Ask us anything. We won't ask back.

A marketplace where parents book experienced babysitters for evenings, late nights and overnights, in the family's own home. Sitters provide ordinary childcare. What sets them apart is that they expect late hours and do not ask about your plans.

Parents with a full adult social life who would like a sitter that doesn't pry. It was built with the lifestyle and ethically non-monogamous community in mind, and it suits anyone who stays out late and is tired of explaining themselves. You never have to tell us which, and we will not ask.

No. Creating an account is free and there is no subscription. You pay for each booking you confirm, and nothing in between.

We are new and opening city by city, as soon as a city has approved sitters to book. Once a city has sitters, we let families in a few at a time, so that when you search there is someone to book. If we are not in your area yet, join the waitlist with your ZIP code. You will get one email asking you to confirm the address, and then one invitation with a personal link when it is your turn. Nothing else, unless you ask for updates, and every email has a one-click link to leave the list.

Yes. Sitters look after children: dinner, bath, bedtime, and being there if someone wakes up. They are never guests, never part of a parent's plans, and never work at a venue or event. The name has a sense of humour. The service does not need one.

No. We never ask where you are going, so there is nothing to tell them. There is no field for an occasion, a reason or a venue anywhere in SwingSitters. Sitters receive a household brief with your return time, a phone number you will answer, an emergency contact and what your children need. They are asked not to enquire about anything else.

Not quite, and we would rather be accurate. We never ask where you are going. We do ask the things a responsible sitter needs: when you will be back, how to reach you, who to call if they can't, and the details of your children and home. All of those are about the children. None is about you.

Your display name (which you choose), your city and ZIP code, the times, your children's ages, your rating from past sitters and whether your identity is verified. Your street address, phone number, emergency contact and household notes are released only to the sitter you confirm, and only once you have paid.

The descriptor on your card statement is abbreviated and does not describe the occasion. It is a charge for childcare. Statement descriptors are shortened by card networks and banks and can appear slightly differently from one bank to another, so we do not promise an exact wording.

Discreet notifications are switched on by default. Email subject lines and preview text are generic, such as "You have a new message" or "Your booking was updated", with no brand name and no booking details. You have to open the message and sign in to see more. On Android, the app's home-screen label is simply "Sitters".

No. We do not sell or share your personal information, we run no advertising trackers, our visit analytics (Google Analytics) run only on public pages and never inside your account, and signing in with Google gives us nothing beyond your email address and basic profile. We share data only with the providers needed to run the service (such as payment processing and email delivery), with the sitter you confirm, and where the law requires it. The Privacy Policy lists each case.

Every sitter signs a confidentiality agreement covering what they see and hear in your home, and breaking it can end their time on SwingSitters. The one firm exception is a child's safety: nothing stops a sitter from calling 911 or reporting suspected abuse or neglect. A parent's consensual adult relationships are not a child-welfare concern, and sitters are told so.

Identity verification is available to parents and shows as a mark on your profile, which a sitter may want to see before accepting a late or overnight booking. Your ID is used to verify you; it is not shown to sitters.

As far ahead as you can, especially for weekends and overnights. A sitter has up to 24 hours to answer a request, and you then have 12 hours to pay and confirm, so the same-day route only works when a sitter replies quickly.

You have a 15-minute grace period. After that, overtime is charged in 15-minute blocks at 1.5 times the booking's hourly rate, and all of it goes to your sitter. Message your sitter as soon as you know. And if you can see it coming before the night starts, book a later return time or an overnight.

Then you have had a normal night out, and nobody at the door is judging it. Two practical points. First, do not drive, and please do not offer the sitter a lift; the ride-home stipend exists for that. Second, the sitter hands the children over to an adult who is able to look after them. If no returning adult is in a state to do that, the sitter stays on at the overtime rate and calls the emergency contact from your brief. If you expect a big night, book the overnight. The sitter stays until morning and none of this comes up.

Only in a hotel room registered to you. Care never takes place at a venue, club or event, or in the sitter's home.

You set a start time and a bedtime (when the children are asleep and the sitter may sleep too), and the booking ends the next morning. Awake hours are billed hourly and the rest is the sitter's flat overnight fee. You tell the sitter where they will sleep. Overnight sitters are at least 21.

Up to four, or two if any child is under 12 months. That limit applies to shared sits as well, counting every family's children together.

Yes. Two or three families can share one sitter at a host home. The service fee drops to 10% and the quote shows the split per family. See shared sits.

More than 24 hours before the start, you get a full refund. Between 24 and 2 hours before, the sitter is paid 50% of their subtotal and the rest is refunded. Inside 2 hours, or if you are not there, the sitter is paid 3 hours at the booking's hourly rate. If the sitter cancels, you are refunded in full.

You are refunded in full, and you can search for another available sitter straight away. The same applies if a sitter simply does not arrive: when there is no check-in 15 minutes after the start we email you both and alert our team, and a no-show is refunded in full. We cannot promise a replacement at short notice, particularly while a city is new.

