Fairfax County -- total craziness!

[Anonymous]

My nanny has been investigating Fairfax County licensing/permitting requirements, and is getting what I hope to God is bad information.

According to the person she spoke to (twice), ANY nanny who is doing child care "on a regular basis" and "for compensation" needs to be licensed by the county.

Fair enough, although it seems overboard. The kicker is this... she has to get a background check (fine), but if she is going to take care of MY two kids in MY house... then ME (the mother) and my husband also need background checks.

Is there some conceivable explanation for this that I'm missing? Or is this just plain crazy?

So, if I stay at home and take care of my kids, I don't need a background check. But if I hire a nanny, then I do????

Can anyone shed some light on this? The info I'm getting from the Office for Children seems poor (at best). This can't be right!

[Anonymous]

I don't know the answer, but I suspect the parent background checks are for the safety of the potential nanny. If you were a nanny, wouldn't you want to know that your employers are not ax-murderers?

[Anonymous]

You probably need to look into this yourself. It doesn't sound right to me, but I'm not in FFX county.

[Anonymous]

Just responding to 11:47 -- there are a whole lot of people who might want to know you're not axe murderers (including many who might work in your home). Since when did we start protecting employees from their employers?

I agree, OP, it sounds like you need to look into this further.

[Anonymous]

sounds like she heard wrong. Maybe if she works thru an agency they would do some type of check on the hiring family.

[Anonymous]

You'll obviously want to follow up yourself, but I believe your nanny got it mixed up.

Fairfax County requires any child care provider working for compensation in their own home to get a permit. In addition to the child care provider, any persons over 18 living in that same home must also have a background check done. (Husband, sibling away at college, parents, etc.)

Live-out nannies working for you in your home don't need to get a permit. Where it may be murky is if your nanny frequently takes your child to their home during the workday, or if they are live-in. I could see a loophole whereby a live-in nanny must get permitted because they are caring for a child at their domicile, and by virtue of you being over 18 and living there too (your own home) may have to have a background check in addition to nanny's.

That is just my interpretation after visiting http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/ofc/ProviderServices.htm

You should absolutely follow up on your own.