This guide is for a family deciding whether to check each hired worker itself or to accept the screening an agency says it has already done. Both routes can work. Neither is finished until the family can name every check that was run, who ran it, and what the result looked like.
Local option: New Plan Care gives families in the St. Louis area in-home help so a parent can stay home: companionship, help with bathing and dressing, meals, and overnight care. Call (314) 405-0887.
What the check sheet holds
From the file: the lists that matter most for any in-home worker are the federal list of excluded individuals and the state worker disqualification list, and the family can search both on its own. Editorial: the items below are the family's working sheet, not a legal test, and a family that is unsure what a result means should ask the agency or a qualified professional in writing.
Route one: the family runs the checks
Use this route when the family hires a worker directly or wants to hold the paper personally. Write down each check before starting. The list should cover identity confirmed against a government photo document, a criminal background check from a company the family can name, a search of the state worker disqualification list, a search of the federal exclusion list, and, if the worker will drive a family member, a driving record and proof of insurance on the vehicle used. Keep the results in the family's own file, with the name of the person who ran each check beside it. The family is the one who must answer for the file later, so the file should be complete.
Route two: the agency runs the checks
Use this route when an agency places the worker. Ask for the screening in writing before any name is given to the family. Ask which company runs the criminal check, which lists the agency searches, whether identity is confirmed in person or by copy, and how often the checks are repeated. Ask whether the agency will show the family a summary that names each check. A line that says 'all staff are screened' is a claim, not a file, so ask for the list of checks behind it.
Where the two routes meet
Editorial: an agency screen and a family screen can both be run on the same worker, and the family's own lookups on the two public lists take a short time and give a check that does not depend on the agency's paper. If the agency refuses to name the company that ran its criminal check, treat that refusal as the answer and note it on the sheet. For how to look up an agency's public record yourself, see how to check a provider yourself, in five lookups.
Questions to ask before the worker starts
Ask the agency which checks it ran on this worker, who ran each one, and when the next round is due. Ask the family whether the worker's identity was matched to a photo document in person. Ask who receives the results and where they are kept. Write each answer on the check sheet, and mark which answers came from a document and which came from a spoken reply.