Since September 11, 2001, an increasing number of industries have begun requiring FBI fingerprint background checks.  These checks are no longer relegated to just the financial, military and government industries.  Over the last couple of years states like Pennsylvania and Texas (http://www.dfps.state.tx.us/Child_Care/Information_for_Child_Care_Professionals/fingerprint.asp) have begun to require FBI checks for those employees who work in the childcare (teachers, day care providers, etc) or eldercare fields.  Recently, North Dakota legislators took the first steps to require FBI criminal checks for child care workers, including those individuals seeking day care licenses and their household members (http://www.kfyrtv.com/News_Stories.asp?news=25531).

Congress is also looking at passing similar legislation, most recently the Child Protection Improvements Act of 2008.  This bill would have established a permanent background check system for all child care providers.  Although it did not pass in 2008, it will most likely be brought forward again this year.

There are pros and cons to the FBI Check.  On the plus side, the FBI gets its data from law enforcement agencies and state criminal record repositories, so it’s a nationwide search. The FBI also uses a fingerprint to match identity so cases of mistaken identity are extremely unlikely.  However, these sources only represent about 65% of all records available. Unfortunately, the records are often just arrests and do not contain updates on the court case. If the case has been dismissed, it is possible they have the right person but the wrong information.

I think that the missing updated record information is what has kept (so far) the Child Protection Improvements Act from being enacted into law.  The government does not want to be held responsible for denying individuals employment based on incomplete or inaccurate information – and rightly so.  There has been talk recently of requiring the FBI to follow-up on any arrest-only information that is returned during an FBI background check before reporting this information to an employer.  This would be a time-consuming and costly fix.  With the U.S. economy falling into a severe recession and funds being tight, we’ll have to wait and see what develops in 2009.