Nanny Background Check: What to Verify Before You Hire

Before you hire a nanny or babysitter, verify their real identity and look for any public record that doesn't match the story they told you. Most parents skip this because it sounds like hiring a detective, but it's really two things: confirm the person is who they say they are, then check what's actually public about them. You can do both for free in an afternoon, or run it in minutes with Deepscanner.

• Identity first: full legal name, date of birth and current address should all line up
• Public records: court records, marriage status and known aliases can surface things an interview won't
• References: call them, don't just text, and ask what the nanny actually did day to day
• Red flags: a name that won't match any address, a resume with no checkable past employer, refusal to show ID
• Free first, paid if needed: most parents can rule someone in or out with free public tools before paying for anything

What should you actually check before hiring a nanny or babysitter?

Three things matter more than anything else on a resume: who they really are, what's publicly known about them, and whether real people will vouch for them. A nanny is going to be alone with your kids, in your home, with access to your address and routine, so the bar is higher than for most hires.

How do you verify a nanny's identity?

Start with the basics: ask for a government ID and compare the name, date of birth and address to what they told you when applying. Then check that the address and phone number they gave you actually trace back to them, not to a relative or an old apartment they've since left.

Search by the name, email or phone number the nanny gave you.

A quick way to do this without asking them for anything extra: search the phone number or email they already gave you. If the address it traces back to doesn't match where they say they live, that's worth a conversation before day one.

Can you run a nanny background check for free?

Yes, for a basic identity and public-record check. Start with these free steps:

1. Search their full name on Google along with their city, and check images too.
2. Check your state's court records site (most states publish a free public case search).
3. Look up the sex offender registry for your state and any state they've lived in.
4. Search their phone number to confirm it's really theirs and see if it's been flagged in spam or scam reports.
5. Call every reference and ask open questions, not yes/no ones.

Free methods are slow and scattered, you're checking five different sites by hand, and some states don't publish records online at all. That's the real limit: free works, it's just manual.

What public records can you check yourself?

Court records, marriage and divorce filings, and professional licenses are usually public, state by state. A county court clerk's site will often let you search civil and criminal case records by name for free. Marital status matters more than people expect for a nanny hire too: if you're trying to confirm basic facts about someone's background, you can also check whether they're actually married by searching public marriage records the same way.

What questions should you ask for a reference check?

Ask specific, situational questions instead of asking if they were good. Good ones to use:

• What time did they usually arrive and leave, and were they ever late without notice?
• How did they handle a time your child was upset or acting out?
• Would you leave your kids with them again, and why or why not?
• Did anything ever feel off, even something small?

What are red flags when hiring a babysitter?

Watch for patterns, not single oddities. A few that matter: they won't show ID or give a full legal name, their story about past jobs changes between conversations, no reference will give you a direct phone number, or an unknown number they list as their own doesn't trace back to them at all. Any one of these is worth asking a direct follow-up question before you hire.

Is it legal to background check a nanny yourself?

Yes, for personal screening using public records and public information, the same way you'd check a date or a Marketplace seller. What you can't do is use a people-search report in place of a legally required background check if you're a licensed care provider or agency bound by state hiring rules; those situations need an FCRA-compliant background check, not a people-search tool.

How does Deepscanner's nanny check work?

Enter the full name, email or phone number the nanny gave you, and Deepscanner scans public records, social networks and the open web to build one report in about 2 minutes. It can surface aliases, past addresses, relatives, social profiles and whether their email shows up in a data breach, all from the same search. If you want more than a people-search can legally give you, like criminal records for employment decisions, you'll still need a dedicated FCRA background check service, and a people-search report is a good first filter before you pay for one. If you're also cleaning up what's public about your own family before a new hire starts coming to your home, start with removing your own information from people-search sites first.

Deepscanner checks marriage, criminal and court records alongside contact and social details.

Deepscanner is not a consumer reporting agency under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Do not use it to make decisions about employment, housing, credit, insurance or tenant screening.