If you are an avid user of the internet and post your resume and answer ads placed by families, use caution and common sense.

1. Do not post your phone number for the world to see. If you have a listed number, all someone need do is call up a reverse phone directory on the internet and that person will have access to your home address. Even if you have an unlisted number, you may get unwanted crank calls.

2. Use a third party email provider such as hotmail or yahoo. If you are an AOL user and innocently filled in your profile with all kinds of personal information, get rid of it.

3. Run a reverse phone directory search to see if the phone number they are using or have given you belongs to the name they have given you.

4. Be sure to exchange pictures via email or mail and make an effort to interview the family on several occasions.

5. Keep track of what the family has told you in previous conversations and make sure their answers are consistent.

6.  If you will be traveling to a strange family's house for an interview, have the family send you a letter of intention to hire which would include their home address. Keep this with a family member. Bring a friend or family member with you. They can meet the family at the door and then wait in the car.

7. Try to stay with a friend in town if possible. If you have no friend to call on, ask that the family put you up in a hotel for at least the first night there and ask that a friend accompany you if you are within driving distance. Do not commit to staying in the house with them and ask that they supply the name and confirmation number for the hotel. Explain that this is for safety reasons. You should check into the hotel first and ask that the whole family including the kids meet you in the lobby for your first meeting.