A Note from Adventure Nannies

Alyce Desrosiers and TIFFAN have been working on something we've been close to from the start. The lack of a professional nanny portfolio standard — a real, recognizable format for resumes, credentials, and references in the in-home childcare industry — is one of the most persistent gaps we've talked about at conferences, on podcasts, and inside our own placement process for years. When TIFFAN began building their online portfolio creator to actually close that gap, we couldn't wait to support.

We happily donated to TIFFAN's early development of the portfolio creator, and our CEO Shenandoah Davis previously served on TIFFAN's board and later as a board advisor to the organization. We've had a front-row seat to this work for a while now, and we love what they've built.

The piece below is written by Alyce, founder of TIFFAN, about a free tool TIFFAN has created that we think every nanny in the industry should know about. We are so excited to use TIFFAN portfolios in our own placement process, and to see how this tool will empower more nannies to build professional portfolios, chase their career goals, and land their dream jobs.

With that — here's a blog from Alyce Desrosiers, Founder of TIFFAN: The Institute for Families and Nannies.

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For 24 years, I worked with hundreds of San Francisco Bay Area families to find the right nanny for their children. I interviewed thousands of caregivers, and saw firsthand what made the difference between a candidate who got placed and one who didn't.

It wasn't always experience. It wasn't always credentials. More often than I'd like to admit, it came down to presentation, and that's not entirely the nanny's fault.

The families wading through the crowded marketplace are overwhelmed with wildly different resume formats, inconsistent credentials, and a lack of any standard for side-by-side comparison. And nannies, no matter how experienced, have never been given a professional format to present themselves in a universal way. With no recognized credentialing, the tools that other professions take for granted simply haven't existed for nannies. The result is that talented caregivers can be passed over, not because they aren't qualified, but because no industry standards exist to give families and caregivers what they need to find each other.

Agencies like Adventure Nannies have long worked to bridge that gap. TIFFAN was built to help close it.

The Problem I Kept Seeing

Here's something I witnessed frequently: a nanny with 10+ years of professional childcare experience, stellar references, and a clean background check would apply for a role, and stall because their resume had missing information, or wasn't well formatted. There is no universal standard or format for how nannies present their qualifications. That's a real gap! It's the one I built TIFFAN, The Institute for Families and Nannies, to close.

What TIFFAN Has Built

TIFFAN's Portfolio Creation Tool guides in-home childcare providers to create a structured, professional portfolio that puts their qualifications in a format families and agencies can actually read and compare.

Using the tool, you'll create:

• A Professional Resume: Tailored to highlight your childcare expertise
• A Personalized Cover Letter: Reflecting your strengths and working style
• A Reference Document: Organized and ready to share
• A Clear Record of Credentials: Every qualification, CPR/First Aid, background check, health clearances, vaccination records, showcased and visible on your resume

When an agency like Adventure Nannies, our proud partners in this work, receives a TIFFAN portfolio, they immediately know what they're looking at. The guesswork is gone. Your qualifications are clear and visible. That's a real advantage in a competitive market where top positions fill quickly.

What “Agency-Ready” Means To Us

After two decades of working between families and caregivers, I know what agencies are looking for. The nannies who move through the hiring process fastest are the ones who walk in prepared — not just with experience, but a well formatted and documented portfolio. A TIFFAN portfolio is what prepared looks like. It provides standardized form that families and agencies across the industry can recognize and trust.

Get It Done Before Summer

The Portfolio Creation Tool is completely free. No deadline, no catch. The portfolio creator will always be available at no cost.

For caregivers who want structured support and a recognized credential, TIFFAN is launching a certification program this summer: four weeks of live training, portfolio guidance, and a Health & Safety workshop, all designed specifically for in-home providers. It's the professional infrastructure our industry has never had. Details are coming soon, learn more here. 

Summer hiring season is when families make their biggest moves. The caregivers who are ready when those positions open are the ones who land them.

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Start your free TIFFAN portfolio today

Alyce Desrosiers is a licensed clinical social worker, the founder of Chirp Nanny Agency, and the founder of TIFFAN: The Institute for Families and Nannies. She has spent over 30 years working at the intersection of childcare, family support, and workforce development.

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A Note from Adventure Nannies

Quick note before we dive into this blog, we don't usually hand the mic to someone else on this type of blog. We're making an exception here, and we want to tell you why upfront.

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Alyce Desrosiers and TIFFAN have been working on something we've watched closely and supported from the start. The lack of a real, professional portfolio standard for in-home childcare is one of the most persistent gaps in this industry — one we've talked about at conferences, on podcasts, and inside our own placement process for years. When Alyce started building TIFFAN to actually close that gap, we wanted in.

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So full disclosure: Adventure Nannies contributed funding to support TIFFAN's early development of the portfolio creator. And our CEO Shenandoah Davis previously served on TIFFAN's board and later as a board advisor to the organization. 

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We have a real stake in seeing this work succeed — not just because we helped build it, but because we truly believe in the work going on at TIFFAN and are so excited to share this tool with candidates. 

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That's also why we're not going to dress this up as a neutral sponsored post. Because this isn't one. It’s a full fledged endorsement of this program because we believe in it.   What it is: a piece written by Alyce herself, in her voice, about a free tool she built that we think every nanny in the industry should know about. We are so excited use TIFFAN portfolios in our own placement process and how it will empower more nannies to have professional portfolios to chase their career goals and land their dream jobs. 

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With that out of the way — here's a note from Alyce Desrosiers, Founder of TIFFAN: The Institute for Families and Nannies

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