Challenged with Gathering Paperwork When There Are Language Barriers?

In many childcare, afterschool, and preschool programs, the families walking through the door come from different language and cultural backgrounds—but the forms they’re asked to fill out are often only in English.That mismatch can create real problems. Forms get delayed or filled out incorrectly. Staff may struggle to help families complete the paperwork, taking time away from working with children. And families can feel unwelcome or unsupported—especially if they’ve had bad experiences in the past navigating English-only forms.

Designed for Language Access from Day One

UpBup was built to make form completion easier for every family. Our patented technology (U.S. Patent No. 11,409,953 B1) displays forms and questions in the family’s preferred language—while keeping the signed form in English for licensing and compliance.

This isn’t a new feature we just added—UpBup launched this multilingual experience in 2018, and now most providers in UpBup make use of offering their families the UpBup language selector.

How It Works

Providers choose which languages they want to offer based on their community needs. Families then select from that list when they log in to complete forms. The UpBup UI and form questions immediately appear in their preferred language—while all inputted answers and final signatures are stored in English.

This keeps things simple and familiar for staff, who always receive a consistent English-format form, while making the process more inclusive for families from different language and cultural backgrounds.

Other Approaches Fall Short

Some programs try to translate forms manually into Spanish or other languages using downloadable PDFs. While this helps some families understand the questions, it comes with all the usual problems of PDFs: hard to open on mobile, no electronic signature, and no way to track completion or follow up with families. We cover this more in our blog post Ditch the Downloadable PDFs.

Other tools may let families complete an online form in a translated interface—but those tools often collect data only into a database or spreadsheet. The form may not be preserved in a state-required layout, and the final document might not meet compliance or be easily understood by staff.

UpBup Does Both

UpBup is the only platform that combines dynamic multilingual display with a signed English-language form that matches official formatting. Parents see a translated experience. Providers get a signed PDF that’s readable, consistent, and audit-ready.

Whether you’re collecting enrollment and health forms, waivers, applications, or CACFP paperwork, UpBup gives every family a fairer, simpler way to complete forms.

👉 Request a Demo and see how UpBup can remove barriers.