Background Check! Caregivers Stealing from Elderly

Don’t let your elderly loved ones get hurt. Get a free background check on the home health aides and check them out before you hire them. You can get a free background check on in-home care workers at Care.com.

In-Home Care Workers

Who is taking care of your loved ones? There are hundreds of cases of in-home care workers stealing from the people they’re hired to protect and care for.   To be sure the overwhelming majority of home health workers are honest and hard-working people who are dedicated to helping senior citizens with disabilities and illnesses.

Home Health Aides

When you’re thinking about hiring local help to care for an aging relative it always makes sense to do a background check. Some agencies charge a fee for a background check but it’s always worth it.  Right now you can get a free background check on a home health worker by visiting Care.com.

After you’ve hired a visiting nurse or a home health aide you need to keep your eyes open.  “Trust but verify,” as Ronald Reagan said. Make sure that you monitor the bank statements and don’t make a secret of it. If a potential thief knows that somebody’s watching their much less likely to steal.

It can be very stressful trying to find somebody to take care of an aging relative and you might be tempted to rush in hire the first person that seems nice and professional.  Regardless of how nice of an impression the person makes you always wanted check credentials and check references as well.

Hire Visiting Nurses & In-Home Caregivers

I like the service over Care.com  because you can check out a potential care worker, read up on what other people have said about them and even do a background check. Even if you have somebody working for you right now you need to have a backup plan in place.  No health worker can be expected to work every single day that you need them – they have family emergencies and get sick just like the rest of us. Care.com makes it pretty easy to have a few potential backup people in place. A lot of these people are right in your neighborhood and are willing to work for less money if you pay them directly in cash rather than going through an agency. The good thing about an agency is that they should be monitoring and doing background checks on all of the people that they’ve sent out but you can never be too sure.  don’t assume that the in-home care agency has done a background check on everyone. Verify that.

A lot of older folks like to leave cash around the house which makes it very tempting for a potential thief. Many times the senior citizen is confused or too weak to keep track of how much cash they have on hand and a dollar here, $10 here and $100 there – your employee may be stealing thousands of dollars over time.

Again, we know that the vast majority of home health workers and people who provide services to senior citizens in home are honest and would never think of stealing from a client, but the sad fact is is that it happens all the time. Go to a reputable service to find a highly qualified individual, get a background check, ask for references and be sure to follow up and speak to every reference.  Don’t be in a rush to find someone take the time to find the right person.

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