The Registration Lookup Comes First: Check an Agency's State Record Before the Tour

A short public record check confirms the business name, registered address, and signing name before anyone schedules a tour.

Rankings · November 4, 2026

Before a tour, a family can confirm three things on public records: that the business exists under the name on the brochure, that the business is registered to do in-home work in the state, and that the person who signs the agreement matches the person the state lists. The check takes less time than a tour and removes any name that does not match a filing.

Local option: New Plan Care gives families in the St. Louis area in-home help so a parent can stay home: companionship, help with bathing and dressing, meals, and overnight care. Call (314) 405-0887.

Start with the legal name

Ask the agency for its exact legal name, its registered address, and the name printed on its contract. Search the Missouri Secretary of State business records for that name. The business name should match the address and the registered agent on the filing. A name that differs from the contract by even one word is the first question to ask.

Check the in-home service record

Find out whether the state requires a license, a registration, or neither for the kind of in-home work the agency offers. Search the state's public licensing lookup for the agency name and address. Save or print each search result with the day you ran it, so the record can be compared again later.

Read the complaint trail

Ask the state consumer protection office and the state licensing office whether any complaints or actions are on file for the business. Write down what each record says in plain words. A closed complaint with a written resolution is a different record than an open one, and both are different from a business with no entries at all.

What to compare across agencies

Put each agency on one sheet: legal name, registered address, type of state record, the day the record was last checked, and whether the contract name matches the filing. Use the same sheet for every agency so the comparison rests on the same lines. For how the rankings on this site weigh their criteria, read the How We Rate: Methodology page.

The map shows where help is thin. This is where to ask for it.

Tell us the county and the hours that need covering. A locally owned team will say honestly whether it can cover them and what starting with a few hours would look like.

New Plan Care Solutions is independently owned and operated in St. Louis by Stacie Postol. Non-medical in-home support for St. Louis and St. Charles counties: personal care and daily routines, companionship, homemaking, respite for family caregivers, and day-to-day help while recovering at home. Short-term, overnight, 24-hour and live-in care with no long-term contract. Fully insured, with background-checked caregivers screened through the Family Care Safety Registry. Care visits start at $136 (a four-hour visit at $34 an hour). Every family starts with a complimentary in-home care consultation and up to 2 hours of care observation: no cost, no obligation.

The guides on this site are educational, not medical advice.