Code of Massachusetts Regulations › 606 CMR - DEPARTMENT OF EARLY EDUCATION AND CARE › Title 606 CMR 14.00 - Criminal Offender And Other Background Record Checks › Section 14.04 - Definitions

Current through Register 1525, July 5, 2024
Affiliated
: Regular association with
				an EEC licensed, approved or funded Program through employment, contract or an
				informal agreement with the Program or parents for the purpose of providing
				services on behalf of the Program or a child in attendance.
Background Record Check (BRC)
: The
				process of requesting, receiving and evaluating information to determine
				whether a candidate is eligible for affiliation with an EEC licensed, approved
				or funded program. Such checks include data provided by the Massachusetts
				Department of Criminal Justice Information Services (DCJIS); the Massachusetts
				Department of Children and Families (DCF); the Massachusetts Sex Offender
				Registry Board (SORB); the state and national fingerprint databases; as well as
				all relevant state and national criminal history, child welfare and sex
				offender registries, databases and repositories.
Candidate
: Any person seeking to
				obtain, renew or retain an EEC license or approval; engage in permanent or
				temporary employment or internships, regardless of whether such individuals
				have unsupervised access to the children served; or volunteer in an
				unsupervised capacity within EEC licensed, approved or funded programs. Family
				child care candidates include family child care licensees and assistants, as
				well as household members, and those regularly on the premises of a family
				child care home, 15 years of age or older.
Candidate
includes individuals providing services to children within EEC licensed,
				approved or funded programs in an unsupervised capacity, regardless of whether
				the individuals have a direct relationship to the Program. All transportation
				personnel are presumed to have unsupervised access to children. Candidates may
				also include applicants for approval as foster or adoptive parents, as well as
				their household members 15 years of age or older.
Child Care Candidate
: Used to identify
				those Programs subject to the CCDBG requirements, which includes all EEC
				licensed, approved and funded programs eligible to receive a subsidy,
				regardless of whether such entities actually receive a subsidy. This includes a
				family child care licensee as well as their household members and persons
				regularly on the premises 15 years of age or older; all family child care
				assistants; small and large group, center-based and after school child care
				licensees, employees, volunteers and interns; and anyone who provides services
				on behalf of such programs, who affiliate with or are present in such programs
				in an unsupervised capacity.
Child Care Candidate
also
				includes all candidates who operate or are employees, volunteers or interns in
				a program that receives CCDF funding for subsidized child care, even though it
				is not subject to licensure or approval by EEC.
Child Care Development Fund (CCDF)
: A
				grant issued by the federal government at
				42 USC §
									9858 to lead agencies from each state
				responsible for implementing subsidized child care program rules and
				requirements with the goal of providing a work support to families seeking to
				find a child care program fitting each family's needs. EEC is the lead agency
				in Massachusetts responsible for administering CCDF funding to its recipients
				pursuant to M.G.L. c. 15D, § 2.
Child Care Development Block Grant
				(CCDBG)
: The 2014 Act that reauthorized the law governing CCDF for
				the first time since 1996. The law makes sweeping changes to the requirements
				in various areas, such as implementing mandatory background record checks on
				child care staff at all licensed, approved and funded programs. CCDBG added
				mandatory disqualifications; requires EEC to review all adverse record
				information; mandates a 45-day turnaround time; and adds criminal, child
				welfare and sex offender checks for each state where a candidate has resided
				within the prior five years.
Conditional Hire
: An individual who
				has the potential for unsupervised contact with children and who is part of a
				department licensed, funded or approved program or a provider of transportation
				services on behalf of any department licensed, funded or approved program and
				was hired prior to the obtaining of the results of a state and national
				fingerprint-based criminal history check because the employer determined that
				hiring the individual was necessary.
Criminal Justice Official
: The
				candidate's probation officer, parole officer or correctional facility
				superintendent (or designee), depending on who has had the most recent
				responsibility for supervising the candidate. In cases where the candidate was
				last supervised in a correctional facility, the candidate may advise EEC of any
				employee of the correctional facility who may have specific information about
				the candidate that would assist the superintendent or designee with their
				assessment.
Criminal Offender Record Information
				(CORI)
: As used in
				606 CMR 14.00, the term
				Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) shall reflect the same meaning as
				the definition of the same term in M.G.L. c. 6, § 167 (2018 official
				edition) and
				803 CMR 2.00:
Criminal
				Offender Record Information (CORI)
. EEC is legally authorized to
				receive information pursuant to M.G.L. c. 6, §§ 172 and 172F,
				including information in addition to CORI. CORI checks completed for candidates
				include all information referenced in M.G.L. c. 6, §§ 172 and 172F
				that EEC is legally authorized to receive.
Department of Children and Families
				(DCF)
: A Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human
				Services agency, it maintains and provides child welfare information, including
				a central registry of substantiated findings of abuse or neglect of children in
				the Commonwealth.
Department of Children and Families (DCF)
				Check
: A check of Massachusetts DCF databases including its
				Central Registry and Registry of Alleged Perpetrators to determine if a
				candidate has been identified as the person responsible for abuse or neglect of
				a child in a supported M.G.L. c. 119, § 51B Report or is the alleged
				perpetrator of a pending investigation for abuse or neglect under M.G.L. c.
