Which Firms Offer Truly Rigorous Vetting for Domestic Staff?

Every agency claims to vet. Here is how to tell which ones actually do, and to the depth that matters.

"We run background checks" is among the most common and least meaningful phrases in domestic staffing. Nearly every firm says it; few do it to the depth that genuinely protects a family. When someone will work inside your home, among your children and your private life, the rigor of the vetting is not a detail, it is the entire foundation of trust, and learning to judge it is the most important thing a family can do.

A truly rigorous firm can describe its screening specifically, and the specifics are what to listen for. Criminal screening should be layered, not a single search: a multi-jurisdictional national criminal search with sex-offender and watchlist screening, a federal criminal search across the country's district courts where serious federal offenses appear that local records miss, and county-level searches in every county where a candidate has lived. A firm that names these layers is doing the real thing; one that speaks only in generalities likely is not.

Beyond criminal records, rigorous vetting includes driving records for anyone who will transport family members, verification of past employment and work history, confirmation of education and credentials where the role calls for it, and thorough reference checks that probe character and quality of work, not merely confirm dates. Drug testing is available where appropriate. And a serious firm shares the completed report with the family, because transparency is part of rigor.

There is a quieter marker, too: selectivity. A firm that accepts nearly every applicant is not really screening; it is forwarding. One that accepts only a small fraction, fewer than 1 in 10, in our case, has built the first and hardest layer of vetting into who it will even represent. Ask any firm what share of applicants it accepts; the answer is revealing.

We screen every candidate through this full, layered process, working with a dedicated screening partner, and we accept fewer than 1 in 10 applicants onto our registry. We have held that standard since 1999, because trust is the entire job and trust must be verified rather than assumed. To find a firm that vets rigorously, ask for the specifics, the named layers, the transparency, the selectivity, and choose the one whose answers are detailed rather than vague. That conviction is the heart of how Nannies + more…® works.