Childcare programs across the state of Texas have a new challenge to manage: a new criminal background check procedure.
In my opinion this is going to be a huge mess for a while. Eventually the state will figure it out, but right now- it is a shit show. pardon my French. We had a hard enough time getting applicants to show up for interviews and then fingerprint checks, but now we have to rely on THEM to sign up on their own, pay for it and actually get it done.
I don’t see it happening. I really don’t. The level of hand holding the Director’s are going to have to do is going to go from a 7 on a scale of 1-10 to a 12.
How many people applying to work an entry level job are going to have funds to pay for the background check? How many of them check their email daily? If it were social media, then yes, but email – NO.
In case you don’t know what I’m going on about, please take a moment to watch this video training about the new system.
In addition to the fact that the center is no longer in charge of scheduling fingerprint checks and won’t be notified about prior criminal history, in addition there is not REALLY a procedure for screening folks who have not been residents of the State of Texas for the past 5 years. There is a sort-of procedure for folks who have lived in other states, but NONE (as of yet) for those who lived in other countries. What about American territories like Samoa and Puerto Rico? No idea.
Please take a moment to survey your existing staff and find out
- how many have lived outside of Texas in the past 5 years,
- how many that was true of when they started working in childcare &
- how many would have continued to apply if they had to pay for a background check before being offered a job.
I want to know. If you send me this information, I will send you a free copy of our pre-service training book.
