Licensing Policy and Procedures Handbook Revision October 2007
The Licensing Policy and Procedures Handbook revision was published October 2007. There revisions are explained below. Specific changes are noted in red. Not displayed are minor copyediting and formatting changes. Hyperlink formatting is removed so that existing content does not appear to be new.
This revision provides clarification of policies and procedures regarding how staff must respond to central registry matches received from other states.
Handling Clearance Notices and Matches
Procedures have been revised to clarify child-placing agencies’ responsibilities for handling clearance notices, matches, or notices confirming that another state does not release information. See:
5300 Central Registry and Criminal History Searches
Related item 5310 Conducting DFPS Central Registry Searches underwent minor style changes that do not reflect changes in policies or procedures, and is not displayed.
Out-of-State Findings Involving Prospective Foster and Adoptive Homes
The 5320 section has been renumbered to accommodate a new item, 5322 Acting on Abuse and Neglect Findings in Corresponding State Registries on Prospective Foster and Adoptive Homes. The new item provides policies and procedures for handling findings of out-of-state investigations of child abuse and neglect involving prospective foster and adoptive homes. See:
5320 Acting on Abuse and Neglect Findings
5321 Acting on Abuse and Neglect Findings in a DFPS Central Registry Report (not displayed: renumbered only)
5322 Acting on Abuse and Neglect Findings in Corresponding State Registries on Prospective Foster and Adoptive Homes
Items Affected by Renumbering
The following items contain cross-references to renumbered Section 5320 and have been updated to reflect the heading change. These items are not displayed. See:
3321 Evaluating Prior to Issuance of an Initial or Non-Expiring License or Certificate
3332 Setting Special Conditions on the License or Certificate
3520 Evaluating for Issuance of a Registration Permit
3541 Setting Special Conditions on the Registration Permit
3620 Evaluating for Issuance of a Listing Permit
4700 Making Inspections Required by Special Circumstances
5310 Conducting DFPS Central Registry Searches
5350 Opportunity to Request Risk Evaluation of Past Criminal History and/or Past Findings of Child Abuse and/or Neglect
6420 Abuse and/or Neglect Suspected About Caregiver's Own Children
7720 Release Hearings
8240 Confidential Information Not to be Released To the Public
5300 Central Registry and Criminal History Searches
LPPH January 2007 October 2007
Policy
A. Licensing staff must conduct both central registry and criminal history background searches on certain persons to determine whether that person has:
1. a history of abusing or neglecting a child; and/or
2. a criminal history (also see Appendix 3000-1) that includes any offenses under:
a. Title 5 (Offenses Against the Person) of the Penal Code,
b. Title 6 (Offenses Against the Family) of the Penal Code,
c. Chapter 29 (Robbery) of Title 7 of the Penal Code,
d. Chapter 43 (Public Indecency) or §42.072 (Stalking) of Title 9 of the Penal Code,
e. §15.031 (Criminal Solicitation of a Minor) of Title 4 of the Penal Code,
f. §38.17 (Failure to Stop or Report Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child) of Title 8 of the Penal Code,
g. Chapter 481 (the Texas Controlled Substance Act) of the Health and Safety Code,
h. §46.13 (Making a Firearm Accessible to a Child) or Chapter 49 (Intoxication and Alcoholic Beverage Offenses) of Title 10 of the Penal Code, or
i. Any like offense under the law of another state or federal law.
B. All regulated child-care operations must request background checks for each person age 14 years or older, other than clients of the operation, who will regularly or frequently be present at the operation while children are in care, including:
1. employees, including those the operation intends to hire who will provide direct care or have direct access to a child in care;
2. any persons, including volunteers, who are counted in the child/caregiver ratio;
3. persons applying to adopt or foster children through any licensed child-placing agency;
4. any persons under contract with the operation who have unsupervised contact with children in care on a regular or frequent basis;
5. the directors, owners, operators, or administrators of the operation;
6. non-client residents of the operation who are age 14 years or older; and
7. applicants for a child-care administrator's license.
C. Background checks are not required for a professional who has cleared a background check through another governmental regulatory entity, if the operation does not employ or have a contract with them.
