You know the enrollment packet. Ten or twelve pages you printed at the library or fed through the home printer that’s always low on toner. You hand it to a new family at the tour, and then the waiting starts. It comes back a week later with the emergency contact section blank, a phone number you can’t read, and a signature missing on page nine. So you text the parent. They drop off page nine on Thursday. You file the packet in the accordion folder, and six months later (when you actually need the authorized pickup list because someone’s uncle is at your door) you’re flipping through paper trying to decode handwriting.

Meanwhile, the same information gets copied by hand into wherever else you need it: your contact sheet on the fridge, your allergy list in the kitchen, your phone. Every copy is a chance for a typo, and every update (“we moved!”, “new pediatrician”) means finding and fixing it in three places, or, more honestly, in one of the three.

Enrollment is the first impression a family gets of how you run your program. A crisp, finish-it-on-your-phone process says organized professional. A crumpled packet says hope you have a working pen.

What this costs you today

The back-and-forth chase. Incomplete packets mean chasing: texting for the missing page, deciphering handwriting, re-asking questions the form already asked. Multiply by every new family.
Data entered twice (at least). Whatever the family wrote down, you re-type or re-copy into your own records. That’s your evening time, spent on transcription.
Records that start out stale. Paper captures a moment. The day a family’s phone number changes, your packet is wrong, and nothing prompts anyone to fix it.
Consent you can’t easily put your hands on. Photo permissions, walk permissions, emergency medical consent: when you need to check what a family agreed to, it’s somewhere in that folder. Probably.
A slower start for the family. Parents juggling a job and a toddler don’t have a quiet hour to sit with a packet. The longer enrollment drags, the longer their start date wobbles.

How you solve it in CubbyBook

CubbyBook’s enrollment flow replaces the packet with a reusable online form, an emailed invitation, and a review step that ends with the child’s record created for you: details, contacts, and consents filled straight from the family’s answers. Here’s the whole thing.

Step 1: Build or pick your enrollment form

Start with your form. You can begin from a starter template and adjust it, or build your own. Forms are made of purpose-built blocks rather than free-for-all fields. There are dedicated blocks for the address, contacts, emergency contacts, authorized pickups, and signature/consent, so the structured stuff arrives structured instead of scrawled.

Forms are reusable: build it once and every family you enroll gets the same polished experience. On the Free plan you get one enrollment form, plenty for most solo programs. Pro removes the limit, which matters if you want, say, a full form for infants and a shorter one for school-age before-and-after care.

One requirement before you can use a form: it must be published and Active. A draft form can’t be sent to anyone.

📸 Screenshot: The form builder showing purpose-built blocks for contacts, authorized pickups, and consent.

Step 2: Invite the family

When a family says yes to a spot, send the form. Choose which form to use, enter the child’s name and the parent’s email address, and send the invitation.

The family receives an email with a private link. The link is valid for seven days: long enough to be convenient, short enough that a stale link isn’t floating around indefinitely. If it lapses before they open it, just invite them again.

📸 Screenshot: The invitation step: choosing the form and entering the child’s name and parent’s email.

Step 3: Let the family fill it out at their own pace

The parent opens the link in any browser, no app to install. The first time through, they set up their parent-portal account, which is the same login they’ll use later for everything else you share with them.

Then they answer the form on their own schedule. Progress saves as they go, so a parent can knock out half of it on the bus, leave, and come back after bedtime to finish. No more “I left the packet at my mom’s.”

To finish, they agree to your consent items and submit. You get an email when they do, so a submitted application never sits unnoticed.

📸 Screenshot: The family’s view of the enrollment form in a browser, partway through, with progress saved.

Step 4: Review the application and request revisions

On your side, every application has a status, so you always know where each family stands: Invited → In Progress → Submitted → Revision Requested → Confirmed (or Cancelled if a family doesn’t end up joining).

When an application comes in as Submitted, review it. Spot a problem (a missing emergency contact, a birth date that can’t be right)? Request a revision and attach a note explaining what to fix. The family is emailed, the application becomes editable again, and they see your note right there when they reopen it. They fix it and resubmit. You can repeat this as many times as it takes. No one is re-doing the whole form because of one field.

📸 Screenshot: A submitted application with the option to request a revision and add a note for the family.

Step 5: Confirm to create the child’s record

When the application looks right, confirm it. This is the payoff step: confirming creates the child in CubbyBook, links the parent to them, and creates the enrollment, with the child’s details, contacts, and consents filled in from the family’s own answers. Nothing to transcribe, nothing to copy by hand, no typos introduced between the form and your records.

The parent walks away with working portal access, and you walk away with a complete record on day one.

Step 6: Use Quick Enrol for children already in your care (no form needed)

What about the four kids who’ve been with you for two years? You don’t need to send them through an application. On the Children screen, open the Add child menu and choose Quick Enrol. You enter the details yourself (name, birth date, schedule, contacts, allergies and medical notes) and the child is enrolled immediately. No form sent, no waiting.

Quick Enrol is how most providers get their existing roster into CubbyBook on the first afternoon, then use the full form flow for every new family after that.

📸 Screenshot: The Add child menu on the Children screen with the Quick Enrol option.

What changes

New families start faster. A form a parent can finish on their phone in a couple of sittings beats a packet that travels to their kitchen counter and dies there.
Your records begin accurate. Contacts, pickups, and consents come from the family’s own typed answers, structured by the form’s blocks: no handwriting to decode, no transcription step to fumble.
You always know where enrollment stands. The status trail (Invited, In Progress, Submitted, Revision Requested, Confirmed) replaces “did I ever get their packet back?” with a glance.
Corrections stop being awkward. “Request a revision with a note” is a workflow, not a text message you compose three times before sending.

And the gotchas, honestly:

Tip: There are no automatic reminders for stalled applications. If a family sits at Invited or In Progress for a week, nudge them yourself through Messages. A friendly “whenever you get a chance!” from you lands better than an automated ping anyway, but it is on you to send it.

Tip: You can edit a form without worrying about families mid-application. Versioning means a family already working through the form isn’t disrupted by your changes, so improve the form whenever you like.

Tip: Don’t promise families they can upload documents through the form. File collection isn’t available. Immunization records and similar paperwork still need to arrive by another route. The form’s signature/consent blocks cover agreements, not attachments.

Common questions

Does the family need to download an app?

No. The invitation link opens in an ordinary browser on a phone or computer. The first visit sets up their parent-portal account, and everything happens there.

What happens if the family doesn’t finish in one sitting?

Nothing bad. Progress saves. They can leave and return as many times as they need before submitting. The invitation link itself is valid for seven days, so if it lapses before they’ve opened it at all, send a fresh invitation.

Can I fix a mistake in a submitted application?

The clean route is to request a revision: add a note about what needs correcting, and the family gets an email, sees your note, edits, and resubmits. You can do this as many times as needed before confirming.

How many enrollment forms can I have?

One on the Free plan, unlimited on Pro ($15/month or $149/year). One well-built form covers most solo programs; multiple forms are for programs that genuinely enroll different groups differently.

See how the pieces fit together on the enrollment feature page, or start free, no card needed. Free forever plan; 14-day Pro trial included.

Paperless Daycare Enrollment: A Start-to-Finish Walkthrough