Officials with the North Dakota Department of Human Services say a lot of misinformation is being spread about fingerprint requirements for childcare center employees.
Earlier this week, childcare centers in North Dakota claimed a federal law requiring background and fingerprint checks be approved before employees work with children was negatively impacting childcare availability and workforce. They said the new law is aimed at improving childcare safety - but that North Dakota's processing of the background checks and fingerprints still takes several weeks, keeping new employees who can't work out of their jobs and leaving families without adequate childcare.
Tara Reed is supervisor of DHS's Criminal Background Check Unit. She says since the law went into effect in 2014, the Department of Human Services has been incrementally implementing it so as not to overwhelm childcare centers with its new regulations.
"I think that is really, really important that people understand that we have not been sitting on this and just waiting. We have been working very hard, and have started this four years ago. The processes just take time, it takes adjustments."
Amanda Carlson is Early Childhood Services Administrator of the Children and Family Services Division of DHS. She says right now turnaround for background checks for childcare workers is about three weeks, and reports of them taking up to three months are inaccurate. She also says the department has no control over how long it can take an employee to get an appointment to get fingerprinted. She says the department is working on answering the needs of the childcare system will still adhering to the new federal requirements.
"We have heard from providers, families, legislators that there is a concern about this - so we have reached out to our federal partners to explore the potential impacts of making changes to the background check process, as well as what options the state may have available regarding this. We just want to make sure we are providing quality services in a safe environment to children."
Carlson says the growing need for more childcare across the state has created challenges, and can make it appear as though options are being limited. But she says the reality is that the process is in place to ensure the highest quality employees are chosen to care for children in the state.