Caregiver permissions: check-in and pickup
A caregiver permission is a specific, revocable grant that lets one adult check in and/or pick up one specific child. It's not the same as being that child's guardian, and it never applies automatically to siblings, cousins, or a second household. An admin grants it from the child's household record in Check-in.
Check-in vs. pickup — two separate permissions
Check-in and pickup are granted independently. Someone can be authorized for one, the other, or both:
- Check-in — can bring the child to the kiosk and check them in for a service.
- Pickup — can be verified at checkout and take the child home.
Having one doesn't grant the other.
What it isn't
- Not guardianship. A caregiver permission never makes someone a guardian, and it doesn't count toward the "every child needs at least one active guardian" rule below.
- Not medical access. It never includes a child's allergy, medication, or medical-notes information.
- Not the same as your household's authorized-pickup list. That's a separate, longstanding list managed from your family pickups page (see Managing your pickups and finding your code) and applies to every child in the household. A caregiver permission is a narrower, per-child grant an admin sets up on top of it.
Revoking and expiry
An admin can revoke a caregiver permission at any time, and can give it an end date up front — useful for something temporary, like a grandparent visiting for a week. Once revoked or expired, it stops applying the next time it's checked, and the change is recorded.
The guardian-minimum rule
Every child must have at least one active guardian at all times. Removing a household's last guardian for a child is blocked — VolunteerCal records custody outcomes; it doesn't decide them. If a custody change means a guardian needs to be removed, add the replacement guardian first, then remove the outgoing one.
Who gets notified
- Granting or revoking a caregiver permission notifies every guardian of the child, plus the caregiver.
- Removing a guardian notifies the child's remaining guardians.