CHAPTER 170-E CHILD DAY CARE, RESIDENTIAL CARE, AND CHILD-PLACING AGENCIES
Residential Care and Child-Placing Agency Licensing
Section 170-E:29
170-E:29 State Registry and Criminal Records Check for Foster Family Homes, Institutions, and Child-Placing Agencies. –
I. Foster family homes, institutions, and child-placing agencies shall, within 30 days of adding new staff members responsible for care of or in regular contact with children, submit the names, birth dates, and addresses of such staff members to the department.
II. Except in the case of an initial application for a foster family home, the department shall, for every name submitted on the application and for each new staff member, or at each renewal, review the names, birth names, birth dates, and current and previous addresses of such persons against the state registry of founded abuse and neglect reports. The department shall submit the names, birth names, birth dates, and addresses to the state police files to obtain information about criminal convictions.
II-a. In the case of an initial application for a foster family home, the department shall conduct a background check of the prospective foster parents and any other adult living in the home. The background check shall consist of a fingerprint-based criminal record check of national crime information databases for the prospective foster parents and any other adults living in the home, as well as a central registry check for the prospective foster parents and any other adult living in the home.
(a) For the criminal record check required under this paragraph, the department shall submit the prospective foster parents' fingerprints and the fingerprints of any other adults living in the home to the department of safety, division of state police, for forwarding to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Upon completion of the criminal record check, the division of state police shall forward the results to the department.
(b) The central registry check shall include a check of the department's central registry of founded reports of child abuse and neglect under RSA 169-C:35 and shall include a check of the child abuse and neglect registries in any other state in which the prospective foster parents or other adult living in the home has resided in the preceding 5 years. Information obtained from another state pursuant to this subparagraph shall be used only for the purposes of conducting the background checks.
III. If any individual whose name has been submitted for a check under this section has been convicted of a violent or sexually-related crime against a child, or of a crime which shows that the person might be reasonably expected to pose a threat to a child, such as a violent crime or a sexually-related crime against an adult, the department shall deny the license, pending the development and implementation of a corrective action plan approved by the department.
IV. If any individual whose name has been submitted for this check has been convicted of crimes against minors or adults, except crimes as provided in paragraph III, or is the subject of a founded complaint of child abuse or neglect, the department may deny the license or permit, revoke a license, or suspend a license pending the development and implementation of a corrective action plan approved by the department. The department shall conduct an investigation in accordance with rules adopted under this subdivision to determine whether the individual poses a present threat to the safety of children. The investigation shall include an opportunity for the individual to present evidence on his behalf to show that he does not pose a threat to the safety of children.
V. The commissioner shall adopt rules, pursuant to RSA 541-A, relative to the confidentiality of information collected under this section and to the release, if any, of such information.
VI. A kinship care home shall be considered a foster family home for purposes of this section.