Nannies play a crucial role in shaping a child's future. A child's early years depend on the care and protection made available, by those in the peripheral. It is difficult for parents to find out detailed information on a nanny's past experiences and background. Several nanny service agencies are now operative, to help parents by providing background checks.

A background check covers some basic areas of the individual's personality. It helps the parents in getting a clear picture of the candidate's character traits. The first step in a background check is a social security number trace. This number provides all the information on the individual's address change for the past 7 to 10 years. This information can then be matched and verified by the candidate's version and inconsistencies can be checked. Moreover, this number validates the choice of the jurisdiction that might be searched for criminal records and reveals if the candidate has used any other names, apart from the stated one.

In case the candidate is from other part of the country, this test is very helpful and essential. It pays to go through the state or county- wide criminal check that maintains records on felony and misdemeanor indexes.

The driving history and accident reports form an integral part of the background check. They indicate the impulses and judgmental abilities of the individual, to find out about driving under influence or DUI charges. The sex offender registry is an important check, maintained at the state level. It allows for postal and electronic reports on the search results. Various agencies also allow access to online individual credit reports. However, this procedure has become quite tough, with the increasing security measures employed by the credit bureaus.