Frequently Asked Questions
Getting Started
You will need legal authorization to work in the United States and the following items must be uploaded to your profile on our Platform:
A relevant credential — Certified Postpartum Doula or Newborn Care Specialist
A cleared background check
Current professional liability insurance
Optional: CPR, additional certifications and/or licenses
Once your documents are uploaded, you meet with a member of our team on a video call. After that we send you the platform contract, along with a link to set up your QuickBooks account so you can be paid. The contract includes a vaccination clause:
Current vaccinations: Tdap within the past 10 years, the current season's flu vaccine, and the COVID-19 primary series. If you decline any of these, you follow client masking requests.
Questions while you are applying go to join@boramcare.com. Once you are approved, cp@boramcare.com becomes your inbox for anything you need on record.
Your profile goes live on the Platform and you can start applying to Care Requests. Keep your profile and availability current — families see your profile when you apply, and your availability determines which requests are a fit.
Upload anything that strengthens your profile: certifications, CPR, licenses, and specialty experience such as twins, NICU graduates, or lactation support.
No. Care Professionals are independent contractors. You choose your clients, choose your own availability, decide which engagements to accept, and keep full professional judgment over how you provide care. You are free to work with other families, agencies, or platforms at the same time, and you are not penalized for it.
As an independent contractor, you are responsible for your own taxes, licensing, and insurance. Boram Care does not withhold taxes or provide benefits.
Boram Care is a technology platform and administrative facilitator. We match you with families, process payments, and provide scheduling and administrative support. We do not employ you, direct or supervise your care, or provide care ourselves.
Your Care Contract is between you and the family. Boram Care is not a party to it — we administer billing, notification, and collection on your behalf.
- Newborn Care Specialist (NCS) Jobs: $30/hour
- Doula Jobs: $50/hour
Matching and Booking
Once a family completes their Care Plan and their Care Request goes live, you can apply to it directly. The family reviews the profiles of the Care Professionals who applied, and if they like yours, they request a Meet & Greet video call. If they select you and sign a Care Contract, the client and you will work together to set a schedule on our platform.
Open Care Requests show the family's schedule, location, start date, and the kind of support they are looking for. Apply to the ones that fit your availability and your scope.
There is no limit on how many you apply to, and applying does not commit you to anything — you are free to decline a Meet & Greet or step back before a Care Contract is signed. Apply only to requests you could genuinely take: families see your profile as soon as you apply, and withdrawing after they have chosen you affects your standing on the platform.
Families review several profiles and often take time to decide, so no response is not a reflection on your application. Applying to more requests, keeping your availability accurate, and filling out your profile fully are the things most in your control.
Yes, if you accept one. The family has paid to schedule these and set aside time for the call. If something comes up, notify the family and Boram Care as early as you can so we can reschedule. Missing two or more scheduled Meet & Greets without notice affects your standing on the platform and can lead to suspension.
Most families book at the start of their second trimester, and we accept families up to 4 months postpartum. Early bookings give more lead time for matching and scheduling; late bookings may come with shorter notice.
Once the Care Contract is signed, you and the family set the full schedule together on the Platform. Sessions are scheduled up front at signing rather than booked week to week, so both of you know what the engagement looks like before care starts.
Due dates move, so stay in touch with the family as theirs approaches. Check in a few weeks out to confirm the plan still works, and again as the date gets close. Once the baby arrives, reach out to confirm the start and sort out the first week if the timing has shifted.
Families take their lead from you here. A short message at the right moment is usually what keeps a schedule from unravelling later. Any changes you make together cost nothing — moving a session is free and there is no limit on rescheduling.
Yes — anywhere from a single session to ongoing support. Session minimums apply: Postpartum Doulas have a 4-hour minimum (6 hours recommended for a single session, to cover at least two feeding cycles), and Newborn Care Specialists have a 12-hour minimum, whether it is one session or part of a package.
A family messaging you is fine — that is what the Platform is for, and talking with them directly about care and schedule is part of the job. What has to stay on the Platform is the work itself: booking, schedule changes, and payment. If a family reaches you somewhere else, point them back to the Platform, or to guests@boramcare.com if they are having trouble getting in.
Working with a family off the Platform is different, and your Terms of Service do not allow it. For six months after your last session or Meet & Greet, you agree not to contract directly with a family you met through the Platform — including families you met but never worked with. If one proposes it, tell us at cp@boramcare.com.
Taking a family off-Platform inside that six-month window is a breach of your Terms of Service. You would owe Boram Care 25% of the estimated value of that engagement over its first six months, and your platform access can be suspended or ended.
