Choosing a nanny is serious business. After all, a nanny is responsible for the physical and emotional well-being of your loved ones. Depending on your children’s ages, she might also help shape their intellectual development and emerging personalities. The right nanny could be akin to an angel who helps your household run smoothly. The wrong nanny could be something else entirely.

Give yourself peace of mind by preparing well for your interviews and conducting background checks. Here are some tips.

1. Meet your favorite candidate twice. A top firm doesn’t hire after just one interview, and you shouldn’t either. Furthermore, it’s a good idea to first screen potential nannies in a public place such as a coffee shop. This has safety advantages for both parties; most nannies will appreciate not having to visit a stranger’s home. The second interview should be held at your home and with your children present. It can be much more informal.
2. Ask the candidate, “Why are you a nanny?” This will help you to understand her values. It also gives her a chance to present her background.
3. Ask the candidate to describe her ideal employer. This question, too, will help you ascertain her values. Be honest with yourself when listening to her needs; don’t make promises you can’t keep.
4. Have the nanny describe her experience with children in the relevant age group. If you are hiring a nanny for an infant, then it’s essential that she have infant experience. Also ask how she would spend a typical day with the children in her care. Ensure that she will stimulate your children’s minds and keep them active.
5. Ask your nanny to describe her methods of discipline. It’s important that discipline be consistent among caretakers.
6. Your nanny will need to know or learn CPR. Many candidates do not have CPR certificates. It’s customary for employers to pay a small fee for nannies to take a lesson at a medical center, the fire department, or another convenient location.

Once you’ve become excited about a potential match, put on your imaginary detective cap and check her references. Be sure to speak with childcare references and personal references. You might want to ask previous employers why she is no longer working with them.

Finally, extend a job offer to the appropriate candidate. Have her consent to a formal background check as a condition of employment. MyBackgroundCheck.com offers a free trial membership to help screen potential employees and keep your loved ones in safe hands.

Running a background check on babysitters has become increasingly popular in order to protect your family and find a wonderful sitter for your children. When you are evaluating a babysitter for your family, you should make sure to keep an open mind but maintain your rationality. More individuals than ever are searching for employment as nannies and babysitters in today’s economic downturn. The majority of persons do not have the necessary experience to care for your child. Perhaps you should consider screening your potential nanny’s background to help you make an informed decision.

How to Perform a Background Check on a Potential Babysitter

• Make sure that you are using a well-known and well-reviewed babysitting agency so as to ensure that the sitters have experience and can handle an emergency situation if it arises. You should avoid ads that were placed online, newspaper ads, as well as Craigslist as there is little to no screening which takes place in these cases.
• Make sure that you emphasize the items that you are not willing to compromise on and clearly state all of the qualifications that are required for the sitter to be considered. Ensure that you explain what you expect from the babysitter as well as the responsibility that comes along with the position.
• After you choose a preferred candidate or have narrowed down the list to a couple of people, you should make sure to run background checks on the child care providers that you are considering. You can use a formal system so that you can obtain all pertinent information regarding that person including their name, background details, as well as past experience just to name a few.
• After you have completed a background check and have determined that the individual has not been arrested and has no DUIs, sex offences, driver’s license suspensions, and felonies, you can hire the selected candidate and place them under a period of trial. Learn as much as you can about the person that you will invite into your home.

So protect your family, children, and peace of mind with a background check from MyBackgroundCheck.com before hiring a service provider with which they will be in close contact. This will enhance your trust, make for better communication all around, and even help the service provider by making them better informed as to what is on their record. If this is done without exaggeration and paranoia, it can help all parties involved.

A babysitter background check has become increasingly popular in order to protect your family and find a wonderful sitter for your children. When you are evaluating a babysitter for your family, you should make sure to keep an open mind but maintain your rationality. More individuals than ever are searching for employment as nannies and babysitters in today’s economic downturn. The majority of persons do not have the necessary experience to care for your child. Therefore, when you are considering hiring a sitter, you should hire a background screening service or perform a check yourself:

How to Perform a Background Check on your Future Babysitter

1. Make sure that you are using a well-known and well-reviewed babysitting agency so as to ensure that the sitters have experience and can handle an emergency situation if it arises. You should avoid ads that were placed online, newspaper ads, as well as Craigslist as there is little to no screening which takes place in these cases.
2. Make sure that you emphasize the items that you are not willing to compromise on and clearly state all of the qualifications that are required for the sitter to be considered. Ensure that you explain what you expect from the babysitter as well as the responsibility that comes along with the position.
3. After you choose a preferred candidate or narrowed down the list to a couple of people, you should make sure to request a background check on the sitter or sitters that you are considering. You can use a formal system so that you can obtain all pertinent information regarding that person including their name, background details, as well as past experience just to name a few.
4. You should not rely completely on an online search and/or private investigators. Therefore, you should request a background check through MyBackgroundCheck.com. Simply send the baby sitter to http://www.mybackgroundcheck.com and instruct the babysitter to purchase a personal background check.  Once the background check information has been verified, the sitter can share the background check information with you via the built in sharing features right from the application.
5. After the results of the background check and have determined that the individual has not been arrested and has no DUIs, sex offences, driver’s license suspensions, and felonies, you can hire the selected candidate and place them under a period of trial. Learn as much as you can about the person that you will invite into your home.

