Family Care Blog
Practical guides for families across Surrey, Vancouver, and the Fraser Valley on nanny costs and hiring, postpartum care, event staffing, and support for autistic children.
Looking for something specific? Browse the guides by topic instead.
What Does a Postpartum Doula Do? A Guide for New Parents in Surrey, BC and the Lower Mainland
The weeks after birth are beautiful, exhausting, and often overwhelming — especially when family is far away. Here is exactly what a postpartum doula does and why Surrey families are booking them before baby even arrives.
Read Article →Health Care Assistant or Companion Care? How to Choose for a Parent
If your parent needs help getting out of a chair, that is a Health Care Assistant at $42/hr. If they are managing fine but alone too much, that is companion care at $38/hr. The $4 gap is the smallest part of the decision.
Read Article →Why Families in Surrey, BC Are Choosing On-Demand Home Care Over Traditional Agencies
The traditional home care agency model is slow, inflexible, and often expensive. Here is why families in Surrey, Abbotsford, and across the Fraser Valley are switching to on-demand platforms like Puffin.
Read Article →Nanny Agency vs. Nanny Marketplace: What You're Actually Paying For in BC
A marketplace listing looks cheaper because the vetting, the payroll, and the WorkSafeBC registration are still on your list — just not on the invoice. Here is what each model actually hands you, and who ends up as the employer.
Read Article →What Does a Nanny Placement Actually Cost? (Placement Fee + Real Nanny Wages Explained)
The placement fee is $500 or $1,000. The nanny's salary — $45,000 to $52,000 a year to start — is separate, and it is the number that actually shapes your budget. Here is how the two fit together.
Read Article →What Is a Vulnerable Sector Check? A Parent's Guide to Background-Checking a Caregiver in BC
A vulnerable sector check is the police check for people who work with children and vulnerable adults. It is not the same as a general criminal record check, and the difference matters.
Read Article →Live-In vs. Live-Out Nanny: Which Is Right for Your Family?
Live-in works if you have a genuine private room to offer and need early mornings or late evenings covered. Live-out works for almost everyone else. Both are matched through nanny placement — here is how to tell which you need.
Read Article →What Postpartum Support Costs in BC — and What Overnight Care Actually Involves
Daytime postpartum support is $38/hr with a three-hour minimum. Overnight is $42/hr from 10 PM to 6 AM — $336 for a full night, during which the specialist stays awake and you do not.
Read Article →How Many Nannies Do I Need for My Event? (The Staffing Formula, Explained)
Two infants need as much coverage as four school-age children. Here is the exact points system Puffin uses to staff an event, so you can work out your own number before you book.
Read Article →Infant vs. Toddler Care: What Actually Changes (and Why the Rate Does Too)
Twelve months is the line. Under it, the booking is $38/hr instead of $32 — for every child in the home, not just the baby. Here is what actually changes about the day, and why.
Read Article →Nanny Taxes and Payroll in BC: What You're Actually Responsible For
Hire a nanny directly and you are an employer — not a customer. Here is what that actually means in BC, what changes if you book hourly care instead, and where to get advice that is worth relying on.
Read Article →Why In-Home Support Matters for Autistic Children (and What We Are Building)
Not because home therapy outperforms a clinic — the research on that is genuinely mixed. Because of four things a home setting is structurally better at: the parent is there, skills are practised where they are used, nobody has to transition anywhere, and coaching happens in front of the person carrying it over.
Read Article →Home-Based vs. Clinic-Based Autism Therapy in BC: What's the Real Difference?
Not which one works better — the research on that is genuinely mixed. What actually differs day to day: what a centre gives you that a house cannot, what changes when the session comes to you, and the one question worth asking any provider.
Read Article →Respite Care for Autistic Children in BC: What It Is, and How to Arrange It
Respite is care for your child so that you can stop being on duty for a few hours. Here is what a shift actually covers, what it costs at $42/hr, how it relates to MCFD Autism Funding — and how to reach a person today if you need it before online booking opens.
Read Article →Wedding & Event Childcare in BC: What to Know
Childcare at a wedding is a staffing decision, not a favour you ask of an aunt. What event nannies actually do, what it costs at $40/hr per nanny, how the overtime threshold works on a long wedding day, and the questions worth settling before you book.
Read Article →Corporate Event Childcare in BC: Staffing a Family Day, Party, or Offsite
Company family days and holiday parties fail on the same detail: nobody staffed the children. What corporate event childcare costs at $40/hr per nanny, how to size it when the headcount is a guess, and who is liable when the caregiver is not your employee.
