I have some plants I can send you for postage if you want them. I'm unable to edit my page to allow my email to show but email me at jeanettepen@yahoo.com if you're interested and I'll tell you what I have. Proverty is a terrible thing. God bless you for what you're trying to do.

I LIKE children, when they're well-behaved and are interested and involved or I can spur that interest. And I've never been accused of even looking at a child the wrong way, nor had a background check that I'm aware of, except for the one they did when I became a security guard 27 years ago. And I'm happy and willing to work with children in projects like Junior Master Gardener, as I've been asked to do next spring (and there was no mention of a background check). That said, I'm also quite leery of working with individual children, one-on-one. When and if I do this sort of work, I want there to be multiple children around at all times and preferable at least one other adult present, because there ARE some crazy parents out there, and there ARE some delusional children, as well. And while I'm not agreeing with the blanket statement SowthEfrikan made above, I do and can see how a parent could be abusive and then when someone notices the abuse, try to claim that some volunteer who had been working with the child did it. I can also see how perhaps a child might not like the volunteer and decide to get even with them by deliberately cutting, bruising, burning or otherwise hurting himself or herself and then claiming the volunteer did it. I KNOW these cases would represent a very small minority, but I also know this sort of thing HAS happened in the past and will likely happen again. And while our legal system is supposedly "innocent until proven guilty," when someone's accused of child abuse or molestation, man, that's like the KISS OF DEATH... they're branded for life, innocent or not, in some cases. The case Sowthie mentioned above was the McMartin Preschool case, where an entire preschool full of children had supposedly been molested by the owner and practically everyone working there. It all started with one or two children with overly vivid imaginations and then a witchhunt ensued and these kooky child psychologists used these "imagery" sessions that were later proved to effectively work as a form of hypnosis to convince kids that hadn't been abused that they had been. Some of those folks were originally convicted and sentenced to prison for like 300 years, but eventually all the sentences were overturned when the TRUTH finally came out. So, yeah, I certainly see SowthEfrikan's point! And frankly, I think making all applicants take a detailed psychological profile test (which can be called an "aptitude and interests" test, so folks won't refuse to take it), would screen out not only the folks who had criminal records (which are easy to find online), but also those who had a propensity to be dangerous to others -- child or adult, alike. I'd agree to take that test -- as long as they let me see the results and their analysis, but I think I might balk at the background test, too, just because it IS like an accusation of guilt. Just some more thoughts, Jeff

I'm not sure if this will help. But we use these companies for Little League Volunteers. I live in a town that has a Navy Base, so our state one does no good on some people, because they've lived all over. oh but the deal with Choice point..if you enter their current address..and anything pops up..them or a same name(not them) they will get a mailing of all the hits. Here is a link that might be useful: LL Background Checks

Money comes and goes. Could be legit. Divorces can, indeed, be expensive and they can whack you out mentally/emotionally enough that everything else goes to hell, too. Maybe he had one of those. In any event, that was then; this is now. Where's he at now? Three questions: 1) How long ago was that? 2) How's he been doing commercially in the 1.5 years you've known him? 3) How do know anything about any of it anyway other that what he's said to you? How would you know his finances are "in order" or not? I think a simpler approach -- which I think would be just fine to bring up after 1.5 years -- would be your feelings and concerns about what's true and what isn't and why it's important to you. Face-to-face right out there. If you're thinking about hitching your wagon to this star, I don't see the problem with it. Of course you'll risk a bad reaction but you'll be risking that with a clandestine search anyway. This is perfectly reasonable grown-up stuff for folks who have been alive for a while. It might even bring you closer. I'm not wealthy by any measure and I don't require wealth as a prerequisite from anyone. However, I do insist upon social and financial/commercial competence in those I'm interested in. If I find my 45-year-old, object-of-affection is broke, in-debt, with whacked credit, 2 payments in arrears, and 4 tickets in the last year, that's a deal-breaker. It really doesn't matter how beautiful she may be or how good in bed. I expect my friends to know how to run their lives. In that regard, I'm sympathetic to your concerns.