Many families, for instance ones where both parents work, find it convenient to hire home help. They may enlist the assistance of babysitters, handymen and painters, mother’s helpers, drivers, and the like. While the majority of these individuals are trustworthy and mean well, there is always the possibility of encountering a bad apple. Since some of these types of services are easy to qualify for and advertise, people with less than stellar backgrounds may be part of the labor pool.

It is important to know the character of someone who is going to be in contact with your family on an ongoing basis. A nanny or babysitter, helper, or maintenance person will spend considerable time around your family. Keep in mind that this includes children, extended family, live in guests, parents and grandparents, and so on. All of these individuals may find themselves in contact with the home help service provider in one way or another. Many of these individuals may even be left alone for periods with the home help provider. If this provider should happen to be dishonest or even criminal, this could have very unfortunate consequences.

Companies often run a background check or screening before hiring an employee. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could run a home help screening before bringing a service professional into your home? It would give you a sense of confidence in the individual and a better idea of the risks and rewards of hiring them.

A company called MyBakcgroundCheck.com specializes in making background checks easily available. A family who is about to hire a helper or service professional can direct this person to first furnish them with a background check. The individual then goes and runs the background check and when it arrives offers it to the potential employer/family as proof of their honesty and competence. MyBackgroundCheck.com has built in networking and interactive features that make sharing and discussing the information easy.

Note here that there is no cost to the individual or family hiring the helper or service provider. The person being hired pays for the background check to be performed, then presents the results to individual or family considering hiring them. Performing the background check helps both the employer family and the service provider. The family gets a more in depth knowledge of who they are hiring, and the provider gets to see what is actually on their record, who may have been viewing it, and to dispute any errors or false claims that may be present.

Keep in mind also that just because there are some problems on a record, you may not necessarily wish to refrain from hiring the individual. But it can’t hurt to at least take a look at somebody’s background with a home help screening. As noted above, most individuals either have good records, or deserve a second chance even if they have made mistakes. If someone has a deeply suspicious record you’ll know that from the background check, and in these cases may not wish to hire the service provider. If the individual has mediocre or spotless records, that will be good to know also. Running a background check makes you generally better informed and is a responsible thing to do.

So protect your family, children, and peace of mind with a background check before hiring a service provider with which they will be in close contact. This will enhance your trust, make for better communication all around, and even help the service provider by making them better informed as to what is on their record. If this is done without exaggeration and paranoia, it can help all parties involved.

Partial court document below this blog

LOS ANGELES -- Prosecutors say ESPN reporter Erin Andrews' peephole stalker ran background checks on other female sports reporters.

Although no other celebrities were secretly filmed by Michael Barrett, about 16 other women were "victimized ... in almost precisely the same way that he victimized" Andrews, according to a sentencing memorandum filed in U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles.

The names of those who were allegedly the targets of Barrett's "long-term obsession," other than Andrews, were not revealed in court papers, but prosecutors described them as "female sports reporters, as well as other television personalities."

The memo also includes a list of the titles Barrett gave to his hotel peephole videos of Andrews -- "Erin Andrews Spectacular Butt," "Erin Andrews in a Pink Thong" and "Erin go WOW!!"

The court filing notes that Andrews wants Barrett to pay her about $335,000 in restitution.

The stalking has had a "devastating impact on ... Andrews' emotional state, and the emotional distress caused to her and her family cannot be overstated. She has lived in fear for her physical safety," the prosecution's filing document states.

Barrett, 48, of the Chicago area, has pleaded guilty to one federal count of interstate stalking and is scheduled to be sentenced March 8.

In his plea agreement, Barrett admitted surreptitiously shooting videos of Andrews in the nude through peepholes in hotel rooms in Nashville, Tenn.; Columbus, Ohio; and Milwaukee, and posting the footage on the Internet after trying to sell it to the Los Angeles-based entertainment news site TMZ.com.

At the guilty plea hearing in December, Andrews said that ever since the footage became public, "I am subject to crude comments. I walk into stadiums and fans make crude comments to me. I have nightmares about this sexual predator."

She added, "I hope he never sees the light of day again so nobody else has to go through this."

Barrett was arrested Oct. 2 at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.

After the allegations came to light, investigators discovered the peephole had been altered in the door to a Nashville hotel room where Andrews stayed in September 2008, according to prosecutors.

Barrett had specifically requested and stayed in the hotel room adjacent to Andrews, prosecutors said. He had also registered at hotels in Columbus and Milwaukee where Andrews stayed in July and September 2008, according to a court filing.

TMZ.com was offered the videos of the victim for an undisclosed amount via e-mail messages that later were linked back to Barrett, said FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller.

Barrett's attorney, David K. Willingham, has said his client had lost his insurance job and may lose his home as a result of the case.

Until he is sentenced next month, Barrett remains free on $100,000 bond under conditions that include house arrest, electronic monitoring and restrictions on his use of the telephone and the Internet.