Beyond Permanent Placements: How Adding Babysitting Services Can Grow Your Childcare Agency

If your childcare agency currently offers long-term or permanent placements, you may be looking for ways to attract a broader range of clients, increase revenue, and build stability — without adding extra admin burden.

One effective strategy to achieve this is to diversify your childcare service lines. And, with demand for flexible, on-demand childcare rising, adding babysitting services is a particularly smart and low-risk option to begin with. 

According to market research, the U.S. babysitting services market is projected to expand from $6.9 billion in 2025 to $12.4 billion by 2034 — a compound annual growth rate of 6.3%. This makes babysitting a high-potential service line — not just a ‘nice to have,’ but a growth lever that’s already rapidly expanding.

If growth, stability, and client loyalty are priorities for your agency in the year ahead, adding babysitting services alongside your core permanent placements could be the bridge that gets you there. And with the right systems in place, it can be far easier to launch and scale than most agency owners anticipate.

Babysitting as a growth engine for your childcare agency

Even successful permanent placement childcare agencies can hit growth ceilings. By introducing babysitting, you can create a more flexible service line that not only complements your existing work but also opens up new opportunities for growth and stability.

Here are five ways babysitting can become one of the most strategic additions to your childcare agency:

Diversified revenue streams

Relying solely on permanent placements can leave your agency vulnerable to seasonal slowdowns or fluctuations in client demand. 

Research across small business sectors shows that companies with varied income channels experience noticeably stronger year-over-year growth and are far more likely to maintain profitability during shifting market conditions. 

Adding babysitting services helps reduce your dependency on a single revenue model and ensures your agency stays financially stable, even when placements ebb and flow.

Wider market reach and growing client base

Babysitting allows your agency to tap into a rapidly growing segment of families seeking flexible, affordable, short-term childcare solutions, expanding your reach beyond those needing permanent placements. 

Many households need occasional or part-time support rather than long-term placements, so offering babysitting services makes your agency more accessible to families with a broader range of schedules, budgets, and childcare needs.

By offering this entry point to childcare agency services, you not only appeal to more families but also open doors to new opportunities such as back-up care for corporate programs, community partnerships, and event-based childcare — growing your client base with ease.

Stronger client relationships

Becoming a full-service solution rather than a single-service provider means families have a single point of contact for all their childcare needs. This helps your agency stay top of mind, better understand evolving parenting needs, and establish stronger relationships.

This, in turn, builds satisfaction and loyalty, and loyal families generate referrals, repeat business, and long-term revenue.

Better caregiver utilization and satisfaction

Adding babysitting services opens additional scheduling opportunities for your existing caregivers, helping them (and your agency) maximize their available hours. This efficient use of your workforce minimizes downtime and helps keep caregivers loyal to your agency — all while supporting revenue growth without significant additional hiring or overhead.

In addition, increased flexibility and earning potential can keep caregivers more engaged and satisfied — boosting retention in a competitive labor market.

A scalable foundation for future growth

Once your agency has the infrastructure in place to manage both permanent placements and babysitting, you’re well-positioned to branch out into other related services — such as nanny share programs, corporate back-up care, household staffing, or newborn care — helping you scale strategically without simply increasing the number of hours worked.

By expanding into babysitting, you’re not just adding a new service line — you’re creating a more resilient, scalable agency that can thrive regardless of shifts in family needs or economic conditions. 

Practical tips for expanding into babysitting services 

Introducing babysitting services doesn’t require overhauling your entire operations — it’s about building on what you’ve already worked hard to establish. You’re simply adding a flexible childcare solution that aligns with what families already trust your agency to provide: reliable, high-quality childcare. 

While every agency’s journey will look a little different, these practical tips will help lay the groundwork for a successful transition.

1. Develop a dedicated service model

Start by defining what your babysitting service will look like. Outline clear packages, competitive pricing structures, and a transparent process that clearly differentiates it from your permanent placements, for example: 

• Hourly rates
• Booking windows (same-day vs scheduled)
• Minimum hours
• Evening/weekend premiums
• Cancellation, no-show, and late-fee policies
• Protocols for special requests (pets, sleepovers, children with special needs)

Creating a simple flow for how families will book, confirm, and pay will not only help sharpen your marketing and messaging but also set clear expectations for families and caregivers — positioning your agency as organized, credible, and ready to deliver a professional service.

