§ 2151.86. Criminal records check and fingerprinting of employees responsible for out-of-home child care and prospective adoptive or foster caregivers or adults residing with them.

(A) (1)  The appointing or hiring officer of any entity that appoints or employs any person responsible for a child's care in out-of-home care shall request the superintendent of BCII to conduct a criminal records check with respect to any person who is under final consideration for appointment or employment as a person responsible for a child's care in out-of-home care, except that section 3319.39 of the Revised Code shall apply instead of this section if the out-of-home care entity is a public school, educational service center, or chartered nonpublic school. 

(2) The administrative director of an agency, or attorney, who arranges an adoption for a prospective adoptive parent shall request the superintendent of BCII to conduct a criminal records check with respect to that prospective adoptive parent and all persons eighteen years of age or older who reside with the prospective adoptive parent. 

(3) Before a recommending agency submits a recommendation to the department of job and family services on whether the department should issue a certificate to a foster home under section 5103.03 of the Revised Code, the administrative director of the agency shall request that the superintendent of BCII conduct a criminal records check with respect to the prospective foster caregiver and all other persons eighteen years of age or older who reside with the foster caregiver. 

(B)  If a person subject to a criminal records check does not present proof that the person has been a resident of this state for the five-year period immediately prior to the date upon which the criminal records check is requested or does not provide evidence that within that five-year period the superintendent of BCII has requested information about the person from the federal bureau of investigation in a criminal records check, the appointing or hiring officer, administrative director, or attorney shall request that the superintendent of BCII obtain information from the federal bureau of investigation as a part of the criminal records check. If the person subject to the criminal records check presents proof that the person has been a resident of this state for that five-year period, the officer, director, or attorney may request that the superintendent of BCII include information from the federal bureau of investigation in the criminal records check. 
 

An appointing or hiring officer, administrative director, or attorney required by division (A) of this section to request a criminal records check shall provide to each person subject to a criminal records check a copy of the form prescribed pursuant to division (C)(1) of section 109.572 [109.57.2] of the Revised Code and a standard impression sheet to obtain fingerprint impressions prescribed pursuant to division (C)(2) of section 109.572 [109.57.2] of the Revised Code, obtain the completed form and impression sheet from the person, and forward the completed form and impression sheet to the superintendent of BCII at the time the criminal records check is requested. 
 

Any person subject to a criminal records check who receives pursuant to this division a copy of the form prescribed pursuant to division (C)(1) of section 109.572 [109.57.2] of the Revised Code and a copy of an impression sheet prescribed pursuant to division (C)(2) of that section and who is requested to complete the form and provide a set of fingerprint impressions shall complete the form or provide all the information necessary to complete the form and shall provide the impression sheet with the impressions of the person's fingerprints. If a person subject to a criminal records check, upon request, fails to provide the information necessary to complete the form or fails to provide impressions of the person's fingerprints, the appointing or hiring officer shall not appoint or employ the person as a person responsible for a child's care in out-of-home care, a probate court may not issue a final decree of adoption or an interlocutory order of adoption making the person an adoptive parent, and the department of job and family services shall not issue a certificate authorizing the prospective foster caregiver to operate a foster home. 

(C) (1)  No appointing or hiring officer shall appoint or employ a person as a person responsible for a child's care in out-of-home care, the department of job and family services shall not issue a certificate under section 5103.03 of the Revised Code authorizing a prospective foster caregiver to operate a foster home, and no probate court shall issue a final decree of adoption or an interlocutory order of adoption making a person an adoptive parent if the person or, in the case of a prospective foster caregiver or prospective adoptive parent, any person eighteen years of age or older who resides with the prospective foster caregiver or prospective adoptive parent previously has been convicted of or pleaded guilty to any of the following, unless the person meets rehabilitation standards established in rules adopted under division (F) of this section: 

(a) A violation of section 2903.01, 2903.02, 2903.03, 2903.04, 2903.11, 2903.12, 2903.13, 2903.16, 2903.21, 2903.34, 2905.01, 2905.02, 2905.05, 2907.02, 2907.03, 2907.04, 2907.05, 2907.06, 2907.07, 2907.08, 2907.09, 2907.21, 2907.22, 2907.23, 2907.25, 2907.31, 2907.32, 2907.321 [2907.32.1], 2907.322 [2907.32.2], 2907.323 [2907.32.3], 2909.02, 2909.03, 2911.01, 2911.02, 2911.11, 2911.12, 2919.12, 2919.22, 2919.24, 2919.25, 2923.12, 2923.13, 2923.161 [2923.16.1], 2925.02, 2925.03, 2925.04, 2925.05, 2925.06, or 3716.11 of the Revised Code, a violation of section 2905.04 of the Revised Code as it existed prior to July 1, 1996, a violation of section 2919.23 of the Revised Code that would have been a violation of section 2905.04 of the Revised Code as it existed prior to July 1, 1996, had the violation been committed prior to that date, a violation of section 2925.11 of the Revised Code that is not a minor drug possession offense, or felonious sexual penetration in violation of former section 2907.12 of the Revised Code; 

(b) A violation of an existing or former law of this state, any other state, or the United States that is substantially equivalent to any of the offenses described in division (C)(1)(a) of this section. 

(2) The appointing or hiring officer may appoint or employ a person as a person responsible for a child's care in out-of-home care conditionally until the criminal records check required by this section is completed and the officer receives the results of the criminal records check. If the results of the criminal records check indicate that, pursuant to division (C)(1) of this section, the person subject to the criminal records check does not qualify for appointment or employment, the officer shall release the person from appointment or employment. 

