should do,
and that the nanny is not “at fault” in the firing. Learn as much as you can
about why the reference did and did not like the nanny, and decide if you are
still interested in hiring her.
If you still have doubts, go back
to the nanny candidate and express your concerns and ask her if she can fill
you in on the details so that you can hear enough of the story to make you feel
comfortable.
Aside from checking references, you
may want to run a background check on your nanny. There are numerous businesses
that will perform this service for you. An easy way to shop for one is to use
the term nanny background check in a search engine on your computer’s
internet.
Credit checks are easy to do
online. Just perform a search on any search engine for
credit checks. Some are free, and others cost $10, $15 or at most $25. You can
do a check against the sexual offenders registry by
calling your local police station and asking how to perform the check on
someone in your town.
Some background check services will
also check your nanny’s name and social security number against a sexual
offender registry. You can also use the term “sexual offender registry nanny
background check” in your computer’s search engine to come up with a list of
companies that will perform this check for you.
It is a good idea to run these
checks, but remember, the sexual offender registry is only a list of people who
have actually been arrested and convicted of sexual offenses, and then, only of
major sexual offenses. The list does not keep an accounting of those people who
are accused and not arrested or of those who are arrested for minor counts of
sexual offense. In other words, just because your nanny candidate is not on the
sexual offender registry, does not mean that he or she has not attempted a
sexual offense. She may have committed one that has gone unfound out and was
not prosecuted or punished.
This is not to scare you. It is to
make you aware that you must hone your instincts, trust them, and keep your
eyes and ears open.
You can get a list of the addresses
of all people who are on the sexual offender registry, from your local police
station, or for a fee, from your state government agency, online. It is your
right as a citizen to know where these registered offenders live, and they are
required by law to register their home addresses.
Many private agencies, like
National Little League, now require all adult volunteers to be run through a
sexual offender registry security check.
Some nanny agencies will run these
checks for you as part of the fee you pay them. Make sure that you get a
written confirmation of these checks or copies of the checks that they run so
that you can be sure the security checks actually were run and were not just
allegedly run. Even after you check references, interview your nanny and check
in with your instincts.
