In many cases, hiring a part-time nanny off of Craigslist works well. However, there is always the possibility that this person is a little… off. The easiest way to prevent a lunatic from unknowingly entering her home is by using a babysitting service. Here’s a breakdown of why she should skip Craigslist and go with a bona fide nanny service.

Most babysitting services train their employees before sending them out to work in the field, so you’ll be dealing with a trained professional rather than someone who doesn’t have a lot of experience. If you hire a random person, they might lie and say that they have babysat many times, when in fact the most relevant experience they have is taking care of their family dog.

Another reason you should use a nanny service is that you can do your own background checks, of course, but it’s easier for someone to fool an individual than an entire agency. Nanny agencies do background checks on potential employees, looking at their employment history and any criminal history. Because they will be working with children, only applicants with a clean record will be hired. There is no real way to control a non-agency nanny, who could easily falsify her background and references.

A nanny agency will be able to work with you to find a part-time nanny that meets the unique needs of you and your loved ones. While all employees are trained in certain aspects, if one, for example, gets along better with younger children than another, that babysitter is more likely to be assigned to you if she has small children. If you find that the employee assigned to you is not a good fit, the agency will continue to work with you to find one that is. However, if you hire someone independently, who doesn’t quite fit the bill, you will have to go through the entire hiring process again.

Employee salaries are settled by the babysitting service, which means you won’t have to deal with the intricacies of employee taxes and benefits. Someone hired independently might lie to you about the average salary for a nanny. A nanny service can send a replacement if your regular part-time nanny needs to leave work at the last minute. If you hire someone from Craigslist, he or she might send someone with no experience in her place, or not show up at all.

If something goes wrong and the part-time nanny is at fault, a nanny agency will take responsibility, whereas there is no real way to hold a freelance nanny accountable. Similarly, if you are having problems with an agency-hired nanny, he or she will have a supervisor she can talk to. Dealing with a non-agency nanny could make for a difficult confrontation. Keep all of this in mind when you are thinking about hiring an agency or non-agency nanny; In the long run, it could save you a lot of complaints.