Terms of Use

Effective date: November 1, 2026

Who these terms cover

These terms govern your use of formatorinstitute.com, the website of The Formator Institute™. The site is operated by Panibago LLC, doing business as The Formator Institute ("FI," "we," "us"), at 9 Union Square, Unit #1014, Southbury, Connecticut 06488. By using the site, you agree to these terms. When you submit a form, join a waitlist, or book a consultation, you accept these terms by clicking submit or book. If you do not agree, please do not use the site.

The site is operated from the United States and is intended for people in the United States. Anyone may read the site. You must be 18 or older to create a course account, book a consultation, or buy anything from us.

Other agreements that apply

These terms cover the website only.

• Purchases of the Certified Formator™ course, its Parts, and the Examination & Certification course are governed by the Certified Formator Enrollment Agreement at formatorinstitute.com/enrollment-agreement/, which you accept at checkout.
• People who hold the Certified Formator credential are bound by the Code of Professional Excellence at formatorinstitute.com/code-of-professional-excellence/.
• Family services, including the Formator Assessment™, Training, and Management, Group Coaching, one-to-one coaching, and agency partnerships are governed by their own written agreements.

Where one of those agreements and these terms differ, the signed or accepted agreement controls for the services it covers.

Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle personal data. It is a notice about our practices. These terms refer to it, and it is not part of this contract.

Using the site

You may use the site to learn about our services, contact us, book a consultation, join a waitlist, and reach our course and payment pages. You agree not to:

• use the site in a way that breaks the law or these terms,
• try to gain access to any part of the site, its server, or its systems that is not open to the public,
• interfere with the site's operation or security, including by introducing malicious code or by placing unreasonable load on it,
• copy, scrape, crawl, or harvest content or personal data from the site by automated means, including to train or develop AI models,
• submit false information through our forms or booking page, or book a consultation you do not intend to attend,
• impersonate anyone or misrepresent your connection to any person or organization, or
• use the site to send unsolicited commercial messages to us or to anyone whose contact details appear on it.

We may limit or end your access to the site if you break these terms, and we may take other steps the law allows.

What you send us

When you send us a message, form, booking note, testimonial, or other material, you confirm it is accurate and yours to send. You keep ownership of it. You give us permission to use it to respond to you, deliver our services, and run our business, as our Privacy Policy describes. We publish a testimonial or quote under your name only with your permission. Suggestions and feedback about our services are ours to use without obligation to you.

Intellectual property and trademarks

The site and everything on it, including text, course descriptions, images, video, audio, downloads, page design, and code, belong to Panibago LLC or to the people who licensed them to us, and are protected by copyright and other laws. You may view the site and print or save pages for your own personal, non-commercial reference. Downloads we offer are for your own use. Any other use, including copying, republishing, distributing, or creating derivative works, needs our written permission first. Requests go to info@formatorinstitute.com.

FORMATOR™, FORMATOR INSTITUTE™, FORMATOR METHOD™, and FORMATOR ASSESSMENT™ are trademarks of Panibago LLC, and applications for these four marks are on file with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Certified Formator™ and The Formator Method™ are also our marks. You may not use our marks, or anything confusingly similar, in any way that suggests we endorse you or your services, or that could confuse people about who is behind a product, service, or credential, without our written permission.

If you believe content on the site infringes your rights, write to info@formatorinstitute.com and we will look into it promptly.

The Certified Formator credential

Certified Formator™ is a credential we issue to people who complete the Certified Formator program and meet its requirements. Only a person whose certification is current may describe themselves as a Certified Formator or display the certificate or badge. The Certified Formator Register is the record. We confirm whether a credential is active, expired, suspended, or revoked when an agency, family, or employer asks us to verify it. Presenting yourself as a Certified Formator when you are not, or when your certification is not current, is a misrepresentation and a misuse of our marks.

No professional advice

The content on this site is general information about private household childcare. It is not medical, psychological, legal, financial, or employment advice, and it is not a substitute for advice from a professional who knows your situation. Reading the site, booking a consultation, or working with us does not create a therapist-client relationship or any other clinical relationship with anyone at The Formator Institute. Our Disclaimer explains this more fully and is part of these terms.

Testimonials

Testimonials on the site are from real clients and learners who gave permission for us to use them. They describe that person's experience. Your results will depend on your own situation, and we do not promise any particular outcome.

Links and third-party services

The site links to other sites and services, including our course platform at certifiedformator.com, Stripe payment pages, our Google booking page, our Substack newsletter, and sites we think are useful. We do not control those sites and are not responsible for their content, their privacy practices, or their terms. A link is not an endorsement. When you pay through Stripe or book through Google, their terms also apply to that step. Please read the terms and privacy policy of any site you visit through ours.

No warranties

We work to keep the site accurate and available, and we cannot promise it will always be. The site is provided "as is" and "as available." To the extent the law allows, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. We do not promise that the site will be free of errors, interruptions, or harmful components, or that it will meet your needs.

Limitation of liability

To the extent the law allows, Panibago LLC, its owner, and its contractors are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, data, or goodwill, arising from your use of the site or your reliance on its content, however caused. Our total liability for all claims relating to the site, taken together, will not exceed one hundred dollars ($100).

These limits do not apply to liability that the law does not allow us to limit, such as liability for our own fraud, gross negligence, or willful misconduct, and they do not change the limits in any separate agreement you have with us, which govern the services that agreement covers. Some states do not allow some of these limits, so some of them may not apply to you.

Your responsibility to us

If you break these terms, misuse the site or our content, or infringe someone's rights through the site, you agree to cover the losses and reasonable legal fees we incur as a result of a claim by a third party.

Governing law and disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Connecticut, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules.

If you have a dispute with us about the site, email info@formatorinstitute.com first and we will try to resolve it with you within 30 days. Any dispute about the site that is not resolved that way will be brought in the state or federal courts located in Connecticut, and you consent to their jurisdiction. Either of us may bring an individual claim in small claims court instead. Disputes about a purchase or a service are handled under the agreement that covers it, including its dispute terms.

Changes to these terms

We may change these terms. When we do, we post the new version here with a new effective date, and we keep the date at the top current. Your use of the site after that date means you accept the new terms. For a change that matters, we add a notice on the site for at least 30 days after the change.

General

If any part of these terms is found unenforceable, it will be limited to the extent needed and the rest stays in effect. If we do not enforce a term, that does not waive it. You may not transfer your rights under these terms. We may transfer ours to a successor, including as part of a sale or merger of the business. No one other than you and FI has rights under these terms, except that the people named in the Limitation of liability section may rely on it. Headings are for convenience only. These terms, together with the Disclaimer, are the whole agreement between you and us about your use of the site, and they replace any earlier website terms. The Privacy Policy and the Cookie Policy are notices about our practices and stand on their own, as do the agreements named above.

Accessibility

We want everyone to be able to use this site. If anything on it is hard for you to use, email info@formatorinstitute.com and we will help.

Contact

The Formator Institute (Panibago LLC)
9 Union Square, Unit #1014, Southbury, Connecticut 06488
info@formatorinstitute.com
formatorinstitute.com