Illinois Department of Children and Family Services
FFY 2011 Annual Progress and Services Report
252
If the child care facility operates in a family home, the license applicants and all members of the
household age 13 and over are subject to background checks, as appropriate, even if these members
of the household are not usually present in the home during the hours the child care facility is in
operation.
Since the 1970’s, the Department has uniformly applied criminal background check
requirements to both Department and private child welfare agency supervised foster and
adoptive home applicants. The child abuse/neglect history check was added to the background
check requirements in the early 1980’s and included not only checking the history of the
applicants, but also of household members. Employees of child care facilities have been
subject to criminal history checks since 1996 and have been required to authorize a check for
history of child abuse/neglect since the mid-1980.
When fingerprinting is required, a trained technician administers the fingerprinting process
using an electronic scanner at a prescribed fingerprinting site. The prints are electronically
transmitted to the Illinois State Police and results are transmitted to a central database within
the Department. Background checks of the SACWIS and the Illinois Sex Offender Registries
are conducted internally within the Department and are initiated via submission of a written
authorization, on a form prescribed by the Department, which is completed and signed by each
individual subject to background check. Results of the background check fall into the
following categories:
The individual cleared the background check. There is no history of criminal
conviction and/or child abuse/neglect;
The individual has been convicted of a crime that does not bar licensure;
The individual is/is not an indicated perpetrator of child abuse/neglect;
The individual has been convicted of a crime that bars licensure ; or,
The individual has been convicted of a crime that is classified as a bar to licensure but
may be waived if certain criteria are met.
The Department’s Central Office of Licensing controls the dissemination of the background
check results. A summary of the results is forwarded to the Department licensing representative
and the licensed child welfare agency or licensed child care facility that currently serves or will
serve as the supervising agency for the license. If the background check yields results that
would bar the issuance of a license or employment, the individual that is the subject of the
background check will be notified. Any individual that receives such a notice has an
opportunity to appeal the results of the individual’s background check by submitting
documentation to support that he or she is not the individual identified in the background check
report, that the report is inaccurate, that he or she was never convicted of the crimes as alleged
in the report, or that he or she has been granted a full Pardon by the Governor.
In cases involving criminal convictions that do not bar licensure involving reports of indicated
abuse/neglect, the Department has established, by rule, a list of criteria that must be applied in
an assessment format. The criteria includes determining the length of time that has passed
since the incidents, rehabilitation and the seriousness of the crime or abuse/neglect in
relationship to the individual’s current ability to care for or have contact with children.
Department or private agency licensing staff, or, in the case of employment decisions, the child
care facility, must meet with the individual, review the criteria and complete a written
assessment. The assessment must be returned to the Central Office of Licensing with a
