When you enrol in home-based care, you join a licensed ECE service provider, like Bright Futures, who connects you with a professional Educator and supports your whānau throughout your early learning journey.

As a licensed provider, Bright Futures works under the Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 and the Licensing Criteria for Home-Based Services, ensuring that all education and care meets national standards for safety, quality and learning.

Our role as a licensed provider

Our job is to provide oversight and ensure that education and care in every Bright Futures home meets the same high standards you’d expect from any early learning service.

We support our Educators with regular visits and contact, professional development, and access to resources, excursions, and early learning guidance. This helps each Educator create a learning environment where tamariki are safe, supported and thriving.

Every Educator and family has the support of a Visiting Teacher — a qualified kaiako who holds a current practising certificate for early childhood teaching. Your Visiting Teacher provides educational oversight, checks in regularly, and is available to kōrero with parents and whānau about children’s learning, wellbeing, and development.

Independent educators, supported by Bright Futures

Bright Futures Educators are self-employed contractors who operate their own home-based service under our licences. This means they set their own service conditions, such as hours and days of care, hourly rates, and their personal approach to early learning. We provide the professional, compliance, and curriculum support behind the scenes.

Families work directly with their Educator for day-to-day arrangements, payments, and any changes to their child’s care. Together, each family and Educator agree on a contract for care (known as the Educator Conditions of Service), which outlines key details like hours, fees, and holiday expectations. This sits alongside your Enrolment Agreement with Bright Futures, which formally registers your child under our licences.

Our role as an ‘agent for administration’

Bright Futures also acts as an agent for administration, managing payments and government subsidies on behalf of families and Educators in line with regulatory requirements.

We receive subsidies directly, process payments, and charge a small weekly fee to families for this service. To keep everything clear, families and Bright Futures complete an Administration Services Agreement, which explains how payments and subsidies are managed.

Starting your journey

Once you’ve found an Educator who feels right for your whānau, we’ll guide you through completing the necessary agreements and setting up your care arrangement.

Our goal is to make your transition into home-based care smooth, transparent, and reassuring - so you always know who to contact and what to expect.