No, but you must say so. The brief asks whether you have cameras and where. Sitters are entitled to know, and cameras should never be in a bathroom or the room where an overnight sitter sleeps.

Each sitter sets an hourly rate between $18 and $60, with a three-hour minimum. Add $3 an hour for each child beyond two, $5 an hour for awake hours after midnight, and a $25 ride-home stipend when a booking ends between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. A 15% service fee is added on top. The estimator will work it out for you.

It is how SwingSitters is paid: 15% of the sitter's subtotal, or 10% on a shared sit. It covers screening, payment processing, support and running the service. It is added on top of the sitter's pay and never deducted from it.

When a sitter has accepted your request and you choose to pay, which confirms the booking. Your card is saved so that any late-return overtime, and any tip you decide to add, can be charged after the sit.

It is up to you. Tips are a separate charge after the sit, and the sitter receives the full amount. For a 3 a.m. finish or a toddler who would not settle, it is a kind thing to do.

Possibly, if you use the same sitter a lot. Sitters are independent and are not our employees. Under federal rules a family that pays one household worker $3,000 or more in cash wages in 2026 may be that worker's household employer. Your account shows a yearly total per sitter so you can keep an eye on it. We are not tax advisers; talk to one if you are getting close.

If card payments are not open yet when you sign up, the app will say so. You can set up your account and household in the meantime, and confirm bookings once payments open.

Six steps: identity verification; a criminal background check through a third-party screening provider, including county records and a sex-offender registry search; two childcare references contacted by a person; a current CPR and first-aid certificate; a video interview; and a signed code of conduct. A profile shows a badge only for steps that sitter has passed.

No, and we will not tell you otherwise. Checks report what was on record, in the sources searched, on the day they were run. They cannot predict behaviour and records can be incomplete. Use our screening as a starting point alongside reviews, the message thread and your own judgment. What checks can and can't tell you.

All sitters are adults, 18 or older. Overnight bookings are only offered to sitters who are 21 or older.

The sitter calls 911 first. Their in-app safety screen then has one-tap calls to you and to your emergency contact. This is why the brief requires a phone you will answer and an emergency contact who is not out with you.

Open the booking and file an incident. Either side can do this. An open incident pauses the sitter's payout for that booking and alerts our team, and a person reviews it. You get an acknowledgement by email, and what you write is seen only by our team, never by the other person. Individual messages can also be reported from the thread, and you can block someone from future bookings without them being told. If someone is in danger, call 911.

No. Nothing in the Sitter Agreement prevents or discourages a sitter from calling 911 or reporting suspected child abuse or neglect to the authorities, and we would never ask a sitter to stay silent. Equally, a parent's lawful, consensual adult relationships are not a child-welfare concern and are not a reason for a report.

Zero tolerance. Any sexual advance, invitation or exposure toward a sitter, from anyone in the home, is a breach that ends that family's access to SwingSitters. The account is paused as soon as a report is filed, and closed permanently once a person on our team has confirmed it. Sitters are there for childcare only.

You set your hourly rate between $18 and $60 and keep all of it. On top of that come $3 an hour per extra child beyond two, $5 an hour after midnight, a $25 ride-home stipend on late finishes, a flat overnight fee you set between $150 and $400, overtime at 1.5 times, and all tips.

No. The service fee is charged to parents on top of your pay. There is no fee to apply or to be listed.

Your payout is released 24 hours after you check out, provided no incident is open on the booking. Tips are transferred as soon as the parent pays them.

No. You are an independent sitter who chooses your own rate, hours and bookings. You are responsible for your own taxes. A family that pays you above the yearly federal threshold may be your household employer; the Sitter Agreement explains more.

No, and you are asked not to enquire. You will be told what you need to do the job: when they will be back, how to reach them, the emergency contact, and everything about the children and the home.

You are there for childcare and nothing else. If anyone makes a sexual advance or invitation, or you feel unsafe for any reason, use the "I need to leave" steps on your safety screen: call the emergency contact so that children are not left alone, call 911 if anyone is in danger, and report the incident. We act on a single report, the family's account is paused while we review it, and you are still paid for the time you worked or three hours, whichever is more.

You stay, on overtime, call the emergency contact from the brief, and file an incident note afterwards. You are never expected to hand children to an adult who cannot care for them.

Yes. You can delete your account from your account settings in the app or on the web, or by emailing support@swingsitters.com. Deletion removes or anonymises your profile, household details, children's entries and messages. A small set of records, such as payment and tax records and reports of safety incidents, is kept for as long as the law or a legitimate safety reason requires. Exactly what is deleted and what is kept.

Yes. You can export a file of everything we hold about you from your account settings.

As little as we can: a nickname, birth month and year, and the care notes you write. No full names and no photos.

No. There is no field for it in the product, our database or our internal reporting, and we do not infer it.