About Us

Parents in a Pinch, Inc., based in Brookline, MA, was established in 1984. Committed to the highest quality care standards, Parents in a Pinch provides nannies and in-home backup child and adult care for families in New England and for large corporations, universities, hospitals and non-profit institutions across the United States. Please contact us about our services.

At your service...

Davida Manon, Owner, COO

Prior to founding Parents in a Pinch, Davida was the director of the National Council for Soviet Jews, a national non-profit organization. She might never have understood the need for backup childcare if her daughter had not had a long-running battle with tonsillitis – and always when Davida had a meeting out-of-town. Davida has an M.A. from Brandeis University, and is the mother of Nomi and Miriam and doting grandmother of Shoham and Advah.

Barbara Siegel, Owner, CEO

Barbara Siegel, BA, MA, is the proud mother of Jeremy who began his entrepreneurial career by stuffing Parents in a Pinch envelopes after school for 5¢ each. Barbara designed the award winning caregiver training program, KidCare@Home, and is responsible for marketing, partnerships and professional relationships. She is a graduate fellow of the Zero to Three Foundation, wrote the Standards of Professional Practice for the International Nanny Association and is currently on the Board of the Alliance of Premier Nanny Agencies. She is also the author of “Coping with a Change in Caregiver,” in The Parents’ Guide to Psychological First Aid, Oxford University Press, 2011, edited by Gerald P. Koocher, PhD and Annette M. La Greca, PhD.

Lynne Satlof-Karas, Director of Corporate Services

Lynne hails from Georgia and is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts. She came to Parents in a Pinch after a long career as a buyer for Filenes. Lynne is responsible for seeking out and educating companies about the benefits and the need for corporate backup childcare and backup eldercare. She knows well the dilemmas of a dual-working family, as she was a user of Parents in a Pinch childcare services when her three boys were small and she and husband, Steve, juggled home life and their work responsibilities.

Kate Davie Wood, Manager of Corporate Services

Kate works directly with corporate clients to ensure that their backup benefits are successful. She provides consultation on benefit strategy and implementation, employee communication, and utilization. Kate worked for more than 18 years for the professional services firm of Deloitte LLP, both in Human Resources and later as a key member of the firm’s groundbreaking Initiative for the Retention and Advancement of Women, focusing on developing and implementing work/life, dependent care, and flexibility strategies and programs for the firm’s 30,000 employees. Kate has been with Parents in a Pinch for more than 6 years and has worked with more than 75 client companies during that time.

Susan Doolittle, LICSW, Manager of Adult Services

Susan has over twenty years experience with elders and their families in medical and community settings, and is a licensed independent clinical social worker and certified geriatric case manager. She provides consultation to employees, assesses adult/elder back-up care needs, and arranges in-home services nationwide. In addition, Susan recruits and vets home care agencies to be part of the Parents in a Pinch nationwide network.

Steve Perlmutter, MSW

Steve is part of our backup adult care team and represents Parents in a Pinch at our clients’ benefits and health and wellness fairs. Over his 35 year career, Steve has been a specialist for a foster grandparent program, held the role of Associate Director of Eldercare for 13 years with Work Family Directions, and directed an assisted living facility. He now spends his spare time with his growing brood of grandchildren.

When you call our temporary childcare placement specialists, you’ll speak with someone who has years of experience matching families with just the right caregivers to meet their needs. Each of our specialists has direct childcare experience and is dedicated to helping working families achieve peace of mind. Naquan Cooper, Director of Placement Services, originally an outstanding caregiver for Parents in a Pinch, has been guiding our team in providing consistently excellent customer service for the last 10 years. Laureen Evans, a former nanny and teacher, has been with Parents in a Pinch for 14 years. Ladan Nur studied Early Childhood Development and has worked as a nanny, as well.

Unique to Parents in a Pinch’s Corporate Backup Care is our Employee Services Department, under the leadership of Director of Employment Services, Vivian Chiang Zeizel, M.A. (center). Vivian and her team evaluate each candidate using carefully-crafted recruitment tools to assess and approve them. This department constantly adjusts its criteria for intake so that there are always enough caregivers to maintain the Corporate Backup Care’s 97% placement rate.