Your Child's Care Taker

You probably feel like you know the person that takes care of your children while you are working or having a well deserved night out.  Most interviews for nannies or babysitters go something like this.  The parents meet the person and gauge her personality or demeanor.  They talk to her about her beliefs and practices, and make sure their own beliefs or practices are known.  They may ask her about her experience and who she has worked for before.  Then they might tell her what they are willing to pay for her services.  The big test comes when the parents allow the nanny or babysitter to meet their children.  They usually pay close attention to how the child responds to the person.  This probably seems like the best way to do things, however, one very important thing was left out – a background check.

You may not think that a background check is necessary for this.  You may feel as if the sitter or nanny is too nice to have a criminal record, but you should know that many other parents felt the same way and turned out to be very wrong.  In fact, when parents are interviewed about the injury or death of their child at the hands of the nanny, you will see the same expression on their faces as they all say some form of, "I never thought she could do something like this before."  Heartbroken and in agony, they wish they would have taken the time to check more thoroughly.  Hindsight is 20/20, but if you take the time now to check out the applicants for your nanny or babysitting job, you will feel much better.  Not only will you be able to have peace with yourself, but you can prevent your child from suffering at the hands of someone they are supposed to trust.

You should know that you don't have to go through a complicated process to perform a background check on someone.  The only thing you have to do is visit one of the background check and government records sites that have all of this information in their databases.  By simply placing a name in the text box and submitting it, you will be provided with criminal and civil court records, marital records, arrest warrants and more.  Most of the nannies which have committed some type of crime have either been accused or charged with similar things in the past.  Being a parent is a joy, and you want to make sure that your children are always safe.  Check out the people you bring in to take care of them.  Sure, you could simply get a nanny cam, but in order to catch the nanny or sitter doing something terrible, your children will have to suffer.  You don't have to allow that to happen.  Find out if you're hiring a great nanny to love and help your children grow, or someone that belongs behind bars.