What Parent’s Can Do to Prevent Their Worst Nightmare

A missing 4-year-old in Oklahoma. Her, husband and wife caregivers arrested. One for neglect, the other charged with her murder after fleeing to Arizona.

A parent’s worst nightmare. No parent should ever have to go through this.
Anyone who has ever raised a child worries about losing that child. It’s visceral.

The Care Challenge

Families need to make a living to support their children. This leads to a challenge of finding safe and affordable care. (These same challenges can also apply to families looking for care for an elderly parent and for families needing care for a developmentally disabled loved one).
According to Bankrate, 50% of American families spend 20% or more of their income on childcare. 70% spend at least 10% of their income.

Yet, for many parents, childcare options are limited. As an industry, there is chronic understaffing due low pay. In some areas of the country there are very few options even available. And over the last few decades Americans have moved away from their families home in search of jobs, leading to fewer families being able to have extended family who can care for kids while parents work.

As a result, parents need to be able to check out daycare centers, preschools, and other caregiver options. (The same goes for care for an elderly parent too and for loved ones who are developmentally disabled ).

Sadly, in my 30+ years of doing litigation investigations, I’ve seen too many cases of abuse, neglect, and exploitation of children, seniors, and the developmentally disabled in care settings to trust that the government agencies overseeing care providers does enough to keep our loved ones safe.

So much so, that I performed the background checks on the staff of the preschool where my own son went.

Research

So what can families do to reduce the risk (there will always be some level of risk because there is no certainty in life, so the goal is to minimize that risk as much as possible)?

• Conduct interviews of administrators, owners, and care providers. Don’t just tour the location, although what you see is critical especially as far as cleanliness and amount of staff. Ask questions: What is the ratio of providers to those cared for? (States have ratio ranges, but they’re seldom enforced, and they’re set as maximum ratios rather than optimal ratios). How long have you provided care? What type of background checks do you perform? What agency regulates your services? Have you ever been sued or faced regulatory action? If so, what for and how was it resolved?
• Check court records for any civil litigation and criminal litigation. You can search by entity name, and also by individual person’s names (especially if you are hiring someone to care for your loved in your home). Most court records are maintained at the county level. In some locations you’ll be able to conduct litigation searches online, while in other jurisdictions you’ll have to go in person. There are typically two levels of court, one lower level (sometimes called Metropolitan, Municipal, or Magistrate—these typically have misdemeanor level criminal cases and civil cases below a certain dollar amount) and upper level (sometimes called District or Superior, which typically have felony cases and civil cases with higher dollar amounts). This may piss some people off, but don’t just look for convictions, not every criminal case that is filed leads to a conviction, but that doesn’t mean the fact-pattern didn’t happen. And people and businesses are creatures of habit unless they truly want to change, and most will not put in the work needed to change.
• Ask for references and interview the references about their experiences. Listen not just to their answers, but also for any points they seem to gloss over, and return to that information to see if they provide more details. References provided by someone are typically going to say nice things. So know that going in. And when you are finishing up the interview, ask the person if there is anything that you haven’t covered that you should know (and then go silent. Sit in that silence and let them fill it in. Nature abhors a vacuum).
• Contact the state agency that is responsible for regulating that care provider, and ask for a list of complaints and resolutions, and also copies of any administrative citations. Each state may have different public records release guidelines, so the information you can get access to may vary by state. But remember these two things: IF YOU DON’T ASK THE ANSWER IS ALWAYS NO, AND ASK AND YEE SHALL RECEIVE. They’re both true.
• Conduct a Google search. Yes. These can be helpful, but remember that when it comes to these searches, you may have to verify information. Also, be wary of reviews. They can be stacked one way or another, and also can be overtaken by those with a grudge. And that grudge may have nothing to do with care.

This basic investigation will not catch everything, but it will definitely help you feel more secure in your selection process.

If you find this helpful, be sure to check out my eBook, The Everyday Detective: You Can Harness the Power of Information to Protect Yourself, Your Loved Ones, Your Money, and Your Home. And you can also check out my free checklist on conducting background research on a contractor before hiring him to work on your home.