Good Parenting

Scams in the Internet abound and most of them are carried out in online nanny searches. In fact, even the nannies themselves have been victimized by identity thieves. Such stolen identities will eventually be used to con you and your family by bogus nanny finder agencies that operate in the net.

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To avoid being victimized by fake nanny finder agencies that use stolen identities about babysitters, consider the following steps to take, to find out if youÂ’re dealing with a legitimate nanny finder:

1. Call the nanny agency at different times of the day and take note if it is often responded to by an automated answering machine. If a live person answers, ask hypothetical questions about nanny problems and see if they are well trained to represent the nanny finder business.

2. Ask the agency representative how they conduct the recruitment and screening processes. A regular babysitter agency will take pride in their pool of nanny recruits who have been tried and tested by their loyal online customers. Repeat engagements in child care services are their main selling points.

3. You can also check if they are members of the International Nanny Association (INA), National Alliance of Professional Nanny Agencies, the Chamber of Commerce and the Better Business Bureau. A membership in any one of them will provide you with names and other useful information which you can use to further check the nanny finderÂ’s credentials.

4. Has the agency been in business for a long time or just recently? However, this does not mean that a new nanny finder agency is always suspect for being fraudulent. It is only a factor that adds up to other deficiencies in credentials and procedural requirements.

5. Determine if they have standard qualifying requirements from their pool of nannies and do they have age, experience and specific conditions that will automatically disqualify a nanny? Ex: less than 18 years of age, high school undergraduates, smokers, etc.

6. Ask them how many references do they require from their applicants and do they check the legitimacy of the references? What do they use for background checking and up to what extent is being checked?

7. Inquire about their nanny finderÂ’s fees and what services are included as basis for these fees.

8. Ask them about guarantee and refund policies in case a nanny will not meet the requirements you asked for, if in case no nanny is provided at all on the dates you specified?

Checking out such nanny finder agencies will serve its purpose only if the reputable or highly recommended child care finders have no available babysitter candidates to provide you. Hence, resorting to these agencies just to find a cost free or cheaper means of securing nanny finder services may not work at all, because they may be legitimate but the quality they have to offer may not be above par.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, September 17th, 2009 at 9:09 am and is filed under Good Parenting.