Curated Care: New York’s Creative Babysitting App for Back-to-School Peace of Mind
As New York parents juggle the whirlwind of back-to-school—after-school pickup, soccer practice, back-to-school nights, late office hours, and the occasional date night—finding convenient and enriching child care is a top priority. That’s where Curated Care steps in.
This innovative platform, available as both an intuitive website and a newly updated babysitting app, blends the ease of a digital marketplace with the warmth and trust of a close-knit community of creative professionals.
Founded in 2014 by New York City moms Erin McConaghy and Marlene Veloso, Curated Care was born from a shared belief that child care should be inspiring, effortless, and creative. Drawing from their shared backgrounds in arts and education—and their experiences connecting families with specialized caregivers—they set out to fill the gap between standard babysitting services and enriching, skill-based child care.
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“We were deeply inspired to create an enrichment-based marketplace where artists and teachers could market and share all their unique skill sets with families,” says McConaghy.
They imagined a space where artists, educators, coaches, and performers could be matched with children who share their interests—transforming ordinary babysitting into meaningful, enriching experiences.
A Standout Approach
Unlike care platforms focused on scale, Curated Care keeps its roster intentionally small and highly selective. Every Kid Expert is hand-selected and invited to join, with only 5–10% of applicants making it through the vetting process each month.
“Our goal isn’t to be the biggest marketplace, but it is to be one of the most curated and thoughtful,” McConaghy explains.
Today, the NYC roster includes 400–500 active Kid Experts serving more than 4,000 booking families. Many book consistent weekly schedules, while others use the app for one-off needs like a date-night sitter or a musician for a birthday party.
The streamlined booking system allows parents to send a single request to multiple team members, quickly and securely matching families with caregivers without sacrificing quality.
Designed for City Life
Currently available in New York City and Los Angeles, Curated Care is tailored to support busy families with flexible child care solutions—whether it’s last-minute backup care when school is closed, a dependable after-school pickup schedule, or consistent weekly sessions. Parents can search detailed Kid Expert profiles, message candidates, book appointments, and pay securely—all from the convenience of their phone.
“Launching in NYC meant we had the most creative, incredibly talented people right outside our door, and we wanted to inspire every extra-inspiring babysitter in the city to join our platform,” says McConaghy.
Meeting Families’ Needs
From its early days of structured, skill-based sessions, Curated Care quickly expanded to cover school pickups, after-school logistics, and tutoring—without losing the enrichment focus. The pandemic reinforced the need for consistent, trusted caregivers, and today the platform strikes a balance—providing reliable child care that still sparks creativity and engagement.
“It could be so easy to transform run-of-the-mill babysitting time into an actually valuable experience for our kids if parents could easily find and book these people on one platform or app, so we aimed to do just that,” says McConaghy.
Babysitting and Beyond
A key feature parents love is the ability to build a personal roster of go-to sitters. Beyond filling last-minute gaps or managing recurring schedules, Curated Care offers a range of enrichment services, from piano lessons to chess to Spanish, tutors for homework help, and party entertainers for special events.
Parents can browse detailed profiles, message candidates, book, and pay—all from the convenience of their phone—with every Kid Expert passing background checks, reference verification, and interviews.
For busy NYC families, Curated Care offers safe, dependable child care infused with the city’s unique culture of creativity and innovation. This flexibility benefits parents managing unpredictable schedules and creates meaningful opportunities for the city’s creative professionals, giving them flexible, rewarding work that uses their talents in new ways.
Find the perfect Kid Expert for your family by visiting curatedcare.com.
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