I 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3829 

To require a criminal background check for employees of child care providers, 

family child care providers, and adults who reside in the private residences of family child care providers in States that receive funds from 

the Child Care and Development Block Grant Program, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 25, 2012 

Ms. MOORE (for herself, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. PAYNE, Ms. SLAUGHTER, and Ms. 

SCHAKOWSKY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To require a criminal background check for employees of 

child care providers, family child care providers, and 

adults who reside in the private residences of family 

child care providers in States that receive funds from 

the Child Care and Development Block Grant Program, 

and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Childcare Account3 ability and Responsibility Act of 2012’’ or the ‘‘CARE for 

4 Kids Act of 2012’’. 

5 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT OF A CRIMINAL BACKGROUND 

6 CHECK. 

7 The Child Care and Development Block Grant Act 

8 of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858 et seq.) is amended by inserting 

9 after section 658G the following new section: 

10 ‘‘SEC. 658H. REQUIREMENT OF A CRIMINAL BACKGROUND 

11 CHECK. 

12 ‘‘(a) CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECK.— 

13 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENT OF A CRIMINAL BACK14 GROUND CHECK.—A State and national criminal 

15 background check for an individual who is a child 

16 care staff member, a family child care provider, or 

17 an adult who resides in the home of a family child 

18 care provider is required in any State that receives 

19 funds under this subchapter. The criminal back20 ground check of such individual shall include— 

21 ‘‘(A) a search of the National Sex Offender 

22 Registry established pursuant to the Adam 

23 Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 

24 (42 U.S.C. 16901 et seq.); 

25 ‘‘(B) a search of the National Crime Infor26 mation Center; 

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1 ‘‘(C) a search of the State criminal reg2 istry or repository in the State in which the in3 dividual resides and each State where such indi4 vidual previously resided; 

5 ‘‘(D) a search of State-based abuse and 

6 neglect registries and databases, including the 

7 abuse and neglect registries and databases of 

8 each State where the individual previously re9 sided; and 

10 ‘‘(E) a Federal Bureau of Investigation 

11 fingerprint check using the Integrated Auto12 mated Fingerprint Identification System. 

13 ‘‘(2) INELIGIBILITY.—A child care provider or 

14 family child care provider shall be ineligible for 

15 funds provided under this subchapter if a criminal 

16 background check of a child care staff member, a 

17 family child care provider, or an adult permitted to 

18 reside in such a family child care provider’s private 

19 residence reveals an adult felony conviction for— 

20 ‘‘(A) child abuse or neglect; 

21 ‘‘(B) spousal abuse; 

22 ‘‘(C) a crime against children (including 

23 child pornography); 

24 ‘‘(D) a violent crime, including— 

25 ‘‘(i) physical assault or battery; 

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1 ‘‘(ii) rape; 

2 ‘‘(iii) sexual assault; or 

3 ‘‘(iv) homicide; or 

4 ‘‘(E) distribution of, possession with intent 

5 to distribute, or importation of a controlled sub6 stance committed within 5 years prior to sub7 mission to a criminal background check. 

8 ‘‘(3) SUBMITTAL OF REQUESTS.—Subject to 

9 paragraph (4), a child care provider or a family 

10 child care provider shall submit a request for a State 

11 and national criminal background check to the ap12 propriate State agency designated by the State— 

13 ‘‘(A) with respect to an individual who be14 came a child care staff member or family child 

15 care provider, or an adult who began to reside 

16 in the private residence of such a provider, be17 fore the date of the enactment of the Child 

18 Care Accountability and Responsibility Act of 

19 2012— 

20 ‘‘(i) not later than the date under 

21 subsection (b) in which a State implements 

22 the requirements of this section; and 

23 ‘‘(ii) during each 5-year period fol24 lowing the first submission date under this 

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1 subparagraph for such staff member, fam2 ily provider, or adult; and 

3 ‘‘(B) with respect to an individual who is 

4 a prospective child care staff member or family 

5 child care provider, or an adult who begins to 

6 reside in the private residence of such a pro7 vider, on or after the date of the enactment of 

8 such Act— 

9 ‘‘(i) prior to the date the individual 

10 becomes a child care staff member, a fam11 ily child care provider, or such adult begins 

12 to reside in such residence; and 

13 ‘‘(ii) during each 5-year period fol14 lowing the first submission date under this 

15 subparagraph for such staff member, fam16 ily provider, or adult. 

17 ‘‘(4) LIMITATION ON REQUESTS.—Not more 

18 than 1 request for a State and national criminal 

19 background check under paragraph (3) is required 

20 for any child care staff member, family child care 

21 provider, or adult who resides in the private resi22 dence of such provider, for each 5-year period de23 scribed in such paragraph. 

