We would rather you do this well than do it with us.

You are the employer, so set that up properly

The IRS looks at control. If you decide not only what work gets done but how and when it gets done, a caregiver you hire directly will usually be treated as your household employee rather than an independent contractor. Handing someone a 1099 at the end of the year is the most common mix-up, and the one most worth avoiding at the start.

Being a household employer can mean:

• Getting an EIN from the IRS, which is free and takes minutes online
• Completing Form I-9 to verify they can work in the United States
• Having them complete a W-4, and issuing them a W-2 at year end
• Withholding and paying Social Security and Medicare once wages pass the annual threshold the IRS sets
• Working out whether federal and Missouri unemployment taxes apply to you

You do not have to work this out alone, and most families should not try. A payroll service built for household employers handles nearly all of it for less than people expect, and a CPA can give you this year's numbers in one phone call. IRS Publication 926 is the plain source if you want to read it yourself, and there are free walkthroughs for all of this in Become a prepared employer: household employer basics, employee versus contractor, a payroll setup checklist, and a tax timeline.

Make one phone call to your insurance agent

If a caregiver is injured working in your home, the question is what covers it. Coverage for household employees varies a great deal between policies, and whether Missouri workers' compensation requirements apply depends on your situation, so it is worth knowing yours rather than assuming.

Call your agent before the first shift. Tell them you are directly employing an in-home caregiver, ask what you have and what you need, and get the answer in writing. Many carriers will add coverage. A ten-minute call settles it.

Agree the hourly rate and overtime in writing

If your caregiver is doing real personal care rather than just keeping company, federal overtime rules generally apply over forty hours in a week. That is easiest to handle by agreeing it upfront rather than working it out later.

Set an hourly rate and write down how overtime works before anybody starts. It is a five-minute conversation, and the work agreement builder puts it in writing for you.

Run the three background checks available to you

Two of these are free and most families have never heard of either one. Do all three.

1. The Missouri Family Care Safety Registry. Open to the public, for a worker who has consented. It covers the child and elder abuse registries, the employee disqualification list, and criminal history, and it is run by the state health department at health.mo.gov/safety/fcsr. This is the one built for exactly what you are doing.

2. Missouri Case.net. Free, and you do not need anybody's permission, because Missouri court records are public. Go to courts.mo.gov/casenet, choose Litigant Name Search, and type their name. You will see public civil and criminal cases from Missouri courts, including evictions, judgments, and orders of protection, which no background check package will show you.

Three things to know before you trust it. Names repeat constantly, so confirm the date of birth or address before you conclude anything about a person. It only covers Missouri, so somebody who lived in Arkansas until last year will look spotless. And the state says outright it is a service, not an official court record. It is also closed overnight and at weekends, running Monday to Friday, 6am to 1am, which surprises people who go looking on a Sunday.

3. A paid criminal background check. This is the one that reaches past the state line. A screening company like Checkr, which is what we use for our own caregivers, runs national criminal databases, the sex offender registry, and county records everywhere the person has lived. It costs a modest amount per person and it needs their written consent. HomeTogether Hire has a background check authorization form ready to sign.

Then verify their driver's license and auto insurance if they will ever drive your parent anywhere. And call every reference, including the ones they did not offer.

Decide now who covers a day you cannot fill

One caregiver means one person's calendar. When they have the flu, a funeral, or a sick child of their own, that shift comes back to you at whatever notice they can give.

People also move on, for a better offer or a move or a change at home. Hiring again realistically takes a few weeks, so it helps to know in advance who bridges that gap.

So decide it now, while nothing is urgent. A second caregiver you have already met, a family member who can step in, or an agency whose number you already have. There is a backup and coverage plan builder for exactly this, and it takes ten minutes.

Put a few simple safeguards in place

Most caregivers are wonderful and the great majority of families never have a problem. The difference is simply that an agency has supervisors dropping in and notes read by somebody else, and a private arrangement does not, so it is worth building a light version of that yourself.

Keep the checkbook and cards somewhere separate, count medications on a regular schedule, and write down what you expect so there is never a difference of memory about what was agreed. All three take minutes, and they protect the caregiver as much as they protect you.