CheckInKids completes KinderBridge v3.5 certification with KinderSystems
Child care centers in Virginia, Missouri, Louisiana and New York (outside NYC) can now send subsidy attendance from CheckInKids to KinderConnect.
KinderConnect is the attendance system behind child care subsidy payments in these four states. KinderBridge is the KinderSystems connection that lets child care software send attendance to it.
What This Means for Your Center
If your center takes child care subsidy, attendance for subsidized children has to reach your state's KinderConnect before you can be paid. Until now, a center that ran check-in, billing and parent messaging in CheckInKids still had to put that attendance into the state system separately, on a state tablet or by hand.
With the KinderBridge connection, the check-ins and check-outs your families already make in CheckInKids become the attendance you send to KinderConnect. You review the week in one screen, send it, and then submit in KinderConnect as you always have.
How It Works
- Connect once. Your state's KinderSystems support desk sets up KinderBridge for CheckInKids and gives you a Provider ID and a group password. You enter them once on the KinderConnect page in CheckInKids. The password is stored encrypted and never shown again.
- Link your subsidy children. Find matches looks up each child in KinderConnect by name and birth date. Exact matches link at once; close matches wait for you to confirm.
- Review the week. One grid shows every linked child, Monday to Sunday, with each check-in and check-out, who made it, any absence, and the day's status.
- Send. Days that are new or changed since they were sent are already ticked. Each day goes whole, with all of its visits or its absence, and a corrected day sent again replaces what KinderConnect had.
- Submit in KinderConnect. Send before you submit the period, because a submitted period can no longer change.
Safeguards Built In
- Check-ins and check-outs carry the name of the person who made them: a parent or authorized pickup using the phone number on file, or a staff member using a personal PIN or their own login. One with no name, such as one made with a shared staff PIN, is held back instead of sent.
- A day with a problem, such as a check-in with no check-out or two visits that overlap, is held back with the reason, so you fix it before it goes.
- Days outside a child's authorization are shown but never sent.
- If KinderConnect refuses a day because its period was already submitted, CheckInKids marks the day Locked and does not offer it again.
- When a check-in or check-out time is corrected, CheckInKids keeps who changed it, the old and new times, and when.
Guides for Each State
Each state runs its subsidy program differently: who records attendance, how fast it locks, and what you set up before you connect. We wrote a guide for each one.
Virginia
Register with your Vendor ID, send at least weekly, and mind the 9-day automatic submission.
Missouri
Parent check-in, the 12-hour entry rule, 15-day corrections and monthly submission.
Louisiana
EdLink roles first, sponsors record attendance, and two-week periods that submit on their own.
New York (outside NYC)
Your county enrolls you first, then CCTA Support connects CheckInKids. Monthly submittals.
Getting Started
Email hello@checkinkids.com and we turn KinderConnect on for your center. Support comes directly from our founder, and setup can be done together on a Zoom call.
CheckInKids answers anything inside CheckInKids: connecting, linking children, sending, and a day that will not send. Your state agency and its KinderSystems support desk answer questions about your Provider ID, authorizations, submitting a period and payments.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is KinderBridge?
KinderBridge is the KinderSystems connection that lets child care software send attendance to KinderConnect, the system several states use to collect attendance for child care subsidy payments.
In which states can CheckInKids send attendance to KinderConnect?
Virginia, Missouri, Louisiana and New York outside New York City.
Does CheckInKids submit the attendance period for me?
No. Your center sends attendance from CheckInKids, then reviews and submits it in KinderConnect as before. Send before you submit, because a submitted period can no longer change.
Do families have to do anything differently?
Families keep checking children in and out in CheckInKids with the phone number on file, on the center tablet or on their own phone after scanning the center QR code. The center reviews the week and sends it to KinderConnect.
How does a center get connected?
Ask us to turn on KinderConnect, then ask your state's KinderSystems support desk to set up KinderBridge for CheckInKids. They give you a Provider ID and a group password, which you enter once in CheckInKids. The state guides above list each support desk.
KinderConnect and KinderBridge are KinderSystems products.