Finding a babysiter is something that most people have to do once they have kids. Whether you need one to watch over your child while at work, or when going out on a date, or to run errands, you need to make sure that you protect your baby. This makes it very important to carry out a check on the potential babysiter that you are looking to hire. The idea is to figure out as best as you most possibly can, whether or not it is safe to leave your baby in the person’s care.
Many times though, if you get your babysitter from a referral service, they will have already carried out a number interviews and professional background checks. In some instances, they will have carried out some training and will often intervene should there be conflict between you and the babysitter. That however, is not to say that you should not carry out a check for yourself as part of your decision process. In fact, it is legitimate to be concerned about anyone who comes in contact with your child.
So, what kind of information can you hope to get from an online people search?
Background Information
When you carry out an online check on your babysitter, you can hope to get the following information:
- Credit records
- Education
- Driving records
- Military service records
- Previous employers
As you carry out a more in-depth people search, you will also find a history of any criminal activity that the person has been involved in. You can find out about any history of misdemeanors, traffic violations, criminal activity, financial crimes and even sexual offenses. These public records are able to give you a good picture of the person’s tendencies and could save you heartache in the future.
If you are going to properly protect your children or child, you need to carry out a thorough search that can take you several hours or even days. The information should be from national, state and local searches so that you can get a good picture of the person.
One of the things you should never do is to judge someone at face value. Even though the person has been referred to you by someone you know and trust, you should not feel the need to justify why you want to carry out a search or two on the babysitter.
Things to Consider in Your Search
- Criminal Records
If someone has a criminal record, the information you can expect to find includes records on arrests, warrants, records of incarceration, court records that include judgments, dockets, decrees and orders among others, sex offenses and convictions on both misdemeanors and felonies. However, according to FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act), arrests and civil suits that occurred over 7 years ago should not be found in the criminal record.
- Driving Records
A babysitter may have to drive your child or children to carry out errands or to pick and drop them from school or an event. Ensuring that the person has a good driving record is essential. Depending on the state you are in, you may be able to check records for the last 3 years or even 10 years.
- Sexual Offenses
Nothing would be worse than entrusting your child to a pedophile or a sexual offender of some sort without knowing it. That is why it is important to check someone out in the sex offender registry. If you look in the national registry, you will be able to see offenses in all States. This is a critical factor when hiring a babysiter.
At the end of the day you can’t be too careful about the people who come into contact with your children. And there are many free online resources that you can use to run your own checks. So there really is no excuse for not knowing who is influencing your child.