Virginia Child Care PASS: Sending Attendance From CheckInKids to KinderConnect (2026)

The Short Version

If you take Child Care Subsidy Program payments, attendance for subsidized children goes through Child Care PASS. You can record it on the state's apps, or keep it in your own child care software and send it to KinderConnect. With CheckInKids you do the second: families check in as usual, you review the week, and you send it before Virginia's automatic submission.

How Child Care PASS Works

PASS has four parts:

• KinderConnect, the web system where attendance is reviewed and submitted
• KinderSign, a state tablet app for checking children in and out
• KinderSmart, a phone app for families
• KinderBridge, the connection that lets child care software send attendance to KinderConnect

A provider chooses one route: the state apps, or its own child care software. A center that tracks attendance in its own software does not get a state tablet, and its families keep checking in through that software. They do not need a KinderConnect account, and VDOE tells them not to download KinderSmart.

If you use Procare

Virginia's Child Care PASS site states that Procare is not integrating with Virginia's KinderSystems system. Procare centers are told to move to the state apps or select another approved software vendor from the Active list on vapass.info. If that is your situation, the steps below are what switching to CheckInKids looks like.

Connecting CheckInKids, Step by Step

1. Register in KinderConnect at vapass.doe.virginia.gov/KinderConnect with your nine-digit Vendor ID. It starts with 511 and is printed on your Child Care Subsidy Program approval letter or Purchase of Service Order. You also need the verification code emailed to the address the program has on file. Then set up two-step login.
2. Enter your banking details at least 11 calendar days before a deposit, and add accounts for your staff.
3. Ask us to turn on KinderConnect for your center at hello@checkinkids.com.
4. Call KinderSystems Support at 1-888-211-6884 and ask them to set up KinderBridge for CheckInKids. They give you a Provider ID and a group password.
5. Enter them in CheckInKids on the KinderConnect page, Setup tab. Choose your start date and press Find matches. Exact matches link at once; you confirm close matches and link any other subsidy child by hand.
6. Send every week from the Send attendance tab, then check the days in KinderConnect under Attendance, Detail.

Virginia Rules That Decide When You Get Paid

Send at least weekly, before day 9

Attendance in KinderConnect is submitted to VDOE automatically after 9 days. The Child Care PASS FAQ gives this example: attendance for December 1 is submitted on December 10, as long as it reached KinderConnect before that date. Sending at least once a week, on the same day each week, keeps every day inside that window with about two days to spare. VDOE has temporarily extended the lookback for entering attendance to 30 calendar days, but attendance still goes to VDOE after 9 days and locks once its payment run has processed it, so send corrections before day 9.

Two pay periods a month

Service periods run from the 1st to the 15th and from the 16th to the end of the month. Each has a payment run about ten days after it closes and a deposit about a week after that. For example, November 1 to 15 runs on November 25 and pays on December 2. Send before the runs around the 10th and the 25th.

Staff may record for families

Since December 1, 2025, providers may record attendance in Child Care PASS on behalf of families. The same notice says VDOE and VDSS may request your attendance policy and investigate attendance records at any time, and VDOE recommends that centers using their own software keep a written record of their attendance procedure.

Absences

An absence is a day the child was expected to attend but did not. Record days one to five of an unexpected absence and contact the parent on day five. If there is no answer, stop recording and notify your local department of social services, and keep documentation of the contact. Notify them as well when a child does not come on the first day of authorized care or withdraws.

Do not record attendance or absences for a child who has withdrawn. Payment questions go to VDOE Provider Services at providerservices@doe.virginia.gov.

Planned closures

Centers can choose up to 15 paid planned closure days per fiscal year, resetting on June 1. Enter them in KinderConnect under Provider, Non-Operating Days, one date at a time, and record no attendance of any kind on those days, absences included. On state holidays you may operate and record attendance as usual.

How CheckInKids Helps

• Check-ins and check-outs carry the name of the parent, authorized pickup or staff member who made them, and KinderConnect receives it. One with no name, such as one made with a shared staff PIN, is held back instead of sent.
• One weekly grid shows each subsidy child's days, who checked them in and out, absences, and the status of each day.
• A day with a problem, such as a check-in with no check-out or overlapping visits, is held back with the reason so you can fix it first.
• Days outside a child's authorization are shown but never sent.
• A corrected day sent again replaces what KinderConnect had, and CheckInKids keeps each time correction: who made it, the old and new times, and when.
• The KinderConnect page shows times in the time zone saved for your center, not the time zone of the device you open it on.

A Practical Checklist

1. Find your Vendor ID (it starts with 511) and register in KinderConnect.
2. Enter banking details at least 11 days before your next deposit.
3. Ask CheckInKids to turn on KinderConnect, then call KinderSystems Support for your Provider ID and group password.
4. Enter them in CheckInKids, set your start date and link your subsidy children.
5. Send every week and check the days in KinderConnect.
6. Enter planned closures in KinderConnect and record nothing on those days.
7. Keep a written description of your attendance procedure.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to use Child Care PASS?

Child Care PASS has been required for Child Care Subsidy Program attendance since December 1, 2025. You choose how to record it: the state apps, or your own child care software connected through KinderBridge.

Can staff record attendance for families in Virginia?

Yes. Since December 1, 2025, providers may record attendance on behalf of families. VDOE and VDSS can ask for your attendance policy and investigate records at any time, so keep a written record of your procedure.

Do families need KinderSmart or a KinderConnect account if we use CheckInKids?

No. Families keep checking in through CheckInKids. They do not need a KinderConnect account and should not download KinderSmart.

When is attendance submitted to VDOE?

Automatically after 9 days. The Child Care PASS FAQ gives this example: attendance for December 1 is submitted on December 10, as long as it reached KinderConnect before that date. VDOE has temporarily extended the lookback period to 30 calendar days, and attendance locks once its payment run has processed it.

Will we get a state tablet?

No. Centers that track attendance in their own software do not get one. Tablets go to providers without child care software that have five or more authorized children.

What if we use Procare?

Virginia's Child Care PASS site states that Procare is not integrating with Virginia's KinderSystems system. Procare centers are told to use the state apps or select another approved software vendor from the Active list on vapass.info.

KinderConnect, KinderSign, KinderSmart and KinderBridge are KinderSystems products. This guide is not legal advice; confirm requirements with VDOE.