Communicating with Childcarers

How to Get in Touch with Childcarers

Parents and Agencies can get in touch with any childcarer on the Totally Childcare website - you just need to be logged in.

Sending a message to someone requires 3 steps: 

1. Find the childcarer you wish to send a message to and go to their profile page
2. Click on 'Contact Childcarer'
3. Fill in the email-like form and click 'Send private message'

Finding the childcarer

You can find childcarers in your area by clicking on Find Childcare on the top menu and then refining your search by choosing a Nanny, Au-pair, Childminder or Babysitter within a specified distance from your postcode. To find out more about a particular childcarer, click on the pin in the map to display a information bubble. To find out more about the childcarer, click 'View Details' in the information bubble to display their profile page.

If you have posted a job (Standard Members need to upgrade to do this), you can view the childcarers who have been put forward on your homepage, and select any childcarer in the list. This will display the childcarers credentials. If you wish to contact this childcarer, click on 'view details' to display their profile page.

Contact Childcarer

On the childcarers profile page, there should be two pink buttons labelled "Contact Childcarer" and "Block Childcarer". If these are not display, it will be because either you are not logged in, or that childcarer has blocked you from contacting them.

Click on "Contact Childcarer" to open the private message form.

Send Private Message

Sending a private message is just like sending an email. You need to fill in the subject, and write a message. When writing a message, please follow the simple rules of etiquette:

• Always be polite - add please and thankyou
• Explain any issues using the simplest of terms
• Avoid writing words in uppercase - this comes across you shouting
• Re-read your email and remove any ambiguity - add commas if that helps.

Click 'Send private message' - and its done.

What happens next

Once you send your message, the childcarer will receive a notice from the website telling them that someone has just sent them a private message. They will need to log on to the Totally Childcare website to view your message. They will then be able to reply and hopefully you can then exchange details and arrange an appointment for an interview.