Comments | booju_newju: background checks, part two

sio in booju_newju

background checks, part two

Oct 22, 2011 11:33

paying for a background check on a babysitter/nanny/au pair/mother's helper: good parenting, paranoid parenting, or something else ( Read more... )

babysitting, internet

Comments 18

rockthecrown October 22 2011, 18:49:19 UTC

I worked as a professional nanny for 7 years for 4 families. Every family ran a thorough background check on me as well as checking all of my references. I never paid for any of the background checks...most families ran them after offering me the job saying "we want to hire you as our nanny, position pending based on what shows up on your background check". It's always been standard procedure in my line of work.

noodledays October 22 2011, 19:19:27 UTC

this makes sense to me. families that really want a background check for more than just a casual sitter are usually going to be willing to pay for them themselves.

sio October 22 2011, 19:57:26 UTC

that makes sense for the families to pay if they are hiring someone like you. i just don't get the websites' insistence that the caregiver putting their ad out should be the one to pay, especially since that's no guarantee any parent will even contact you or respond if you respond to an ad they put up.

anovulation October 22 2011, 18:58:14 UTC

I wouldn't pay to background check a sitter. I would check his or her references and go from there.

carrieb October 22 2011, 19:02:04 UTC

If it was just a one night kind of thing or every once in a while kind of thing, I would not bother with a background check. I'd just go with references. I've found my sitters off craigslist and have never had a problem (I didn't contact the ones who seemed a little off).

If I was hiring a full time nanny I would pay for a background check after I had the field narrowed down to the person I wanted to hire.

edit: I can't spell.

ncp October 22 2011, 19:07:13 UTC

For an occasional babysitter (a couple of nights a month), I'd just check references. A long-term caregiver like a nanny/au pair would be getting a background check, though. Especially if they were going to be driving my ids around anywhere.

guzzlemuzzle October 22 2011, 20:41:19 UTC

This.

scorpi084 October 22 2011, 20:20:04 UTC

If I had to hire a stranger, I would do a background check. My preference would be to find people I know (or a friend-of-a-friend) to watch my kids, though.