A caregiver shift leans on more logins than most families count. The camera app, the smart lock, the thermostat, the doorbell, the alarm company portal, the shared calendar, and any scheduling tool each have an account behind them. In most houses one person set each one up, so that person holds the only password, the only card on file, and the only way to add a user. When that person is busy, away, or not answering, the shift stalls over a login nobody else can reset.

Local option: New Plan Care gives families in the St. Louis area in-home help so a parent can stay home: companionship, help with bathing and dressing, meals, and overnight care. Call (314) 405-0887.

This guide is about naming the owner of each account before the first shift, so the house keeps running even when the device itself is fine.

Step 1: List every account the house touches

  1. Walk the house with the family phone in hand. Check the phone for apps, the router for connected devices, and the alarm panel for its monitoring company.
  2. For each one, fill in one line:

Account or app: ______
Device or service it controls: ______
Login name on file: ______
Who set it up: ______
Who holds the payment card: ______
Billing or renewal day: ______

Step 2: Name one owner and one backup for each

The owner is the person who can reset the password, change the card, and add or remove users. Write one name and one backup name on each line. The owner should be a family member, not the caregiver. The backup should be someone who can be reached on a day the owner cannot.

Step 3: Decide what the caregiver can see

  1. Ask whether each app offers a limited or guest user. If it does, the caregiver gets that role only. If it does not, the caregiver does not get a login, and the family checks that device directly.
  2. Do not share the owner password with anyone who works in the house, including on paper kept near the device.
  3. Decide in writing whether the caregiver may change any setting, such as temperature, lights, or camera alerts. If the answer is no, say so on the sheet. If the answer is yes, list each setting by name and no others.

Keys and door codes are a separate decision. Settle them on their own sheet, not inside the app settings.

Step 4: Set the billing and renewal check

An expired card or a lapsed subscription looks like a broken device. A camera that stops recording, a lock that stops answering the app, or an alarm portal that will not load often means a billing notice went to an inbox nobody reads. Put each renewal day on the family calendar, and name the person who opens the billing notices.

Questions to ask every candidate

  1. Will you need a login to any device in the house? Write down each one by name.
  2. If you need a login, will you use your own phone, or a device the family provides? Which one?
  3. When a device goes offline during your shift, who do you contact, and how soon do you expect an answer?
  4. What do you do with a device or app when you finish using it?

Answers to listen for

  • A plain statement that they will use only the access the family gives them, and only the role written on the sheet.
  • A written plan to report an offline device to the owner, with a time for the report.
  • Comfort with the family holding the password and the card, without any request to take over either.

Signs to walk away

  • A request for the owner password, the card on file, or an admin role on any app.
  • A plan to keep a household login on a personal phone with no way for the family to remove it.
  • A habit of changing alerts, temperature, or camera angles without asking first.
  • Resistance to the family seeing who logged in and when, in whatever form the app offers.

What to write down

Owner: ______ Backup: ______
Role given to the caregiver, per account: ______
Review day each quarter: ______

For the order of the rest of the hire, see Start Here: Five Steps to Hiring.