Performing background checks on potential mentors

Abstract

All programs that work with children and youth have a responsibility to exercise reasonable care (sometimes called “due diligence”) when faced with the chance that harm could result from their activities. Screening is part of the larger risk management effort that helps your program meet this responsibility. Screening is a multi-step process that includes performing a criminal history records check. Such checks can be complicated to conduct, take several weeks or months, and be costly for programs. A national pilot project called SafetyNET is a cost effective, time-saving tool that mentoring programs can use to conduct a FBI fingerprint-based background check. This effective practice was submitted by LEARNS at the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory in November 2007.

Issue

In accordance with the final rule on national service criminal history checks Corporation grantees are required "to conduct and document National Service Criminal History Checks... on Senior Companions and Foster Grandparents, as well as on AmeriCorps State and National (including Education Award Program) participants and grant-funded staff in those programs who, on a recurring basis, have access to children, persons age 60 and older, or individuals with disabilities." Because all mentors have close relationships with and access to children (youth, teens), a criminal history background check must be conducted.

Action

SafetyNET (http://apps.mentoring.org/safetynet/index.adp ) is a nationwide FBI fingerprint-based background check program operated in conjunction with MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership. The pilot program allows three groups - mentoring programs, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and the National Council of Youth Sports - to access FBI background checks. Steps to accessing SafetyNET and conducting a criminal history background check include:

Visit the SafetyNET web site at: http://apps.mentoring.org/safetynet/index.adp
Read the SafetyNET Manual.
Apply using the online form.
Give each potential volunteer an application and fingerprint card to be filled out and returned to you. Local police stations usually do fingerprinting for a fee of less than five dollars. (Program staff can also be trained to "roll" fingerprints. Check with your local police station for training.)
Mail the fingerprint card, application, and payment of eighteen dollars to MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership.
MENTOR submits fingerprints electronically to the FBI for the criminal background check.
After the check is done the FBI submits the applicant's records to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), which examines the records and determines how fit the applicant is to be a mentor based on crimes in six categories.
NCMEC assigns a Red, Green, or Yellow light to the person and posts it to a secure Web site where you can download the results. It's up to the program to decide next steps: accept or reject the applicant, or do additional checking.
At any time during the process, you can log into your password-protected Web site and access a "volunteer tracking" module showing where each volunteer is in the process. Average response time is three to five business days.

Context

Although federal law already makes FBI background checks available to human service organizations, the current system requires organizations to submit their requests through designated state agencies. Some states are responsive to these requests. Other states, however, have not designated an agency to handle such requests or deem very few human service organizations eligible to apply. This leaves many organizations without regular, reliable access to national background checks. Even when programs are able to access these background checks, the cost is often prohibitive and the process can be time-consuming and cumbersome.

Several years ago, MENTOR's Public Policy Council identified this issue as critical to the mentoring field. MENTOR and the Council then began a legislative campaign to change the criminal background check system to one that is accessible, affordable, and quick. The campaign, raised public awareness of this issue and advocated in Congress for a change in the current system.

Passed as part of the PROTECT Act in March 2003, the SafetyNET pilot program is the culmination of this work. The pilot was designed to test several mechanisms for obtaining FBI background checks, using a national approach and a state approach. The resulting information will help make the case for a permanent workable system for obtaining criminal background checks on volunteers who work with children. And, most importantly, it allows mentoring organizations all across the country to obtain these important national background checks while Congress considers the permanent solution.

Adapted from: SafetyNET Pilot Program Manual and Forms, available online at: http://apps.mentoring.org/safetynet/manual.adp

Outcome

Using SafetyNET helps programs:

Streamline their criminal background check process
Conduct a fingerprint background check using the FBI database
Determine if the applicant is fit to be a mentor with the assistance of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Screen out applicants who have prior criminal records

Evidence

Approximately 6.5 percent of potential volunteers screened through the pilot had criminal records of concern, resulting in a "may not meet the criteria" or "does not meet the criteria" fitness determination.
Even though volunteers knew a background check was being performed, over half (53.4 percent) of those with criminal records indicated on their application form that they did NOT have a criminal record.
Of the individuals with criminal records, 28 percent had a criminal record in a state other than where they were applying to volunteer. If the local organization had just performed a state background check, these criminal records would not have been found.
Of the individuals with criminal records, 8.5 percent provided a different name on their application than what appeared on the criminal record, and 6 percent of these individuals supplied a different date of birth. A name-based search may not have caught these criminal records. Even when correct information is supplied by the volunteer, crimes committed under other names can only be found through a fingerprint search.

Posted On

November 16, 2007

Resources

Summary of National Service Criminal History Checks Final Rule
http://frwebgate3.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/waisgate.cgi?WAISdocID=56755127683+0+2+0&WAISaction=retrieve

Frequently Asked Questions: Final Rule on National Service Criminal History Checks
http://nationalserviceresources.org/filemanager/download/ProgramMgmt/FAQs_FinalRule_Oct29_07.pdf

The U.S. Department of Education Mentoring Program's Guide to Screening and Background Checks (2005)
http://www.edmentoring.org/pubs/screening.pdf

The U.S. Department of Education Mentoring Program's Fact Sheet 11: Managing Risk After the Match Is Made (2006)
http://www.edmentoring.org/pubs/factsheet11.pdf

National Mentoring Center Training Curriculum (2000): Module 2: Screening Mentors
http://www.nwrel.org/mentoring/pdf/Mod2.PDF

MENTOR's Elements of Effective Practice Toolkit (2005)
http://www.mentoring.org/elements/

Related Practices

Related sites

Nonprofit Risk Management Center

Sex-Offenders/Megan’s Law

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Resource Center