It also leaves you without everything the Platform provides: no Care Contract setting out scope and schedule, no weekly billing or payment processing, no Contract Termination Fee if the family ends it early, and no record to fall back on if anything is ever disputed.
Getting paid
You are paid your contracted rate: $50/hr for Certified Postpartum Doulas and $30/hr for Newborn Care Specialists, 1.5x for twins. The family pays a higher session rate — your rate plus Boram Care's platform fee — but that difference does not come out of your pay.
We pay every Wednesday for the previous work week (Friday–Thursday). For example, shifts worked Friday 9/11 through Thursday 9/17 are paid on Wednesday 9/23.
Our payments processor, QuickBooks, holds the first two payments to new accounts for an extra 2–4 days. To avoid that delay, we'll send a couple of $1 deposits to your bank account when you join. If you see them, no action is needed. They just let your real pay arrive on schedule.
If a family ends a Care Contract early without cause, they owe you a Contract Termination Fee equal to 20% of the value of the sessions remaining to be delivered at the time of termination, capped at $2,500. Care you have already delivered is billed weekly as normal and is not affected.
Boram Care charges the fee to the family's payment method after the termination is confirmed and passes it to you. You receive 85% of what is collected.
If a family ends a Care Contract with cause, they do not pay a Contract Termination Fee.
If a contract completes with sessions the family cancelled and never rescheduled, they owe you 20% of the value of those sessions. Boram Care charges this after the final week of care and passes it to you on the same basis as the Contract Termination Fee. Late Cancellations are not included, since you are already paid in full for those.
This amount is separate from and in addition to any Contract Termination Fee, but together the two cannot exceed $2,500 for a single Care Contract.
Yes, and it is worth understanding. Boram Care does not hold these amounts in advance. They are charged to the family's payment method after a termination is confirmed and passed to you once collected. If we cannot collect from the family, there is nothing to pass on.
Where a charge fails, we pursue it — retrying the charge, and working out a payment plan or a partial amount where that is what it takes to get you paid. We will not settle for less than the full amount without checking with you first, since the amount is owed to you, and we will tell you where it lands. You receive 85% of whatever is collected.
Accurate, timely weekly submissions and raising concerns as they happen are the best way to protect what you are owed.
Cancellations and rescheduling
If a family cancels more than 48 hours ahead, the session is not charged and you are not paid for it. You and the family may reschedule any session by mutual agreement at no cost. There is no limit on rescheduling, and a rescheduled session is not a cancellation.
What matters is sessions the family cancels and never makes up. If three cancelled sessions are outstanding and unrescheduled at any point, you may end the Care Contract and the Contract Termination Fee applies. Rescheduling one brings the number back down. You are never required to exit, and ending a contract on this basis does not affect your standing on the platform.
A Late Cancellation is any client cancellation or no-show within 48 hours of a scheduled session. You are paid in full at your contracted rate from the first occurrence.
Notify both the family and Boram Care so it can be recorded, and enter it as billable hours in your weekly submission. The platform charges the family's card and pays you on the standard schedule. Late Cancellations do not count toward the three-cancellation threshold, since you are already paid in full for them.
The charge is the default, not an obligation. If you would rather not bill the family for a particular late cancellation, tell Boram Care and we will leave it off. That is your call to make.
Notify both the family and Boram Care as promptly as possible. The family is not charged and you are not compensated for that session. You can always reschedule by mutual agreement at no cost.
If you cancel two or more sessions within any 30-day period, the family may end the Care Contract with no fee owed to you. Repeated cancellations affect your standing on the platform.
That is a Force Majeure event. It does not count toward anyone's cancellation limit and carries no financial consequence. You and the family are encouraged to communicate directly and reschedule. If rescheduling is not possible within the contract period, the session is treated as undelivered with nothing owed for it.
If such an event — or serious personal hardship on the family's side, such as a medical emergency, a NICU stay, or a family loss — makes continuing the contract impossible, either party may end it with no fee owed by anyone.
Ending a contract
The fee is waived in any of these situations:
The client ends the contract more than 30 days before the start date
You step back from the contract
Your contract is terminated for cause because of something on your side. See below.
You are not meeting the Care Contract and it continues after the client raises it. See below.
The client ends the contract after you cancel two or more sessions in any 30-day period.
Force Majeure
What constitutes for cause?
The below constitute contract termination for cause:
Safety Violation. You show up impaired or smelling of drugs or alcohol; are unresponsive or cannot be roused while you are supposed to be awake and caring for the client’s baby; leave the baby unattended to focus on a phone, laptop, or other device; or handle the client’s baby in a way that puts them at risk.
Trust Violation. You steal or take anything from the client’s home without permission; are not who you claim to be, in credentials, experience, or identity; or share photos or details about the client’s family without their permission.
