(a)

1. (1) The agency shall conduct background checks, as required by Arkansas Code § 9-28-409, using forms approved by the Child Welfare Agency Licensing Unit.
2. (2) Background checks conducted by or for other licensing authorities, for example, Office of Long-Term Care, Division of Developmental Disabilities Services, et al., do not meet the requirement of this standard.

(b) The following persons in a child placement agency shall be checked with the Child Maltreatment Central Registry in their state of residence, if available, and any state of residence in which the person has lived for the past five (5) years and in the person’s state of employment, if different, for reports of child maltreatment:

1. (1) Employees having direct and unsupervised contact with children;
2. (2) Volunteers, mentors, sponsors, and student interns having direct and unsupervised contact with children;

3. (3)

   1. (A) Foster parents and each member of the household fourteen (14) years of age and older, excluding children in foster care.
   2. (B) These Child Maltreatment Central Registry checks shall be made prior to approval and shall be repeated every two (2) years thereafter;

4. (4)

   1. (A) Adoptive parents and each member of the household fourteen (14) years of age and older residing in Arkansas, excluding children in foster care.
   2. (B) Adoptive parents and each member of the household fourteen (14) years of age and older, excluding children residing in out-of-state foster care, shall provide Child Maltreatment Central Registry checks from their state of residence, if available.
   3. (C) These Child Maltreatment Central Registry checks shall be made prior to approval and shall be repeated every two (2) years until the adoption decree has been issued;
5. (5) Owners having direct and unsupervised contact with children; or
6. (6) Members of the agency’s board of directors having direct and unsupervised contact with children.

(d)

1. (1) Any person found to have a record of child maltreatment shall be reviewed by the owner or administrator of the agency, in consultation with the Child Welfare Agency Review Board or its designee, to determine corrective action.

2. (2) Corrective action may include without limitation:

   1. (A) Counseling;
   2. (B) Training;
   3. (C) Probationary employment;
   4. (D) Nonselection for employment; or
   5. (E) Termination.

(e) The following persons in a child placement agency shall be checked with the Identification Bureau of the Division of Arkansas State Police for convictions of offenses listed in Arkansas Code § 9-28-409:

1. (1) Employees having direct and unsupervised contact with children;
2. (2) Volunteers, mentors, sponsors, and student interns having direct and unsupervised contact with children;

3. (3)

   1. (A) Foster parents and each member of the household eighteen (18) years of age and older, excluding children in foster care.
   2. (B) The foster parents shall certify in writing annually whether or not household members fourteen (14) through seventeen (17) years of age have criminal records;

4. (4)

   1. (A) Adoptive parents and each member of the household eighteen (18) years of age and older residing in Arkansas.
   2. (B) Adoptive parents and each member of the household eighteen (18) years of age and older residing out of state shall provide state police criminal record checks from their state of residence, if available.
   3. (C) The out-of-state adoptive families do not need to do an Identification Bureau of the Division of Arkansas State Police check if they have never resided in Arkansas;
5. (5) Owners having direct and unsupervised contact with children; and

6. (6)

   1. (A) Members of the agency’s board of directors having direct and unsupervised contact with children.
   2. (B) Individuals required to submit to a criminal background check with the Identification Bureau of the Division of Arkansas State Police shall also complete a background check with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
   3. (C) Federal Bureau of Investigation criminal background checks shall not be required if the:

(i) Adoption is an international adoption where the criminal background checks have been performed by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services; or

1. (ii) Adoptive parents and each member of the household age eighteen and one-half (18 1/2) have continuously resided in another state for at least five (5) years before the adoption and the state-of-residence criminal check is available.

(f)

1. (1) A child in the custody of the Department of Human Services shall not be placed in an approved home of any foster parent or adoptive parent unless all household members eighteen and one-half (18 1/2) years of age and older, excluding children in foster care, have had a fingerprint-based criminal background check performed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
2. (2) The check shall be initiated within thirty (30) days of the household member’s eighteenth birthday.

(h)

1. (1) A child in the custody of the department shall not be placed in an approved home of any foster parent or adoptive parent unless all household members eighteen and one-half (18 1/2) years of age and older, excluding children in foster care, have been checked with the Identification Bureau of the Division of Arkansas State Police at a minimum of every two (2) years.

2. (2) The check shall be initiated within thirty (30) days of the household member’s eighteenth birthday.

   1. (i) Child Maltreatment Central Registry checks and Division of Arkansas State Police or Federal Bureau of Investigation criminal record checks shall be initiated within ten (10) days of employment.

(k) The agency shall provide a copy of the Federal Bureau of Investigation criminal record check form and the Division of Arkansas State Police criminal record check form to the Child Welfare Agency Licensing Unit upon initiation.

1. (l)
2. (1) No person guilty of an excluded criminal offense pursuant to Arkansas Code § 9-28-409 shall be permitted to have direct and unsupervised contact with children except as provided in the statute.
3. (2) The child placement agency shall immediately notify the Child Welfare Agency Licensing Unit when an individual is found to have a record of an excluded criminal offense.