Current through Register Vol. 40, No. 16, March 25, 2024
A. The department
and registering and approving authorities must require documentation of
satisfactory background checks for applicants, agents, employees, volunteers,
and others living in family day homes as specified in 8VAC20-770-40.
1. A satisfactory sworn statement or
affirmation is:
a. A fully completed original
that states that the person does not have an offense; and
b. There is no other knowledge that the
individual has an unsatisfactory background.
Criminal convictions include prior adult convictions and
juvenile convictions or adjudications of delinquency based on a crime that
would be a felony if committed by an adult within or outside the Commonwealth.
Convictions also include convictions in other states that are equivalent to
those specified in this section.
2. A satisfactory central registry finding is
one in which:
a. A copy of the Department of
Social Services child protective services check form is returned to the
requesting agency, the Department, or local department of social services
indicating that, as of the date on the reply, the individual whose name was
searched is not identified in the central registry as an involved caregiver
with a founded disposition of child abuse/neglect; and
b. There is no other knowledge that the
individual has a founded disposition in Virginia or elsewhere.
3. A satisfactory criminal history
record check report is one in which:
a. An
original hard copy or Internet inquiry reply from the Department of State
Police is returned to the agency, individual or authorized agent making the
request with:
(1) No convictions indicated;
or
(2) Convictions indicated, but
no barrier crimes, offenses, or other felony convictions in the last five
years;
b. A letter is
received from the Office of Background Investigations with a finding of
"eligible"; and
c. There is no
other knowledge that the individual has an offense in Virginia or elsewhere.
The facility must have viewed an original criminal history
record report maintained by a contract employee or contract agency that is
dated less than six months before the independent contract employee or contract
employee is hired by a contract agency begins providing services at the
facility. (See also 8VAC20-770-90.)
4. A licensed child day center may hire for
compensated employment persons who have been convicted of not more than one
misdemeanor offense as defined in §
18.2-57
of the Code of Virginia if 10 years have elapsed following the conviction,
unless the person committed such offense while employed in a child day center
or the object of the offense was a minor.
B. Background checks results are not open
ended.
1. When a minor living in a family day
home turns 18 years of age, the operator is responsible for making sure that
the 18-year-old complies with all background check requirements for adults
pursuant to 8VAC20-770-40 D.
2.
Operators must submit new background checks as part of the renewal application
packages of registered family day homes. With the exception of those facilities
that are exempt per §
22.1-289.031
of the Code of Virginia, background checks are required every three years for
all other persons required to have background checks pursuant to 8VAC20-770-40
D.
3. If a person leaves a facility
and the criminal history record report or central registry check finding is
less than 91 days old, the person must be permitted to take the report or
reports with him. The facility must keep a copy of any report a person takes
and write on it that it is a copy, and that the original of any criminal
history record report was verified.
4. Unless there is a criminal conviction or a
founded complaint of child abuse and neglect during that period, a background
check remains valid at a facility if no more than 12 consecutive months have
passed from when a person:
a. Began a leave of
absence from that facility;
b. Was
terminated from employment at that facility; or
c. Was transferred to a center owned and
operated by the same employer or entity.
5. The facility, department, or registering
or approving authority may require a new background check relevant to this
suspicion if there is reason to suspect that a person who has submitted
acceptable background checks, as required by this chapter, has an offense in
Virginia or elsewhere.
6. When the
facility, department, or registering or approving authority chooses to require
a new background check:
a. The facility,
department, or registering or approving authority may allow the person to
continue the same relationship with the child day program until the child care
provider or licensing, registering, or approval authority receives the new
Virginia background check information or equivalent documentation from another
state; or
b. If there is reason to
suspect that a person has an offense, the facility, department, or registering
or approving authority may require that the person not be alone with children,
even if the documentation is not Virginia background check information or
equivalent information from another state.
C. Waivers of some criminal convictions are
possible. Refer to 8VAC20-770-90 through 8VAC20-770-130 for an explanation of
the waiver.
Statutory Authority: §§
22.1-16
and
22.1-289.046
of the Code of Virginia.