Conduct Violation. You are abusive, threatening, or harassing toward the client or anyone in their home; ignore their household rules after you have been told them; or bring someone into the client’s home without their permission.
Scope Violation. You work outside what you are trained and credentialed to do.
When does the fee apply?
The fee applies when the contract ends for any other reason within 30 days of the start date, or after care has begun. The most common:
The client has changed their mind
The client has found another option, or family is stepping in
The client is moving, traveling, or their schedule has changed
The client's finances have changed
The examples above are not the full list — something comparable that is not named is reviewed the same way.
This covers the terms specific to your engagement — arriving late for scheduled sessions, not performing the duties the contract sets out, or not meeting the attentiveness expectations written into it.
A single lapse is not grounds to end the contract without a fee. The family has to raise it with you or with Boram Care first. If the problem continues after that, they may end the contract and no fee is owed to you.
Nothing is charged to the family and nothing is owed to you until the reason for termination is settled.
The family terminates and selects a reason from a list of named categories.
You are notified right away and have 2–3 days to respond if you disagree with what they selected.
If you do not respond, or you agree, their stated reason stands and the fee applies or is waived accordingly.
If you disagree — or the family picked "something similar, not listed" instead of a named reason — Boram Care reviews before anything is charged.
Because care happens in a private home with no outside observation, your own contemporaneous record is the main counterweight if a reason is ever disputed. Raising concerns as they happen carries more weight than raising them at the end. You can send anything you want on record to cp@boramcare.com; it is visible only to Boram Care and used only if a dispute comes up.
You can end a Care Contract for your own reasons, but no termination fee is owed to you in that case. If you end it before the start date, the family is offered a replacement at no cost. Ending a contract fewer than 30 days before the start date, or mid-contract, affects your standing on the platform. This is separate from ending a contract for cause.
You may end a contract immediately and without notice for abusive, threatening, or harassing conduct by the family or a household member; unsafe working conditions; conditions that put the infant or postpartum parent at risk; requests outside the scope of your Care Contract or applicable law; false or misleading information material to the engagement; or a failure to maintain a valid payment method.
In these cases the Contract Termination Fee is owed to you and no platform penalty applies to you. Where conditions in the home pose a risk to the health or safety of the infant or postpartum parent, you may end the contract immediately with no fee owed and no penalty to you. Notify Boram Care promptly either way.
Your sessions and scope
Non-medical postpartum and newborn care as set out in your Care Contract: maternal support, newborn care (feeding, diapering, bathing, soothing and sleep settling), and baby-related household tasks such as bottle sanitation, baby laundry, and maintaining baby areas.
Optional add-ons such as meal preparation for the postpartum parent or light general cleaning are at your discretion and must be documented in the Care Contract.
You should not diagnose, treat, or prescribe; provide care beyond your training; transport clients or infants; or care for older siblings. If you notice something that looks like a medical concern, advise the family to see a licensed provider.
Yes. Care Professionals bring their own meals, and the family will let you know where you can take a break or eat.
Keep all personal, health-related, and family information strictly confidential, both during and after an engagement. This obligation continues after the contract ends.
The one exception is mandatory reporting. Depending on your state, you may be a mandatory reporter with an independent legal duty to report suspected abuse or neglect. That duty is personal to you, exists independently of Boram Care, and fulfilling it is never a breach of confidentiality.
Reporting and support
Yes — late and non-late alike, so they can be recorded. Unreported cancellations cannot be counted, which means your exit option cannot be unlocked and the end-of-contract amount cannot be calculated. Timely, accurate weekly submissions are the single most effective way to protect your earnings.
Scheduling, session changes, and day-to-day questions are handled directly with the family on the Platform. That is the fastest route and how most things get settled.
For account questions, payment, or anything you want on record, use cp@boramcare.com. That inbox is read only by Boram Care and reviewed only if a dispute arises. If you are still going through approval, use join@boramcare.com instead.
A Care Coordinator can step in when something cannot be resolved with the family directly — an unsafe situation, a dispute, or a request you should not be answering on your own.
Direct support — Email cp@boramcare.com anytime with questions.
Profile Audit — Applying to a lot of jobs but not landing Meet & Greets? Email cp@boramcare.com with the subject line "PROFILE AUDIT REQUEST" and we'll suggest ways to improve your profile.
Mock Meet & Greet — Getting Meet & Greets but not converting to contracts? Schedule a Mock Meet & Greet for feedback on how to improve. Directions will be emailed to you and available in the event link. After your Meet & Greet a full evalutation will be sent to you with suggestions on how to improve.