D. Searches are not conducted for board members of corporations or associations unless a member is also an employee, or is a volunteer who is counted in the child/caregiver ratio, and will regularly or frequently be present at the operation while children are in care.
E. FBI fingerprint checks are required before the verification of any new foster or adoptive home that will receive placement of children in conservatorship of DFPS, which makes them eligible for federal funds. An FBI fingerprint check is required on the prospective foster and/or adoptive parents and any person age 18 years or older residing in the home.
F. Prospective foster and/or adoptive parents must also obtain a central registry check of child abuse or neglect in any state that they have lived in during the five years preceding their verification or approval of their home application to be verified and/or approved.
G. If the abuse or neglect notice comes back clear, the child-placing agency (CPA) must file the clearance notice in the foster or adoptive home record for the monitoring staff to review during the inspection.
H. If a child-placing agency receives anything other than a clearance notice or a notice stating that the state does not release abuse or neglect findings, the CPA must submit the match to the Licensing Background Check Unit for review using Form 2944, Request for Review of an Out-of-State Child Abuse or Finding.
DFPS Rules, 40 TAC §§746.801(8); 746.901(7); 746.1103; 746.1105; 747.207(7); 747.801(4); 747.1205; 747.1207(4); 747.1401(a); 745.613; 745.615; 745.621; 745.651; 748.105; 749.105; 748.363; 748.505; 749.553; 749.605; 749.2447; 749.2473; 749.2653; 749.2823; 749.3623
Procedure
1. Licensing staff must ensure identifying information is provided from an applicant, director, owner, or operator of a child-care operation in order to conduct the background check requests.
2. Identifying information must include the following:
a. Name (last, first, middle), including any maiden or married names or aliases
b. Date of birth
c. Sex
d. Social Security number
e. Current and previous addresses during the past five years
f. Driver’s license or a state-issued identification card number
And
g. Race (this information does not have to be verified)
3. Background check requests must be submitted in the following ways:
a. for residential child-care operations, requests must be submitted online through the DFPS Web site; and
b. for child day-care operations, requests may either be submitted to the local Licensing office using Form 2971, Request for Criminal History and Central Registry Check, or online through the DFPS Web site.
4. Background check requests must be submitted at the following times:
a. For all residential child-care operations:
1. at the time of application for a permit, verification of a foster home, or approval of an adoptive home;
2. before the operation hires a new person who will provide direct care or have direct access to a child in care or within two business days after a new person is hired or is present who will not provide direct care or have direct access to a child in care;
3. when a non-client resident age 14 years old or older lives or moves into an operation or a non-client resident becomes 14 years old, or when persons apply to foster or adopt children; and
4. once during each 24 months after the person's name is first submitted.
b. For child day-care operations:
1. at the time of application for a permit;
2. within two business days after a new person is hired or is present in an operation;
3. when a non-client resident age 14 years old or older lives or moves into an operation or a non-client resident becomes 14 years old; and
4. once during each 24 months after the person's name is first submitted.
5. The applicant, director, owner, or operator of the child-care operation must sign Form 2971, Request for Criminal History and Central Registry Check, indicating that he or she has verified that the information submitted is correct. Verification means that he or she has checked the person's drivers license or Social Security card against the information that he or she was given. The submission of an online request is the considered same as a signature.
6. Enter information on Form 2971, Request for Criminal and Central Registry Check, into CLASS to initiate the background check request. When entering a person's information in CLASS to request a criminal history or central registry check, verify that the name entered has no previous matches. If the match indicator is yes, view the person's previous history. The background checks batch processes nightly.
Each unit must immediately review all criminal history matches and the detail reports in IMPACT for all possible central registry matches. Results of criminal history and central registry checks must then be entered into CLASS. Documentation tracking risk assessment, risk evaluations, administrative reviews, and release hearings are also entered into CLASS.
7. The operation receives the results of the background check from Licensing within two working days of submission. If an FBI check is required, the results of the name-based check against DPS's Texas Crime Information Center (TCIC) is returned within 48 hours. If a residential operation does not receive the results within two working days, the operation can obtain a criminal history check on the person through the Department of Public Safety (DPS) online Web site. If the DPS check verifies that there is no criminal history, the operation can allow the person to have unsupervised contact with children in care until they receive the results of the check that was done by Licensing.
