One of the principal duties of childcare providers is to protect the children in their care from harm. Comprehensive criminal background checks help providers do this by ensuring that any individual with access to children does not have a history of abuse, violence, or other illegal activity. Let’s take a brief look at issues surrounding childcare and background checks.
Federal Requirements for Childcare Providers
Federal law dictates that childcare providers be subjected to the following background checks:
- Federal criminal records search
- Fingerprint check against the FBI fingerprint database
- National Crime Information Center’s National Sex Offender registry check
- Neglect or abuse charges in any jurisdiction
- State searches of the following for any state the individual has lived in for the past five years:
- State criminal records, including a fingerprint check
- State sex offender registries
- State child abuse and neglect databases
Thoroughly conducting these criminal record searches protects children from exposure to childcare workers that could potentially risk their health and safety. Always check with your provider to ensure that they follow all federal and state background check requirements and that their records are up to date.
Who Needs to Be Checked?
The following are guidelines for who needs a background check:
- All childcare staff. This includes teachers, caregivers, drivers, administrative staff, kitchen staff, and janitors.
- Every adult volunteer who will have unsupervised access to children
- Every adult who will have access to the children, whether they are employees or volunteers. This category includes coaches, art instructors, etc.
- Every adult living in a childcare home
How Often Do Backgrounds Need to be Checked?
In the childcare industry, criminal background checks are not a one-time proposition. Comprehensive criminal records checks must be conducted before hiring and after that at least once every five years.
What is the Parents’ Responsibility?
Federal law mandates that childcare providers pass a criminal background screening, even if the facility is not subject to federal licensing laws. In short, any individual who will have unsupervised access to children in a childcare setting should have a comprehensive background screening before hiring and have the check repeated every five years. Ask for proof of a completed background check. If it cannot be provided, request that a background check be conducted or conduct one yourself.
The Bottom Line
The safety of children is the top priority of background check laws. If you’re uncertain about your childcare provider’s compliance with these laws, don’t hesitate to ask. Your child deserves to be safe, and background checks are an essential safety tool.
