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The Back-Up Care Advantage Program is a pilot program, available to UC Berkeley Back Up Care eligible professors, which runs through June 30, 2011. Back-Up Care offers a temporary solution for those times when you need to make other arrangements for the care of your loved ones, such as when your child's school is closed for an in-service day and you need to teach, be in your lab, or devote time to writing or committee assignments.
UCB has partnered with Bright Horizons Family Solutions® to offer you this program. Bright Horizons Family Solutions® contracts with a provider network of pre-screened childcare centers and home care agencies available to deliver this care for your child, spouse/partner or parent.
We have used the backup care program at home and during travel. We have had care givers come to our home for unexpected illness and daycare holidays, to our hotel room in Portland, OR so we could both attend symposia at a national conference, and while visiting UC San Diego we were able to take our daughter to a daycare facility that was part of the backup care plan.
From the moment you call, the service is friendly, efficient and gives you the most amazing feeling of confidence in their ability to find the perfect person to care for your needs. In every case the backup care providers were extremely professional and they provided the most excellent and loving care for our daughter, as an infant and more recently as a toddler. Backup care makes reliable care amazingly easy to find and quick to arrange, anywhere in the country.
-Academic couple
UC Berkeley Back Up Care eligible professors are invited to participate in the pilot program by either registering online at the password-protected Web address:
backup.brighthorizons.com; user name: UCB and password: backupcare6 or by calling the Back Up Care Advantage Program 24/7 toll free number 877-BH-CARES (877-242-2737). In order to register you will need to provide your employee ID number. There is no fee to register and it does not require immediate participation; registration in advance will ensure that you have access to the program when needed and will prevent delays in the scheduling process. Once you are registered with the Back-Up Care Advantage Program, you can schedule in home or center based care by calling 877-BH-CARES (877-242-2737). This toll free number is available 24/7. You may call to schedule care up to 30 days in advance however it is recommended that you allow 3-4 hours notice before care is needed. This includes care for infants through the elderly - elderly parents need not live in the same home or city as the Back- Up Care eligible faculty to qualify. Please note that there is a four hour minimum for all care requests.
I have used the back-up program since its inception and found it exceedingly valuable... it combines high-quality care with flexibility and low "overhead" (it takes less than 2 minutes to set up childcare on-line). I have used it when I needed to work on weekends, when I was going away for conferences, and when my son's regular daycare was not in session.
-Faculty member
As a Back- Up Care eligible faculty member, you may utilize up to 27 hours of care from March 1, 2011- June 30, 2011 for the affordable rate of $2 per hour for center based child care and $4 per hour for in-home child and/or adult/elder care. Because of the subsidy provided by UC Berkeley, the Back- Up Care program provides eligible employees with care at a cost that is less than the market rate for these services. The difference between the market rate and the employee cost is treated by the IRS as additional income to the employee (see PDF Tax Implications).
For more program details, please see the links below or go to
backup.brighthorizons.com, register and view the specifics of the UCB program.
Back- Up child and adult/elder care will support you as you balance the responsibilities of work and family. Should you have any questions or concerns about the Bright Horizons' Back-Up Care Advantage Program, please contact Wendy Nishikawa, Work/Life Program Manager, at 510-642-7883 or
wnishikawa@uhs.berkeley.edu.
I have made significant use of the pilot program for backup care this year, following the birth of my second child. The availability of this program has made a substantive difference both in my quality of life and in my ability to perform work (teaching as well as research) and participate in committee assignments. In particular, the incidents when my child was sick or daycare was closed used to be major stress points for my family which have all but disappeared thanks to this program. I would like to take this opportunity to state my great appreciation for it and to as strongly as possible, endorse that it has had a substantial effect on my quality of life.
-Faculty member
Angelica Stacy
Acting Vice Provost
Academic Affairs and Faculty Welfare
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