At any daycare facility, there will be a mix of people that provide care for the children and many employees that do not.
Most of the time, the employees that do work directly with the children will be thoroughly background checked to be sure that they haven’t any criminal pasts and that they’re safe to be around children. Consider some of the employees that may not be checked in this way:
- Drivers
- Maintenance People
- Groundskeepers
- Security Personnel
- Administrative Staff
- Computer Technicians
A very large daycare facility is likely to have some or all of these people on their staff. These people may not be background checked in the way they should be. When this is the case, there is a situation being set up where the children may be at risk.
Background Checks
Most of the time, background checks will be part of the hiring process for anyone with direct contact with the children. These background checks have to be very thorough. There are plenty of situations where a predator moves from one city to another committing the same crimes over and over again. While stricter laws and different monitoring programs have lessened this somewhat, the threat is still there. People can and do drop off the grid all the time.
When you’re dealing with people who have some other capacity at the daycare facility, it’s best if their background checks are as thorough as those given for the caregivers. Of course, anyone who is a known sexual predator will be listed under the various registries, but other crimes don’t always show up on regular background checks. These can even include violent crimes such as assault. Stalking, theft and other activities of the like may also be missed if the background check run isn’t up to par.
To make sure that your child has all the best where security is concerned, ask the facility and make sure that they do background check all their staff. If something happens to your child and you find out that the staff was not vetted adequately, you may be looking at a case of daycare negligence. A daycare abuse law firm would likely want to talk to you about such a situation, as you may have the opportunity of suing for damages and for pain and suffering. There’s no assurance that you’ll win, but an attorney can tell you if it’s worth filing a suit.