Understanding the Intersection of Barrier Crimes and Child Care Policies in Virginia

Joint Subcommittee to Study Barrier Crimes and Criminal History Records Checks Public Meeting November 17, 2020 Grace Reef Policy Advisor, Child Care Aware of Virginia https://vachildcare.com/

Child Care & Background Checks Child Care & Background Checks Child Care Aware of Virginia: A non-profit, non-partisan organization - statewide Works with families to find child care Works with child care providers (to become licensed or registered, strengthening quality) Background Checks for Child Care Worked with the General Assembly & VDSS for 5 years to comply with federal child care background check requirements Helped to move VA from a name-based system to fingerprints Children should be safe in child care. 2

The Federal Child Care Law The Federal Child Care Law - - Compliance Compliance Agencies Involved Interstate Checks In-State Checks National Checks Criminal Records For Individuals who have lived outside of VA in the past 5 years In-State Criminal History Check* FBI Fingerprint Check* State Police FBI/National Checks VDSS/VDOE (transitioning) National Crime Information Center (NCIC) In-State Sex Offender Check Child Abuse & Neglect Interstate Criminal History Check VDSS/VDOE (transitioning) VDSS has the child abuse registry VDOE will host child care licensing/post transition National Sex Offender Registry (NSOR) In-State Child Abuse and Neglect Check Interstate Sex Offender Check Interstate Child Abuse Check Out-of-State Agencies Note: *Requires fingerprint check Source: The Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 2014 (P.L. 113-186) Impact: 5% federal child care funding reduction to states out of compliance 3

Barrier Crimes & Child Care Barrier Crimes & Child Care Federal Law Categories/Compliance Murder, Child Abuse & neglect A crime against children, including child pornography Spousal abuse A crime involving rape or sexual assault Kidnapping Arson Physical assault or battery A drug-related offense committed during the past 5 years A violent misdemeanor committed as an adult against a child Federal law requires states to have a waiver/appeal process Virginia s child care appeal process: 63.2-1723. Child welfare agencies; criminal conviction and waiver. Commissioner may grant a waiver to family day homes under certain conditions, if 5 years have passed, and a home study shows child safety not at risk. Question: Possession of marijuana, 18.2- 248.1. Review. Disproportionate impact/systemic? Is the waiver process consistently applied? Data? Impact of decriminalization? 4

Background Checks & Portability for Child Care Background Checks & Portability for Child Care Portability of Child Care Background Checks State Child Care Background Check Portability Public schools regularly use substitutes Child care programs also want the ability to share subs (e.g., have a sub-pool of background-checked individuals who can work in multiple centers) Many ways to do it. Here are a few. Child Care Portability Challenge Child care background checks are tied to individual child care providers, which means that the screening results can t be shared (to create a sub-pool like public schools have). 63.2-1720.1; 63.2-1722; 63.2-1725; 63.2- 1721.1 Public school teachers have portability of background checks through 22.1-296.2, which enables subs. Florida Georgia Louisiana Michigan Utah Washington It s possible to support safety & common sense. Child Care Aware of Virginia Recommends: Using the concept of portability for school teachers and apply it to the construct of child care laws so that child care providers can share subs. 5

Background Checks Background Checks Process/System Process/System 2018 State Police Report Almost 500,000 noncriminal justice background checks annually Current computer tracking systems inadequate/out-dated State Police report recommends replacing antiquated systems to improve accuracy and efficiency Updating systems enables the State Police to implement Rap Back allows authorized government agencies to receive notification of subsequent convictions Real-time vs snapshot in time 29 states offer one or more noncriminal justice in-state Rap Back services Child Care Aware of Virginia Recommendations: Allow for portability like public school subs Update antiquated systems Implement Rap Back I 6

Questions? Questions? Children should be safe in child care. Barrier crimes are important. However, as important is the process for conducting background checks. Systems are outdated and need improvement/Studies already conducted. Child care background checks should be portable. These are problems for which there are solutions. Questions? https://vachildcare.com/ Angela Wirt, Executive Director, Child Care Aware of Virginia, angelaw@va.childcareaware.org Grace Reef, Policy Advisor, Child Care Aware of Virginia, GraceReef2013@gmail.com 7