Effective September 30, 2020, new background check rule requirements, 7.701.33(J), Review the rules here, are in place to better align background check requirements with the federal Child Care Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Regulations. As a result, prospective staff who have lived outside of Colorado in the past five years are required to provide the following three background checks for each state they have lived in prior to employment or being allowed to work unsupervised:
- State Criminal History Check (SCH);
- State Sex Offender Registry Check (SSOR); and
- State Child Abuse and Neglect Registry Check (SCAN).
Identified current staff that has lived outside of Colorado in the past five years will be required to complete these checks.
Required Background Checks
There are eight (8) required background checks, five (5) are required for all designated individuals plus three (3) additional checks for persons who have previous states of residence other than Colorado to include all U.S. Territories within five years of hire. They are:
Two (2) National Checks
- Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Criminal History Check
- This check is fingerprint-based and is initiated by the child care provider/prospective staff member;
- NCIC National Sex Offender Registry (NSOR) Check
- This check is initiated by the Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS).
Three (3) In-State (Colorado) Checks
- Criminal History Check
- This check is fingerprint-based and is initiated by the child care provider/prospective staff member;
- Sex Offender Registry (SOR) Check
- This check is initiated by the Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS);
- Child Abuse and Neglect/TRAILS Check
- This check is a name-based search and is initiated by the child care provider/prospective staff member.
All five (5) of the above background checks must be done for ALL designated individuals. The procedures to conduct these checks remain the same.
Three (3) State (Previous State of Residence Outside of Colorado) Checks
The State Background Check rules impact Child Care Centers, School-Age Child Care Centers, Family Child Care Homes and Qualified Exempt Child Care Homes.
1. Criminal History Check (SCH) - Outside of Colorado
*Please request all results be sent directly CDHS BIU Criminal Background Check Unit to the address, 1575 Sherman Street Garden Level, Denver, CO 80203, or email at cdhs_oec_cbc_biu@state.co.us.
- This check may be conducted using a fingerprint or name-based check, and is initiated by the child care provider/prospective staff member;
- Must be completed using the approved state agency of previous residence procedures;
- Completing a search on a public-facing judicial website does not satisfy this requirement.
- This check is not required for states participating in the National Fingerprint File (NFF) program: Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
2. State Sex Offender Registry (SSOR) Check - Outside of Colorado
*The State Sex Offender Registry check is initiated by the Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS).
3. State Child Abuse and Neglect Registry Check (SCAN) - Outside of Colorado
*Please request all results be sent directly to the CDHS BIU Criminal Background Check Unit address, 1575 Sherman Street Garden Level, Denver, CO 80203, or email at cdhs_oec_cbc_biu@state.co.us.
- This check is a name-based search and is initiated by the child care provider/prospective staff member.
Information on how to complete the state background checks can be found on the state's website from which you are requesting the check(s). Each state's child care background check contact and website can be found at this link.
State Background Check Responses to BIU
If a prospective staff member has lived in a state outside of Colorado, to include all U.S. Territories, within five years of the hire date, the out-of-state background checks must be completed. All providers are required to request the three (3) out-of-state residence checks, Criminal History, Sex Offender Registry, and Child Abuse and Neglect.
Closed State
- Some states have laws and policies which are barriers to sharing state criminal data with other states.
- These states determine if individuals are eligible or ineligible for employment based on that state’s background check results. Therefore they may only provide eligible or ineligible results.
- If a state deems that a result is ineligible and the prospective staff or current staff member wants to challenge the result, the staff member must contact that state.
No Response State
- If a state is a no response state, please send the notification/proof that the request was made and show due process was followed.
Providers must ensure that:
- Within 20 days of initiating the FBI and CBI fingerprint-based background check must be completed:
- Appropriate background check requests should be sent to all previous states of residence outside of Colorado (Please reference the 'Three (3) State (Previous State of Residence) Checks' section above.
- The complete State Background Check Checklist and copy of all requests made must be submitted to the Office of Early Childhood (OEC) Background Investigations Unit (BIU) and a copy must be retained in the employee's file and kept on-site.
- BIU will review all results and checklists received and a letter will be sent directly to the facility regarding the applicant's eligibility status. This should also be retained in the employee's file. This process may take up to 25 days.,
The State Background Check Checklist will be returned if incomplete and/or missing proof that the required criminal and child abuse and neglect requests were initiated.
The checklist must be typed; handwritten forms will be returned. If you have questions, please call the OEC’s Background Investigation Unit at 303.866.5043. This is a monitored voicemail line; calls are returned within two business days. You may also email us at cdhs_oec_cbc_biu@state.co.us.
The completed checklist and all required documents are sent to: cdhs_oec_cbc_biu@state.co.us (1 file per applicant)
or
Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS)
Attn: Criminal Background Check
OEC Background Investigation Unit (BIU)
1575 Sherman Street, Garden Level
Denver, CO 80203-1714
State Background Check Responses from BIU
BIU’s review of all the submitted materials for state-based checks may take up to 25 days from receipt, please plan accordingly. Requests are processed in the order they are received.
- This request checklist generates ONE Results Letter. Results from this request are released to the person/agency/facility requesting the background check.
Exceptions
State (State of Previous Residence)
The National Fingerprint File Program. The National Fingerprint File is a database of fingerprints, or other uniquely personal identifying information, relating to an arrested or charged individual maintained by the FBI to provide positive identification of record subjects indexed in their III System.
- If a prospective or current staff member’s previous state of residence participates in the NFF, providers are not required to perform the State Criminal History Check. Participating states are indicated in red with an asterisk, e.g. CO*, in the Interstate Child Care Background Check Contact list.
- Please note however that the State Sex Offender Registry and State Child Abuse and Neglect checks are still required for persons who have lived in NFF participating states.
- All the checks, State Criminal History, State Sex Offender Registry, and State Child Abuse and Neglect, are required for ALL non-NFF states.
- If a prospective or current staff has lived in multiple states a combination of which includes NFF participating and non NFF participating states they must ensure that the SCH is done for the non NFF participating states of the previous residence within 5 years of hire.
In-State (Colorado)
A request is not required for a current staff member if:
- The staff member completed all the required parts of the background check requirement within the past five (5) years while employed by, or seeking employment by, another child care provider in Colorado.
- The State gave a qualifying result to the 1st provider for the staff member; and
- The staff member is employed by a child care provider within the state or has been separated from employment from a child care provider for less than 180 days