Bonus tip: You’ll also need to review your agency agreements, insurance coverage, and worker classification policies to ensure your new babysitting service aligns with state and federal requirements.

2. Establish operational workflows and automation points

Once you’re clear on how your babysitting services will work, you’ll need to establish how things will run behind the scenes.

Babysitting services move much faster than long-term placements — requests can come in with hours’ notice, and caregiver availability changes daily. So, you’ll need to think through how you’re going to onboard new clients and then handle scheduling, communication, reminders, payment collection, payroll, and documentation. 

Identify which tasks can be automated and which require human oversight.

A smooth operational backbone will ensure your services run efficiently, reduce admin time, and guarantee sitters and families have a seamless experience from start to finish. (Also see Tip 7. Streamline operations with technology.)

3. Strengthen recruitment and onboarding 

Babysitting requires a slightly different caregiver profile than long-term placements. You need a mix of caregivers who are comfortable with varied schedules, last-minute requests, and short shifts in a variety of homes. 

Begin by auditing your current roster. Some of your nannies may appreciate the chance to pick up extra hours, and you already know their strengths, reliability, and areas of expertise.

From there, expand your recruiting efforts to attract caregivers who specifically want flexible, part-time roles to broaden coverage. Now is an ideal time to review your current recruitment strategy to ensure it’s efficient, transparent, and engaging for both candidates and your internal team.

As part of this process, establish a comprehensive vetting funnel that includes interviews, reference checks, credential verification, and background checks. This level of rigor is one of the biggest advantages agencies have over large babysitting apps and should become central to your brand promise.

Effective onboarding also matters, helping new babysitters feel supported and connected to your agency from day one. Consider offering micro-training modules that cover things like behavior guidance, age-appropriate activities, and communication norms. This early investment will help increase retention and build lasting loyalty across your entire caregiver network.

4. Create clear safety and quality standards

To maintain consistency across all babysitting bookings, outline a simple framework that defines your expectations around professionalism, punctuality, communication, and care quality. This might include safety protocols, dress guidelines, pre-shift check-ins, post-shift reports, emergency procedures, household rules/routines, or age-specific activity suggestions. 

The goal is to ensure every sitter delivers care that aligns with your agency’s standards, regardless of family or booking type.

Providing caregivers with a digital babysitting handbook or set of guidelines can make onboarding easier and strengthen consistency across your team. 

These quality control measures also reassure families that your agency’s standards remain high, even with short-term childcare services.

5. Promote your new service locally and online

Once your babysitting structure is ready, it’s time to let people know about it. Reach out to existing families first — they already trust your services and may be looking for occasional, on-demand childcare solutions (or know someone who is). 

Consider these practical ways to market your new offering:

• Website updates: Add a dedicated page describing your babysitting service, its benefits, and the process for getting started.
• Social media: Position your agency as a go-to childcare expert. Share helpful parenting tips, childcare insights, and agency updates alongside your new service launch to build engagement and trust.
• Update your Google Business Profile: Refresh your listing to include your new babysitting service, update your service categories, and add clear descriptions. Posting regular updates and photos can also boost visibility and help local families discover your agency when searching for reliable childcare.
• Local ad campaigns: Use targeted digital ads — such as Google or social media campaigns — to reach local families searching for on-demand babysitting services. Even a modest, well-targeted campaign can help you quickly connect with a much wider audience.
• Email newsletters: Announce the new service to your subscriber list, emphasizing continuity, trust, and flexibility for families.
• Client testimonials and reviews: As you start placing babysitters, gather feedback and highlight positive experiences. Over time, these stories become powerful social proof that builds credibility and attracts new families.
• Local outreach: Partner with local schools, parent groups, community organizations, and businesses to spread the word to families seeking short-term childcare.

Consistently marketing your babysitting services helps establish your agency as a trusted provider of both short- and long-term childcare solutions. By combining multiple channels and showcasing real stories, you can steadily build awareness, credibility, and strong family relationships.

If you’d like more guidance on marketing your childcare agency, please download our free eBook.

