NY Soc Serv L § 390-E (2021)
2021 New York Laws SOS - Social Services Article 6 - Children Title 1 - Care and Protection of Children 390-E - Criminal History Review; Mentoring Programs.

§ 390-e. Criminal  history  review;  mentoring  programs.  1.  For the purposes of this section, the following words shall have  the  following meanings:  (a)  "Prospective  employee"  shall mean a person being considered for employment by a mentoring program.  (b) "Prospective mentor" shall mean an  individual  who  is  currently applying  to  volunteer  to  help  a  child  or a group of children in a mentoring program for a period of time. Such help shall include, but not be  limited  to,  being  a  positive  role  model  for  youth,  building relationships  with  youth, and providing youth with academic assistance and exposure to new experiences and examples of opportunity that enhance the ability of children to become responsible adults.  (c) "Mentoring program" shall mean a formalized program, operated by a corporation which has been incorporated pursuant to subparagraph five of paragraph  (a)  of  section  one  hundred  two  of  the   not-for-profit corporation  law  or  pursuant  to subparagraph four of paragraph (a) of section one hundred two of the business corporation law, or operated  by an  educational  institution or school district, that matches youth with adult volunteers with the purpose of providing such youth with  positive role models to enhance their development.  (d) "Office" shall mean the office of children and family services.   2.  Mentoring  programs may perform a criminal history record check on all prospective employees and mentors.   3. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, subject to the rules  and  regulations  of  the  division  of  criminal  justice services,  mentoring  programs  may  apply for a criminal history record check with the division  of  criminal  justice  services  regarding  any prospective  employee  or  any  prospective  mentor  who  may  engage in unsupervised activities with youth or in  activities  with  youth  in  a setting  without  constant  agency or parental oversight. Each mentoring program that chooses to complete  such  criminal  background  checks  on prospective employees or on prospective mentors shall establish a policy for  completing criminal background checks on such prospective employees or mentors. Such  policy  shall  apply  one  uniform  standard  for  the completion  of  criminal background checks for all prospective employees and one uniform standard  for  the  completion  of  criminal  background checks  for  all prospective mentors. Any mentoring program that chooses to complete criminal background checks on both prospective employees and prospective mentors  may  utilize  the  same  uniform  process  for  the completion  of  the  criminal background checks on prospective employees and prospective mentors or they  may  choose  one  uniform  process  for prospective  employees  and  another  uniform  process  for  prospective mentors.   4. Every mentoring program  that  chooses  to  apply  for  a  criminal history  background check with the division of criminal justice services shall obtain a set of fingerprints  from  each  individual  for  whom  a criminal  background check is to be completed and such other information as is required by the  office  and  the  division  of  criminal  justice services.    For  each  prospective  employee  or  mentor  for  whom the mentoring program completes a criminal background check,  the  mentoring program  shall  provide the applicant with blank fingerprint cards and a description of how the completed fingerprint  card  will  be  used  upon submission  to  the  mentoring  program.  The  mentoring  program  shall promptly transmit such fingerprint card and the processing  fee  to  the office.  The  office  shall promptly submit the fingerprint card and the processing fee, imposed pursuant to subdivision eight-a of section eight hundred thirty-seven of the executive law, to the division  of  criminal justice services for its full search and retain processing.    5.  Upon  receipt  of  a  criminal history record from the division of criminal justice services, the office  shall  promptly  provide  to  the mentoring  program  the criminal history record, if any, with respect to the prospective employee or mentor, or a statement that  the  individual has no criminal history record.   6. Upon receipt of the results of a criminal background check pursuant to  this  section,  the mentoring program shall determine whether or not the prospective employee or mentor shall be offered  employment  or  the opportunity  to  volunteer with the program. Such determination shall be made in accordance  with  the  criteria  established  in  section  seven hundred fifty-two of the correction law.   7.  Upon the request of any person previously convicted of one or more criminal offenses who has been denied employment pursuant to subdivision six of this section, the mentoring program shall provide, within  thirty days  of such request, a written statement setting forth the reasons for such denial. Any such person denied employment pursuant  to  subdivision six  of this section shall be afforded the opportunities for enforcement available pursuant to section seven hundred fifty-five of the correction law.   8. Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, with the  exception of  a  sex  offense  or  a  crime against a child, a custodial parent or guardian may sign a waiver authorizing a mentor to work with his or  her child regardless of a criminal charge or crime related to a mentor. Such process  shall  only  be  initiated  upon the consent of the prospective mentor, and be on a form and of a content to be developed by the office. Where applicable, a mentoring program may notify a custodial  parent  or guardian  of  his  or  her  waiver  right,  but  a  waiver shall only be authorized by a custodial parent or guardian.   9. Any  criminal  history  record  provided  to  a  mentoring  program pursuant   to  this  section  shall  be  confidential  pursuant  to  the applicable federal and state laws, rules and regulations, and shall  not be  published  or  in any way disclosed to persons other than authorized personnel, unless otherwise authorized by law.   10. Every mentoring program shall provide  each  custodial  parent  or guardian  of  every  child participating in its mentoring program with a description of the kind of criminal background checks conducted  by  the mentoring  program  on  its  prospective  employees  and  mentors.  Such description shall include  identification  of  the  source  utilized  to obtain  criminal  background  histories  on  prospective  employees  and mentors, a list of crimes that would lead the program to deny employment or the opportunity to volunteer as a prospective employee or mentor, and any other process utilized to determine whether  or  not  a  prospective employee  or mentor with a conviction record shall be offered employment or the opportunity to volunteer. Such description  shall  clearly  state whether  or not prospective employees or mentors may be hired or offered the opportunity to volunteer  despite  the  existence  of  a  conviction history.