Sarah Bishop named her business, Moxie Nannies Inc., after the type of person she thinks makes a good nanny: energetic, determined, and knowledgeable.


Experienced as both a nanny and a parent, Bishop says she knows how hard it is for parents to find a person whos qualified to come into their home and care for their children, and how beneficial a good match between a nanny and a family can be for children. When she switched from working in a day-care setting to providing care for a set of twins as a nanny, Bishop says she felt it was an ideal situation for her as a caregiver and for the children in her care.


The kids are healthier and more active when someones playing with them, she says.


During the six years Bishop worked as a nanny for those twins and subsequently for another family, she heard repeatedly the plight of parents who had to place newspaper ads and interview dozens of strangers at their homes to try to find suitable full-time caregivers.


Throughout that time, I would run into people who would ask me where they could find nannies, Bishop says. She was sympathetic, but at a loss for what to tell them, she says.


She says she realized how much legwork it takes to check out potential nannies, and recognized a need for a screening agency to help parents find caregivers they could trust with their children.


After a year of research, Bishop formed her nanny-placement company in Coeur dAlene last spring, and so far has placed eight nannies in Spokane and Coeur dAlene, with a list of 12 screened nannies currently available for placement.


A family seeking a nanny pays between $900 and $1,000 for Moxie Nannies services to help it find a long-term nanny, including a $275 application fee up front. Placement of a short-term nannyfor the summer school vacation, for examplecosts less.


Separately from the nanny placements, Bishop charges families $20 to refer babysitters, who might be needed for a day or an evening.


Just finishing its first year, the placement service has collected about $10,000 in client fees, Bishop says. The nannies and babysitters dont pay fees to Moxie Nannies, and arent employees of the company, she says. They each make their own agreements for compensation with the families that employ them, but Bishop says she expects that a family will pay a nanny at least $8 an hour to care for one child.


For the fees paid for long-term placement, the family gets information on several possible nannies who have been pre-screened by the company. That pre-screening includes interviews by Bishop with the prospective nannies, in which she asks them about their discipline style, what they would do in an emergency, and what children love about them, she says. She also checks the nannies work and personal references, and pays a screening company to conduct full seven-year criminal background checks typically done for child-care workers and checks done for departments of motor vehicles in all 50 states.


Bishop also conducts an interview with each client family to help her determine which of her nanny candidates would best match a household, then sends a client information on four to five candidates to interview, as well as sample questions the family can use in those interviews. She also provides her clients with rate guidelines, sample terms that can be used in a familys contract with a nanny, and information about tax laws.


She suggests that families interview about five people, and that they allow up to six weeks to find a match.


While most nanny placement agreements are conventional, Bishop says sometimes people come up with alternative agreements as well. For example, she placed a nanny with two families who were neighbors and shared the nannys services, hiring her to care for both families children at alternating homes on different days.


Moxie Nannies offers its clients a six-month guarantee on long-term placements. If a nanny leaves a familys employ or otherwise doesnt work out during that period, the company helps the family find another nanny at no additional charge, Bishop says.


She says theres much more to being a good nanny than a having a clean background check.


I really want to find qualified nannies who are excited about children, because thats how it was for me. I was happy every day to go and play with my little friend, Bishop says.


She says she always has been interested in caring for children, having helped her mother care for her baby twin siblings when she was a child. She took early-childhood education courses, worked in day-care centers, and was a nanny for two different families, continuing in her last position for a time following the birth of her son two years ago.


Now, Bishop, who stays home with her own two children, operates her business half-time, operating from her home and through the companys Internet site, at www.moxienannies.com. The company also places long- and short-term nannies and babysitters in conjunction with a resort in the Coeur dAlene area that helps find sitters through Moxie Nannies for its guests.


Whos got moxie?


Bishop says she finds many of her nannies by advertising on college job boards and on the Internet advertising site www.craigslist.org. Others find her through the companys Web site and e-mail her or call seeking work. She says she has a lot of repeat babysitters and short-term nannies who have been away at college returning this summer for more work.


Bishop seeks nannies with a combination of youthful energy and experience, or those who are studying early childhood development, saying her goal is to place quality nannies who are willing to commit to a family for at least a year. Bishop says people who have worked in day-care settings often make wonderful nannies, because after caring for a group of children, one-on-one care seems easy by comparison and allows a nanny more time to enjoy a child.


She also works to make sure a family will be a good match for a nanny, trying to ensure each nanny is paid a reasonable amount and will be treated respectfully, she says.


Of screening families, she says she always asks herself, Would I want to be a nanny in this family?


Bishop continues to keep in contact with families and nannies once they are matched. She follows up with both parties to make sure everything is working out.


She says her business was slow during its first winter, but she expects it to pick up in the summer, for short-term and babysitting placements, and adds that spring and fall are shaping up to be busy times for placing long-term nannies.


Bishop says that though she had never planned to run her own business, she comes by her entrepreneurial moxie honestly. Her father, Thomas vas Dias, owner of Sweetwater Bakery Inc., in Spokane, is a longtime business owner, both here and in Concord, Calif., where Bishop was raised. Also, her brother owns a restaurant in southern California, she says.


Being around that (environment), I thought, I think I can do this, she says.


Bishop says she plans to expand her advertising to increase her business in the Spokane area, but hopes to keep a personal touch.


I would like to see some growth, but also keep it local and personal, she says.


Contact Jeanne Gustafson at (509) 344-1264 or via e-mail at jeanneg@spokanejournal.com.