				119, § 51A.
Department of Criminal Justice Information Services
				(DCJIS)
: A Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and
				Security agency, the DCJIS provides access to critical criminal justice
				information, including criminal record data, to authorized Commonwealth and
				national criminal justice and non-criminal justice agencies.
Direct Visual Supervision
: Continuous
				observation within an individual's immediate eyesight in an unobstructed
				manner. Supervision in this manner cannot occur through use of a camera.
				Supervision may occur through the presence of the child or resident's parent or
				guardian; through presence of state agency staff; or presence of program staff
				with a suitability decision on file.
Discretionary Disqualification
: A
				candidate with an adult or juvenile offense, regardless of its disposition,
				including pending and resolved charges for any crime, or a pending or supported
				finding for any child welfare offense as described in
				606 CMR
				14.10(3), unless the
				candidate is granted approval after complying with the EEC review process
				described in
				606
				CMR 14.12(2).
EEC Funded Program/Caregiver
: Any
				program or individual that is exempt or not subject to EEC licensure or
				approval, who receives funding for subsidized child care from EEC.
EEC Funded Program/Caregiver
includes, but is not
				limited to, individuals who provide care in a child's home whether related or
				unrelated to the child; public schools; summer camps; and out of school time
				programs regardless of whether such entity is licensed or approved by
				EEC.
Family Child Care Candidate
: The
				family child care licensee; family child care assistants; and all household
				members and persons regularly on the premises of the family child care home 15
				years of age or older, regardless of whether the individuals are present during
				child care hours.
Family Child Care Licensee
: The family
				child care provider or educator who is legally responsible for the operations
				of a family child care program.
Final Suitability Determination
: A
				conclusion that a candidate is "suitable" or "not suitable" after completing
				all mandatory components of EEC's BRC process.
Fingerprint-based Check
: A scan of a
				candidate's fingerprints submitted to state law enforcement and Federal Bureau
				of Investigation (FBI) to search against the state and national criminal
				history databases.
51A Report
: A report filed with the
				Massachusetts DCF, pursuant to M.G.L. c. 119, § 51A, alleging that there
				is reasonable cause to believe that a child younger than 18 years old has been
				subject to abuse or neglect.
51B Report
: A report prepared pursuant
				to M.G.L. c. 119, § 51B detailing the MA DCF investigation into
				allegations of abuse or neglect upon a child and a determination by DCF whether
				there is reasonable cause to believe a child identified in the report has been,
				or is at risk of being, abused or neglected. A 51B Report will either support
				or unsupport the allegations of abuse or neglect.
Funding from EEC
: Reimbursement for
				the provision of subsidized child care including monies from CCDF.
In-home Non-relative Caregiver
: An
				individual receiving CCDF funding through EEC for subsidized child care to
				provide care to an unrelated child in the child's own home.
Intern
: Any person who provides their
				services to an EEC licensed, approved or funded program in order to gain work
				experience in and knowledge of a field. Internships may be paid or unpaid, part
				of a formal educational program or informally designed. Internships are usually
				for limited periods of time.
Licensee
: Any person holding a license
				or approval issued by the Department and responsible for the Program's
				operations and acting as the designated authority on behalf of a
				Program.
Mandatory Disqualification
: A
				candidate is ineligible for approval if the candidate has any offense within a
				BRC described in
				606 CMR
				14.10(1), unless the
				candidate is granted approval. Mandatory disqualifications do not require
				review under
				606
				CMR 14.12(2)  unless
				explicitly permitted by
				606 CMR 14.00.
Materially False Statement
:
				Information provided by a candidate to EEC that is false or misleading and
				should have been identified by the candidate as inaccurate. Such information
				could have caused EEC to perform an invalid BRC, or lead to the omission of
				relevant BRC information. As an example, intentionally providing inaccurate
				identifying information.
National Sex Offender Registry (NSOR)
				Check
: The NSOR Check is a review of the sex offender information
				maintained by the National Crime Information Center (NCIC). Such information
				includes whether a candidate is registered as a sex offender in any other state
				or territory.
Out of State Check
: A search of
				available out of state records, registries, repositories and databases for any
				known criminal history, sex offender information, and child welfare information
				where a candidate has resided within the prior five years.
Pending
: A criminal offense shall be
				considered pending if the criminal record indicates that the offense remains
				open and without final resolution, including that the case has been continued
				without a finding and remains open or if the disposition information is
				unavailable on criminal record information. A child welfare check, including a
				DCF check, shall be considered pending if the abuse or neglect allegation of a
				child has been filed with a child welfare agency, but the investigation
				findings have not been issued by the agency.
