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Having spent a few years in my past as an in-home nanny, one would think that I'd fall on the "anti-nanny cams" side of this argument. On the contrary, now that I am a parent myself I firmly believe in the rights of guardians to be aware of what happens in their own home, whether they are there to personally observe it or not. When caring for a child that is not yours, in a home that also not your own, why should you expect to have any secrets from those who are employing you and entrusting you with the wellbeing of their child(ren)? With the exception of using the bathroom (and of course I wouldn't condone surveillance there) what reason would a trustworthy caregiver have for not feeling comfortable being observed? If they are doing their job and taking care of the child(ren) as they are being paid to do, then there should be no problems.

Is it a violation of privacy? Only if there is some expectation of privacy given to the caregiver in the first place. Personally I would never offer up a greeting of "Hi, welcome to our home - please know that you have privacy here and that no one will be aware of what you do while no one else is around." There should be NO expectation of privacy when you are in a residence that you don't own or occupy, in any circumstance - not just those relating to child care. One would hope that those who care for children would be 'on their best behavior' all of the time, with nanny cams or without, but the truth of the matter is that there are everyday people that hit, abuse, ignore and otherwise mistreat those children that they are entrusted with. You never know what will take a person to their breaking point, but when it comes to my children it is not a risk I am willing to take.

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