I would not tell the cargiver that the camera is there UNTIL you have your PROOF. Once a caregiver is found guilty of a crime such as this, with your PROOF, she will be BANNED from the caregiver registry. We would want ALL bad caregivers BANNED so that they cannot continue their immoral behavior with another unsuspecting elder!!
Absolutely..... do it now... as a paid caregiver myself, I would hope there would be cameras for all of us... we have five shifts of caregivers at this home.... we really needed one when the one girl was there and then I wouldn't have had to go to the daughter and TELL her what was going on and not believed until it was almost too late..... get that camera rolling.... good luck and let us know what happens...
Yes it's legal to hide cameras, we have one in every room except the bathroom and it's all recorded. We caught wonderful caregivers asleep on the couch, and outside smoking. It is not legal to use audio in our State, check online for your info but definitely use cameras. Ours are hidden, no one knows and when I worked I could go online to check on them. I saw my mom fall once and called for help before the caregiver even called me, even the best aren't the best, this will show you who is best. I would do anything to make sure my mom is 100% safe.
You are asking an intelligent question, and "I don't see why not" and "of course" are dangerously unconsidered answers. You are right to want to find out for sure. There are laws protecting us all from unwarranted invasions of privacy and even if you have reasonable motives for your activities, those laws can act on you in surprising ways. You don't want to bring charges against someone and get counter-sued, for example. So get the answer to your question from a source who actually knows. That doesn't necessarily mean you have to pay for a lawyer. There is probably an info line for such questions at your state's capitol, and online you can find some of the info.
@stfrancis2, it is perfectly legal to install cameras in your house and even outside (ie surveillance) as long as it's on your property. One thing that will help you is a colleague of mine did the same when she noticed that her dad had bruises on his face everytime she visited him. She set up a camera and what she saw was horrific. The caregiver assigned to her dad was beating him viciously. she has 4 videos of this woman hitting my colleague's dad relentlessly - a 90 year old bedridden man. She apparently was caught, posted bond, fled the country to Kenya but last month was extracted and is now sitting in jail without bond this time. So I would set up as many cameras as you can. If someone is stealing you need to know to stop them.
Dear StFrancis2, I believe you have all the right to install cameras in your home. You can install anything in your own home, even a spaceship if you wanted to. It's your home and u can do anything you want in your home. I've heard [as the others said above] that many parents do it for their babysitters. I also suspected one of my caregivers of stealing from us too. But I have no proof but I am sure she stole because we cannot find a certain item and it was there only days before and nobody else was here who could of stolen it. Then I started worrying what else she stole, did she go on my computer, did she get my credit card statements, personal information, etc...? I would not put it past her to have done those things since she went nuts on me toward the end. In the end, we fired that organization because this crazy CG was like Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde! She should of been fired from the organization because she truly has something wrong with her brain.....not dementia, but a sociopath or something like that! But at that time we were so pressured with everything else that sis just reported her to her boss about her actions with Mom and me and not the stolen item [cause we had no proof] but she did other mean and nasty things to Mom and me, and told the boss that she was the only reason you lost us as a client and not the other girls.
This is a good question, and one I would be asking myself very soon. I have in-laws in another state who have to have round the clock caregivers in their home to help care for my FIL who is paralyzed from a stroke. My MIL recently discovered that her set of fine silver had relocated itself from a hiding place in a closet out to a cupboard in her garage! (We believe it was put there by a caregiver so it could make a quick exit out with them at the end of a shift.) We *think* we know which caregiver, because we planted a "bait" bottle of special lotion that he said his mother uses, out in the garage, as if it had just been forgotten and left out there, and it quickly disappeared! No hidden cameras means we can't prove anything. And my MIL puts up with him because he is one of a few caregivers the agency has sent over that can actually transfer my FIL's dead weight from bed to wheelchair, etc. We are investigating this question as well, as we are several states away and worry constantly that they are being scammed and taken advantage of by the caregivers who come and go.
If you suspect the caregiver is stealing medications, dismiss the caregiver. If you can't trust the caregiver with the medications, don't trust them with the care of your elderly parent or family member. Get a replacement.
I believe you have all the right to install cameras in your home. You can install anything in your own home, even a spaceship if you wanted to. It's your home and u can do anything you want in your home. I've heard [as the others said above] that many parents do it for their babysitters. I also suspected one of my caregivers of stealing from us too. But I have no proof but I am sure she stole because we cannot find a certain item and it was there only days before and nobody else was here who could of stolen it. Then I started worrying what else she stole, did she go on my computer, did she get my credit card statements, personal information, etc...? I would not put it past her to have done those things since she went nuts on me toward the end. In the end, we fired that organization because this crazy CG was like Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde! She should of been fired from the organization because she truly has something wrong with her brain.....not dementia, but a sociopath or something like that! But at that time we were so pressured with everything else that sis just reported her to her boss about her actions with Mom and me and not the stolen item [cause we had no proof] but she did other mean and nasty things to Mom and me, and told the boss that she was the only reason you lost us as a client and not the other girls.
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