A Parent’s Guide To Background Checks On A Child’s Girlfriend Or Boyfriend

When kids start dating it’s a very exciting and confusing time in their lives. We all know this as the vast majority of us have gone through it. Often times children can be mislead or even lied to by this new love interest. Sometimes they may be hiding something they know you would not approve of or sometimes they could not even know the full extent of the past of the person they are now dating. In this demanding time in their lives they will need the most informed and level voice of reason. This will usually be you.

Anyone who says that a parent is wrong for wanting some kind of background check on their child’s boyfriend or girlfriend is naive and uninformed. Is part of your job as a parent to protect and look out for your children? This is the most basic and fundamental role of the parental figure. If conducting a few background searches to see if the person your child is going to be spending a lot of, let’s face the facts here, possibly intimate time with is wrong then we are further askew then we even know.

I am a full time private investigator whom conducts background investigations for parents all the time. I would honestly say this move on their part turns up unfavorable results 60 percent of the time. Some of the most common discoveries include large quantities of traffic violations, (keep in mind your child will be driving around with this person) convictions for drug related offenses, (are we talking about a marijuana joint or a line of cocaine?) and histories of violence. In the past I have even seen our investigations turn up marriage licenses, domestic violence convictions, Felony convictions and even one child who was dating his teacher. The truth is people lie. You never know what is in someone’s past until you take the initiative to check them out.

Your starting point is going to be an online database search. This will provide you will more focused avenues to pursue. Most of the free online databases provide incomplete or outdated information. Still, you could start with one of them as a way to narrow down your search. I have tried almost all of them out there in the course of my career but only actually use a select few that I find to have the most current and up to date information. You are looking for a database that is going to help you determine where to go for the next step.

Court Houses are great source of information. The will have all the conviction docket histories on anyone. The only down fall with that again is you need to know which court to look in. Once you do locate a record you will be able to get all the details of the court proceeding. This is especially true with DUI convictions. By now if you have gotten to this step you should be forming an outline of who this person really is. You will also want to look into civil case histories. These are often overlooked by parents who are only concerned with criminal information. In a civil search you could find information related to past divorces, bankruptcies, marriages and other civil related information.