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[quote=Anonymous]OP, former director of a backup center with Bright Horizons here: let me explain the Bright Horizons backup care options:

1.  Backup Care Advantage is probably what your company (or your husband's) has.  You call the 800# where a telephone rep is available 24 hours/day (or at least VERY early in AM and VERY late in PM - so call even at 5:30am when you get these calls, or 7am or.... )  who will take the info and start working immediately to find backup care for what you need.

At the highest level of backup care (not all companies have it all, they will have varying options) the phone rep  will call nanny agencies;  backup centers run by Bright Horizons; regular centers run by Bright Horizons and regular centers in suburban towns that contract to offer backup care for BH clients but aren't BH centers.

Anyway, they call and find out whether there is space for your child/children.  As a director, I used to arrive in the morning to plenty of voicemails and I'd start returning calls to tell whether we had space or not.  There is even a nifty computer system that allows us to do this online and not via phone calls, which has cut down the wait time for voicemails, callbacks, etc.  But that is beside the point.

Once they find all the options they can, they call you back and you choose.  They can do this the night before, the day of, and of course it's even better if you have a week or more notice.  But yes, call them that morning or the night before you need care!

2.  You might have Backup care through Bright Horizons, but it might not be as comprehensive as I listed above, so you might only have access to backup centers that BH runs, or also to nanny agencies, or perhaps just BH centers - both regular ones and backup only centers.  But whatever, you have some options.

What most BH centers do NOT offer is regular old drop in - so you call them directly - because they have to be ready to take the backup clients' children.  But occasionally some BH centers offer drop in care (but the rate will be much higher than if you went through backup care that your company offers)

Now, all this being said, if you are taking your child to a center, you'll need to be able to provide them with updated health forms from your pediatrician for all children (updated yearly), emergency contact information, personal info form, and other forms.

BEST PRACTICE is to contact that 800# now, and get the forms completed that you can complete and get those ready to bring a copy of to the center, or submit directly to a BH backup center if you work only with them.  Then call your pediatrician and get a health form completed and sent to you now (this can take up to 10 days to receive) - all pediatricians have the form for their state and can provide this to you...  but if you live in MD or VA and take your child to a center located in either DC, you'll need the form completed on a DC form (this is DC's licensing rule) so ask for a form to be completed for both states if you think you'd use both states' backup options. Better to have too much than too little.

Why are these medical forms needed?  Because it's a licensing regulation, and even though your child is going for one day or one week, the center must comply with all licensing regulatiosn for all children.

Will your child like backup care? How will your child do?  Honestly, if your child si going to a backup center, those teachers are really used to having backup children and are used to meeting them where they are.  There are likely to be fewer children there, and they will have a fun day playign with toys, going for a walk, singing songs, painting, using playdough, etc.

To help your child, do take a comfort item (blankie, lovey, pacifier, stuffed animal, and for infants and toddlers, send bottles, extra clothing, diapers, wipes, baby food, table food your child LOVES, pacifier, etc.

I bet your child will love it!  If you use the same center multiple times (and you can request to use a specific center but of course they might be full) your child willl get to know those teachers and build a relationship with them.  It's great for those with nannies!  We often saw children when the nanny was sick, on vacation, had a doctor's appt.  We also see SAHM's kids when the SAHM was sick, had jury duty, had a doctor's appt where the child shouldn't go, etc.  And of course kids on spring break from school, etc.   A BH backup center is licensed from newborn to 13 years old so takes many school-agers during spring break, christmas break, and all those 100s of times school is closed.  [/quote]

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