Super Sitters’ Sitter Policies
Updated January 2026.
These policies apply to all Active Sitters on the Super Sitters Roster. You can read and review all Family Policies here. We have high expectations for them too.
General Policies
Terms to know:
One Time Placement (or OTP): a stand-alone or ad-hoc request.
Recurring Placement (or REC): an ongoing or regular placement lasting one month or more with the same sitter, for the same schedule (days/times) each week.
Away From Home (or AFH): a hotel, rental, or not-at-home placement
Sub for Recurring (or SFR): a backup sitter placement when the recurring placement sitter is not available
Active Sitter: a Super Sitter that has been through our sitter intake process and is in the active rotation for Super Sitter placements.
Active Family: family that has completed the family profile, completed their intake call and paid their registration fee, and is able to submit requests in our system.
Roster Eligibility
Super Sitters reserves the right to remove any sitter from the active roster if they are no longer a fit and/or compatible with the agency overall. This can be determined by, but is not limited to: feedback from families, interactions with the Super Sitters Team, overall compatibility with Super Sitters’ values and expectations, and the agency’s ongoing ability to meet the needs of a particular sitter or family.
Feedback: while completing the Sitter Feedback Form is not a specific policy requirement, it is an integral part of what makes our process work. Families are asked to complete feedback RE: sitters, and sitters are asked to complete feedback RE: families.
Any booking between a family and an active Super Sitter must be submitted through family’s online portal: not arranged directly.
- If a family and sitter who have met through Super Sitters book directly without informing the agency and submitting an official request, it is grounds for dismissal from the roster for both parties.
- This policy includes referring families and/or sitters that have been introduced or connected by Super Sitters.
Placement Requirements & Policies
All requests must be submitted by a family, through their online portal. No exceptions. Requests sent via email, text, direct conversations, or other communication are not considered official request submissions.
- All placements must meet a minimum of 3 paid hours per placement. If a request is submitted for less than 3 hours, payment for 3 hours is required.
- Requests and placements can not be swapped, traded, or exchanged. Even if it’s the same sitter and same hours for a different day. Cancellations and/or additional days will be charged as such.
- Placement start time can be flexible +/- 2hrs max to be considered the same placement, and only if the confirmed sitter is also available to make the adjustment. If adjusted more than 2hr, or the confirmed sitter is unable to make the shift, this may be considered a Cancellation & New Request and be charged as such.
- A Super Sitters Placement is considered confirmed when a sitter is assigned, and details have been sent via email.
- Super Sitters timestamp (date and time in CST) and delivery confirmation system will be used as time/date reference.
Cancellations
Sitters use the Sitter Cancellation Form to cancel a confirmed placement. All cancellations require a timestamp and this form must be used.
If a family cancels a confirmed placement:
Cancellation fees are applicable once the placement is confirmed. Recurring placement dates canceled more than 4 weeks in advance will NOT incur a cancellation fee.
Cancellation fees are paid directly from the family to the Super Sitter via the sitter payment handles provided.
Cancellation Fee Structure:
- $50 – Placement under 8 hours is cancelled after it has been confirmed, with more than 48 hours notice.
- $75 – Placement 8 hours or more is cancelled after it has been confirmed, with more than 48 hours notice.
- $Full Payment – Placement is cancelled 48 hours or less before placement start time.
- $Full Payment for canceled placement may apply during a high volume time or holiday week/weekend, placement is more than 8 hours, or if the agency deems a special circumstance. Check in with us if you think this may apply.
Payments & Fees
Hourly payment always goes directly from the family to the Super Sitter at the end of any in-home/AFH placement.
- Rates are for every hour and are paid directly to the Super Sitter at the end of the placement.
- Hourly rates are always listed in every confirmation email and will vary family to family.
- Hourly rates are not negotiable for sitters or parents (although parents are permitted to pay more if they wish).
