PORTLAND – A new state-funded program is designed to offer parents a way to learn more about the people watching their children.

Participants in the Trust Me program are unlicensed caregivers who watch one or two children in their homes.

They submit to background checks, and parents can call a toll-free number to verify that a prospective baby sitter or nanny has passed. The number is (866) 638-7878 and can be called from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Trust Me is a joint project of the Southern Kennebec Child Development Corp., a private, nonprofit child care agency, and the state Department of Human Services.

The state regulates day care centers and in-home caregivers who watch more than two children who are not related to them. Those caregivers must get background checks.

But the state does not license caregivers who watch fewer than three children in their homes. The state says it’s too difficult to find and monitor these caregivers.

The state estimates that these caregivers – sometimes relatives, neighbors, friends and acquaintances – watch 9,500 children, or 22 percent of Maine’s 43,000 children who receive child care.

“What we say is every child in Maine deserves a Trust Me caregiver,” said Janet Covell, Trust Me’s coordinator.

Covell said the Maine program is the first in New England and modeled on others in California and New York.

Risa Johnson is one of about two dozen in-home, unlicensed caregivers who have volunteered for background checks through Trust Me. Johnson, 47, passed a criminal records check and checks with child protective and motor vehicle services. The cost usually would be $25 but is being waived at first to encourage more participants.

For 28 years, Johnson has been caring for children – three of her own, her grandchildren and other people’s children. She said the Trust Me program validates her good work.

There are other benefits as well, including free books and other materials and caregiver meetings arranged through Trust Me.