Many daycare owners start their business as a way to serve their communities. These business owners understand the vital role that their services play in helping parents and molding children to become the leaders of tomorrow. However, such daycare owners must exercise caution when they are hiring new staff.
If you run your own daycare center, you might have developed an approach for assessing prospective hires. You can gauge a candidate’s ability by asking them the right questions in interviews. However, this alone won’t be enough to determine whether they are suitable for the job.
This is because every child care worker you intend to hire must clear a background check before starting working at your daycare center. Let’s examine some important things daycare providers should know about background checks for childcare workers.
What the Law Says
The first thing to know about background checks for childcare workers is that they are required by Federal Law. Daycare centers in every state are required to implement both state and federal background checks. This includes criminal background checks using fingerprints.
These fingerprints are usually checked against the FBI’s database to ensure the individual doesn’t have a criminal history that could jeopardize a child’s health or safety.
Other Checks
Daycare owners must also conduct other types of checks in addition to the fingerprint check. This includes looking up the candidate in the National Crime Information Center’s National Sex Offender Registry.
They must also search the databases and registries where the candidate currently lives or has lived in the last five years.
When Should Background Checks Be Performed?
As a daycare owner, you must ensure every single daycare worker you intend to hire undergoes a background check. You will also need to repeat this process every five years to ensure no one looking after the children at your daycare has racked up convictions recently.
How Much Do Background Checks Cost?
The cost of performing these background checks can vary depending on the state you are in. For example, the FBI charges a flat $14.75 fee to conduct their national fingerprint check. If you are in a state such as New Jersey, the state will typically pay for such tests on your behalf.
How Long Does a Background Check Take?
The average time it takes to conduct a background check varies depending on the state. This process can be completed in 5 days in Oklahoma. However, it takes around 21 days in Washington.
If your business is located in a state where this background check takes several weeks to complete, you should plan your childcare worker search accordingly. Therefore, you should start the search process as quickly as possible and be upfront in informing the candidate about the kind of background check they will need to undergo.
What Happens If I Don’t Run a Background Check?
If you are caught hiring a childcare worker without running a background check on them, you will likely face a civil penalty as well as a fine. No daycare owner should ever have to deal with such penalties.
In addition to this, your daycare business’s reputation will be tarnished if parents learn you have hired workers without running extensive background checks on them.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, conducting a background check is incredibly important when you are hiring childcare workers for your daycare. The rules for these checks vary from state to state, so be sure to look up the laws regarding them in your own state.
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