NANNY BACKGROUND CHECKS: WORTH IT

Nanny background checks are simply worth it. The number of nanny service agencies has grown dramatically in the wake of dual-income households. Nannies, for many people, have become the norm for families juggling their busy lives and wanting to have their children watched. Over the past decade, agencies have sprung up offering families what appears to be a safe way to interview and hire nannies for their homes.

With the birth of my grandchildren, I started to have a particular interest in the nanny service industry, especially their numerous claims into background checks. I have conducted extensive research and called upon several of the more prominent nanny staffing agencies in Southern California. Through my research, I cannot find one company that performs any form of background investigation on the nannies they place in their clients’ homes. Most claim to use highly trained private investigators of an undisclosed name and agency that performs background checks on their nannies, supposedly more in depth than the FBI would do on an agent. I’ve come to the conclusion that many of these claims are just a fairy tale told to potential clients.

In truth, after conducting my research, there isn’t a nanny service in the United States that I would refer to my own children.

This may be a bold claim, but I attempted to hire a nanny from a large nanny staffing agency in Southern California for my children. The nanny service boasted its clients included celebrities and athletes from all around the Southland.

I explained I wanted their best candidate for one of my children and gave them as much time as they needed. A week later, I met with the agency’s crème de la crème choice. She was an ideal nanny with more than 15 years of experience, no notices of defaults, no bankruptcies, and no tax liens. When I inquired about the company that performed the background check, the nanny service couldn’t give me a specific name of a company.

I compared the nanny service’s report against my own background check on the agency’s choice only to discover that she had been arrested in Los Angeles for grand theft auto and fraud from her previous employer where she’d been employed as a nanny.

There are many options when looking to hire a nanny from your local church and synagogue or from friends who have worked with the nanny in the past. If you are looking to hire a nanny, I would suggest hiring a private investigator to evaluate your choices once you have narrowed it down. I would highly recommend against using a nanny service based on my experience with the industry.

Do you have any questions about how to hire investigative services to assess your child’s nanny? Please let me know and I would be pleased to address your concerns.