Never leave a nanny or any caregiver alone with a child without doing a thorough pre-employment background check. You should be able to get a national criminal and sex offender background check, social security number verification, name alias search, and address history verification all for under $50. NannyCare.com has partnered with backgroundchecks.com to offer you a this check for $19.95 (except in CA, CT and MN it is $23.45). Some companies charge over $75 for this same check. The nanny will need to run her own department of motor vehicle search, which can be done through backgroundchecks.com for less than $10 or she can request a copy from the DMV.

Recommendations:

• Make sure you do a National background check. If you do a county background check then the results are limited to just one county. It is very easy for a someone to hide an offense or crime in a different county.
• Make sure you do a department of motor vehicle report to make sure the nanny doesn't have extensive tickets, accidents or a DUI.
• Make sure you get a consent form from the nanny if the company running the background check requests one.  Click here for a sample nanny background check consent form. Some companies allow you to agree to their online Terms and Conditions while other companies require that you have the nanny sign one.
• Make sure you see the nanny's background check results before making any job offer.

• If your nanny or caregiver already has their own background check completed, make sure it is a nationwide check, since they could be trying to hide something.