Even the most adept at shopping around and comparing services are stymied by the endless rabbit hole of possibilities of background check services to use for your nanny.  I searched and compared in hopes that you won’t have to.  While I’m still searching for a solution for 49 states out of 50.  One clear choice emerged for California household employers. 

Why is it so hard to compare background check services?

All background checks are limited in that they scan data from a limited number of sources for a limited period of time.  There is no such thing as a service that scans all pertinent sources from all Federal, State, and Local levels.  Assessing how much data is available to a service and if they effectively pull all that data is impossible to determine.  

So back to California. California has Trustline.

Trustline is unique in that a government agency, the California Department of Social Services, administers this nonprofit agency designed to provide a background check resource for parents. This service is more thorough than any background check service you could find online in that it checks against three databases that are off limits even to private investigators and background check services.  These databases are the fingerprint records from the California Department of Justice Criminal History System, the FBI Criminal History System, and a name check of the Child Abuse Central Index of California. License-exempt providers, i.e., your nanny, can register on Trustline and you, as a prospective employer, can check their information. This information is regularly updated. The cost is very reasonable, approximately $143 for livescan fingerprints and a DOJ fee. 

If you are a California employer, Trustline is your single, best resource for checking employees.

You can get started here https://www.trustline.org/background-check-pbn