Proper Yaya Screening: Your First Step In Ensuring Your Child’s Safety

 

The Realities of Abuse by Yaya

This is one mom’s shocking story: A day after she terminated the services of her second-born’s yaya, on grounds of stealing, her young niece disclosed that the yaya had all along been filching her preschooler of his leftover daily allowance to fund a tong-its habit! 

On nights that her in-laws (with whom she and her husband would leave their two sons while they went off to work) were expected late, her young niece would come home from school to find her cousin crying in a corner after his vile nanny had once again forcibly snatched his money to gamble with the other household help. 

The little boy told his cousin that his yaya even threatened him bodily harm should he resist or “squeal” on her.

Sunlife Sales Executive and mom Joselyn Tiu, on the other hand, thought she hit the jackpot when she chanced upon a nanny who could also cook delectable Chinese dishes.  After terminating the woman’s services, she would discover that her then-grade school daughter and son suffered verbal abuse and threats from their assigned custodian. This happened whenever they failed to finish all the food she prepared for them.

Can you fathom what that’s like? You set off for work to afford your sitter just compensation, decent board and lodging, and weekly days off. And then you find out she’s been subjecting your precious and defenseless child to abuse for a maddeningly unknown length of time!

So, how do you guard a child from this kind of abuse? How do you sift through the bad eggs and end up with a good one?  What are the imperative qualifications we must look for when hiring a yaya?

 

Your First Defense: Yaya Screening

Like any company interviewing prospective employees, parents must operate like Human Resources practitioners. Here are a few suggestions from Joselyn Tiu and Ayala Alabang Village security director Fernando Diaz, a Certified Security Professional (CSP):

• Decide on the qualities you are looking for in a yaya. Consider the level of experience you are

  

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  comfortable with and the person’s educational attainment. Be mindful of the child’s health concerns and special needs, and take note of the child’s interests and schedule of activities, if any. Other areas of equal importance include working hours, responsibilities the job entails, and the compensation/benefits package you are willing to provide. 

• List down the questions you’ll ask. You might miss out on the more important issue of competence when mannerisms and physical appearance start distracting you.

• Require the applicant to present a bio-data with her ID-picture affixed to it. This must enumerate her personal details and employment history (dates of past employment, employer names and contact numbers, place of origin, etc.).

• During the actual interview—while discussing her personality, lifestyle, and child-rearing biases—evaluate how neat each contender appears.  Her strengths and weaknesses, her plans, and her interests are significant, as well.

 

Click here for more suggestions on how to look for a qualified yaya.

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Here are more suggestions on how to look for a qualified yaya.

 

Do your homework when getting preliminary information about the applicant. Research on the province she claims she hails from, for example, so you can ask questions that verify her statements. In the case of referrals, keep in mind that a candidate should never be exempt from close scrutiny just because a close relative or friend recommended her.  This is an old Filipino scenario where screening slip-ups are common.

• It is also important to get feedback from the applicant’s referrals—whether by phone or, ideally, in person. To yield honest comments, assure them that your discussion will be held with utmost confidentiality. Ask about the prospective yaya’s strengths and weaknesses.  Have them evaluate her dependability and honesty.  Find out why she parted with her previous employer.

• Have a background check via an updated NBI or barangay/police clearance. There are no ifs- and-buts with this one!

• Upon drafting the short list of candidates you are strongly considering, have each applicant go through a drug test and full body check up for evidence of good health. Licensed stockbroker and mom Carina Ang says, “Offer to cover the necessary processing fees for the drug tests and full body check up.  The minimal cash outlay can spell the difference in ensuring your child’s security. Cut the stinginess.”  Ang also stresses, “Any failure or hesitation on the yaya’s part, after your offer to cover said costs, should automatically disqualify the applicant.  Vacillation over something so basic should already trigger an employer’s alarm bells.”

• Let the applicant and your child have a few minutes together, and observe how they interact. Does your child respond positively to the applicant? Does the applicant have a natural flair for kids?

• Finalize everything with both you and the yaya signing duplicate copies of an agreement enumerating all the things you agreed on: house rules, tasks, compensation, schedule of leaves, etc. Each party must have a copy in case future reference is needed.

 

Photo from flickr.com