If you are a parent contemplating hiring a nanny or child care provider, this article is intended to help protect you and your child from the unspeakable horrors of nanny child abuse. As the founder of one of America’s preeminent nanny agencies forty-eight years ago, I will explain how we successfully prevented nanny child abuse from ever occurring. To fully appreciate the importance of this article and the seriousness of how pervasive nanny child abuse is nearly two million people subscribed to this videos depicting nanny child abuse. HERE IS A LIST OF THE SERVICES WE PROVIDE Background Checks Executive Level Background Checks We learned from our own personal and professional experience that parents often have severe anxiety about permitting a stranger to take care of their child. Many lay awake at night, wondering if they can trust leaving their baby with a nanny or child care provider. Their mind wanders into a “what if the nanny hurts my child or leaves him alone for hours at a time.” If you are struggling with these concerns you are not alone and this article will help you significantly. When our children were toddlers thirteen months apart, we were having a difficult time finding babysitters. Several of my wife’s friends told her that they resolved their babysitting problem by hiring a full-time Latin American live in nanny also willing to do light housekeeping. Forty-eight years ago wages for Hispanic live in nannies was reasonable which also included room and board. The idea sounded financially sound and encouraging. Off I went to a nanny agency in downtown Los Angeles to interview prospective nannies. I invited a friend who was fluent in Spanish to accompany me. I interviewed several candidates and found a very nice lady who seemed ideal for our family. Her name was Myra, and she became a surrogate mother and fabulous housekeeper who stayed with our family until she married twelve years later. AN EPIPHANY It is amazing how good news travels fast. Soon our phone was ringing off the hook non-stop from our friends and friends of theirs asking where we found Myra. That was when I had an epiphany. If all those people were in dire need of a nanny, maybe I should look into opening a nanny placement agency in a more convenient location than downtown Los Angeles and in a neighborhood known to employ nannies and all other categories of household help. I found a small boutique store for lease surrounded by floor to ceiling windows in the heart of Beverly Hills that gave a ringside view of everything going on inside. WE WERE THE BUSIEST STORE IN BEVERLY HILLS (Other than those selling fine jewelry and clothing) After a few years, we were interviewing about eight hundred applicants a month coming from all over the world. Bear in mind that there was no Internet when we first opened. Applicants found our ads in the Los Angeles Times classified section which was distributed all over the world or in the “La Opinion” Spanish-language newspaper in Los Angeles. After a few years, we no longer advertised in the La Opinion because we had established a fantastic reputation in the Latin American communities for being kind and considerate to our Hispanic applicants and for placing them in the best-paying jobs in Los Angeles County. Our clients found us by seeing our store front or came to us from referrals or reading about us in dozens of articles written in Vogue, House & Garden, Los Angeles Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, the Society Section of the Los Angeles Times and scores of other magazines. TV News featured us often in various segments about nannies. VETTING NANNIES IS AN ACUTE RESPONSIBILITY Our unique screening process was unlike any other nanny agency; our staff thoroughly vetted every applicant. No applicant was considered for placement unless we were 100% satisfied they had legitimate, verifiable childcare references. References were scrutinized utilizing one crucial caveat; it was incumbent upon us to make certain a reference was authentic and not concocted by and between the applicant’s friends or relatives. We became quite accomplished in identifying an illegitimate reference. It was also imperative all the candidates considered for placement met our criteria for having a neat appearance and a pleasant attitude. Of the approximate ninety-five hundred people who applied each year, eighty percent were deemed unqualified. Unfortunately, we had to prevent some of those individuals from continually trying to be placed by us as a live-in nanny. Their objective was to get into a beautiful home, eat the finest food and do absolutely nothing but steal. We regularly updated our secure record keeping system on those people who never got passed our screening process. We never had a single incident of child abuse or theft reported to us in forty-eight years. NANNY INTERVIEWING TIPS & HIRING ADVICE Below you will find some valuable tips that could prevent nanny/child care abuse. Retaining a Private Investigation company to delve into your nanny candidate’s background is your best option. An ethical private investigator will vet your candidate’s credit history, social media sites, and research criminal and civil court records and speak with former employers. They will conduct an intensive Internet search and run a driving record report regardless if the nanny will be driving your child or children around. The purpose being, you do not want anyone working for you who had a DUI or multiple accidents indicating possible drug abuse. The private investigator will also check to make sure the nanny’s automobile insurance is valid. By law, the nanny will be asked to sign an authorization form permitting the private investigator to conduct the background investigation. The private investigative firm should provide you with the form for the nanny to sign. As the potential employer, it would be prudent not to accept everything a nanny or their agent tells you until you verify all of it. “Trust But Verify” I am not implying that all nannies or