Sam had a play date Sunday with a new friend. Well, the friend's not new -- I think she was in Sam's kindergarten class, and she's been sitting near her all through first grade -- but the play date part was new.
Anyway, I called the girl's mom Sunday morning, and we agreed I'd drop Sam off at 1 p.m.
And then I promptly checked the mom's and dad's criminal backgrounds on UJSPortals.
Nothing major. Though somebody with the dad's name is very busy getting into trouble, his address doesn't match up, so I know it's not him.
I did it almost without thinking, because I use this site every day as part of my job. It's all public information; you just need to know where to look and how to search for it (which I'll tell you how to do shortly).
After I did it, I stopped and thought about it. Does this make me psycho? Or a good parent? All I wanted to do was make sure I wasn't taking my child to a home where a child molester (although, now that I think about it, I probably should have checked the National Sex Offender Registry, too) or a murderer or armed robber lives.
What do you think? Would you do something like this? Or am I just one step over the line into overprotective psycho mom?
***Here's how you use UJSPortals: On the site, click on "Docket Sheets," then "Magisterial District Courts." Scroll down a bit, and in the "Search Type" field, choose "Participant Name." Enter the person's last name, then first name. If you know the person's birth date, you can enter that, but it's not necessary. Then choose which county you want to search in and click "search." (If you want to search the whole state for someone, then skip county and choose one of the options in "docket type." You most likely want to choose "criminal" there, since traffic tickets aren't necessarily what you're worried about. "Non-traffic" can also be important, since that's where assaults and harassments and stuff are categorized.)
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