Withdrawals happen. Schedules change, families move, jobs change. The moment one is logged, a quick two-step opens: when do you want to reach back, and what should the note say? A year later, they’re still in your community.
Step 1 of 2 · Timing
A warm note after a withdrawal signals the door stays open. No pressure, no sales pitch.
The Okafor family
Withdrew today · with you 2y 9mo · sibling Theo, age 1
In 2 weeks
a gentle reach-back
In 1 month
when the dust settles
In 3 months
on a milestone
Nothing separate to set up, no checklist to maintain. The reach-back lands in the same screen where you log the goodbye, while the moment is fresh and the intentions are clear.
You pick when each note goes: a couple of weeks out while it's fresh, a few months out when their situation may have changed. Each one is drafted for you. Edit it or send it as is.
Once a family is on your alumni list, the reminders keep coming. Birthdays. Sibling milestones. Enrollment anniversaries. The relationship doesn’t end on the withdrawal date.
Here’s an example. The Okafors love your center, but a job moves them across town in the spring. They withdraw on a Friday afternoon. Your director clicks “log withdrawal” and a two-step flow opens.
Step one: when to reach back. She picks two weeks out, while the goodbye is still fresh. Step two: the note itself, drafted in your school’s voice, with the daughter’s name and the favorite morning-circle moment from the brief. She schedules it, runs the flow again for a second note three months out, and the family is on the alumni list before Monday morning.
Six months later their younger son turns two, right as the toddler room has a spot opening. Clear Day surfaces the family and drafts a warm note for the director to send.
The Okafors enroll their second child. A year of tuition to you, and a family that knew the door stayed open.
Every hour, Sunny reads each new withdrawal (the notes, the recent messages, the family’s history) and files a short read on it: the likely reason, whether it looks preventable, and a few plain sentences of why it thinks so.
It’s a suggestion, not a verdict. The director sees it next to the withdrawal, confirms it or corrects it, and the corrected answer is what your churn numbers are built from. A family that moved away and a family that left over a billing surprise deserve different reach-backs, and different fixes on your end.
The director clicks “log withdrawal” on her way out the door on Friday and picks when to reach back. That’s the only step anyone has to remember.
The note is scheduled before Monday morning. The Okafors stay on the alumni list, and in reach.
The feature almost nobody builds
Brightwheel, Procare, and Lillio focus on families already enrolled. None of them publish a withdrawal reach-back at all.
See what one returning family would contribute over a typical stay.
Questions about reach-back? Email [email protected]. A person answers.