First Choice Sitters, a North Carolina sitting service and nanny placement agency founded in 2004, runs a Bchex background check on every nanny and babysitter applicant right after the interview. Founder Kristin Kidwell says the checks have caught applicants who wouldn’t have been suitable for child care, keep the process fair for everyone, and are convenient, fast, and reliable.
The challenge
Placing nannies and sitters in family homes, with every applicant judged the same way.
The result
Every nanny and sitter applicant background checked before placement, through the same process.
About First Choice Sitters
First Choice Sitters is a North Carolina sitting service and nanny placement agency. Kristin Kidwell started it in 2004. It screens and interviews nannies and babysitters, then matches them with families for part-time, occasional, and full-time placements.
Success story snapshot
- A Bchex background check right after every interview
- The same check for every nanny and sitter applicant
- Applicants who weren’t a fit for child care identified before placement
Families trusting her judgment
Someone else’s children. Every placement puts a sitter with a family’s kids. Families are trusting First Choice Sitters to get that right.
A fair process. Kristin wanted every applicant judged the same way. Running checks herself, she says, “there might be some discrepancies.”
All my applicants get the same treatment, so I feel like it’s a very fair process.
A check after every interview
Right after each interview, Kristin enters the sitter’s information, sends it through Bchex, and reviews what comes back before matching anyone with a family. “Utilizing [Bchex]’s background checks has really made it much easier for my interview process.”
Fair, and worth having
Most applicants come back with nothing on their record. A few haven’t. “There’s been a few occurrences where I’m glad that I did have background checks in place,” Kristin says, “because there were definitely some applicants that wouldn’t have been suitable for my service or for child care.”
Running every check through one service also keeps it fair, because each applicant goes through the same process.
It’s convenient, it’s fast, it’s reliable, and it’s a great asset to any company.
What other small businesses can take from this
- Check right after the interview. Run the background check before any family meets the sitter.
- Use one service for everyone. The same check for every applicant keeps the process fair.
- Families can do it too. Hiring a sitter yourself? Run a background check on them, with their consent.
* Some numbers come from customer quotes given in 2023. Today, about 85% of eligible Bchex searches come back within 24 hours.
First Choice Sitters and Bchex: quick answers
- How do nanny agencies background check sitters?
- At First Choice Sitters, right after the interview. Founder Kristin Kidwell enters each sitter’s information and runs the same Bchex background check for every applicant, which keeps the process fair and has caught applicants who weren’t suitable for child care.
- Why should a nanny agency use a background check service instead of checking itself?
- Consistency. First Choice Sitters founder Kristin Kidwell says that with Bchex every applicant gets the same treatment, while checking applicants herself could leave room for discrepancies.
- Do most sitter applicants pass a background check?
- At First Choice Sitters, most do. Founder Kristin Kidwell says most applicants come back with nothing on their record, but a few occurrences showed applicants who wouldn’t have been suitable for child care.
- How do I run a background check on a nanny or babysitter I’m hiring myself?
- Families hiring on their own can order a Bchex background check on someone else at bib.com/personal-background-checks, from $29.95, with the sitter’s consent. It’s the same professional-grade background check employers use, from a PBSA-accredited screening company.
- Would First Choice Sitters recommend Bchex?
- Yes. Founder Kristin Kidwell says, “I highly recommend [Bchex] services to any professional looking to do background checks. It’s convenient, it’s fast, it’s reliable, and it’s a great asset to any company.”
About Bchex
Bchex, formerly known as Background Investigation Bureau (BIB), is a PBSA-accredited, SOC 2 Type 2 certified background screening and workforce safety company founded in 1995 and based in Huntersville, North Carolina. It has run more than 40 million checks for 2,000+ organizations, including school districts, churches, nonprofits, staffing firms, and employers. The Bchex Safety Ecosystem covers background checks, volunteer screening with SecureVolunteer, ongoing monitoring with Chex365, and visitor check-in with Chexpass.