(D)  The appointing or hiring officer, administrative director, or attorney shall pay to the bureau of criminal identification and investigation the fee prescribed pursuant to division (C)(3) of section 109.572 [109.57.2] of the Revised Code for each criminal records check conducted in accordance with that section upon a request pursuant to division (A) of this section. The officer, director, or attorney may charge the person subject to the criminal records check a fee for the costs the officer, director, or attorney incurs in obtaining the criminal records check. A fee charged under this division shall not exceed the amount of fees the officer, director, or attorney pays for the criminal records check. If a fee is charged under this division, the officer, director, or attorney shall notify the person who is the applicant at the time of the person's initial application for appointment or employment, an adoption to be arranged, or a certificate to operate a foster home of the amount of the fee and that, unless the fee is paid, the person who is the applicant will not be considered for appointment or employment or as an adoptive parent or foster caregiver. 

(E)  The report of any criminal records check conducted by the bureau of criminal identification and investigation in accordance with section 109.572 [109.57.2] of the Revised Code and pursuant to a request made under division (A) of this section is not a public record for the purposes of section 149.43 of the Revised Code and shall not be made available to any person other than the person who is the subject of the criminal records check or the person's representative; the appointing or hiring officer, administrative director, or attorney requesting the criminal records check or the officer's, director's, or attorney's representative; the department of job and family services or a county department of job and family services; and any court, hearing officer, or other necessary individual involved in a case dealing with the denial of employment, a final decree of adoption or interlocutory order of adoption, or a foster home certificate. 

(F)  The director of job and family services shall adopt rules in accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code to implement this section. The rules shall include rehabilitation standards a person who has been convicted of or pleaded guilty to an offense listed in division (C)(1) of this section must meet for an appointing or hiring officer to appoint or employ the person as a person responsible for a child's care in out-of-home care, a probate court to issue a final decree of adoption or interlocutory order of adoption making the person an adoptive parent, or the department to issue a certificate authorizing the prospective foster caregiver to operate a foster home. 

(G)  An appointing or hiring officer, administrative director, or attorney required by division (A) of this section to request a criminal records check shall inform each person who is the applicant, at the time of the person's initial application for appointment or employment, an adoption to be arranged, or a foster home certificate, that the person subject to the criminal records check is required to provide a set of impressions of the person's fingerprints and that a criminal records check is required to be conducted and satisfactorily completed in accordance with section 109.572 [109.57.2] of the Revised Code. 

(H)  The department of job and family services may waive the requirement that a criminal records check based on fingerprints be conducted for an adult resident of a prospective adoptive or foster home or the home of a foster caregiver if the recommending agency documents to the department's satisfaction that the adult resident is physically unable to comply with the fingerprinting requirement and poses no danger to foster children or adoptive children who may be placed in the home. In such cases, the recommending or approving agency shall request that the bureau of criminal identification and investigation conduct a criminal records check using the person's name and social security number. 

(I)  As used in this section: 

(1) "Children's hospital" means any of the following: 

(a) A hospital registered under section 3701.07 of the Revised Code that provides general pediatric medical and surgical care, and in which at least seventy-five per cent of annual inpatient discharges for the preceding two calendar years were individuals less than eighteen years of age; 

(b) A distinct portion of a hospital registered under section 3701.07 of the Revised Code that provides general pediatric medical and surgical care, has a total of at least one hundred fifty registered pediatric special care and pediatric acute care beds, and in which at least seventy-five per cent of annual inpatient discharges for the preceding two calendar years were individuals less than eighteen years of age; 

(c) A distinct portion of a hospital, if the hospital is registered under section 3701.07 of the Revised Code as a children's hospital and the children's hospital meets all the requirements of division (I)(3)(a) of this section. 

(2) "Criminal records check" has the same meaning as in section 109.572 [109.57.2] of the Revised Code. 

(3) "Minor drug possession offense" has the same meaning as in section 2925.01 of the Revised Code. 

(4) "Person responsible for a child's care in out-of-home care" has the same meaning as in section 2151.011 [2151.01.1] of the Revised Code, except that it does not include a prospective employee of the department of youth services or a person responsible for a child's care in a hospital or medical clinic other than a children's hospital. 

(5) "Person subject to a criminal records check" means the following: 

(a) A person who is under final consideration for appointment or employment as a person responsible for a child's care in out-of-home care; 

(b) A prospective adoptive parent; 

(c) A prospective foster caregiver; 

(d) A person eighteen years old or older who resides with a prospective foster caregiver or a prospective adoptive parent. 

(6) "Recommending agency" means a public children services agency, private child placing agency, or private noncustodial agency to which the department of job and family services has delegated a duty to inspect and approve foster homes. 

(7) "Superintendent of BCII" means the superintendent of the bureau of criminal identification and investigation. 

HISTORY: 145 v S 38 (Eff 10-29-93); 146 v S 2 (Eff 7-1-96); 146 v S 269 (Eff 7-1-96); 146 v H 445 (Eff 9-3-96); 147 v H 446 (Eff 8-5-98); 148 v H 471 (Eff 7-1-2000); 148 v H 448. Eff 10-5-2000; 150 v H 117, § 1, eff. 9-3-04; 150 v H 106, § 1, eff. 9-16-04.