- If a family relieves you before the scheduled end time, they are legally responsible for paying for the time worked, not the time booked, as long as it still meets the minimum of 3 paid hours. *You can submit this on feedback as we know it can be a deterrent to future placements.
- All payments go directly to individual Super Sitters. Chicago Super Sitters Ltd. does not record, report, or track income or provide any tax documentation. This is the responsibility of each individual Super Sitter.
All Active Sitters pay a $20 monthly fee to the agency.
- This fee is due on the 1st or 15th (depending on when you join) of each month you are on the Active Sitter Roster.
- This fee will be first charged at the first billing cycle after your 1-week grace period to complete your onboarding items.
- When offboarding from the roster, we need 7+ days notice in order to stop billing for the following month.
Sickness
Baseline Sickness
Sniffles, runny nose, and some sort of dry cough (no fever, which means nothing above 98.6 degrees F) AKA the “Chicago Winter Cold”. The cold that is prevalent in parents, kids, & those around children, especially during the winter months.
This ‘Baseline Sickness’ means that the Agency, families, and sitters understand that while working with kids, or having kids in your home, this “Baseline Sickness” is to be expected and is not a barrier to work, or to placement confirmation, unless shared with the agency separately on this form (sitter) or this form (family).
- If a sitter declines to work in a home with Baseline Sickness present, they are NOT due a cancellation fee, and Super Sitters will attempt to find a substitute sitter for the family.
- If a sitter has Baseline Sickness, and the family declines the coverage, the family is responsible for the cancellation fee due to the sitter.
- If a family has anything more than Baseline Sickness, a sitter may decline to work and the family is responsible for the cancellation fee due to the confirmed sitter.
- If a sitter or family has anything more than Baseline Sickness, standard cancellation protocol applies.
Covid Exposure
It is the agency’s opinion that at this point, anyone exisiting without a mask in any public space these days has been exposed to Covid, even if they have not been told specifically about an exposure. If a sitter/family/child is exposed to a positive Covid case, it is expected that person will test for Covid and relay this information to the agency and/or the sitter/family.
If the family, child, and/or sitter exposed is testing NEGATIVE, is otherwise not displaying any symptoms, and is willing to wear a mask, the placement is expected to proceed as booked.
- If a sitter declines to work in a home that has been exposed to Covid but where all parties are testing negative, showing no symptoms, and willing to mask, they are NOT due a cancellation fee, and CSS will attempt to find a substitute sitter for the family.
- If a sitter has been exposed but has tested negative, showing no symptoms, and is willing to wear a mask, and the family declines the coverage, the family is responsible for the cancellation fee due to the confirmed sitter.
- If a sitter or family has tested positive for Covid, standard cancellation protocol applies.
Both families AND sitters are able to inform Super Sitters if they feel they are an exception, and the “baseline sickness” and “covid exposure” policies should NOT apply to them or their household. Please use this form (sitter) or this form (family) to share this information with the agency.
If ANY sickness is not disclosed:
- If a Super Sitter arrives at a placement and finds more than “Baseline Sickness” that has not been disclosed, they are permitted to leave immediately, and full placement compensation is due.
- If a Super Sitter arrives at a home with more than “Baseline Sickness” that has not been disclosed, the family is permitted to send the Super Sitter home with no payment and a refund for placement from Super Sitters if a replacement can not be found.
Agency Information
- Regular Business Hours: Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm
Super Sitters Requests Line
773-609-1277
- Requesting / accepting one-time placements
- Questions and information that needs to be seen by an admin ASAP or outside of business hours
- Cancellations, sickness, changes in a confirmed placement
Super Sitters Requests Team
Requests@chicagosupersitters.com
- Receiving / accepting recurring placements, general questions
- Questions / information during business hours
Sitter Admin/Roster Management
Sitteradmin@chicagosupersitters.com
- Information updates (address, name, pronouns, etc.)
- Invoicing and questions
- Offboarding/leaving the roster