as an extra overlay and can sync confirmed shifts, so you don't get double-booked across jobs.

Question 9

What is an SMS Quick-Blast and how do I respond?

Accepted Answer

When a Premium facility has an urgent open shift, it can blast eligible on-call educators by SMS. First accept wins the shift. Tap the Accept or Decline link in the message — links are single-use and expire, so nobody else can respond as you. Once someone accepts, the remaining invites close automatically.

Question 10

Why do centers ask for my credentials?

Accepted Answer

Premium facilities can track VSC, First Aid, and ECE expiry dates so blasts only go to educators who are cleared to work. Keeping your credentials current on your profile keeps you eligible for those urgent, well-paid shifts. You can't be texted for a blast if a required credential has expired — the system skips you automatically instead of creating an awkward conversation.

Question 11

What is Educator Pro?

Accepted Answer

Educator Pro ($5/month billed yearly) adds manual approval of shift requests before they're confirmed, SMS alerts for new requests, and priority support. Upgrade from your dashboard when you're logged in. The free tier stays free forever: booking link, Shift Cart, availability guardrails, and email notifications.

Question 12

How do I build my on-call roster?

Accepted Answer

Add trusted on-call educators in the Roster section, or share your center's join link and let them come to you. Free plans include up to 3 active on-call educators; permanents are uncapped. Each roster entry supports private facility notes — wages, license details, and context your educators never see.

Question 13

How do I book a preferred sub?

Accepted Answer

Open the educator's booking page (or find them from your roster), add shifts to the Shift Cart — custom hours across multiple days — and submit in one checkout. They get notified and the approved shifts appear on your calendar. Booking templates let you save recurring patterns (like “Infant Mondays”) so you're not retyping the same request every week.

Question 14

What is Quick-Blast?

Accepted Answer

Quick-Blast is the Premium urgency tool: when someone calls out, broadcast the open shift by SMS to your eligible on-call roster. First accept wins, and remaining invites close automatically. Tier 1 → Tier 2 escalation means you can blast your preferred subs first and widen to the next group if nobody bites — no manual phone tree.

Question 15

How does a sick call-out become a filled shift?

Accepted Answer

Log the call-out from the coverage board. FillCare marks the hole and can blast eligible subs in one step — the credential gate skips anyone with an expired VSC, First Aid, or ECE before the SMS goes out. When an educator accepts, the board updates and the shift is covered. The whole loop is designed for the 6:15am scramble, from your phone.

Question 16

What is the coverage board?

Accepted Answer

The coverage board is your morning source of truth: who's on today, which rooms have gaps, ratio checks, and open/close coverage — all without storing any child or parent data. Rooms and permanent weekly schedules feed the board, so gaps like “Toddler needs 1 more ECE 12–3” are visible before doors open. You can fill a gap directly from the board with a blast or a preferred booking.

Question 17

How do credentials and compliance exports work?

Accepted Answer

FillCare tracks educator credential expiry (VSC, First Aid, ECE) and warns managers and educators 30 days ahead. Blasts automatically skip expired credentials. Premium includes an audit PDF for licensing visits and a payroll CSV export of worked shifts from the Reports section.

Question 18

Can my co-managers log in too?

Accepted Answer

Yes — Premium includes multi-staff logins so owners and coordinators share one system. Everyone works from the same roster, board, and calendar instead of forwarding screenshots.

Question 19

What's free for daycares?

Accepted Answer

Facility Free replaces the paper sub list: up to 3 active on-call educators, private notes, join links, Shift Cart booking by email, and a basic calendar of approved on-call shifts. No credit card required.

Question 20

What does Facility Premium cost and include?

Accepted Answer

Premium is $49/month billed annually (or $69/month billed monthly), starting with a 30-day trial. It unlocks the unlimited roster, multi-staff logins, SMS Quick-Blast with escalation, call-out → fill, the credential gate, rooms and permanent schedules, the coverage board with ratio and open/close checks, credential expiry alerts, and audit PDF + payroll CSV exports.

Question 21

What's free vs paid for educators?

Accepted Answer

Educator Free is free forever: your booking link, multi-day Shift Cart, availability guardrails, and email notifications with auto-approval. Educator Pro ($5/month billed yearly) adds manual approvals, SMS alerts, and priority support.

Question 22

How does the Premium trial work?

Accepted Answer

Every new facility starts with 30 days of Premium. Add a payment method when you're ready — if you don't, the account simply returns to the Free tier. Your roster, notes, and history stay intact.

Question 23

Do you store child or parent data?

Accepted Answer

No. FillCare is staffing software: people, time, credentials, and coverage. We intentionally do not build parent apps or collect child/parent personal information — ratio and coverage features work from staffing numbers, never child records.

Question 24

Who can see my facility's notes?

Accepted Answer

Private facility notes (wages, license details, performance context) are visible only to your facility's team. Educators never see them, and other facilities can never see your roster or notes.

Question 25

Are the SMS Accept/Decline links safe?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Response links are tokenized, single-use, and expire. Once a shift is accepted, every other invite for it closes automatically, so a leaked link can't be reused.

Question 26

My magic link email never arrived

Accepted Answer

Check spam and promotions folders first. If you use a strict mail filter, allow mail from fill.care. Still nothing after a few minutes? Request another link from the sign-in screen, or contact us with the email you used.

Question 27

Times look wrong after a daylight-saving change

Accepted Answer

Shift times are stored in UTC and displayed in each profile's timezone. Confirm your timezone in Settings, and ask the other party (facility or educator) to double-check theirs — mismatched profile timezones are the usual culprit.

Question 28

I'm not getting SMS notifications

Accepted Answer

SMS alerts are an Educator Pro feature (and a facility Premium feature for blasts). Confirm your phone number in Settings and that SMS preferences are enabled. Email notifications continue on every plan regardless.

Question 29

A blast skipped an educator I expected to be included

Accepted Answer

The credential gate skips educators whose VSC, First Aid, or ECE has expired — that's intentional, so you never text someone who can't legally work. Ask them to update the credential on their profile, then re-blast.

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