Background checks are required for senior caregivers, as a way to confirm the caregiver has entered the field because of their desire to assist seniors. Certain industries, such as senior care, attracts some people who think that there will be an easy opportunity to steal. And, because some seniors live isolated lives and are lonely, they will quickly become friendly with someone new and develop a trusting relationship. Entire networks have been created by those with criminal intent towards seniors, teaching their team members how to go in, build a friendship and then have access to a senior's finances and over charge for caregiving.
This is another advantage of hiring a senior home care agency. Senior home care agencies are professional companies who understand how to hire, how to conduct quality background checks and how to effectively manage employees with quality training and accountability metrics. The "bad eggs" will stay away from professional agencies ad they know they will be easily discovered.
As a former owner of a senior home care agency in Chicago, I have many stories of situations where families hired a caregiver directly, thinking they would avoid the employee payroll taxes, only later to discover they were paying more, without all of the insurance protections and quality standards. For instance, the caregiver would charge $20 to go to the grocery store which was just one block away. Senior care is not at all like child care. The parent is not there every morning and evening to hold the caregiver accountable and then add in possible memory loss and a senior who may be resistant to do some of their daily activities and you can quickly have a situation where the caregiver is not providing quality care and there are even situations where caregivers have had entire estates signed over to them.
The #1 form of senior abuse is financial. Both by relatives and other opportunists.
Learn how to conduct a quality
background checks and only hire senior home care agencies who meet
quality standards and actively manage their employees.