Safety
What we check,
and what we cannot.
A background check is the floor, not a promise. Here is what we run, what it stops, and where your own judgment has to take over.
What we enforce
Three rules the platform runs.
A clear check before anyone applies.
A nanny cannot apply to a job until the background check comes back clear, or an administrator waives it on the record.
Families reach out first.
Nannies cannot open a conversation. Every thread starts with a family who was already interested.
A person reviews every account.
Nobody appears on the platform without a human approving them, and an account can be switched off at any time.
01 · The background check
What the check is.
An independent screening company runs it, not us. We hand them an email address and nothing else, and the nanny completes the rest on their own secure site, so dates of birth and identity numbers never reach our systems. It is ordered once, when a nanny joins.
02 · Beyond the check
What the platform enforces.
Families start every conversation, so nothing unsolicited reaches a nanny. A person reviews each account before it is visible. When we switch an account off, its access ends on the next request rather than whenever the session would have run out. Job posts that go quiet close on their own.
Read this part
What we cannot promise.
A background check has limits. It searches records. It cannot read intent, and no search reaches every record, because results depend on what each source holds, how names and identities are matched, and what a jurisdiction reports. A clear result means nothing disqualifying was found in the records searched at that moment. It is not a prediction, and it is not a guarantee of anyone's conduct or of your family's safety.
Members write their own profiles. Profiles, job posts, applications, and messages are written by the people who post them. We do not write them and we do not independently confirm what they say. Experience, certifications, references, and anything said in a conversation are claims by a member until you have checked them yourself.
We are a platform, not an employer or an agency. Gathered Hands does not employ, place, supervise, or direct any nanny, and we are not responsible for what any member does, online or in person. Deciding who to contact, who to meet, and who to let into your home is your decision alone. Interview people, check their references, meet before you hire, and stay involved once the arrangement begins. You are also the one responsible for the employment, tax, and insurance obligations that come with hiring someone in your home.
This page describes how the platform works in plain language. The terms and conditions are what govern your use of it, and where the two differ the terms control.
Good to know
Safety questions.
Every nanny goes through a check before they can apply to a job. There is one exception and we would rather state it than bury it: an administrator can approve an account with the check waived, which is recorded on that account. In both cases the profile carries the background checked mark, so the mark means the check was cleared or deliberately waived by us.
Identity and criminal records screening, run by an independent consumer reporting agency rather than by us. The exact searches come from the screening package we order, which we can change as the service improves, so we do not publish a fixed list that would go out of date. Ask us and we will tell you what is running today.
The check gates applying to a job. It does not hide a profile. Until it clears, a nanny can still appear in search, be messaged by a family, and accept a job offer, so treat the background checked mark as the thing to look for rather than assuming everyone you see has cleared one.
No. Families are not screened. A family account is reviewed by a person and needs an active membership and a completed profile before it can post a job or start a conversation, and nannies can read the whole family profile before applying.
No. Conversations are private between the people in them, and we do not screen, filter, or scan what is sent. That means anything a member tells you is unverified until you have confirmed it yourself, and it means you should keep the conversation on the platform until you are confident.
Use the contact form and choose Safety as the topic. Once you are signed in you can also report a profile or a conversation from the page itself. Reports go to a person who reviews them, and we can switch an account off, which ends its access on the next request rather than whenever a session would have expired.
The nanny cannot apply to jobs. We tell them, and anything after that is handled by our team by hand rather than by an automatic rule, because a record needs a person to read it.
Where families hire
Know who you are hiring.
Read the whole profile, ask the questions that matter to you, and meet before you decide.