Background Checks for Prospective Foster, Adoptive, and Kinship Caregivers - Texas
Who Needs Records Checks
Citation: Gov't. Code § 411.114
The Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) shall obtain criminal history record information that relates to a person who is any of the following:
- An owner, operator, employee, or an applicant for employment by a child care facility, child-placing agency, or licensed family home
- A person age 14 or older who will be regularly or frequently working or staying in a facility or family home
- An applicant for a position with the DFPS that includes direct delivery of protective services to children
- A registered volunteer with the DFPS
- A prospective foster or adoptive parent and other persons living in the residence in which the child will reside
- A DFPS employee who is engaged in the direct delivery of protective services to children
- An employee, applicant for employment, volunteer, or an applicant volunteer with a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization that provides any service that involves the care of or access to a child
- An applicant for a child-care or child-placing agency administrator license
- A person providing, at the request of the child's parent, in-home care for a child only if the person gives written consent to the release of the information
- A relative caregiver or any other person who resides in, is present in, or has unsupervised access to a child in the home
- A person who volunteers to supervise visitation
- An employee or volunteer at an entity that provides supervised independent living services to a young adult receiving extended foster care services
- A person age 14 or older who will be regularly or frequently working or staying in a host home that is providing supervised independent living services to a young adult
- A volunteer with a local affiliate of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America
- A volunteer with an organization that provides court-appointed volunteer advocates for abused or neglected children
- An employee, volunteer, or applicant volunteer of a children's advocacy center
Types of Records That Must Be Checked
Citation: Admin. Code Tit. 40, §§ 745.611; 745.615
A background check may include the following:
- A name-based criminal history check of the database of crimes committed in the State of Texas
- A fingerprint-based criminal history check by the DPS and the Federal Bureau of Investigation of databases of crimes committed in Texas and anywhere in the United States
- A DFPS central registry check
- An out-of-State central registry check
A name-based criminal history check and a DFPS central registry check are required for any person listed above. In addition, fingerprint-based criminal history checks are required for the following:
- An applicant, employee, or other person who will be on the premises of a child-placing agency, general residential operation, independent foster home, child care center, before- or after-school program, or school-age program
- A person who has lived in another State any time during the 5-year period prior to the date of application
In addition, child-placing agencies and independent foster homes that will accept the placement of children in the conservatorship of DFPS must request an out-of-State central registry check for a foster or adoptive parent applicant and any other adult living in the home of the applicant who has lived outside of the State any time during the previous 5 years preceding the prospective foster or adoptive parent's application to become a foster or adoptive parent.
Process for Obtaining Records Checks
Citation: Admin. Code Tit. 40, § 745.623
To obtain a background check, a request must be submitted with the following information about the person:
- Full name, date of birth, sex, and Social Security number
- Current and previous addresses
- Driver's license or a State-issued identification card number
- Any addresses, including counties, in which the person has lived outside of the State of Texas any time during the 5 years preceding the date of the background check request
A child daycare operator other than a child care center, before- or after-school program, or school-age program must complete a request either online through the DFPS website or send in a request via a signed form provided by the local licensing office or the DFPS Centralized Background Check Unit. For a residential child care operation or a child care center, before- or after-school program, or school-age program, the request must be submitted online through the DFPS website.
Grounds for Disqualification
Citation: Admin. Code Tit. 40, §§ 745.651; 745.656; 745.657
An applicant may be disqualified for a felony or misdemeanor conviction under Texas law, the laws of another State, or Federal law.
An applicant will be permanently disqualified if he or she has been convicted a crime listed in regulation, including of any of the following:
- Criminal solicitation of a minor
- Murder, manslaughter, or criminally negligent homicide
- Aggravated kidnapping
- Trafficking or smuggling of persons
- Continuous sexual abuse of a young child or children
- Indecency with a child
- Sexual assault
- Abandoning or endangering a child
- Sale or purchase of a child
- Continuous violence against the family
- Online solicitation of a minor
- Compelling prostitution or sexual coercion
- Sexual performance by a child
- Possession or promotion of child pornography
- Unregulated custody transfer of an adopted child
- Obscenity or voyeurism
- Arson
An applicant will be barred for 20 years, then forever subject to a risk evaluation, for a conviction for a crime listed in regulation, including any of the following:
- Unlawful restraint
- Kidnapping
- Aggravated assault
- Terroristic threat
- Tampering with a consumer product
- Prohibited sexual conduct
- Interference with child custody
- Enticing a child
- Violation of a protective order
- Advertising for placement of a child
- Robbery
- Stalking
- Prostitution
- Sale, distribution, or display of harmful material to a minor
- Employment harmful to children
An applicant will be barred for 5 years, then be subject to a risk evaluation for an additional 5 years, if he or she has been convicted of any of the following:
- Driving, flying, or boating while intoxicated
- Drug-related offenses
A person who is required to register as a sex offender in Texas also will be disqualified.
Except for a person described below, when a central registry check reveals a sustained finding of physical abuse, sexual abuse, labor trafficking, or sex trafficking, the person will be permanently disqualified. For a sustained finding of emotional abuse or neglect, the person is eligible for a risk evaluation that may lead to an approval.
A prospective foster or adoptive parent, or a member of the prospective parent's household, is eligible for a risk evaluation for a sustained finding of physical abuse if either of the following applies:
- It has been more than 5 years since the date of the physical abuse finding.
- The prospective foster or adoptive parent is related to or has a significant longstanding relationship with the foster or adoptive child.