Ways to Ensure Your Nanny is a Safe Fit for Your Family

It’s unlikely that you’ll hire the very first nanny you come across without doing some sort of background research first. After all, you want to make sure that your nanny is someone that you feel comfortable bringing into your home and leaving alone with your kids all day. To help quell any uneasiness you may have about hiring a nanny, run these three different checks on any potential new hire before signing her on as your childcare provider:

1. Background check: Running a background check on your nanny will uncover any criminal records, tickets, or general misconduct she may have on her record, which will allow you to make a more informed decision about whether you feel comfortable letting her into your home and around your kids or not.

2. Driving record check: If you expect your nanny to drive your children to and from different activities they’re involved in, take them and pick them up from school, and go on outings and to play dates, then you’ll want to make sure that she has a clean driving record and is safe behind the wheel. Getting a driving record check done will alert you to any speeding or traffic violations she may have so that you can assess if your children will be safe as she drives them around.

3. Reference check: Following up with her past employers and any other professional references your potential nanny has can help paint a picture of what type of employee she was for her previous employers and what you can expect from her if you were to hire her. If she has a particularly bad reference, however, you still want to give her a chance to explain what went wrong before ruling her out, especially if it’s just one bad reference among several other glowing ones. There’s a chance that her and the employer simply didn’t jive, so you don’t want to put all your stock in one poor reference.

In addition to these different types of background checks, you’ll also want to interview her a couple times, usually over the phone, in person with just you and then again in person where you observe her interacting with your children, so that you can see if you think she’ll be a good fit for your family or not. By running these three different checks and going through several different interviews with a nanny you’re considering hiring you can move forward knowing that you’re making a safe, solid choice in childcare for your family.

Author Bio:
Jack Meyer is a regular contributor for http://www.nannybackgroundcheck.com/. As a detective he wants to spread the knowledge of terrible things that can happen when people don’t fully verify the credentials of a caregiver or any employee. He also writes for various law enforcement blogs and sites.