CENTRAL FLORIDA — A federal effort to keep your children safe is causing major problems for child care facilities across the state, 9 Investigates learned.
The federal effort requires providers to re-screen employees who have lived outside of the state within the last five years. Channel 9 investigative reporter Daralene Jones uncovered child care facilities across Florida are struggling to get the checks done because of a backlog.
The children at Star Child Academy are learning two years ahead of their time. The facility, operating seven schools in Central Florida, is no longer accepting applications from teachers out of the state.
“Because we know the bureaucracy involved in the background screening,” Cindy Zimmerman told Jones.
Zimmerman owns the facility in the Wekiva area and remembers trying to get all of her employees rescreened when the new federal mandate went into effect last July. Zimmerman said she was forced to redo background screenings on all employees, plus pay for screenings on employees who had lived out of the state within the last five years. Jones asked how long it’s taking her to receive clearance for those employees.
“On average, about three months. We're telling the staff, they have to wait until the clearance letter comes back, and in some cases they're going out and finding another job,” Zimmerman said.
The Department of Children and Families oversees the statewide screening process. A DCF spokesperson told 9 Investigates that they are processing in-state requests for applicants without a criminal history in two days or less.
For in-state applicants who have a criminal history result, 98 percent are pending for nine days or fewer. 9 Investigates found out the timing for those applicants, who have lived in another state in the last five years, is much more difficult to estimate because those records are held out of state and the department must rely on other states to provide data. When 9 Investigates requested the total number of applicants pending in early July, DCF told us 2,995; that number could fluctuate daily.
The federal government revised last July the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 2014. In part, it forced states to re-screen all employees. Those moving from out of state within the last five years required background screenings in every state they previously lived.
“In some cases, we never heard back. In some cases, states would tell us they are not even cooperating with the law,” Zimmerman said.
According to DCF, the new law prescribes health and safety requirements that include changes to background screening requirements that apply to all child care providers and requires more information be available to parents and the general public about child care choices.
The new federal requirements required changes to Florida law governing screening for child care employment. Beginning July 1, 2016, the new elements included in a background screening for all child care personnel, which include searches of the National Sex Offender Registry, state criminal records, state sex offender registries and child abuse and neglect registries of all states in which the child care personnel resided during the preceding five years.
The federal government told the states it would help keep children safe too, preventing people from moving out of state for another job after committing a crime against a child. The provision was tied to money. Florida requested $660,000 and received $614,000 to add about seven new positions at DCF, but state officials told 9 Investigates that resources are not the problem. The feds, they say, failed to create a uniform database to share the information, leaving it up to the states to figure out.
“Obviously, reform is needed. We want to make sure that we get qualified people into these facilities to be able to care for our kids,” U.S. Rep. Darren Soto, of Florida, told Jones from his office in Washington, D.C.
Zimmerman, at Star Child Academy, said she believes there are pitfalls in forcing the mandate onto facilities. Zimmerman said All Star is already struggling to hold onto good, qualified employees, while keeping up with state required student-teacher ratios.
Jones asked Zimmerman if she believe some child care facilities will just ignore the law.
“You would probably be surprised at how many are hiring these people,” Zimmerman said.
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The screenings are not required for employees who have moved here from out of the country. DCF told 9 Investigates that right now, the states giving them the most trouble in returning screenings are California and Alabama. Those states are trying to charge child care facilities up to $500 for each screening.
Zimmerman said she worries it will continue to detract people from the industry at a time when the population is booming in Central Florida, and so many are flocking to the child care industry.
[ Here is a link where you can check DCF for records on a child care facility. ]
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