Care that fits your family.

Nobody employs them through Roost. Roost introduces you to caregivers near you; you agree the hours and the rate with the caregiver directly, and the agreement about the care is between the two of you. Roost is not a party to it, does not set the rate and does not direct the work. Where a family engages a caregiver directly, the IRS generally treats that caregiver as the family's household employee. That is a general summary, not advice about your situation: the family terms say more, and a tax professional can tell you what it means for you.

You pay the caregiver's own hourly rate for the hours the two of you confirm, plus Roost's platform fee on top of that rate. The rate is on the caregiver's profile and the fee is shown before you book; both are fixed for a booking from the moment the caregiver accepts it. Card processing comes out of Roost's fee, not out of the caregiver's rate.

Companionship: company, conversation, a walk, a meal made together, a lift to an appointment, an eye on the day. Not hands-on personal care, not help with bathing, toileting or transferring, not medication given or prompted, and nothing a nurse or a therapist does. If what is needed is on that second list, the app stops the booking rather than letting it through, and will tell you so.

A criminal background check through a consumer reporting agency, with the caregiver's written permission and the notices the Fair Credit Reporting Act requires, before the profile can be listed. Roost keeps the result and a link to it at the provider, never the report itself. A check looks backwards at records that exist: it is not a prediction and not a recommendation. Meet a caregiver before you book, and use your own judgement about who comes into your home.

We never ask for forms, photos, or medical details over text message, and when a document is needed we send a secure upload link instead. Access is restricted by role, every read of a record is written to a log that cannot be edited, and what the platform does with each kind of information is set out on the privacy page. Roost holds no card number, no bank number and no identity document: the payment processor takes those on its own pages.