§ 110-90.2 — Mandatory child care providers' criminal history checks

North Carolina § 110-90.2

• Jurisdiction: North Carolina
• Ch. 110: Child Welfare
• Art. 7: Child Care Facilities

Text

(a) For purposes of this section:
(1) "Child care", notwithstanding the definition in G.S. 110-86, means any child care provided in child care facilities required to be licensed or regulated under this Article and nonlicensed child care homes approved to receive or receiving State or federal funds for providing child care.
(2) "Child care provider" means a person who:
a. Is employed by or seeks to be employed by a child care facility providing child care as defined in subdivision (1) of this subsection, whether in temporary or permanent capacity, including substitute providers;
b. Owns or operates or seeks to own or operate a child care facility or nonlicensed child care home providing child care as defined in subdivision (1) of this subsection; or
c. Is a member of the household in a family child care home, nonlicensed child care home, or child care center in a residence and who is over 15 years old, including family members and nonfamily members who use the home on a permanent or temporary basis as their place of residence.
(3) "Criminal history" means a county, state, or federal criminal history of conviction or pending indictment of a crime or criminal charge, whether a misdemeanor or a felony, that bears upon an individual's fitness to have responsibility for the safety and well-being of children. Such crimes include, but are not limited to, the following North Carolina crimes contained in any of the following Articles of Chapter 14 of the General Statutes: Article 6, Homicide; Article 7B, Rape and Other Sex Offenses; Article 8, Assaults; Article 10, Kidnapping and Abduction; Article 13, Malicious Injury or Damage by Use of Explosive or Incendiary Device or Material; Article 14, Burglary; Article 16, Larceny; Article 17, Robbery; Article 19, False Pretenses and Cheats; Article 19A, Obtaining Property or Services by False or Fraudulent Use of Credit Device or Other Means; Article 19C, Identity Theft; Article 26, Offenses Against Public Morality and Decency; Article 27, Prostitution; Article 29, Bribery; Article 35, Offenses Against the Public Peace; Article 36A, Riots and Civil Disorders; Article 39, Protection of Minors; Article 40, Protection of the Family; Article 52, Miscellaneous Police Regulations; and Article 59, Public Intoxication. Such crimes also include cruelty to animals in violation of Article 3 of Chapter 19A of the General Statutes, possession or sale of drugs in violation of the North Carolina Controlled Substances Act, Article 5 of Chapter 90 of the General Statutes, and alcohol-related offenses such as sale to underage persons in violation of G.S. 18B-302 or driving while impaired in violation of G.S. 20-138.1 through G.S. 20-138.5. In addition to the North Carolina crimes listed in this subdivision, such crimes also include similar crimes under federal law or under the laws of other states.
(4) "Substitute provider" means a person who temporarily assumes the duties of a staff person for a time period not to exceed two consecutive months and may or may not be monetarily compensated by the facility.
(5) "Uncompensated provider" means a person who works in a child care facility and is counted in staff/child ratio or has unsupervised contact with children, but who is not monetarily compensated by the facility.
(a1) No person shall be a child care provider or uncompensated child care provider who has been any of the following:
(1) Convicted of a misdemeanor or a felony crime involving child neglect or child abuse.
(2) Adjudicated a "responsible individual" under G.S. 7B-311(b).
(3) Convicted of a "reportable conviction" as defined under G.S. 14-208.6(4).
(b) The Department shall ensure that, prior to employment and every five years thereafter, the criminal history of all child care providers is checked and a determination is made of the child care provider's fitness to have responsibility for the safety and well-being of children based on the criminal history. The Department shall ensure that all child care providers are checked for county, State, and federal criminal histories.
(b1) The Department may prevent an individual from being a child care provider if the Department determines that the individual is a habitually excessive user of alcohol, illegally uses narcotic or other impairing drugs, or is mentally or emotionally impaired to an extent that may be injurious to children.
(c) The Department of Public Safety shall provide to the Division of Child Development, Department of Health and Human Services, the criminal history from the State and National Repositories of Criminal Histories of any child care provider as requested by the Division.
The Division shall provide to the Department of Public Safety, along with the request, the fingerprints of the provider to be checked, any additional information required by the Department of Public Safety, and a form consenting to the check of the criminal record and to the use of fingerprints and other identifying information required by the repositories signed by the child care provider to be checked. The fingerprints of the provider shall be forwarded to the State Bureau of Investigation for a search of their criminal history record file and the State Bureau of Investigation shall forward a set of fingerprints to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a federal criminal history record check.
At the time of application the child care provider whose criminal history is to be checked shall be furnished with a statement substantially similar to the following:
"NOTICE
CHILD CARE PROVIDER MANDATORY CRIMINAL HISTORY CHECK
NORTH CAROLINA LAW REQUIRES THAT A CRIMINAL HISTORY RECORD CHECK BE CONDUCTED ON ALL PERSONS WHO PROVIDE CHILD CARE IN A LICENSED CHILD CARE FACILITY, AND ALL PERSONS PROVIDING CHILD CARE IN NONLICENSED CHILD CARE HOMES THAT RECEIVE STATE OR FEDERAL FUNDS.
