Nanny GPS: How to Screen Individuals
Before employing someone to look after your children, it is essential that you conduct some background checks and screening on the individual. The facilities and information available to you differs from country to country. Following is a starting point on some useful resources. This list is not exhaustive and we'd always advise that you contact the local law enforcement in your area to ascertain what other steps you can take to screen individuals.
Australia
Visit http://www.mako.org.au/prelist.html MAKO/Files Online- Listing Australian Paedophiles/Sex Offenders The purpose of this website/ information is to promote public awareness/ protection, help prevent you and those close to you from the potential dangers posed by individuals who have committed sex offences in the past and to deter sex offenders from offending/ re-offending. Any criminal actions taken by persons against the offenders named within this site, may result in arrest and prosecution of those persons.
Canada
In December 2004, the government announced SOIRA, the Sex Offender Information Registration Act, and a National Sex Offender Registry. Unforunately, this database will only be accessible by police agencies. For info, see http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ for more information
Ireland, Republic of
The only centralised data on the whereabouts of sex offenders in Ireland is the record kept by the Garda Síochána Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Unit of the certificates received from the courts, cross-referenced with Sex Offenders Notification Forms received from the Garda station in the area where the sex offender resides. It should be noted that there is no "Sex Offenders Register" as such and the term is not included in any section of the Sex Offenders Act 2001. Information on the whereabouts of sex offenders is not made available to the public.
As of the 26th November 2007, there were 1,077 persons subject to the requirements of Part 2 of the Sex Offenders Act 2001. As of 29 November, 2007 there were 113 sex offenders being supervised by the Probation Service. Visit http://www.crimecouncil.gov.ie/sex_offenders_register.html for more information.
United Kingdom
The sex offenders register contains the details of anyone convicted, cautioned or released from prison for sexual offence against children or adults since September 1997, when it was set up. The register, which is run by the police, is not retro-active, so does not include anyone convicted before 1997. There are around 29,000 people on the register in the UK. In the UK, a project known as ViSOR (Violent & Sex Offender Register) is currently being rolled out, but will be accessible only by law enforcement. Visit http://www.npia.police.uk/en/10510.htm for more information.
USA
The Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website (NSOPW)
The Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website (NSOPW), coordinated by the U.S. Department of Justice, is a cooperative effort between the state agencies hosting public sexual offender registries and the federal government. This Website is a search tool allowing a user to submit a single national query to obtain information about sex offenders through a number of search options. Visit www.nsopw.gov for more information.
FBI Crimes Against Children
The FBI Crimes Against Children (http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cid/cac/registry.htm) website provides links. You can search registry websites maintained by individual states by following the links below. Note: the information contained in the national registry and the state registries is identical; the national registry simply enables a search across multiple states.
The Emigration and Customs website
The Emigration and Customs website http://www.ice.gov/pi/predator/sexoffenders.htm also provides sexual offender information by State. Operation Predator is a comprehensive initiative designed to protect young people from child pornographers, alien smugglers, human traffickers, and other predatory criminals.
