Many years ago I saw a show on the Dr. Phil Show that featured a nanny caught on camera spanking a baby and then tossing the baby like it was a rag doll against the couch. Dr. Phil and the guests condemned the nanny for her wrongdoing and criticized the family for allowing the nanny to abuse their child and to subsequently become victims of child abuse inside their own home. The show highlighted the pain the family had gone through and how they have recovered since the terrible incident. But what the show failed to address was the significance of pre-screening (background screening) that could have been conducted on the nanny which probably could have helped to avoid this situation all together. This negligence in the failure to background-check the nanny was alarming to me.
At the time of the Dr. Phil Show I owned and operated an investigation company, Hide and Seek, so of course the first thing that I jumped to do was investigate this nanny. I knew that if the woman had been properly screened the family would have never hired the nanny in the first place.
Within 10 minutes of a very basic public records search online I was able to identify key factors about the woman (name provided on the Dr. Phil Show) which identified her as a risk for employment and totally unqualified to care for young children. If the family knew what I had found in a simple search, let alone what we could have found by digging deeper, they would have never hired her as their in-home child care provider.
So my question is, why would you put your children in that situation of “hire, then wait and see” if the nanny or sitter does harm? Why would you want to rely on the “nanny-cam” to catch the sitter or nanny in the act rather than pre-screen the candidate to eliminate the unqualified and untrustworthy? Why not identify the problems before you hire the individual to come into your home and watch your children? By identifying her personal character issues before the nanny comes to the home, through an in-depth background screen and interview process, you know that you are hiring a reliable, trustworthy and experienced Childcare Professional, who in some instances, may hold credentials supporting her expertise that are verifiable.
You can easily identify personal character evaluations by hiring a professional investigator to identify the background history, experience, character and trustworthiness of the individual. In conjunction with performing the background investigation, an in-person interview should be conducted with the Childcare Professional and references should be called and interrogated. It is important to call several references and ask key questions that will help you identify the experience and character of the sitter.
You also have to be careful that the screening you are performing has been conducted by an Investigation company that performs a hands-on investigation. If you are simply relying on online database providers you may miss important data that can only be obtained by having a trained data researcher evaluate the material found. So much of the information on the internet identified for employees is out of date, misreported and lacking in substance. A trained data research professional can identify the accurate documents, verify records in most recently lived states as well as check the data found against the data provided on the candidate’s application. This hands on screening is the most thorough way of performing a background investigation on a childcare provider.
I do feel that the “nanny-cam” can be a great tool for parents if used properly. Working parents can check in on a sitter or nanny during the day to find out what activities are going on at the house. Parents can even just utilize the “nanny-cam” to pop in virtually and say hi to the kids. There are some great two-way cameras available today and technology is available that allows you to check in from your Blackberry or Iphone. Some parents have utilized the “nanny-cam” as a great way to review the day when you return home so that you can get a feel of everyone’s mood and find out if the kids are listening to and obeying the sitter’s or nanny’s instructions.
The “nanny-cam” can be used to your advantage by letting your sitter or nanny know that you have a camera in the house; by doing so your sitter or nanny will likely be more conscientious on the job. You have an employee (the nanny or sitter) in your home so why is your child’s safety and security any less than the office, where “when the boss is away the employees will play” is an accepted scenario when use of security cameras prevail?
So my ultimate question is, why would a family spend hundreds on a “nanny-cam” but not a dime on a proper background investigation? My thought is that if you are going to invest money in the protection of your children while under the care of your in-home sitter or nanny, you should certainly pay for an in-depth background screening on the childcare worker but to be always there for your child, leave the “nanny-cam” to scan your child’s day and to allow you to be a part of his or her day.
To find out more information about background investigations, contact Hide and Seek USA Corp. at 918-524-3333, or about pre-screened Certified Sitters call SeekingSitters-Tulsa at 918-749-3588. Both companies operate nationally.
