R501-14-3. Initial Background Screening Procedure

  (1) An applicant for initial background screening shall legibly complete, date and sign a background screening application and consent on a form provided by the Office.

  (2) An applicant shall disclose all criminal charges, including pending charges, and all supported or substantiated findings of abuse, neglect or exploitation on the background screening application.

  (3) An applicant may provide disclosure statements and related documents as direct attachments to the application or directly attached in a sealed envelope. If the applicant submits a sealed envelope, the background screening agent shall forward it unopened.

  (4) An applicant applying to work in a youth residential program who has resided outside of the state of Utah within the 5 years immediately preceding the date of the background screening application shall provide a child abuse and neglect registry record for each State in which the applicant has resided within those 5 years.

  (a) instructions for obtaining out of state child abuse and neglect registry records from each state may be found on the OL website at: https://hslic.utah.gov/Out-of-state-registries.

  (b) out of state child abuse and neglect registry records are not required to be produced to the Office of Licensing a second time for license renewal, screening transfer or screening renewal as long as a record from every state resided in over the past 5 years has been previously submitted and reviewed by the Office of Licensing.

  (i) a current employee in a youth residential setting at the time this rule goes into effect shall submit all out of state registry records for all states resided in for the 5 years immediately preceding their background screening renewal application.

  (c) applicants experiencing delays in receiving requested out of state(s) registry record(s) must be supervised while record(s) are pending, unless:

  (i) documentation is obtained from the state(s) providing the record giving a time frame for expected receipt of record(s). This documentation may not be authored by anyone but the sending state(s)authorized personnel and;

  (ii) the Office otherwise approves the applicant's background screening with no comprehensive review committee review required.

  (d) any out of state registry record that contains information that constitutes background screening denial under this rule, shall result in a denial or revocation of background screening and the employee direct access to clients and client records must be terminated immediately upon notification.

  (5)An applicant must present valid government-issued identification.

  (6) An applicant who presents only a foreign country identification card may be required to submit an original or official copy of a government issued criminal history report from that country.

  (7) The background screening application, personal identifying information, including fingerprints, and applicable fee shall be submitted to the background screening agent. The background screening agent shall:

  (a) inspect the applicant's government-issued identification card and determine that it does not appear to have been forged or altered;

  (b) review for completeness and accuracy and sign the application; and

  (c) forward the background screening application, and applicable fee to the Office background screening unit.

  (d) The background screening agent may withdraw a background screening application at any point in the process.