6. Track key metrics

As your new service gains momentum, tracking progress will help you understand what’s working well and where fine-tuning might be needed. Think of it as taking your agency’s pulse: regular check-ins on performance will keep your growth steady and sustainable.

Focus on a few key performance indicators (KPIs) that reflect both financial health and service quality, such as:

• Booking volume
• Repeat-booking rate
• Fill rate by time window (weekday evening, weekend, last-minute, etc.) 
• Sitter fill rate
• Time-to-confirm
• Cancellation rate
• Average revenue per booking
• Family and sitter satisfaction ratings

Regularly reviewing these metrics helps you refine your processes, identify new opportunities, and ensure your new service offering grows with purpose and stability — creating the most value for families, caregivers, and your team.

7. Streamline operations with technology

As your services expand, manual systems can quickly create bottlenecks. 

Choosing the right childcare software will not only unify your workflows — from managing family requests and candidate profiles to communications, scheduling, invoicing, and performance tracking — but also avoid the need to take on extra admin staff as you grow.

Look for a platform specifically tailored for childcare agencies, like Aaniie Kids, that not only handles day-to-day operations but also connects every stage of your business in one centralized system. 

This will ensure your agency can run both service lines efficiently, scale with confidence, and free your team to focus on higher-level tasks, such as building relationships and delivering high-quality care.

8. Start small, then scale with confidence

You don’t need dozens of sitters or complex processes to begin. Start with a small, reliable group of caregivers and roll out babysitting services to a limited number of families. This test-and-learn approach allows you to refine pricing, forecast revenue, and model demand, while also testing your workflows and gathering early feedback before scaling widely. 

Once you feel confident in your process, scale gradually by onboarding more sitters, opening bookings to a wider audience, and expanding your availability windows. Track early revenue trends and booking patterns to guide staffing and pricing decisions as you grow.

By starting intentionally and building on a solid operational base, babysitting can become an effortless, scalable addition to your childcare agency — one that strengthens your brand, deepens client relationships, and creates predictable revenue without overwhelming your team.

Grow your agency with confidence: adding babysitting services with Aaniie Kids

The right technology doesn’t just make expanding your childcare services more manageable — it empowers your agency to grow confidently, maintain high-quality care, and keep operations running smoothly, no matter how quickly the business scales. 

Aaniie Kids is an all-in-one childcare agency management platform designed to simplify every aspect of your business — from recruitment and matching to marketing services, managing bookings, communication, billing, payments, and more.

With Aaniie, your childcare agency can easily introduce and manage new service lines, like babysitting, without increasing administrative burden or compromising quality. 

The platform connects every part of your operation in one place — so your team stays organized, your families remain satisfied, and your caregivers stay engaged. 

Tools include:

• Applicant Tracking System (ATS) – Attract, vet, and hire quality caregivers with ease. Built-in background-checking tools help maintain high standards while saving hours of manual screening.
• Family/caregiver matching – Guarantee high compatibility between families and caregivers with intelligent matching algorithms, supporting stronger relationships, higher satisfaction, and repeat bookings.
• Mobile-friendly booking platform – Enable families to request, schedule, and confirm sitters themselves, quickly and securely, at any time — while caregivers can view their schedules and shift details, accept or decline bookings, and receive real-time updates to manage their workloads with ease. 
• Secure communication hub – Keep everyone connected and informed with real-time messaging that makes coordination between your team, families, and caregivers effortless and transparent.
• Built-in CRM and marketing tools – Track inquiries, manage follow-ups, and nurture relationships with families from first contact to placement — all while building your agency’s brand visibility and trust.
• Automated scheduling, billing, and payroll – Reduce admin time, eliminate manual errors, and keep families and caregivers satisfied through accurate billing and payroll.
• Real-time KPI dashboards – Monitor performance metrics, revenue trends, and satisfaction rates with customizable dashboards that help you make smarter, data-driven decisions.

Together, these tools give your agency everything it needs to manage babysitting services and permanent placements with equal precision and ease. 

Contact us today or book a free demo to discover how Aaniie Kids can help your childcare agency grow smarter, serve families better, and empower your caregivers — all while scaling with confidence.