mouth, you don’t have to read and place bulletin board ads, and you don’t have to place ads in the newspaper, answer calls, and screen applicants that may come in 20 a day.

If, however, the nanny terminates with you before the six-month deadline for the guarantee is up, you usually will be offered the agency service of finding you a new nanny without any more fee costs.

However, since you have already paid your initial fee, there is not usually the strong incentive for the agency to get you someone great. You may not like any of the nannies that the agency sends you, and the fee is not refundable to you.

However, many agencies that have been around for more than ten years do care about their reputations enough to do their best and get you someone you like. But there is no guarantee.

Nanny agencies do have contracts that you have to sign before they will let you meet any nanny candidates, guaranteeing that you agree to their terms. The contracts are usually written to protect the agencies and not the clients. Because people looking for nannies are often desperate, nanny agencies will rarely, if ever, let you have your own attorney amend the contract or offer suggestions on changing wording and terms.

Nanny agencies are great time savers – especially if you have a lot of money to spend, and are a repeat customer. They also have a lot of the more expensive nannies because their fifteen percent fee of a year’s salary on a $700 a week nanny is higher than if they represent nannies in the $350 a week dollar range.

Nannies that have been in high paying jobs often go to nanny agents to be placed.