Current through November, 2024
(a) Results of the background checks shall be
reviewed as part of the department's determination of whether a person is
suitable as defined in subsection (d) to provide child care.
(b) Each person subject to background checks
shall be determined to be suitable by the department to operate, be employed,
work in, volunteer in, or live in a child care facility or exempt child care
facility, except when a person may be provisionally cleared to work:
(1) A person may start working on a
provisional basis when the requirements in section 17-801-4(a)(1) are completed
and the department does not receive results or other information that the
person may pose a risk to children in care or is not suitable to provide care;
and
(2) A person who has been
provisionally cleared pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be continuously
supervised by another person who has been determined suitable to provide care
based upon the results of the background checks described in section
17-801-4(a); provided that paragraphs (1) and (2) do not apply to applicants,
registrants, or licensees of family child care homes or group child care homes
or their household members.
(c) An applicant, caregiver, staff member,
employee, rehired employee, substitute, or volunteer who has stopped providing
care, stopped residing in a child care home, or left the State for a period of
one hundred eighty consecutive days or more, is required to complete background
checks again in accordance with section 17-801-4(a), and may be allowed to meet
the conditions in subsection (b).
(d) A person is not suitable to provide child
care for children if the person:
(1) Refuses
to provide consent to the background checks;
(2) Makes a materially false statement or
omission in disclosing any prior background history that may affect the
person's ability and suitability;
(3) Is registered or is required to be
registered, on a state sex offender registry or repository or the national sex
offender registry;
(4) Is
identified on another state's registry or database as the perpetrator of child
abuse, neglect, harm, or threatened harm;
(5) Within a five-year period starting from
the date that the child abuse case record was closed, the person has been
confirmed by the department as the perpetrator of threatened harm as defined in
section
587A-4, HRS. In
situations when a finding of threatened harm occurred more than five years from
the date that the child abuse case record was closed, a person's suitability
shall be based on paragraph (8);
(6) Is confirmed at any time as the
perpetrator of harm against a child as defined in section
587A-4,
HRS;
(7) Is confirmed at any time
as the perpetrator of abuse of a vulnerable adult as defined in section
346-222, HRS;
or
(8) Is found by the department,
for any other reason that has not been identified in this chapter, to not be of
reputable and responsible character or may pose a risk to the health, safety,
or well-being of the children in care. Factors that shall be considered by the
department include but are not limited to:
(A) The nature of the incident;
(B) When the incident occurred;
(C) Patterns of behavior the department
determines resulted in or could have resulted in injury to self or
others;
(D) Any other relevant
information received and deemed credible by the department; and
(E) Evidence of rehabilitation.
(e) In instances where a
person is the subject of an on-going or pending criminal, child welfare, or
department investigation, the person shall be excluded from the premises and
the department's determination of whether the person is suitable as defined in
subsection (d) cannot be completed until the investigation is closed or any
related legal proceeding is completed.
(f) A person shall not provide licensed or
registered child care, or exempt child care for a child whose family receives a
subsidy from the department pursuant to chapters 17-798.3 and 17-799, if the
person has been convicted of an offense listed in Exhibit I, dated January 1,
2020, attached at the end of this chapter.
(g) A person shall not provide licensed or
registered child care, or exempt child care for a child whose family receives a
subsidy from the department pursuant to chapters 17-798.3 and 17-799, if the
person has been convicted within the past five years of the time of the
background check of an offense listed in Exhibit II, dated January 1, 2020,
attached to the end of this chapter.
(h) The person may file a written request for
an administrative appeal to appeal the decision by the department:
(1) In accordance with the provisions set
forth in chapters 17-891.2, 17-892.2, 17-895.1, 17-896.1, for applicants,
licensees, or registrants; or
(2)
In accordance with the provisions set forth in chapter 17-602.1, for all other
persons not specified in paragraph (1); provided that the filing of a request
for an administrative appeal does not permit the person to continue to provide
child care for children under this chapter, pending the decision of the
administrative appeal hearing officer.
