Jovie Review: Babysitter Agencies

Jovie, rebranded from College Nannies and Sitters in 2022 and a subsidiary of Bright Horizons, is truly a babysitting agency. They hire caregivers as their own employees (which means they may actually get benefits) and then match them with families like yours. Whether you need on-demand help, part-time care, or even a full-time nanny, Jovie will find the right fit for you.

Not available nationwide

Before you get too far down the track with Jovie, you should know that they don't offer their services in all 50 states. The company operates through a franchise model, which means that local franchisees independently manage their operations in different regions. This allows them to cater to the specific needs of their communities. At the time of this evaluation, there were about 30 states (plus Washington DC) where this babysitting agency could connect you with childcare; notable exclusions were Utah, Maine, North Carolina, and Louisiana, among others. We recommend that you scroll down to the bottom of the main page to enter your zip code, even before you start filling out the form about your childcare needs.

Answer some initial questions to get started...

Once you've determined that Jovie is offered where you live, you'll get started by answering a few questions: the kind of help you need (after school, summer, occasional babysitter), how soon you need childcare (from ASAP to "within months"), and your basic contact info. Pretty basic, right?

...and now you wait

But, from there, you'll have to wait: there's no browsing of potential babysitters or even getting a preview of what you might pay, because the next step is having a Jovie team member reach out to you. As you might have already guessed, your experience from that point forward will completely depend on the Jovie franchise in your area, both with respect to what you'll pay and to the sitters on the roster.

Jovie does most of the heavy lifting

However, regardless of where you live, you can expect a few things to take place. First, you'll have a meeting (either in person or over the phone) with a rep from the Jovie franchise in your area. Once that's done, you'll be able to download the MySitters app and start scheduling. Any sitter you see on Jovie's app will have passed a thorough background check that looks for criminal records at the county, state, and federal levels. And, Jovie trains their babysitters at the beginning and throughout their employment with the franchise, including topics like child safety and age-appropriate fun. Finally, all payment is done through Jovie - mostly because Jovie hires babysitters as their own employees, so they take care of payroll, taxes, insurance, and any other benefits they choose to offer their caregivers.

More expensive than most

We know what you're thinking: "Sounds expensive... " You are probably correct. Again, what you pay will depend on what your local area charges, but we did a little digging to give you at least a ballpark. We found that in one Colorado area, the hourly rate charged to families varies from $28 to $40, with a 4-hour minimum charge per babysitting appointment. And, in every Jovie franchise, there's a one-time setup fee for new families, but we didn't find anyone revealing what that amount could look like. You'll find out the specifics in your area with your consultation, but at least now you have a bit of a heads-up.

Reputation depends solely on your local Jovie office

All of this can make Jovie's reputation tricky to summarize, with so much depending on how the local franchise operates. We've found families who rave about their Jovie babysitters and how easy it is to work with them and with the company, but also those who say that their sitters were often double-booked (which would be the franchise's fault) or that their concerns weren't appropriately addressed. The same goes for how babysitters and nannies feel about working for Jovie: some say that the experience has been fantastic and their supervisors genuinely care about them, and others complain about how they barely make minimum wage even though Jovie is charging families a lot more than that.

Do your homework first

Overall, we like the idea of Jovie: fully-vetted and trained babysitters, bookable through an app, and plenty of oversight if support is needed. That's a big step up compared with websites that just let people sign up as caregivers (and families) and do nothing to help ensure that things go smoothly. But, because it's not currently available in all 50 states and your experience is so dependent on the quality of your local franchise, we can't quite put Jovie at the top of our list of babysitting agencies. We recommend that you see if there's a franchise in your area by entering your zip code on the main website, and then do your own sleuthing to see how that location is doing reputation-wise.

On the Jovie website