Parents are auctioning off the care of their children online on Australian sharing economy platform Airtasker.
Airtasker allows users to post jobs for everything from cleaning to assembling furniture and, more controversially, babysitting.
![Safety concerns have been raised over babysitting posts on Airtasker.](http://web.archive.org./web/20171020181123im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/7/o/9/n/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gx84yx.png/1499766979293.jpg)
Airtasker user Ajay from Seven Hills in New South Wales posted last week: "I have three girls aged 5/6/10 and need someone to watch them tomorrow night".
Airtaskers bid on the job and Ajay assigned it to one person for $75 for three hours.
![Airtasker co-founders Jonathan Lui (l) and Tim Fung](http://web.archive.org./web/20171020181123im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/8/8/w/i/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gx84yx.png/1499718400411.jpg)
The platform currently displays multiple posts by parents calling for bids on caring for their children.
Concerning and shocking
Australian Nanny Association president Annemarie Sansom says the practice raises serious concerns for the safety of children.
"People are putting a price on their children which I think is concerning and shocking," she says. "A lot of them don't have any details, just 'I need someone to look after my daughter or son'."
Ms Sansom says people applying for the positions often don't have Working With Children checks let alone experience in caring for children.
![Annemarie Sansom, president of non-profit group the Australian Nanny Association, has raised safety concerns with Airtasker.](http://web.archive.org./web/20171020181123im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/5/r/m/7/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gx84yx.png/1499863318835.jpg)
"People are auctioning off their children to someone they have never met," she says. "You are saying anyone can come and look after your child. It's on a best offer basis rather than appropriate conditions."
Ms Sansom says the Australian Nanny Association has raised its concerns with Airtasker but has not received any response.
![Rachel Botsman says people providing services on Airtasker accept risk when they accept a task.](http://web.archive.org./web/20171020181123im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/8/m/p/0/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.gx84yx.png/1499828044464.jpg)
"The dilemma with technology is that it is moving faster than we can keep up with," she says. "I would question whether it is the appropriate site for this sort of thing without having any compliance in place."
Respecting the Airtasker values
Tim Fung, the co-founder and chief executive of Airtasker, defends the processes used by the platform which has 1.4 million people signed up and turns over $75 million a year.
A traditional background check is almost worthless in this online environment.
Rachel Botsman
"We are really allowing people to be responsible for their own work," Mr Fung says. "If you look at the way people hired babysitters before and the trust signals people relied upon, I would question whether they are more reliable than user reviews are."
Mr Fung says Airtasker will continue to allow users to post babysitting services. Airtasker has created a police badge so users can add a police verification check to their profiles and Mr Fung says the platform is also working on third party verification through a company called Risq.
"It is very important that buyers are aware that just because someone has had a police check done, it is not necessarily a 100 per cent signal that you should open up your doors to someone," Mr Fung says. "Peer reviews could be a stronger signal than a $45 police check."
Traditional background checks 'almost worthless'
Collaborative economy expert Rachel Botsman says online platforms and marketplaces need to ensure they offer the right safety and trust tools.
"The first question is why are they using Airtasker to find people to look after their kids, it is not designed for that," Ms Botsman says.
Ms Botsman says a police check doesn't necessarily address safety concerns.
"A traditional background check is almost worthless in this online environment," Ms Botsman says.
She points to child care platform Urbansitter, in the United States, which involves rigorous background checks including whether applicants own a gun or have used swear words, resulting in a rejection of 80 per cent of applicants.
"We do need better screening and platforms to take better proactive measures and responsive measures when things go wrong," she says. "You need to look at a hybrid of security and safety measures. The first thing is for the platform to say some tasks shouldn't be posted here like child care. Then you need to ask do we have really good identify verification and the right kind of background checks? Do we have other ways of establishing trust is it videos, ratings and other people you know in a network? Trust is the most precious and fragile asset to these platforms and they need to treat it like that."
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