Read Article →Conference Childcare in BC: What Organisers Need to Arrange
Offering childcare is one of the cheapest things a conference can do to change who is able to attend. What it costs across a multi-day programme, why the overtime threshold resetting daily matters, and the logistics organisers underestimate.
Read Article →What to Expect From Event Nanny Staffing in BC: A Shift, Start to Finish
Not the pricing and not the formula — the shift itself. What happens in the twenty minutes before your guests arrive, what the 6 PM stretch looks like with small children, and how handover works when there are fourteen of them.
Read Article →Occasional Childcare in BC: Date Nights, PD Days, and the Day Nobody Planned For
Three very different reasons to need a few hours of childcare, and what each one actually costs. Including an honest answer about the one Puffin cannot currently solve online.
Read Article →Holiday-Season Childcare in BC: New Year's Eve, Office Parties and the Two-Week Winter Break
December puts three different childcare problems into the same few weeks. Here is what each one costs, what changes the price, and what does not.
Read Article →Visiting Vancouver, BC With Children? Booking a Babysitter at Your Hotel or Rental
For families on holiday, a work trip or a night before a cruise: where Puffin can come to you, what to sort out from home before you travel, and what the hours cost.
Read Article →Spring Break and Pro-D Days in the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley: Every School District's Calendar
The 12 school districts from Vancouver to Hope, each linked to its official calendar, what holds every year, and what covering spring break costs.
Read Article →In-Home Speech Therapy in the Fraser Valley: A Parent's Guide
What in-home speech support actually involves in the Fraser Valley, who delivers it, how it differs from a clinic appointment, and the questions worth asking before you commit to a provider.
Read Article →What Is an SLPA, and How Can One Help My Child?
A Speech-Language Pathology Assistant delivers the plan; a Speech-Language Pathologist writes it. What that division actually means for your child, your waitlist, and your bill.
Read Article →Pediatric Occupational Therapy at Home: What to Expect
Occupational therapy for children is about the ordinary work of being a child — dressing, eating, writing, coping with a noisy room. What in-home OT support involves, and what it does not.
Read Article →What Is an OTA, and When Should You Consider One?
An Occupational Therapy Assistant delivers an OT’s plan week after week. When that is the right fit, when it is not, and what to check before you engage one.
Read Article →OT for Sensory Processing: What It Means and What Helps at Home
Sensory processing is how a child organises sound, touch, movement and light. What it looks like when that system is working hard, and the ordinary adjustments families make at home.
Read Article →In-Home Behaviour Intervention and ABA in BC: How It Works
Who does what in a behaviour intervention programme, why the supervising clinician matters more than the interventionist, and how BC autism funding treats these hours.
Read Article →Supporting an Autistic Child at Home: How Respite and Intervention Fit Together
Respite and intervention are different services doing different jobs, and families are often offered one when they need the other. How to tell which you need this month.
Read Article →Private Speech Therapy vs. the Public System in BC: How to Think About It
The two pathways differ on referral, cost, scheduling control and what is covered. What each involves, and why the honest answer for most families is "both".
Read Article →Combining Childcare and Therapy: What One Provider Actually Changes
Families coordinating a nanny, a therapist and a schedule are doing unpaid project management. What consolidating actually solves, and what it does not.
Read Article →Employed Nanny vs. Contractor Nanny: Who Is Actually Liable?
The word on the invoice decides who carries the risk when something goes wrong. What "employee" and "contractor" actually mean for a family hiring in-home care.
Read Article →Is Your Nanny Insured? WorkSafeBC, Explained for Families
Household insurance, liability insurance and workers’ compensation are three different things, and families routinely assume one covers the others. What each actually does.
Read Article →What Happens If Your Nanny Is Injured On the Job?
A slip on wet stairs, a back strained lifting a toddler. What follows depends almost entirely on one thing decided before it happened: who the employer was.
Read Article →What a Background Check Costs in BC — and What It Actually Covers
"Background checked" covers different checks with different scope. Why the police vulnerable sector check is the one that matters for caregivers, what sets its cost and wait, and what to ask.
Read Article →How Puffin Vets Every Caregiver
The full process, including the parts we cannot do. Written so you can compare it against anyone else’s.
Read Article →Childcare Marketplaces vs. a Full-Service Agency: An Honest Comparison
Marketplaces are genuinely better at some things — price, choice, speed. Agencies are better at others. The difference is structural, and knowing which you are buying matters more than which is "better".
