2023 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.