SwingSitters

About background checks

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What this page is, and is not. This is a plain-language explanation for people applying to be sitters. It is not the legal disclosure that the Fair Credit Reporting Act requires. Before any background check is requested, you will be shown that disclosure separately, as a stand-alone document, and asked for your written authorisation. No check is run without it.

1. Why we screen

Parents are trusting a sitter with their children, often late at night or overnight. Screening is one of the ways we try to earn that trust. It is one part of a six-step process, alongside identity verification, two references, a CPR and first-aid certificate, a video interview and the signed Sitter Agreement.

2. What the background check covers

The check is carried out by a third-party screening provider, which is a "consumer reporting agency" under federal law. The provider's name and contact details are given to you in the disclosure before you authorise the check. The report it prepares may include:

  • confirmation of your identity and address history, used to decide where to search;
  • a search of county criminal court records in the places you have lived;
  • a search of state and national criminal record databases, where available; and
  • a search of sex-offender registries.

We do not request your credit report, and we do not ask the provider about your private life, relationships or anything unrelated to caring for children.

3. How we use the result

  • A person on our team reviews each report. We do not reject applicants automatically.
  • We look at whether anything in the report is relevant to caring for children in a private home: its nature and seriousness, how long ago it was, and what has happened since. We follow federal, state and local laws on the use of criminal records, including fair-chance laws where they apply.
  • An entry on a sex-offender registry, or a conviction for an offence against a child or for a violent or sexual offence, will result in an application being declined.
  • If the check is completed and passed, parents see a "background check" badge on your profile. Parents never see your report, and neither does anyone outside the small team that reviews applications.

4. Your rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is a federal law that protects you when a background report is used to make a decision about you. In summary:

  • Disclosure and consent. We must tell you, in a document that contains only that disclosure, that we may obtain a report, and we must have your written authorisation first.
  • A copy of your report. You may ask for a copy of the report at any time, from us or from the screening provider.
  • Notice before we decide against you. If we are considering declining or removing you because of something in the report, we must first send you a pre-adverse action notice with a copy of the report and the official "Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act".
  • Time to respond. You then have a reasonable period, which we set at no fewer than seven calendar days, to tell us or the provider that something is wrong or to give us context, before we make a final decision.
  • The right to dispute. You may dispute the accuracy or completeness of anything in the report directly with the screening provider, free of charge. The provider must investigate, usually within 30 days, and correct or remove information that is inaccurate or cannot be verified.
  • Notice of the final decision. If we do decide against you on the basis of the report, we must send an adverse action notice. It names the provider, states that the provider did not make the decision and cannot explain it, and reminds you of your right to dispute and to request another free copy of the report within 60 days.

You can read the official summary of your rights on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's website at consumerfinance.gov.

5. Additional state and local rights

Some states and cities give you more rights than federal law does. Examples include the right to receive a free copy of your report automatically, limits on how far back certain records may be reported or considered, and fair-chance procedures that require an individual assessment and a set waiting period before a final decision. Where these laws apply to you, we follow them, and the disclosure you are shown before the check will include any notice your state requires.

6. Repeat checks

With your authorisation, we may repeat the background check periodically while you remain active on SwingSitters. You must also tell us within 72 hours of any arrest, charge or conviction, as set out in the Sitter Agreement.

7. Identity verification

Identity verification is a separate step, carried out by an identity verification provider. You photograph a government-issued ID and may be asked for a selfie, which the provider compares with your ID with your consent. We receive the result.

8. How long screening records are kept

We keep the outcome and date of each check, the provider's name, and any report we have received, for as long as you are active and afterwards for as long as consumer-reporting and screening laws require, and then delete them. See the Privacy Policy.

9. What a check does not do

A background check is a snapshot of what was on record, in the places searched, on the day it was run. It does not make any promise about a person, and we tell parents so. Passing it is one step of six. It is not an endorsement of you by SwingSitters or by the screening provider.

10. Questions

Write to support@swingsitters.com, or to [LEGAL ENTITY NAME], [MAILING ADDRESS].