When it comes to requiring background checks for day care workers, each state differs slightly in terms of the requirements. However, federal law requires all providers of child care to have a background check on file. This applies to licensed, license-exempt, regulated, and registered child care providers, as well as unlicensed ministries, homes, and centers that are receiving Child Care and Development Fund payments.
Each state, however, differs in terms of how often day care workers must have a background check performed. In the state of Indiana, for example, child care workers must have a criminal background check performed at least once every three years. Additionally, they must have a sex offender registry check performed annually to ensure that the safety of the children remains intact.
Why Is a Day Care Worker Background Check Important?
Thousands of businesses utilize background checks to make sure that they know their job candidates as best as they can. They need to know that they can trust the person to fully tell them the truth about their past and the experiences that have come with it. The importance of a background check is magnified significantly when it comes to adults seeking employment where they’ll constantly be around young children.
States must continue to require, at the very least, a criminal court check on anyone seeking employment as a staff member of any privately run day care business that receives state funds, regardless of whether it’s operated by a church or not.
We must continue to pass laws that protect our children. When day cares are required to perform background checks on their employees, we ensure that our children aren’t around adults that have a history of crimes against children.
Effectiveness of Background Checks for Child Care Workers
When you utilize a background check, not only are you verifying the information that the applicant has given you, but you’re also seeing if they have any prior convictions to worry about. Some convictions, for example, should prohibit adults from ever working in an environment where kids are present. When a day care uses background checks on their applicants, they verify that no applicants are slipping through the cracks in that way.
Prior to the introduction of the federal law requiring day cares to obtain background checks on their employees, there were 31 deaths of small children in all three types of child care provider centers since 2009 in Indiana alone.
We can’t be sure how many children have been saved through the use of a background check. However, it’s vital that going forward, day cares continue to require criminal background checks on anyone hoping to be employed at a child care facility.
Typically, a criminal history background check includes the following record searches:
- National criminal databases
- County criminal courts
- Federal and state criminal background records
- Sex offender registries
- Domestic and global terrorist watch lists
Contact Barada for Background Checking Services
A criminal background check from Barada is a great way to make sure that all of your candidates are who they say they are and don’t have a lengthy criminal record. The use of a background check will ensure that your future employees are not hiding any information from you, including any felony convictions or charges. A child care provider background check will also show whether the candidate is on a national sex offender registry or a child abuse and neglect registry.
Background checks can go a long way in keeping our children safe from people with negative intentions. To protect the children in your child care facility, contact Barada as soon as possible to run a background check on any of your job candidates.