---
title: "Someone else is picking up today"
description: "How pickups work when a grandparent, babysitter, or other family helper is collecting a child, and where each control lives."
type: guide
updated: 2026-08-05
canonical_url: https://help.nestlicare.com/owners/situations/someone-else-picks-up-today
roles: ["super_admin", "center_admin"]
platforms: [web]
---
Every family member in NestliCare has their own personal 4-digit **pickup code**, and every code works at the kiosk. When a family tells you someone new is collecting their child, the answer is one step: **a full-access family member adds the person as a family member in their app.** The new person gets their own code, it works immediately, and you're notified.

- **Full-access family members** manage the family: they add people, view and reset the family's codes, and handle billing.
- **Limited-access family members** are helpers a full-access member added — a grandparent, a babysitter. They see much less in the app (no billing, no account management), but their pickup code is just as valid as a parent's.

Access level is an app-permissions setting. It has nothing to do with pickup.

## You're told, not asked

There is no approval step. When a parent adds a pickup contact, you get a notification, and the person appears on the family's card under **Families** right away. If a name surprises you, that's a conversation with the family, not a button in the dashboard.

The code is also how the door stays safe:

- **It identifies one person.** Each code belongs to one family member and stays the same until reset.
- **It's revocable.** The family can reset any member's code from their app, and you can reveal or force-reset any code from the family card. Removing someone from the family kills their code immediately.
- **It's audited.** Every check-in and check-out records who performed it, and every admin code lookup lands in your audit log.

<Callout kind="tip" title="No app required">
A pickup contact never needs the app. A full-access family member reads them their code once from **Me → Family Pickup Codes**, and they're set from then on.
</Callout>

## Drop-off works the same way

Nobody needs the app to drop off or collect a child, and there is no separate morning rule: the same code works in both directions. A grandparent who does the morning run three times a week types the same four digits every time.

And the kiosk is a convenience, not the only door — your teacher can always check a child in or out from the staff app for whoever is standing in front of them.

## At the front door

If you run self check-in, the person collecting uses the same door flow as everyone else: the QR poster or their pickup code at the tablet. See [Set up parent check-in](/owners/centers/set-up-kiosk-mode).

For anything outside the norm, your staff verify against your center's pickup policy before releasing a child. The family card shows every member the family has added — if the person at the door isn't on it, they have no code, and staff should call a full-access family member before releasing.

## When you need to see or change a code

You can look up any family member's pickup code from their family card, and reset it if it has been compromised. See [Reveal or reset a pickup code](/owners/families/reveal-or-reset-a-pickup-code).

For outages, the [Emergency Offline Pack](/owners/reports/emergency-offline-pack) prints the whole roster so staff can still verify people at the door with no internet.

<Callout kind="tip" title="When in doubt, confirm">
NestliCare records who checks a child out, but it can't replace your staff's judgment at the door. A working code confirms identity and that the family added the person. If someone unexpected shows up, a quick call to a full-access family member is always the right move.
</Callout>