Start with the accepted role and actual agreement
Keep the signed job brief, offer, guaranteed hours, duties, schedule, and start date together with the client agreement. When a placement ends, write down the reason and the exact replacement being requested. This makes it possible to distinguish a search for the original role from a search for a materially different one.
Read the guarantee's time window, notice requirements, exclusions, and promised remedy before describing what the agency owes. The PAO discussions include different views on partial refunds and replacement rights; those experiences are useful prompts for review, not terms that can be imported into another agency's contract.
Assess changes to hours and duties
If a family reduces guaranteed hours or repeatedly changes duties after placement, compare the new brief with what the candidate accepted. Ask whether the original candidate would have accepted the revised role and whether the agency would recruit from the same pool. Document the family conversation and give the client a written description of the proposed search.
A replacement policy can define how material changes are handled, but the agency should not decide a contested refund from memory or an informal precedent. If the agreement is unclear, pause the promise of a specific remedy and obtain legal review before sending a final position or settlement language.
Account for search work before a pause or restart
Record the dates of the replacement request, candidate outreach, profiles presented, interviews, and any pause requested by the family. A search paused before sourcing begins presents a different operational question from one paused after candidates have been referred. Tell the client whether the original window keeps running, can be extended, or requires a new engagement only after checking the written terms.
If a later search falls outside the original guarantee, a goodwill credit or discount may be a business choice. Define its amount and conditions in writing. Do not describe it as a contractual entitlement unless the agreement actually provides it.
Handle newborn-care bookings by dates and paid duration
For a newborn-care booking that is shortened and later extended, make a simple timeline of the original booked weeks, weeks worked, weeks already included in the fee, and newly requested weeks. That prevents an unexplained second charge for time the family has already paid for. The answer still depends on the agreement's fee trigger, minimum, change terms, and service model.
Newborn-care replacements can involve different referral, employment, or contractor arrangements. The PAO source raises those distinctions but does not resolve classification or legal responsibility. Keep any public policy statement general until the underlying model and terms have been reviewed by a qualified professional.
Agency checklist
- Retrieve the signed client agreement, role brief, and offer
- Record the original and revised hours, duties, dates, and pay
- Log referrals, interviews, and pauses in the replacement search
- Calculate already-paid and newly requested booking periods
- Put the proposed option and its basis in writing
- Route disputed refund, chargeback, classification, or settlement language for legal review