"Criminal history" means a county, state, or federal criminal history of conviction, pending indictment of a crime, or criminal charge, whether a misdemeanor or a felony, that bears on an individual's fitness to have responsibility for the safety and well-being of children. Such crimes include, but are not limited to, the following North Carolina crimes contained in any of the following Articles of Chapter 14 of the General Statutes: Article 6, Homicide; Article 7B, Rape and Other Sex Offenses; Article 8, Assaults; Article 10, Kidnapping and Abduction; Article 13, Malicious Injury or Damage by Use of Explosive or Incendiary Device or Material; Article 14, Burglary; Article 16, Larceny; Article 17, Robbery; Article 19, False Pretenses and Cheats; Article 19A, Obtaining Property or Services by False or Fraudulent Use of Credit Device or Other Means; Article 19C, Identity Theft; Article 26, Offenses Against Public Morality and Decency; Article 27, Prostitution; Article 29, Bribery; Article 35, Offenses Against the Public Peace; Article 36A, Riots and Civil Disorders; Article 39, Protection of Minors; Article 40, Protection of the Family; and Article 59, Public Intoxication. Such crimes also include cruelty to animals in violation of Article 3 of Chapter 19A of the General Statutes, violation of the North Carolina Controlled Substances Act, Article 5 of Chapter 90 of the General Statutes, and alcohol-related offenses such as sale to underage persons in violation of G.S. 18B-302 or driving while impaired in violation of G.S. 20-138.1 through G.S. 20-138.5. In addition to the North Carolina crimes listed in this notice, such crimes also include similar crimes under federal law or under the laws of other states. Your fingerprints will be used to check the criminal history records of the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
If it is determined, based on your criminal history, that you are unfit to have responsibility for the safety and well-being of children, you shall have the opportunity to complete, or challenge the accuracy of, the information contained in the SBI or FBI identification records.
If you disagree with the determination of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services on your fitness to provide child care, you may file a civil lawsuit within 60 days after receiving written notification of disqualification in the district court in the county where you live.
Any child care provider who intentionally falsifies any information required to be furnished to conduct the criminal history record check shall be guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor."
Refusal to consent to a criminal history record check or intentional falsification of any information required to be furnished to conduct a criminal history record check is grounds for the Department to prohibit the child care provider from providing child care. Any child care provider who intentionally falsifies any information required to be furnished to conduct the criminal history shall be guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor.
(d) The Department shall notify in writing the child care provider, and the child care provider's employer, if any, or for nonlicensed child care homes the local purchasing agency, of the determination by the Department whether the child care provider is qualified to provide child care based on the child care provider's criminal history. In accordance with the law regulating the dissemination of the contents of the criminal history file furnished by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department shall not release nor disclose any portion of the child care provider's criminal history to the child care provider or the child care provider's employer or local purchasing agency. The Department shall also notify the child care provider of the procedure for completing or challenging the accuracy of the criminal history and the child care provider's right to contest the Department's determination in court.
A child care provider who disagrees with the Department's decision may file a civil action in the district court of the county of residence of the child care provider within 60 days after receiving written notification of disqualification. Review of the Department's determination disqualifying a child care provider shall be de novo. No jury trial is available for appeals to district court under this section.
(d1) The Department may allow a prospective child care provider to begin employment on a provisional basis when the Department has not yet received satisfactory results from the county, State, and federal criminal history checks but receives satisfactory results from either the federal or State criminal history check for the prospective child care provider. However, until the Department makes its determination regarding checks from the county, State, and federal criminal histories, a prospective child care provider employed provisionally pursuant to this subsection shall be supervised at all times by a child care provider who has received qualifying results on the child care provider's criminal history checks within the last five years. If the county, State, and federal criminal history checks are not completed within 45 days from the date the checks were requested and there are no disqualifying results on any of the completed components of the criminal history checks, the Department shall provide written notification to the provisional child care provider that the child care provider is qualified to provide child care and is no longer subject to provisional status.
(e) All the information that the Department receives through the checking of the criminal history is privileged information and is not a public record but is for the exclusive use of the Department and those persons authorized under this section to receive the information. The Department may destroy the information after it is used for the purposes authorized by this section after one calendar year.
(f) There shall be no liability for negligence on the part of an employer of a child care provider, an owner or operator of a child care facility, a State or local agency, or the employees of a State or local agency, arising from any action taken or omission by any of them in carrying out the provisions of this section. The immunity established by this subsection shall not extend to gross negligence, wanton conduct, or intentional wrongdoing that would otherwise be actionable. The immunity established by this subsection is waived to the extent of indemnification by insurance, indemnification under Article 31A of Chapter 143 of the General Statutes, and to the extent sovereign immunity is waived under the Torts Claim Act, as set forth in Article 31 of Chapter 143 of the General Statutes.
(g) The child care provider shall pay the cost of the fingerprinting and the federal criminal history record check in accordance with G.S. 143B-1209.14. The State Bureau of Investigation shall perform the State criminal history record check. The Department of Health and Human Services shall pay for and conduct the county criminal history record check. Child care providers who reside outside the State bear the cost of the county criminal history record check and shall provide the county criminal history record check to the Division of Child Development as required by this section.
(h) Repealed by Session Laws 2013-410, s. 46, effective August 23, 2013. (1995, c. 507, s. 23.25(a); c. 542, s. 25.2; 1997-443, s. 11A.118(a); 1997-506, s. 7; 2012-160, s. 1; 2013-410, s. 46; 2013-413, s. 12; 2014-100, s. 17.1(o), (pp); 2014-115, s. 17; 2015-181, s. 47; 2015-264, s. 55; 2022-74, s. 9C.3(a), (b); 2023-134, s. 19F.4(o).)