When a lead closes

Leads don't stay open forever. Here's when they close and what that means for your conversations.

Why a lead closes

The family found someone or closed their request. Families can close a request at any time, and a family with several requests (say, a birth doula now and a night nanny later) can close one while the others stay open.
The due date passed. Birth-window leads (birth doula, midwife, and childbirth educator requests that don't also ask for postpartum support) close about 7 days after the family's due date.
Time ran out. Leads in other categories close about 30 days after posting, or 7 days after the due date if that's later. When a family re-opens a request or confirms they're still looking, the 30 days start again from that point.
The family never verified. Requests from families who never verified their email or phone close after 7 days — you won't have seen these, since they were never sent out.
Bornbir removed it. Our team removes leads that don't belong on the board.
The family deleted their account. Their requests, and your conversation with them, are removed along with it.

How you'll know

If a family closes a request you replied to, you may receive an email titled "Update on your lead from [the family's first name]" letting you know. There's no push notification or text for a closed lead. Inside the conversation, a banner shows that the lead was closed by the parent or by Bornbir. A family's specific reason for closing is private and is never shared with providers.

If the family closed their request because they hired you, you won't get that email. Instead, your conversation shows a Hired you tag and a "[Name] marked you as hired" banner, so you can add them to your clients (see "Managing your clients").

Opening an old lead alert for a lead that has closed or been deleted shows a Lead removed page with a Check other leads button.

What changes when a lead closes

The lead no longer appears on the leads board. What happens to your conversation depends on how far it got:

You and the family have messaged back and forth, the family is your client, or they marked you as hired: the conversation stays open in your Active inbox and you can keep messaging as usual. The family's phone number stays available too (see "Viewing a family's phone number"). The banner reads "The parent closed this lead. You two were already talking, so you can keep messaging here."
Otherwise — for example, you wrote and the family never replied — the conversation becomes read-only and moves to Archived. You can see the message history but can't send new messages, and the family's phone number is no longer available.
Leads removed by Bornbir make every conversation read-only, even ones where you'd been talking.

Closed doesn't always mean gone

If a read-only conversation's lead was closed by the family or expired, and the family messages you again or re-opens their request, the conversation re-opens automatically and you can reply as usual — so a thoughtful last message can pay off if a family comes back later. When a family re-opens, only providers who haven't talked with them yet get a new alert; your existing conversation simply becomes active again. Leads removed by Bornbir stay closed.