Background Checks for Prospective Foster, Adoptive, and Kinship Caregivers - Idaho
Who Needs Records Checks
Citation: Idaho Code §§ 39-1211; 39-1211A; 39-1105; Admin. Code §§ 16.05.06.100; 16.05.06.101
The Department of Health and Welfare shall obtain a criminal history check on the following:
- Applicants for foster care licensure
- A relative providing foster care for a related child
- Owners, operators, and employees of a daycare facility who have direct contact with children and on all other individuals age 13 or older who have unsupervised direct contact with children or are regularly on the premises of a daycare facility
In regulation: Individuals subject to criminal history and background checks include the following:
- Adoptive parent applicants
- Licensed foster care applicants
- Employees of behavioral health community crisis centers, behavioral health programs, certified family homes, children's residential care facilities, children's therapeutic outdoor programs, and developmental disabilities agencies
- Court-appointed guardians and conservators
- Idaho Child Care Program applicants
- Licensed daycare applicants
- Employees, contractors, and volunteers of the department who are providing direct care services or who have access to children or vulnerable adults
Types of Records That Must Be Checked
Citation: Idaho Code §§ 39-1210; 39-1105
The criminal history check shall include the following:
- Statewide Criminal Identification Bureau
- Federal Bureau of Investigation criminal history
- National Crime Information Center
- Statewide child abuse register
Criminal history checks on persons under age 18 shall include a check of the juvenile justice records of adjudications of the magistrate division of the district court, county probation services, and department records as authorized by the minor and his parent or guardian.
Process for Obtaining Records Checks
Citation: Admin. Code §§ 16.05.06.120; 16.05.06.140; 16.05.06.180
Individuals who are subject to a criminal history and background check must complete an application and have it notarized. The individual's application authorizes the department to obtain information and release it as required by applicable State and Federal law.
The individual must disclose any conviction, pending charges, or indictment for crimes and furnish a description of the crime and the particulars on the application. The individual also must disclose any notice by a State or local agency of substantiated child or substantiated vulnerable adult abuse, neglect, exploitation, or abandonment complaint and any other information, as required. An applicant who falsifies or fails to disclose information on the application may be subject to a conditional denial and prosecution under §§ 18-3203, 18-5401, and 56-227A, Idaho Code.
The department's criminal history and background check is a fingerprint-based check. Ten rolled fingerprints must be collected from the individual and submitted to the department in order for a criminal history and background check request to be processed. The department obtains fingerprints electronically at each of its fingerprint locations, or the department's fingerprint card must be used. A department fingerprint card can be obtained by contacting the Criminal History Unit.
The department will issue a clearance or denial once the criminal history and background check is completed. The results may be accessed by the individual on the department's website. The employer may access the information that is provided by the applicant and information obtained from the State, county, or through registries.
Grounds for Disqualification
Citation: Admin. Code § 16.05.06.210
An individual will receive an unconditional denial if the criminal history and background check reveals a conviction for one or more of the following crimes:
- Abuse, neglect, or exploitation of a vulnerable adult
- Abandoning a vulnerable adult
- Sexual abuse and exploitation of a vulnerable adult
- Aggravated, first-degree, and second-degree arson
- Crimes against nature, as defined in § 18-6605, Idaho Code
- Forcible sexual penetration by use of a foreign object
- Hiring, employing, or using a minor to engage in certain acts, as defined in § 18-1517A
- Human trafficking
- Incest
- Felony or misdemeanor injury to a child
- Kidnapping
- Lewd conduct with a minor
- Mayhem
- Murder, manslaughter, or felony vehicular manslaughter
- Poisoning
- Possession of sexually exploitative material
- Rape
- Robbery
- Felony stalking
- Sale or barter of a child
- Ritualized abuse of a child
- Sexual abuse or exploitation of a child
- Felony sexual exploitation of a child
- Sexual battery of a minor child under age 16 or age 17
- Video voyeurism
- Enticing of children
- Inducing individuals under age 18 into prostitution or patronizing a prostitute
- Any felony punishable by death or life imprisonment
- Attempted strangulation
- Felony domestic violence
- Attempt, conspiracy, accessory after the fact, or aiding and abetting to commit any of the crimes listed above
The department will issue an unconditional denial for an individual who has been convicted within the past 5 years for the following described crimes:
- Any felony not described above
- Misdemeanor domestic violence
- Failure to report abuse, abandonment, or neglect of a child
- Misdemeanor forgery of and fraudulent use of a financial transaction card
- Misdemeanor forgery and counterfeiting
- Misdemeanor identity theft, insurance fraud, or public assistance fraud
- Stalking in the second degree
- Misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter
- Sexual exploitation of a child by electronic means
- Sexual exploitation by a medical care provider
- Operating a certified family home without certification
- Attempt, conspiracy, accessory after the fact, or aiding and abetting to commit any of the disqualifying 5-year crimes