24 ‘‘(5) RESULTS.— 

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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 10 

2 business days after the date on which a request 

3 under this section is made for a State and na4 tional criminal background check and is re5 ceived by the appropriate State agency, such 

6 agency shall provide the results of the criminal 

7 background check to the individual or entity 

8 that made such a request. 

9 ‘‘(B) COPY OF BACKGROUND CHECK.—A 

10 State shall provide to a child care provider or 

11 an individual subject to a background check 

12 under this section, upon request, a copy of the 

13 criminal background check conducted pursuant 

14 to this section. 

15 ‘‘(6) ACCURACY OF INFORMATION.—A State 

16 shall reasonably attempt to insure that the informa17 tion included in the background check conducted 

18 pursuant to this section is accurate and complete 

19 by— 

20 ‘‘(A) obtaining dispositions of arrests that 

21 occurred more than 1 year prior to the date 

22 that such background check was requested; 

23 ‘‘(B) correcting information included that 

24 it knows, or reasonably should know, is inac25 curate; 

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1 ‘‘(C) completing incomplete entries, if pos2 sible; and 

3 ‘‘(D) taking any other steps that would im4 prove upon the accuracy or such information. 

5 ‘‘(7) APPEALS.— 

6 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 

7 days after receipt of the results of a criminal 

8 background check conducted pursuant to this 

9 section, a child care provider or an individual 

10 subject to a background check under this sec11 tion may appeal such results to the appropriate 

12 State agency designated by the State. 

13 ‘‘(B) FINAL RULING BY A STATE.—Not 

14 later than 30 days after an appeal is made 

15 under subparagraph (A), a State shall— 

16 ‘‘(i) make a determination on the eli17 gibility or ineligibility of the individual; 

18 ‘‘(ii) provide the individual with spe19 cific findings with respect to the appeal; 

20 ‘‘(iii) if possible, promptly make any 

21 changes to the individual’s criminal record, 

22 if any information was inaccurate or in23 complete; and 

24 ‘‘(iv) report those changes to the indi25 vidual who requested such appeal. 

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1 ‘‘(8) FEES.—To defray the costs of carrying 

2 out the duties described in this subsection, a State 

3 may collect one fee per criminal background check 

4 from a child care provider or family child care pro5 vider in an amount not to exceed the actual costs to 

6 the State for the administration of all required 

7 criminal background checks, and such fee for all re8 quired criminal background checks may not exceed 

9 a total of $36. 

10 ‘‘(b) STATE COMPLIANCE.— 

11 ‘‘(1) TIME LIMITATION.—A State shall imple12 ment the requirements of this section not later than 

13 3 years after the date of the enactment of the 

14 Childcare Accountability and Responsibility Act of 

15 2012. 

16 ‘‘(2) EXTENSION OF TIME.—The Secretary may 

17 grant an extension to the date described in para18 graph (1), not longer than 2 years, to a State that 

19 makes a good faith effort to satisfy the requirements 

20 of this section. 

21 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

22 ‘‘(1) ADULT.—The term ‘adult’ means a person 

23 who has attained 18 years of age. 

24 ‘‘(2) CHILD CARE PROVIDER.—The term ‘child 

25 care provider’ means a center-based child care promstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

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1 vider, a group home child care provider, or other 

2 provider of child care services for compensation and 

3 on a regular basis (other than a family child care 

4 provider) that— 

5 ‘‘(A) is not an individual who is related to 

6 all children for whom child care services are 

7 provided; and 

8 ‘‘(B) is licensed, regulated, or registered 

9 under State law or receives funds provided 

10 under this subchapter. 

11 ‘‘(3) CHILD CARE STAFF MEMBER.—The term 

12 ‘child care staff member’ means an individual that 

13 provides child care services for compensation and on 

14 a regular basis (other than an individual who is re15 lated to the child or children for whom services are 

16 provided), regardless of whether the services are pro17 vided for a child care provider or a family child care 

18 provider. 

19 ‘‘(4) FAMILY CHILD CARE PROVIDER.—The 

20 term ‘family child care provider’ means one indi21 vidual who— 

22 ‘‘(A) provides child care services for fewer 

23 than 24 hours per day, as the sole caregiver, in 

24 a private residence; 

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1 ‘‘(B) is not an individual who is related to 

2 all children for whom child care services are 

3 provided; and 

4 ‘‘(C) is licensed, regulated, or registered 

5 under State law or receives funds provided 

6 under this subchapter. 

7 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS TO CON8 DUCT CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECKS.—There are au9 thorized to be appropriated such sums as necessary to off10 set the administrative costs to conduct State and national 

11 criminal background checks under this section.’’. 

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