(225 ILCS 10/4.1) (from Ch. 23, par. 2214.1)
Sec. 4.1. Criminal background investigations. The Department shall
require that each child care facility license applicant as part of the
application process, and each employee and volunteer of a child care facility or non-licensed service provider, as a
condition of employment, authorize an investigation to determine if such
applicant, employee, or volunteer has ever been charged with a crime and if so, the
disposition of those charges; this authorization shall indicate the scope of
the inquiry and the agencies which may be contacted. Upon this
authorization, the Director shall request and receive information and
assistance from any federal, State or local governmental agency as part of
the authorized investigation.
Each applicant, employee, or volunteer of a child care facility or non-licensed service provider shall submit the applicant's, employee's, or volunteer's fingerprints to the Illinois State Police in the form and manner prescribed by the Illinois State Police. These fingerprints shall be checked against the fingerprint records
now and hereafter filed in the Illinois State Police and Federal Bureau of Investigation criminal history records
databases. The Illinois State Police shall charge
a fee for conducting the criminal history records check, which shall be
deposited in the State Police Services Fund and shall not exceed the actual
cost of the records check.
The Illinois State Police shall provide
information concerning any criminal charges, and their disposition, now or
hereafter filed, against an applicant, employee, or volunteer of a child care facility or non-licensed service provider upon
request of the Department of Children and Family Services when the request
is made in the form and manner required by the Illinois State Police.
Information concerning convictions of a license applicant, employee, or volunteer of a child care facility or non-licensed service provider investigated
under this Section, including the source of the information and any
conclusions or recommendations derived from the information, shall be
provided, upon request, to such applicant, employee, or volunteer of a child care facility or non-licensed service provider prior to final action by the
Department on the application.
State
conviction information provided by the Illinois State Police regarding
employees,
prospective employees, or volunteers of non-licensed service providers and child care facilities licensed under this Act
shall be provided to the operator of such facility, and, upon request, to
the employee, prospective employee, or volunteer of a child care facility or non-licensed service provider. Any information concerning criminal
charges and the disposition of such charges obtained by the Department
shall be confidential and may not be transmitted outside the Department,
except as required herein, and may not be transmitted to anyone within the
Department except as needed for the purpose of evaluating an application or an
employee or volunteer of a child care facility or non-licensed service provider. Only information and standards which bear a
reasonable and rational relation to the performance of a child care
facility shall be used by the Department or any licensee. Any employee of
the Department of Children and Family Services, Illinois State Police,
or a child care facility receiving confidential information under this
Section who gives or causes to be given any confidential information
concerning any criminal convictions of an applicant, employee, or volunteer of a child care facility or non-licensed service provider, shall be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor
unless release of such information is authorized by this Section.
A child care facility may hire, on a probationary basis, any employee or volunteer of a child care facility or non-licensed service provider
authorizing a criminal background investigation under this Section, pending
the result of such investigation. Employees and volunteers of a child care facility or non-licensed service provider shall be notified prior to
hiring that such employment may be terminated on the basis of criminal
background information obtained by the facility.
(Source: P.A. 102-538, eff. 8-20-21; 103-22, eff. 8-8-23.)
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