What is the minimum you should verify?
Identity, right to work, references and any credential claimed. Those four, every time, no exceptions for someone who came recommended.
Check identity against photographic identification and confirm the name matches everything else you have been given. Confirm the person is entitled to work. Telephone at least two references and ask them plainly whether they would hire this person again for the same work — a hesitation tells you more than a paragraph. And if a certificate is claimed, see it, and check the expiry date rather than the fact of it.
What actually is a background check?
Not the twenty-dollar report a search engine offers you. Those aggregate patchy public records and routinely miss things, and a clean one gives false comfort rather than information.
A real check is run against proper sources, with the person's written consent, and in this industry it is normally done by an employer rather than by a household. Running one properly as a private individual is harder than most families expect — which is precisely why agencies, which are required to run them, charge what they charge.
If a thorough check is essential to you, that is a strong argument for hiring through an agency. If you hire directly, ask what has been done, ask to see it, and understand that the decision is yours. The Care Royal does not vouch for anyone: we connect families and caregivers, and legal requirements differ by state.
What about insurance and liability?
Ask whether the caregiver carries their own liability cover, and do not assume they do. Then check your own home insurance: some policies treat someone working regularly in your home differently, and finding that out after an accident is the wrong time.
If you become a household employer, workers' compensation may be required where you live. This is worth a single conversation with a professional before the first shift rather than a search afterwards.
What should you notice in the first month?
Documents tell you about the past. Behaviour tells you about now.
- Do they arrive when they said, and tell you early when they cannot?
- Do they volunteer the small bad news, or does it surface later?
- Is the person receiving care more relaxed after visits, or less?
- Do they say when something is outside what they can safely do?
- Are money and medication handled the way you agreed, without being asked?
A caregiver who tells you they cannot lift someone safely alone is showing you good judgment, not a limitation.
What are the warning signs?
Pressure to skip paperwork or be paid in a way that leaves no record. Vagueness about dates, previous clients or gaps. References who cannot be reached, or who turn out to be relatives. Reluctance to have anyone else present. Any discouragement of your involvement, however reasonably it is framed.
None of these prove anything on their own. Two of them together are a reason to stop.
How do you keep a record?
Write down what you checked and when, and keep signed copies of what you were shown. If the arrangement is ever questioned — by another family member, an insurer, or an authority — a dated file is worth far more than a good memory.
Keeping the schedule, care notes and documents in one place from day one makes this automatic rather than a task. That is part of what The Care Royal is for, and it is free for families.