Read Article →Why Puffin Doesn't Take Cash — Tipping, Extra Time, and How Payment Actually Works
Puffin does not expect tipping, and a caregiver should never be handed cash — not as a tip, not for extra time. Here is what cash actually costs the caregiver, and why every dollar goes through the same card the booking did.
Read Article →Preparing for a Newborn: Deciding on Support Before the Baby Arrives
Most families arrange postpartum help after they are already exhausted. What the options actually are, what each one is for, and the decisions worth making while you still have the bandwidth.
Read Article →Returning to Work After Mat Leave in BC: The Childcare Decision
The childcare arrangement usually has to be settled months before the return date, while you are least able to think about it. What the realistic options are and when each needs deciding.
Read Article →Summer Childcare in the Fraser Valley: Covering Nine Weeks
Nine weeks of school holiday against three weeks of parental leave. How families actually build a summer that works, and where in-home care fits alongside camps.
Read Article →Back-to-School Nanny Checklist: What to Settle Before Week One
The school year runs on a hundred small logistics, and the ones that go wrong are almost always the ones nobody wrote down. A checklist to work through before the first week.
Read Article →Managing Multiples: What Nanny Help for Twins Actually Costs
Two babies is not two of anything — except the work. What in-home help for twins costs, why the rate does not double, and the honest conversation about when one caregiver is enough.
Read Article →Care for Children With Additional Needs: What Families Should Know
Finding childcare for a child with additional needs usually means explaining your child to strangers, repeatedly. What to ask, what a caregiver can and cannot do, and where therapy support is different from childcare.
Read Article →$10 a Day Daycare, the Affordable Child Care Benefit, or In-Home Care? How BC Families Decide
Three things BC families weigh against each other, which mostly aren't competing for the same job. What each one is, who it's for, and where in-home care actually fits.
Read Article →Nanny Placement Agency in British Columbia: How It Works Province-Wide
Puffin's hourly care is licensed in 16 municipalities. Placement is not — it runs province-wide, on one flat fee, from a BC-wide candidate registry. Here is exactly how it works, what it costs, and who ends up as the employer.
Read Article →How to Check Out a Nanny Placement Agency in BC: Seven Questions Worth Asking
A nanny placement is one of the larger decisions a household makes, and the agency market is not regulated the way you might assume. Seven questions to run against any agency in BC — including this one.
Read Article →How Fast Can a Nanny Placement Actually Happen in BC?
Profile reviewed in one business day, matched candidates in 7–10. Here is what happens on each of those days, the four things that reliably make a search longer, and the honest answer about smaller communities.
Read Article →Finding a Babysitter or Nanny in Chilliwack, BC: Why Local Beats Everything Else
Most Chilliwack childcare arrangements do not fail because the caregiver was wrong. They fail because the caregiver lived an hour west. Here is why that matters more here than almost anywhere else in the Lower Mainland.
Read Article →Babysitters and Nannies for Acreage and Rural Addresses in Abbotsford, BC
A Clearbrook townhouse and a Sumas Prairie acreage are the same booking at the same rate. They are not the same match. Here is what actually changes, and what to say up front.
Read Article →Babysitter in Langley, BC: It's Two Municipalities, and That Changes Your Search
An address in "Langley" could be in either of two separate municipalities. It confuses forms, filters and search results constantly — and it matters much less than it looks, for one specific reason.
Read Article →Early-Start Childcare in Mission, BC: Babysitters and Nannies for Commuting Households
Plenty of Mission households leave before sunrise. That makes a 6:00 AM childcare start an ordinary request here and an odd one elsewhere — and it has some specific consequences worth knowing.
Read Article →After-School Pickup in Maple Ridge, BC: What a Babysitter Actually Needs to Do It
After-school pickup is one of the most useful ongoing childcare bookings in Maple Ridge, and one of the easiest to arrange on optimistic assumptions. Here is what it actually requires.
Read Article →Babysitter in New Westminster, BC: Short-Notice Care in a Compact City
New Westminster's size is an advantage families rarely think to use. Here is what a compact city actually changes about booking childcare — and the one part of it that sits across the water.
Read Article →Babysitters and Nannies in Ladner, Tsawwassen and North Delta, BC: One City, Three Searches
Delta is three communities that do not touch, split by a tunnel and some farmland. It makes almost no difference to what you pay and a real difference to how long a search takes.
Read Article →Babysitter in Burnaby, BC: Booking Care Into a Tower, and Why Transit Widens Your Options
Burnaby is towers and postwar houses in roughly equal measure. One of those differences is purely logistical and easily solved; the other quietly makes your candidate pool bigger.
