Setting your availability

Families check who is taking new clients before they write. The Availability page in your portal lets you say which months you're open, pause when you're full, mark time off, and sync your own calendar — and your answers appear near the top of your public profile and as a badge in search results.

Where to find it

Click Availability in the portal sidebar, between Profile and Inbox (in the Bornbir app, it's on the Account tab). Availability is free for every provider account, and every control saves the moment you tap it — there's no Save button. Your portal home also shows an Availability card, with a Set availability button until you've filled it in.

Accepting new clients

The Accepting new clients switch is on by default. Turn it off to pause: your profile stays live and searchable, but families see "Not taking new clients right now" on your profile and "Not taking new clients" on your search card. Your open months are saved for when you switch accepting back on. Pausing doesn't change your lead alerts or which leads reach your board — see "Can I hide or pause my profile?".

Open months

Tap a month to mark it Open or Full. You see the next 12 months, and they roll forward automatically. Open all and Clear set every month at once — if you're not sure yet, open all 12 and close the ones you fill.

  • Birth doulas, doulas, and midwives are asked "Which due months are you taking?" A family whose due date falls in an open month sees you as available.
  • Everyone else is asked "Which months can you start with a new family?"
  • Lactation consultants set a wait time instead of months — Within a few days, About a week, or Two weeks or more — because families care more about how soon you can visit. Your profile shows it as "Usually within a few days", and so on.

Time off

Click + Add time off to enter a date range (and an optional note like "Holidays"). Families due inside those dates see you as away, even in an open month — your profile shows "Away Dec 20 – Jan 3", for example. Click Remove next to a range to delete it. Time off read from a synced calendar is marked From your calendar and has no Remove button — change the event in your own calendar instead.

Syncing your calendar

If you already keep your bookings in Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, or Outlook, connect it so you don't have to enter time off twice.

  1. On the Availability page, find Calendar sync and click Connect calendar.
  2. Paste your calendar's private .ics address into Calendar address:
    • Google Calendar: Settings, pick your calendar, then copy "Secret address in iCal format".
    • Apple Calendar: share the calendar as a Public Calendar and copy the link.
    • Outlook: Settings, Shared calendars, Publish a calendar, then copy the ICS link.
  3. Click Connect calendar. We read the calendar right away, so if the address is wrong — for example, the calendar's web page instead of its .ics address — you'll see why in the same window.

Using a booking tool like Calendly? Connect the calendar it adds your bookings to.

What the sync does:

  • Only events your calendar shows as Busy count. All-day Busy events (and events that last a day or more) show up as time off, which families see as "Away". To keep an event out, mark it Free in your calendar.
  • Timed Busy events over the next two weeks block those times in the interview scheduler, so families can't ask for an interview time you're already booked for. When you propose times yourself, those slots appear struck through, but you can still offer one.
  • We only read when you're busy — never what an event is about.
  • We check every hour. Each connected calendar shows Connected and when it last synced. Open "Read from this calendar" under it to see the busy times found over the next two weeks and how many time-off ranges it added.

Keep work, personal, and family calendars apart? Click Connect another calendar to add each one — up to 10. A time counts as busy if any of them says so, and the same trip on two calendars shows once.

If we can't read a calendar, it shows Not syncing with the reason. Click Reconnect to paste a new address — the old connection is only replaced once the new address reads successfully. If a calendar can't be read for a full day, what it last showed stops counting, so it can't keep marking you away. Click Disconnect to remove a calendar; the time off that came from it is removed too.

How families see it

The How families see it box on the Availability page previews exactly what families see. On your public profile, availability shows at the top beside your other badges — for example "Taking new clients · due Nov 2026 – Feb 2027" — and in its own Availability section after your introduction. That section shows "Taking new clients" (or "Not taking new clients right now"), your open months — "Due Nov 2026 – Feb 2027, Apr 2027" or "Starting Jan 2027" — any time off, when you last confirmed it, and a button for families to ask you about their dates. The same summary appears when families open your profile from Search.

In search results, your card shows one availability badge. A family with a due date sees "Open for your due date" or "Not available for [month]" (or "Available now" / "Not available right now" when their baby has already arrived); otherwise the card shows "Taking new clients" or "Not taking new clients". Availability only appears once you've opened a month, set a wait time, or paused.

Leads outside your availability

Once your availability is set, leads you've already said no to are marked Outside your availability on your leads board and on the lead's page — because you've paused, or the family's due date (this month, if their baby has already arrived) falls in a month you marked Full or inside your time off. On the lead's page, the label links back to your Availability page. It's only a heads-up: you still receive these leads and can reply to any of them.

Keeping it current

If you haven't confirmed or changed your availability for 30 days, the Availability page asks "Still accurate?" — click Yes, still accurate to confirm. Your home card asks too, with Yes, still accurate and Update. Any change you make on the Availability page also counts as a confirmation (calendar syncs don't).

If your profile is live, we also email you with the subject "Is your availability still accurate?" and a Confirm or update availability button — at most once every 30 days. To stop these emails, go to Account settings → Manage notifications and turn off email for Tips & reports.

Questions? Email support@bornbir.com.

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