Placement Agency
: A department,
				agency, or institution of the Commonwealth, or any political subdivision
				thereof, or any organization incorporated under the laws of the Commonwealth,
				one of whose principal purposes is providing custodial care and services to
				children, which receives by agreement with a parent or guardian, by contract
				with a state agency or as a result of a referral by a court of competent
				jurisdiction, any child younger than 18 years old, for placement in family
				foster care or in a residential facility, except that for the purposes of
				adoption placement, a "placement agency" shall be a department, agency, or
				institution of the Commonwealth, or any political subdivision thereof, or any
				organization incorporated under M.G.L. c. 180, one of whose principal purposes
				is providing custodial care and social services to children, which receives by
				agreement with a parent or guardian, by contract with a state agency or as a
				result of referral by a court of competent jurisdiction, any child younger than
				18 years old, for placement in adoption.
Presumptive Disqualification
: A
				candidate is ineligible for BRC approval if their EEC BRC reflects any offense
				as described in
				606 CMR
				14.10(5), unless the
				candidate is granted approval after completing the review process described in
				606
				CMR 14.12(2). Such
				disqualifications create a presumption of a disqualification for licensure,
				employment or other services that result in unsupervised access to children,
				due to the presumed unacceptable risk to children posed by the nature of the
				crime to persons receiving services. Certain disqualifications will be deemed
				presumptive and subject to further scrutiny and may require the candidate to
				submit additional information.
Program
: An EEC licensed, approved or
				CCDF funded entity, including but not limited to, family child care, group,
				school aged, center-based and residential programs as well as placement
				agencies.
Program
includes entities that are in
				receipt of CCDF funding for subsidized child care but also not licensed by EEC
				or exempt from EEC's licensing oversight.
Program Administrator (BRC)
: A person
				designated by a Program or an entity designated by EEC to submit candidate
				information during the BRC process, including BRC requests, consent forms for
				candidates, employment and affiliation decisions and any other information
				requested by EEC's BRC Unit. Candidates must at least be in provisional status
				with the Program when designated as BRC Program Administrator unless an
				exception defined by EEC policy applies.
Provisional Hire/Status
: A candidate
				who has completed the required sex offender and a fingerprint-based check who a
				Program seeks to utilize in a supervised capacity after EEC has completed the
				preliminary screening process. Provisional hires must at all times be under the
				direct visual supervision of a Program staff person that has a current final
				suitability determination of "suitable" from EEC. The candidate will remain in
				this category until EEC issues a final suitability determination. This category
				does not apply to family child care candidates, in home non relative caregiver,
				relative caregiver, transportation personnel, temporary agency staff, and
				contracted/service providers.
Qualified Mental Health Professional
:
				A psychiatrist, licensed to practice medicine under M.G.L. c. 112, § 2, a
				psychologist, licensed under M.G.L. c. 112, §§ 118 through 121, a
				psychiatric nurse licensed to practice nursing under M.G.L. c. 112,
				§§ 74 and 80E, or a licensed independent clinical social worker
				(LICSW) licensed under M.G.L. c. 112, §§ 130 through 132; provided
				that the psychiatrist, psychologist, psychiatric nurse, or licensed independent
				clinical social worker has at least 1,000 hours of experience over a minimum of
				two years involving assessment, treatment, and consultation concerning
				individuals with behavior that presents a risk of harm to others in the
				community, in the workplace, in treatment settings, or in correctional
				facilities; and provided further that the psychiatrist, psychologist,
				psychiatric nurse or licensed independent clinical social worker. Such
				individual may not have personally provided treatment to the candidate.
Regularly on the Premises
: Individuals
				who are present at a family child care home on a recurring basis, but do not
				reside at the home and are not employed by the program.
Relative Caregiver
: A person who is a
				parent, grandparent, great grandparent, aunt, uncle, great aunt, great uncle or
				sibling by blood, marriage or adoption of a child, receiving payment from EEC
				to provide care to a child in his or her home or the child's home.
Sex Offender
: A person designated,
				registered or required to be registered as a sex offender in any sex offender
				registry, repository or database by any state or federal agency.
Sex Offender Registry Board (SORB)
: A
				Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security agency, SORB
				classifies, maintains and provides information regarding persons who have been
				convicted or adjudicated of a sexual offense.
Sex Offender Registry Information
				(SORI)
: Information and classifications maintained by the
				Massachusetts SORB regarding those who have been convicted or adjudicated of a
				sexual offense. SORI includes the type of sex offense(s) committed, the date(s)
				of conviction, the sex offender's home and work/school addresses, and
				identifying information about the sex offender, such as age, height, and
				weight.
Transportation Personnel
: Any
				individual or a corporation who provides transportation services on behalf of
				any Program licensed, approved or CCDF-funded, whether directly employed or
				subcontracted with the Program. All transportation drivers and monitors are
				presumed to provide services in an unsupervised capacity.
Unsupervised Capacity/Access
: When a
				person has a reasonable likelihood of contact with children without being in
				the direct visual supervision of an EEC approved employee found "suitable" by
				EEC.
Volunteer
: Any person who assists in
				an unpaid and unsupervised capacity for an EEC licensed, approved or
				CCDF-funded program.
Youthful Offender
: As used in
				606 CMR 14.00, the term
				Youthful Offender shall reflect the same meaning as the definition of the same
				term in M.G.L. c. 119, § 52 (2018 official edition).