Child-friendly CV was used by fraudster to get au pair job offers

● Samantha Cookes posed online as highly qualified childminder ‘Sadie Harris’ before being rumbled

Serial fraudster Samantha Cookes received a number of offers to work as an au pair after she posed as an experienced childcare worker online.

The Sunday Independent has spoken with families who were persuaded to offer childcare work to “Sadie Harris”, the pseudonym Cookes used last year to secure six months’ work with a family in Celbridge, Co Kildare, before she was confronted about her real identity last month.

As well as responding to help-wanted posts, Cookes had her own profile as Harris advertising her services on Mindme.ie.

Included in the deception was a colourful child-friendly CV that ‘Sadie’ gave parents to show their children. On this she spoke about her favourite colour, favourite animal, how she liked making puppets and how she wished she could have a pet dinosaur.

Parents were also presented with a fake reference purporting to come from Salus Safety, a UK company that claimed she had worked as a consultant on childcare safety.

The reference, from a “June O’Connor”, claimed ‘Sadie’ had provided informal babysitting services for four children and was “calm under pressure” and had a “passion for innovative environments”.

One of the families who almost hired her last summer spoke of their “guilt” at being prepared to employ a woman who turned out to be a fraudster. She turned them down because she had secured work elsewhere.

The south Dublin-based parents are both pilots and were urgently seeking childcare for their young daughters.

After doing a video interview, the mother thought ‘Sadie’ was “the most perfect au pair”.

Among the many qualifications she claimed to have were certificates in Basics of Safeguarding Children, Paediatric First Aid, First Aid for Paediatric Emergencies, Childcare Health and Safety, Principles of Child Health and Communication Development, Self-care in Early Childhood and Special Education, Principles of Childhood Development, Early Years Supervision for Child Development and Creative Thinking Skills in Early Childhood.

She also claimed to be studying modules in child development as part of an online course and to be “skilled in Montessori and Reggio Emilia methods of education through play”.

As with the Celbridge family she went to work with, ‘Sadie’ claimed her previous au pair job was with a family in Los Angeles, but because of a non-disclosure agreement she could not provide a reference.

The south Dublin family pushed her to provide a reference from the agency that set up that job, and believe that might have caused her to ultimately refuse their offer.

“She came across as the most kind, caring and compassionate person,” the mother said. “It’s frightening that someone can be that deceitful. It’s certainly opened my eyes to be even more vigilant about the next au pair that we take on.”

All the families who interacted with ‘Sadie’ have questioned how there can be no consequences for someone using false qualifications and a fake name to obtain a childcare job.

Tusla said au pairs and childminders who look after children in a family’s home are not covered by childcare regulations and so are not required to register with it. It said anyone with information about a child at risk should contact it. Gardaí took a statement from the family who were deceived in Celbridge, but have told them they do not believe any offence was committed.

Mindme.ie said it takes the safety and security of its users “very seriously” and has a number of security measures in place, including the ability of members to report a profile if they have concerns.

Mindme.ie is approved by gardaí to process garda vetting applications. Users who have been garda vetted by Mindme.ie have a special blue badge displayed on their profiles. It said it encourages all users to validate any claims, references or qualifications before hiring someone or taking up a position.

“As a classifieds website, we facilitate connections between parents and childminders, but we do not act as an agency or intermediary in any transactions,” it said.

The Sunday Independent revealed earlier this month that ‘Sadie’ was unmasked as Samantha Cookes when the Celbridge family she worked with were shown online stories about her after they attended their son’s parentteacher meeting.

Cookes insisted it was her sister who had the previous convictions before she fled.

She left behind many hand-written notepads that were similar to those she left in Kenmare in late 2022 when she was regarded as the acclaimed online “sickfluencer” and writer named Carrie Jade Williams. There she garnered an international reputation as an up-and-coming writer who wrote about having Huntington’s disease, a degenerative brain condition.

Cookes has a 2011 conviction for fraud in the UK for posing as a surrogate and taking £1,200 (€1,400) from a couple.

She moved to Ireland and used a variety of pseudonyms in Dublin, Wicklow and Cork before she received a 2019 conviction for deceiving a father into paying €840 for a child psychologist report. Four counts of theft of a combined €1,400 were taken into consideration when she was given a suspended 14-week jail term.

She came across as the most compassionate and caring person