Building a trusted care ecosystem: How Carefully verifies its childcare community with Checkr
Carefully is a community-based care platform that connects parents with other families, local providers, and small businesses to make childcare more affordable and accessible. Safety is the most critical factor in childcare, so Carefully partnered with Checkr to add instant criminal record screenings for the people joining its platform.
Carefully is on a mission to change how people think about childcare to make it affordable, accessible, and inclusive. Carefully’s mission has become even more critical, as the need for managing childcare costs and options is finally starting to get some of the focus it deserves from employers and politicians alike. Finding balance and connecting with other parents in meaningful ways is what we all need now, more than ever.
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Challenges
Building a trusted network is hard—especially in childcare. Parents were wary of trusting anyone with their children, and Carefully's organization customers worried about liability.
Carefully's goal was to build an affordable, accessible, and inclusive platform that puts the safety of children and families first. They needed a straightforward, automated way to screen members--one that wouldn't overwhelm a small team's operations or compromise their commitment to inclusivity.
Solutions
Carefully needed an affordable, automated way to strengthen its community-based childcare platform—prioritizing safety without sacrificing inclusivity. They wanted to go beyond the commonly used sex offender data and flag a wider range of potentially harmful records.
They implemented Checkr's real time screenings built for platform trust and safety for its simplicity and effectiveness. This gives Carefully instant access to a national criminal database drawing from over 2,400 sources—an efficient, cost-effective way to identify potential risk before it reaches families.
Checkr's flexible integration lets Carefully tailor screenings to its needs. Carefully chose to make screening optional, respecting member privacy and choice without compromising the platform's integrity. Members who complete the screening receive a "trusted" badge, which unlocks additional platform features and builds community trust.
Checkr also lets Carefully filter for the records that matter most—such as crimes against minors—so only relevant offenses are flagged. Members aren't excluded over minor infractions that have nothing to do with childcare safety.
Results
Carefully's integration with Checkr has strengthened the platform's safety and trustworthiness—giving parents greater peace of mind while keeping the platform inclusive and affordable.
- Reduced operational burden: Checkr's flexible integration filters for specific criminal records and automates screening in line with Carefully's own policies—replacing the manual profile reviews the team relied on before.
- Positive user experience and increased trust: Completing a screening earns members a "trusted" badge that unlocks features—reassurance for families trusting other members with their children.
- Risk deterrence: The criminal record screening deters people with serious records from joining, making the community safer before an incident can happen.
- Business development advantage: A demonstrable safety screening process through Checkr answers customer concerns, attracts new members, and reinforces Carefully's reputation for safety in childcare.
Conclusion
Carefully integrated the record screenings a community-based care platform depends on — verifying its members, not screening employees. With Checkr, Carefully balances safety with inclusivity, building confidence among members and customers alike, and continues to support families with a safe and welcoming community.