I'm a mother to two adult children, a substitute teacher, a former elementary special education aide, and a respite care provider. A local mom posted on FB the other day that she needed help with her two kids, a Pre-K aged kiddo and a toddler. Both kids are typical (read: not sped) and I can do this in my sleep. So I message her privately and tell her I'm interested. She says she wants two days a week, approx 8-5, she's actually offering a decent wage, and I say let's meet. She agrees, and then asks for references. Now, because of the nature of the work that I do, and the fact that I provide private respite care, I'm not comfortable just giving out my client's phone number. I don't know this woman, I've never met her. So I tell her that because of the private nature of my work I'm not comfortable giving references until we've met.
She ghosted me and last I saw on her post, a 7th grader is her best option so far. 🤷️