Hiring a nanny is a process that involves searching, interviewing, checking references and extending an offer to the right nanny candidate, while the final step is conducting nanny background checks. Your offer should be contingent on the outcome of the results your nanny screening service provides. See our helpful video by Dr. Lindsay Heller on nanny screening.

What Should Your Nanny Background Check?

It's hard to imagine that in this era of the Internet there is no reliable national criminal database for nanny background checks that is accessible by the public. Therefore the "gold standard" for background checks for nannies is to first run a Social Security Number check to see where she has lived. This is done so that a decision can be made on which counties should be searched and to be sure the name matches the SSN. The next step is to run a national database check. For example the national database we use has over 300,000,000 records in it from all state. After these first two searches a county search(s) is run in the counties where the nanny has lived over a reasonable period of time, generally seven years.

Which Counties Should a Nanny Background Check Search?

Obviously the safest method for performing your nanny background checks is to have your nanny background check each county, but in some cases this can get quite costly. A fairly typical scenario may be a nanny who left home to go to college, after which she may have changed schools and then moved again after graduation. So let's say she's 23 now and there are five years that can be searched since she turned 18.

• 2001 lived at home, 18 years old
• 2001-2003 moved for college
• 2003-2005 lived at her second college
• 2005- moved after graduation to another city

In this case, since she turned 18 at home and moved shortly thereafter, the duration of time spent at her home residence and the city she moved to after graduation is brief. For someone who wanted to hold their costs down, the two most likely locations to check would be the two cities she lived in from 2001-2005. Again, if you want to be absolutely certain and costs are not an issue, you would need to perform your nanny background checks on each place that appears on the Social Security address check. Keep in mind that the Social Security address verifier is only from credit records and may not be fully accurate. It’s also a good idea to see how what the SSN address check shows versus what the nanny put on her nanny application.

What other types of checks can be performed?

Driving records are very important to include in your nanny background checks if there is driving involved in your job. A credit report can be ordered by you or your nanny screening service if you feel that information may be important to your decision. There is a Sexual Offenders list that can be checked as well. There are numerous other reports that may be ordered if you feel the need.

How do we perform the check?

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (which applies to more than just credit checks) requires that you have a written release from your nanny to perform the check. The eNannySource background check is done online with no messy forms to sign and fax and is fully FCRA compliant.

What are the limitations of the nanny background checks?

Every nanny background screening service warns that these reports cannot guarantee complete accuracy. Also, there is a charge for each type of check that you order, so figuring out your budget ahead of time can help you prioritize which type of checks to run.