Reputable Background Checks?

Hey Dopers,

As it seems that children-of-the-body aren’t an option for us, Husband and I are exploring the idea of fostering a child with an eye toward adoption.

One of the issues that concerns me is the background check - Husband had a few run-ins with the law when he was younger, though nothing within the last 12 years. Still, I’d like to know what will turn up in their search before we start, so that we can address it appropriately; also, I want to make sure that there isn’t any crossover between Husband’s record and his father’s (he’s a Jr.) I don’t anticipate any problems with my record, but again it would be good to confirm that.

There are 20,000 internet services that claim they’ll do a background check for $30-50, but I don’t really trust any of them out of the blue. In olden days one would hire a PI, but with the Internet and all it seems it’d be cheaper to do it oneself.

If you wanted to get a full background check done, how would you do it?

Thanks,

MtO

There is no way to know exactly what any given background check will turn up, except – your husband knows, doesn’t he? He doesn’t need a background check to prepare for what they might find. He just needs to provide honest answers to any questions that might arise.

The only reason I can think of for him to do a background check on himself is so he can choose not to disclose facts that the background check doesn’t turn up. Except he can’t count on that – one service might find something that another didn’t.

Usually on these background checks for adoption they are looking for stuff like a history of child abuse, child porn, and other violent crimes that might put the adopted child in danger. I wouldn’t worry too much about it if we’re talking about minor offenses and he has had a clean record for many years.