How we verify every caregiver — step by step.
No badge appears on a caregiver’s profile until they have cleared every one of the five checks below. We disclose everything so you can decide if our standard meets your standard.
Five checks before a caregiver can book
In this order. No verified badge until all five clear.
JCF Police Certificate
The caregiver uploads a current Jamaica Constabulary Force Police Certificate. We confirm the document is within validity, that the name matches government-issued ID, and that the issuing officer block is intact. Expired certificates are rejected. CareLink reimburses the J$3,000 cost on the caregiver's first completed booking.
AI document review
Claude vision (an Anthropic large language model with image understanding) reads the certificate, extracts the name, certificate number, and expiry, and flags any visual irregularities. The AI assessment is stored on the caregiver profile. A human reviewer always makes the final call — the AI is a flag, not a verdict.
Reference checks
We call at least two prior employers, schools, or families. Same question set every time so we are comparing like for like, not vibes for vibes. We document what we heard, including anything mixed, on the caregiver's internal profile.
Structured first interview
One CareLink team member, one caregiver, a fixed list of questions covering safety scenarios (what do you do if a child swallows something they shouldn't?), comfort with age groups, the caregiver's own household routines, and a few standard scenarios designed to surface red flags.
Community vouches
Once a caregiver is verified and on the platform, real Jamaican parents, neighbours, church members, and former employers can vouch for her on the profile. Three or more vouches unlock the Community Trusted badge — the strongest peer-trust signal on CareLink, distinct from the verified badge.
What CareLink will never do.
The brand-ending list. We have written these out so you can hold us to them.
- ×Show stock-photo people as if they were real caregivers on the platform.
- ×Display a verified or Police-Cert-checked badge that is not backed by an actual cleared verification on file.
- ×Fabricate review counts, ratings, completed-job counts, or testimonials. Empty states stay empty until real data fills them.
- ×Claim insurance, accreditation, or partnerships we do not have. If a feature is coming, we say “coming” until it lands.
- ×Let a caregiver onto the platform while their JCF Police Certificate is expired or pending. No exceptions for any caregiver, no matter how many bookings they have completed.
- ×Sell or share parent or caregiver personal data with third parties for marketing. See /privacy for the full policy.
On the day of the booking
Verification gets a caregiver onto the platform. Structural safeguards keep every booking accountable.
In-platform booking only
Confirm bookings through the CareLink booking flow, not by side-channel cash deals. That is what lets us hold the contract, the rate, the time window, and the response support.
WhatsApp logs
Every message between you and your caregiver on the platform is logged. We can reconstruct a timeline if something is disputed.
60-Minute Match Guarantee
If your confirmed caregiver cancels in Kingston Metro, we rematch within 60 minutes. Outside Kingston Metro we respond within 60 minutes and dispatch as quickly as coverage allows. See /guarantee.
Live concierge
Message +1 (876) 386-2385 anytime during business hours (Mon–Sat, 7 AM – 9 PM JM). Out-of-hours messages get an automated acknowledgement and are picked up first thing.
Safety questions, answered
What does CareLink actually verify before a caregiver can take bookings?
Five checks, in order: (1) a current JCF Police Certificate, the original document inspected, name matched against government-issued ID and expiry confirmed; (2) AI vision review of the certificate to flag anomalies; (3) at least two reference checks with previous employers, schools, or families; (4) a structured first interview covering safety scenarios, comfort with age groups, and the caregiver's own household routines; (5) community vouches from real Jamaican parents, neighbours, church members, or former employers — three vouches unlock the Community Trusted badge.
What is the JCF Police Certificate, and why does it matter?
It is an official document from the Jamaica Constabulary Force showing the caregiver has no criminal record on file. It is the gold-standard background check in Jamaica and required for any caregiver to take a CareLink booking. The document expires; we will not let a caregiver work on an expired certificate. CareLink reimburses the J$3,000 cost on the caregiver's first completed booking. See /blog/jcf-police-record-guide-jamaica for the full step-by-step guide to getting one.
How does the AI document review work?
When a caregiver uploads their JCF Police Certificate, we run it through Claude vision (an Anthropic-built large language model with image understanding). The model is prompted to extract the name, the issuing officer signature block, the certificate number, and the expiry date — and to flag any visual irregularities (signs of edits, missing watermarks, wrong document format). The AI assessment is stored on the caregiver's profile but never displayed to parents as the deciding factor. A human reviewer makes the final call.
Does the verified badge mean a caregiver is risk-free?
No verification system in the world is risk-free, and we do not pretend ours is. The verified badge means a caregiver has cleared the five checks above. It does not mean nothing can ever go wrong. We pair verification with structural safeguards: in-app booking history, WhatsApp message logs, two-way reviews, community vouching, and an active concierge you can reach at any time. If something concerns you about a booking, message us immediately.
What if I see a profile that looks fake?
Report it. WhatsApp +1 (876) 386-2385 or email hello@carelinkja.com with the caregiver's profile URL. We pull the profile within an hour during business hours pending review. Brand integrity is the entire product. We would rather over-react to one report than let a fake profile sit on the site for a day.
Are caregivers insured?
Insurance coverage is being arranged with a licensed Jamaican insurance partner and will be announced when it is in place. We will not advertise insurance we do not yet carry. In the meantime, the contract template between parent and caregiver includes liability language and we are transparent that primary household insurance — yours — remains the first line of cover.
How are parents verified?
Parents register with a Jamaican phone number that we verify via SMS. For diaspora bookings paid in USD, we verify the card holder name matches the booking name. Caregivers see the parent's first name, parish, and a brief description of the household before they accept — same Privacy posture as the caregivers themselves.
What happens after the booking?
Both sides can rate the booking on a 1–5 star scale with comments. Reviews refresh the caregiver's AI-generated profile summary that other parents read. Caregivers who cancel more than twice in 90 days are reviewed. Caregivers who receive a written safety concern in a review are paused pending investigation.
Have a safety question we have not answered?
Message our concierge on WhatsApp. We reply within one hour during business hours.