For moms who would want to join back work, many would consider hiring a nanny to care for the children while they are away at work. Refering friends / family, doing some background checks, looking for a reliable source, and interviewing several nannies before hiring the best out of them – even these efforts by parents to ensure reliability of the nanny have been proved insufficient in many surprising as well as shocking cases of child abuse by nannies as seen in the news.
I came across some disturbing news two years back about a nanny who was hired (from reliable source) to care for a 6 month old baby, but rather rented him to street beggars and enjoyed the whole day watching soaps and eating food (which was supposed to be fed to the baby) while the parents were away at work. If the parents would have considered using a nanny cam, there were good chances for the child being saved from the abuse.
When a child is in someone else’s care, it is important for parents to be sure that the child would be safe and well cared for, and therefore, nanny cams become a good option.
Nanny cams are surveillance cameras (hidden or visible) that can capture and record videos. These cameras can be found in different models with various useful features. One of the very useful features of a nanny cam is streaming live video over the internet to a computer, laptop, smartphone or any smart handheld device that can work on Wi-Fi or data traffic, so that parents can check what’s going on at home anytime from their office.
It’s legal in 50 countries to use a nanny cam and some countries do not allow voice recording. In India, it is legal to use a nanny cam, but there are restrictions on recording conversation without a person’s knowledge. It is wise to take the consent of the nanny or babysitter on use of nanny cam for video recording in written. Usually, audio recording is not required in video surveillance.
There are laws against placement of a surveillance camera and recording of video in private bedrooms (if the nanny has her own room), bathrooms, changing rooms or any place where a person needs privacy.
There are many types of cameras that can be used as nanny cams.
Some wireless battery operated cameras would just record and store video (DVRs or digital video recorders), you may connect it with your PC or laptop and view the recording when you are back home. This can be inconvenient for parents who have lots to do when they reach home and taking out time to watch the video for the entire day can become difficult. These cameras are available in wireless standalone models with good battery life to record 8-10 hours of video.
Then there are webcams that we normally use with our computers that can also be used as nanny cams. You might have to leave a PC and internet connection switched on (for letting the video streamed to your device) for the entire time and you would like the nanny and the baby to stay in the same room most of the time. This seems to be an inconvenient option.
Using a smartphone (that has data / wifi connection so that it can stream live video) as a nanny cam is also an option, but not a very good one. Well, would you like to leave your smartphone at home just to be used as a video camera, and let the nanny / babysitter know about it!
Another option is the real nanny cams, hidden inside wall clocks, air purifiers, soft toys, plastic toys, table clocks, digital clocks, fire detectors etc. Some have basic features like basic video recording and playback with USB connectivity for playback on computers like a DVR. A bit costlier ones would also include WiFi, live video streaming, motion detection and night vision facilities. Hidden nanny cameras have price ranging from about $100 to $700 depending on the features.
A cost effective and very useful option is to go for standalone wireless internet cameras. These cameras come with good features like 3G connectivity, WiFi, live video streaming and recording and video snapshots. Software that comes with the camera lets you view live video on a mobile or a laptop and take snapshots, and even lets you survey using multiple cameras. These are usually lightweight, easily mountable, and stream video directly to your laptop or mobile whenever you are away from home. These cameras would cost about $200 to $400 (Rs10,000 to Rs.20,000). You may buy such a camera at gadgets.in website or from strongmansecurity.com website. Here’s another link for another model of wireless internet camera from the gadgets.in website. There are many other websites also selling nanny cams. Search for “buy nanny cam” or “Wireless internet IP camera” and you may find some other websites selling a wide range of nanny cams.
There are also multiple camera sets available for complete coverage of all rooms in the house including outdoors.
Before buying a camera, look for a suitable location for the camera in the house from where it can capture maximum portion of the house (In case you are buying only one camera). Another required feature in the camera would be a long battery life in case the camera is wireless. It is important to buy the nanny cam from a reputed and trusted source which offers customer support and product warranty.
Many nanny cams come with features such as motion detection – the camera is active only when there is a movement and also sends email alerts. Such useful features allow these cameras to be used for home security as well. So if your camera is not required as a nanny cam anymore, you may use it for home security purpose.
Your camera would have come with an instruction booklet. Please do read all the safety instructions and the setup manual.
The best place to mount the camera would be high up on a wall or place it on a high shelf, where there are less chances of the camera being touched or moved, and at a place from where the camera would be able to capture maximum part of the house where your child spends most of his/her time. It’s important to make sure there are no obstructions (furniture, curtains etc.) in the camera’s view. Check the view from the camera at several different positions in the house before finally mounting the camera (if the camera is wall mountable).
It would be better to test the working of the camera before leaving for work – image clarity, camera battery, connectivity with the computer and mobile devices, working of the video recording feature – all features of the camera as mentioned in the manual or packaging should be tested.
Any person may become uncomfortable with the feeling of being watched at work. As mentioned earlier, it is wise to take the consent of the nanny, before hiring her, on the usage of the nanny cam. You may clarify whether the camera is hidden or visible, and that she would be hired only if she is ok with the nanny cam being used. It is up to you to tell the nanny about the location of the camera.
If the parents have taken the consent of the nanny about the usage of nanny cam, the nanny would be more careful in her behavior, but there are chances of suspicious behavior in the areas which the camera does not capture. Cameras that are visible to the nanny can have a disadvantage here. Hidden nanny cams have an advantage that the nanny is not aware which part of the house is being surveyed in case the location of camera is not disclosed, so she would be more careful in this case. If the nanny knows the location of the camera and seems to spend lesser and lesser time in the parts of the house under surveillance then there’s something to suspect.
If you observe the nanny/ babysitter is abusing the child, make sure you watch the video carefully and keep safely (make 2-3 copies on different devices) the recording of the part where the nanny seems to be abusing the child. If possible, it is better to stay at home the next day with the child and observe any changes in the child’s behavior after the abuse. If the child is old enough to express what had happened, ask the child peacefully about the abuse. If the nanny is seen hitting the child in the video, check for any bruises on the child’s body. If all these factors show clearly a case of abuse, immediately report the matter to the police and fire the nanny.
There have been many cases in the news where parents have caught a nanny abusing their child and saved the child from further abuse. But in most cases, the nanny was unaware of the presence of the camera. So it is advised to make the nanny aware about the presence of a nanny cam, so that she is more careful about her behavior with the children.
Disclaimer: The above article is intended to promote child safety and use of nanny cams as a helpful resource for parents in preventing child abuse. This article is not intended to promote any illegal surveillance activities. Concerned parents should consult legal authorities in case of any doubts in legal usage of nanny cameras.
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