Sittercity Service Review - Should You Take Advantage of Their Background Checks?

Every day you hear the nightmare on the evening news: ?Another child abused by his babysitter? or ?A child is abused at daycare.? It is so common that it has left many parents left to go to great lengths to protect their children from their very own babysitters.

A babysitter matchmaking service, called Sittercity, offers to help by offering background checks on their sitters. Will this help? Should you take advantage of this option?

Let?s be honest with ourselves. Not every person is as nice as they seem. While running a care companion company that focused on providing in-home care for the elderly, I received many good resumes from people who seemed extremely pleasant and were good candidates for employment. However, after running the mandatory background check, I found abuse allegations and one woman who even had assaulted her own mother! Do you think I now wanted to hire them to care for my elderly clients? No way!

You don?t want someone like that caring for your loved ones either. So go ahead and use Sittercity or other resources to find good candidates to fit your needs, but don?t skip the background check. That last step makes all the difference and, from my experience, it does make a difference. It will show everything from a traffic ticket to a felony.

Even if you are hiring a babysitter without a matchmaking service, there are online companies that specialize in the background checks for any type of employer. This would be well worth the investment as well.

So even if you meet a babysitting candidate for the first time and think that he or she is wonderful, make sure you spend time reading their online reviews and do not fail to take advantage of the background checks that they make available. This service is definitely worth your time. After all, you are protecting your most important things in life?your kids.

Sheryl Frey is a mom dedicated to helping others by recommending good parenting sites like "Sittercity". For more information, visit http://www.sittercityreview.com