Read Article →Babysitters in Surrey, BC: Planning Around the School Calendar
In Surrey, most babysitting questions are really school-calendar questions. Here is how the after-school gap, pro-D days and Surrey's two-week spring break each translate into a booking, and what each one costs.
Read Article →Booking a Caregiver Who Speaks Your Family's Language in Richmond, BC
Where the booking form asks about language for childcare, postpartum and senior care, how to ask for a language that isn't listed, and what a language request can and can't promise.
Read Article →Booking a Postpartum Doula Through an Agency vs. Hiring One Privately
Hiring a postpartum doula privately is a completely reasonable thing to do, and plenty of excellent doulas work that way. Here is what actually differs, stated without pretending one option is obviously right.
Read Article →Questions to Ask Before You Book Postpartum Support
You will be booking this while pregnant or exhausted, which is exactly when nobody asks enough questions. Eight worth asking any provider, with Puffin's own answers.
Read Article →Doula, Night Nurse, or Newborn Care Specialist? What the Titles Mean in BC
"Night nurse" is the phrase almost everyone searches and almost nobody means literally. Here is what each of these titles actually denotes in BC, and why the difference is worth knowing before you book.
Read Article →Can One Postpartum Support Worker Handle Twins Overnight?
The rate does not double for twins — but the real question is not price, it's whether one pair of hands is enough at 3:00 AM. Here is the honest answer, including when it isn't.
Read Article →What Happens If Your Postpartum Support Worker Is Sick?
You have not slept in four days, tonight is the night, and at 9:00 PM your support worker calls in sick. Here is exactly what happens next — including the part we cannot guarantee.
Read Article →Franchise or Independent? Choosing a Home-Care Agency in BC
Home care in BC is split between national franchise brands and local independents. Both models work. They differ on things that matter more than the brand — and a couple of them are worth checking before you sign anything.
Read Article →Respite Care in BC: For the Person Doing the Caring
Family carers book care for their parent constantly and for themselves almost never. Respite is the service that exists for you — and the reason it goes unused is not cost.
Read Article →Choosing Senior Care in Surrey, BC: What to Sort Out First
Surrey is large enough that where in it you live changes the practical questions, and small enough on rates that it changes nothing about the price. What to settle before the first visit.
Read Article →How Many Hours of Senior Care Do You Actually Need?
The rate is the easy part and it is published. The question families struggle with is how many hours, which nobody can answer from a price list. Here is the arithmetic.
Read Article →How Do You Know When a Parent Needs Help at Home?
Almost nobody decides this from a checklist. They notice something, dismiss it, notice it again — and then something happens. Here is what to look for earlier, and how to say it out loud.
Read Article →Public or Private Home Care for a Parent in BC? How the Two Fit Together
Most families assume they have to choose between the health authority and a private agency. Usually they are not choosing — they are working out which part of the week each one covers.
Read Article →Coming Home From Hospital: Arranging Help at Home for a Parent in the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley
A discharge plan often comes together in a day or two. What the hospital and health authority arrange, where private help fits, and how to book around a date that moves.
Read Article →Booking a Babysitter or Nanny for a Birthday Party in BC
A children's birthday party is the one event where every guest is a child and the host is outnumbered. What a party nanny actually does, how many you need, and the mistake about entertainers.
Read Article →Travelling to a BC Wedding With Kids? Booking a Babysitter as a Guest
Every guide to wedding childcare is written for whoever is hosting. If you are the family flying in with a two-year-old and an invitation that says adults only, none of it helps. This one is for you.
Read Article →Childcare for Large Family Celebrations and Cultural Gatherings in BC
A hall full of three generations is a different childcare problem from a wedding — every age arrives at once, the event runs long, and nobody RSVP'd a headcount for the under-fives.
Read Article →Childcare at a Corporate Retreat in BC: What Makes It Different From an Offsite
A retreat is not a longer offsite. It is residential, it runs across days rather than hours, and the children are there for the whole thing — which changes the staffing arithmetic considerably.
Read Article →On a Waitlist for Speech, OT or Behaviour Support? What to Do Meanwhile
The referral is in and the answer is "we'll be in touch." Here is what is worth doing with that time, and what is genuinely arrangeable while you wait.
Read Article →What Actually Happens at a Pediatric Assessment in BC
Most parents arrive at a first speech or OT assessment with no idea what the hour consists of. Here is the general shape, what to bring, and what happens afterwards.
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