8. Before each monitoring visit, Licensing staff must determine if the names of persons being checked have been submitted to DFPS for background checks at the required times and that the operation has complied with all background check requirements.
When planning and preparing for any type of inspection including monitoring, follow-up, or investigation, Licensing staff must ask the operation for a list of all persons working or present at the operation. For child-placing agencies, this list must include any foster or adoptive parents who have been verified since the last monitoring visit, including the date of the verification.
Licensing staff must then compare this list with the People List in CLASS to determine if any names were not submitted and to ensure that the operation received the DFPS results or the results from a DPS check before allowing the person access to children in care.
For child-placing agencies, Licensing staff must also review documentation of required central registry checks in any state that the foster or adoptive parents lived in the five years preceding the verification. Acceptable documentation for required out-of-state central registry checks can include either a letter from the state confirming that the person has no history of abuse or neglect or a letter from the state confirming that they do not conduct central registry checks.
See 4420 Conducting the Inspection, Procedure 3b.
9. If the operation does not or has not submitted the required background requests, Licensing staff cites it for violating the Human Resources Code, Section 42.056, or the appropriate citation from the Texas Administrative Code, Chapter 745, Subchapter F.
Texas Human Resources Code §42.056
DFPS Rules, 40 TAC §§745.623; 745.625
5320 Acting on Abuse and Neglect Findings in a DFPS Central Registry Report
Editor’s note: The content from 5320 has been moved and renumbered to 5321 Acting on Abuse and Neglect Findings in a DFPS Central Registry Report. This numbering change accommodates the addition of new item 5322 Acting on Abuse and Neglect Findings in Corresponding State Registries on Prospective Foster and Adoptive Homes.
The renumbered item 5321 contains only minor style edits, and is not displayed.
5322 Acting on Abuse and Neglect Findings in Corresponding State Registries on Prospective Foster and Adoptive Homes
LPPH October 2007 NEW ITEM
Policy
A. All prospective foster and adoptive parents must request a child abuse and neglect notice from each state that they resided in during the five-year period that preceded their application to foster or adopt. These notices must be submitted to their child-placing agency.
B. The child-placing agency must submit to the residential Background Check Unit any notice indicating a child abuse or neglect match or confirm that the state does not release abuse or neglect findings.
C. The child-placing agency must ask the foster or adoptive parents to obtain as much information regarding the match as possible before giving it to the CPA, who submits the match to Licensing for review.
D. If the child-placing agency chooses to proceed with verifying the foster home or approving the adoption, the CPA must submit a Form 2944 Request for a Review of an Out-of-State Child Abuse or Neglect Finding.
E. The background check staff must contact the other state, if necessary, to obtain any missing or necessary information about the match, including the extent of the due process. If the Background Check Unit still cannot determine if the person has exhausted his or her due process even after contacting the other state, Licensing staff must determine risk to children based on the information that they have.
Procedure
A. If the match and information from the CPA does not indicate that the match is Sustained and Licensing staff need additional information to make a decision, the Background Check Unit must contact the other state. If the Background Check Unit still cannot determine if the person has exhausted his or her due process after contacting the other state, staff must determine risk to children based on the information that they have.
B. The residential Background Check Unit must evaluate each child abuse or neglect match and, based on current background check rules, determine if the home can be verified or approved as a foster and/or adoptive home.
C. If there is a match equivalent to a Reason to Believe physical or sexual abuse finding (Sustained or not yet sustained), the home may not be verified or approved.
D. The residential Background Check Unit must forward from the CPA to the director of residential licensing any eligible request for review of these out-of-state findings using Form 2944 Request for a Review of an Out-of-State Child Abuse or Neglect Findings.
E. After completing the review and determining whether the home can be verified or approved, the Background Check Unit must send a Background Check Match Letter for Out-of-State Child Abuse or Neglect to the child-placing agency.
F. The residential Background Check Unit must document the results of the review in CLASS under the Out-of-State Central Registry Finding section in CLASS.