Sunday, January 09, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

CHILD CARE: Abuse by nannies unusual

Still, experts say parents need to take standard precautions

Bethany Ford Nanny, 24, arrested Dec. 30 on two felony counts of child abuse Paula Yakubik and Jason Kuckler talk at a news conference Thursday at University Medical Center, where their 3-month-old son, Ryan, was treated for shaken baby syndrome. Photo by Gary Thompson.

When it was time to look for a new nanny for her children, Paula Yakubik asked her neighbors for help.

One recommended a local nanny placement agency, and with the agency's help, Yakubik hired a seemingly perfect young woman with a clean background. She checked up on that nanny periodically, just like the experts say she should have done.

Then everything went wrong.

"I know for one thing I'll never leave a nanny alone in my house with my kids again," Yakubik said last week, the day her 3-month-old baby, Ryan, was released from the hospital following treatment for injuries to his brain.

Yakubik's live-in nanny, 24-year-old Bethany Ford, was arrested Dec. 30 on two felony counts of child abuse. She is accused of shaking the baby on at least two separate occasions in December.

Data on abuse by nannies is hard to come by, but experts and the data that is available indicate that it is not all that common.

"It's very possible that this young woman did not know that what she was doing could harm this child," said Cheryl Mayer, the hot line director for Child Help USA, a nonprofit child abuse prevention agency.

She said overall, however, caregivers account for about 14 percent of the abuse cases the agency gets calls about.

Child abuse perpetrators typically are classified by police in categories that include parents, other family members, strangers and caregivers. Nannies are usually not separated from the rest of the pack.

But a 2001 report for the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention on abuse by baby sitters provides some data.

That report notes that about 4 percent of reported child abuse cases were perpetrated by nonfamily, paid, in-home caregivers, which would include nannies as well as baby sitters.

By contrast, according to the federal Administration for Children and Families, 81 percent of child abuse is committed by a parent, 7 percent by another relative, and 3 percent by an unmarried partner of a parent.

Yakubik, a former reporter for the View, a community newspaper published by the Review-Journal and Las Vegas Sun, said she never once suspected Ford would do anything wrong.

She had no crimes on her record, had been the lead nursery teacher at a local Mormon church, had just recently completed a Mormon mission, and was taking childhood education classes in school.

"I know her life's dream was to be a social worker," Yakubik said of Ford, a student at the Community College of Southern Nevada. "She was just a gentle, kind, loving person."

She said the family had another nanny taking care of their daughter, Ashley, before Ryan came along.

But that nanny, who was referred by a friend, was elderly and did not get around all that well. When Ashley was around 9 months old, Yakubik knew it was time to look for a new nanny.

"I knew I needed to get a nanny that was a little younger," she said. "Someone who didn't have a hard time getting around."

A neighbor recommended Nannies and Housekeepers USA, one of just two local nanny placement agencies.

Those agencies -- and the nannies -- are virtually unregulated by county or state government. Nancy Hancock, with Clark County Social Services, said nanny placement agencies are classified as employment agencies for licensing purposes.

Nannies themselves are not regulated under child care laws because they take care of the children in the child's own home, she said.

The agency Yakubik hired did a full criminal background check and drug testing, and checked on Ford's references.

Yakubik checked Ford's references, too, and nothing bad came up, so the family hired her in February 2004. At the same time, Yakubik found out she was pregnant with Ryan, who was born in September.

Experts in the field say Yakubik did everything right: She thoroughly checked out her nanny's background, felt very comfortable with her, and checked up on her every day, unannounced.

"I called my house five times a day to check on her," said Yakubik, who owns a public relations agency and said she worked only part time, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily.

Still, the experts said, taking standard precautions should help in most cases.

Kristen Kanoski, president of the National Association of Nannies, said checking a nanny's references is the first important step.

"Always, always, always check the references," said Kanoski, 37, who has been a nanny for 15 years in Chicago. "Never hesitate to call them back two or even three times."

Nannies should provide at least three references and have CPR training and some professional experience, she said.

She said equally important is that the parents feel comfortable with the prospective nanny.

"Why would you invite somebody into your home to take care of the one thing you can't replace unless you really trust them?" she said.

She advised parents looking for a nanny to take time off work and observe the nanny with the children.

"You can get a feel for it," she said.

Stop by the house unexpectedly, and have neighbors and friends do the same.

Parents can expect to pay anywhere from $300 to $500 or more weekly for a good, experienced nanny, so putting the nanny through that kind of routine shouldn't be a problem, she said.

Carol Hale, owner of the other local nanny placement agency, Nannys and Grannys, had similar recommendations for parents looking for a nanny.

She said her agency typically funnels the younger nanny applicants to baby-sitting services, and the older ones to nannying.

"Just because of the lack of experience and the day-to-day grind of being a nanny," she said. "It's really a grueling job."

She said the company, like others, has prospective nannies fill out an extensive questionnaire, interviews them, investigates their background, looks into their references, and requires a health card and CPR certification.

In addition, she said, the company provides for education in the field of child care. The company also offers psychological testing, but few people use them. Kanoski said she does not believe psychological tests work that well in choosing a nanny.

Hale acknowledged that all those tests and checks won't weed out every bad nanny, however.

"As a mom, a dad or an agency, there's only a certain number of things you can do," she said.

Like Kanoski, Hale said parents should always feel comfortable with prospective nannies before hiring them.

Her advice: Get a nanny cam to keep an eye on what's going on at home.

"I think it's wise in today's climate," she said.

Yakubik said she wishes that's what she'd done.

"I thought about getting a nanny cam sometimes," she said. "I wish I would have went through with it."

She said she and Ryan's father, Jason Kuckler, weren't sure what they would do now for child care arrangements.

They're considering alternating days off at work, perhaps, or even hiring two nannies, so they can keep an eye on each other, as well as the children.