PSA: Check Local Small Claims Court Records Before Hiring Nanny!!

[Anonymous]

TLDR: Traditional background checks don't include Small Claims Court. For DC, you can easily search the Portal for Civil Division cases by name to see if your prospective hire has a history of suing families. The Portal will only pull up exact name matches, so if your nanny utilizes different names (even non-legal ones!), you need to do a separate search for each name. https://www.dccourts.gov/superior-court/cases-online.

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Prior to hiring a nanny, we did the traditional background check and everything cleared. Fast forward a couple of very rough months with the nanny, we ended our contract prematurely and for cause. It wasn't until the nanny sued us in DC Small Claims Court did we realize that this can be a pattern and a way of scamming families (hoping they just settle and pay). Highly recommend searching the DC Portal for Civil Division cases prior to hiring!

Some Advice: Make sure to search for all possible names that the nanny might go by, such as legal first name, legal middle name, and non-legal variations of either. It was surprising to me that someone can file a claim using a name that is NOT their legal name but a variation of it. Unfortunately, these cases can be sealed if requested by either party and granted by the judge, but IMO it's worth the quick search.

https://www.dccourts.gov/superior-court/cases-online

Click "SEARCH IN PORTAL" (not eaccess)
It will reroute you to this page: https://portal-dc.tylertech.cloud/Portal
Click "Smart Search"
Enter Last Name, First Name (try all variations)

While we're trying to move past this ordeal, I hope this advice is helpful and potentially saves some families from going through the same!