Ever buy a background check?

Me and the missus (SWMBO) are expecting twins this summer, and are looking into hiring a nanny to help out with watching them and our school-age toddler.
We've located a lady that we want to hire, but are looking at running a background check, just for that last piece of mind.

Has anyone ever purchased one of these? I've found quite a few sites for this, but several of them show up in therippoffreport.com and/or don't list a physical address anywhere on their websites, and/or have poor ratings from BBB. Know of any reliable companies, or is there a better way to go about this?

Good old fashioned foot work. I think a lot on info can be gleaned based on calling references. Ask for a verifiable 10 year residence (where she lived) history and call the contacts listed. If there's lots of moving from state to state or big unverifiable gaps thats a red flag. Get a SSN and verify it at the local government office (should have criminal/court) records as well. A credit score/report should tell you a lot too...

edit:
I bought a background check once or twice from various internet sources to check potential tenants. They never turned up as much info as the above (cheaper) methods did...

Call your kid's teacher. They know a lot of people who provide these services and can prob. give you a list of people.

My SWMBO is a teacher and I'll tell you we have the best of the best when it comes to child care

I've been using USIS through several incarnations over the past 13 years. They just pull arrest and conviction records from the state.

Go to crimetime.com

They have a 'Little Black Book' which is a collection of search services (many of which are public domain) you can look up criminal histories, arrest records etc. Its a matter of doing the footwork (fingerwork) to find what you may be looking for. And there are some paid services there, but for the most part, you should be able to find all of the public information stuff you want. Good luck and welcome to fatherhood!
-Me

Our local City offices offer background criminal check. I done those before. They require full name and address, maybe some other stuff. Check you local county or City offices first. Some services are free, like sex offender database, court records for assumed names and liens, marriages, etc. I know some of the stuff is non related, but it will give you a better idea of who the person is.

I'm not a big fan of digging into other peoples lives, but this seems like a reasonable time to do it.

You should be able to query their driving record as well for a minimal fee.

I use PublicData.com [ Home Page ] about $25 for a year and 200+ searches seems pretty accurate and up to date.
If you do sign up use this link I get 100 bonus lookups and so will you.
PublicData.com [ Bonus Registration ]
You would be surprised at how handy this can be. Checking out backgrounds looking up old friends to see if they are alive and what kind of trouble they are in. Also it does professional liscenses like the plumber or what not to make sure they are legal.

There are clearances that are required of educators and child care providers. I'm not sure if it's local to PA but here they are ACT 33/34.

Nanny should come with that paperwork at their costs.

Look for a nanny service that does the legwork for you.

My SWMBO is a nanny. She found the job via a company that the person needing the nanny submits the request to. She filled out an application, resume, background investigation paperwork etc... and submitted it to the company who then contacted the potential employer letting them know that they had a qualified candidate for the job.

By going this route you know that the person you have hired has met all the wickets and is qualified to do the job. I am sure that you would pay some sort of fee once you hired a nanny via this method, but not sure what it would be.