---
title: "Signing in a child on a state subsidy program"
description: "What changes at the door when your child's care is paid by a state subsidy, why the kiosk takes a photo, and how to fix a missed pickup or a whole missed day."
type: guide
updated: 2026-09-18
canonical_url: https://help.nestlicare.com/parents/check-in/child-on-a-state-subsidy-program
roles: ["parent"]
platforms: [kiosk, ios, android]
---
If your child's care is paid through a state subsidy program, the state collects the sign-ins and sign-outs itself and counts every authorized day. Your daycare sends them from NestliCare. A few things at the door are different for your child.

## At the door

- **You sign your child in and out at the kiosk**, every day, both sides. The NestliCare app on your phone sends you to the kiosk for this child; it cannot record the sign-in itself.
- **The kiosk takes a photo of you, your signature, and the tablet's location** on each sign-in and sign-out. The state requires all three as proof that a parent or authorized adult was there. They go to the state and are deleted from NestliCare after the retention window your daycare set.
- **Both sides matter.** A day with a sign-in but no sign-out, or the other way round, counts as an unexplained absence with the state, even though your child was there.
- Staff cannot sign your child in or out for you. The one exception is when nobody from your family is at the door, for example when the center drives your child to or from school; staff records that side and you record the other.

## If you forgot to sign in or out

You have **six days** to fix it. At the kiosk, enter your code and choose the day: you set the real pickup time and sign again, with a fresh photo. NestliCare reminds you the evening after a missed pickup, and once more the day before the six days run out. After that the state no longer accepts the change and the day counts as an unexplained absence.

If nobody signed your child in or out at all that day, NestliCare tells you the next morning, and once more the day before the six days run out. The same panel lists it under **days with nothing recorded**. Tap the day, enter the time you dropped off and the time you picked up, and sign once with a photo. The state treats this the same way as its own tablet's backdated entry: it comes from you, not from the center, and it counts as attendance.

If your center lets you sign in from your phone, the same **Fix a past day** button sits under your child's card in the NestliCare app, and the phone takes the signature, photo and location itself. If the button is not there, the center keeps sign-ins at the kiosk, and that is where you fix the day.

## When your child stays home

Tell the daycare, and say why. A sick day, a holiday or a day the center is closed does not count against you. A day with no attendance and no reason does, and the state ends care after too many of those in an eligibility period. Your daycare can see the count and will let you know before it gets close.

## Your information

The photo, signature and location are collected only at the moment of sign-in or sign-out, only for a child on the program, and only for the state's attendance record. NestliCare never uses them for anything else.