2007 Minnesota Statutes

260C.209 BACKGROUND CHECKS.
    Subdivision 1. Subjects. The responsible social services agency must initiate a background
study to be completed by the commissioner under chapter 245C on the following individuals:
    (1) a noncustodial parent or nonadjudicated parent who is being assessed for purposes
of providing day-to-day care of a child temporarily or permanently under section 260C.212,
subdivision 4 , and any member of the parent's household who is over the age of 13 when there is
a reasonable cause to believe that the parent or household member over age 13 has a criminal
history or a history of maltreatment of a child or vulnerable adult which would endanger the
child's health, safety, or welfare;
    (2) an individual whose suitability for relative placement under section 260C.212,
subdivision 5 , is being determined and any member of the relative's household who is over
the age of 13 when:
    (i) the relative must be licensed for foster care; or
    (ii) the background study is required under section 259.53, subdivision 2; or
    (iii) the agency or the commissioner has reasonable cause to believe the relative or household
member over the age of 13 has a criminal history which would not make transfer of permanent
legal and physical custody to the relative under section 260C.201, subdivision 11, in the child's
best interest; and
    (3) a parent, following an out-of-home placement, when the responsible social services
agency has reasonable cause to believe that the parent has been convicted of a crime directly
related to the parent's capacity to maintain the child's health, safety, or welfare or the parent is
the subject of an open investigation of, or has been the subject of a substantiated allegation of,
child or vulnerable-adult maltreatment within the past ten years.
"Reasonable cause" means that the agency has received information or a report from the subject
or a third person that creates an articulable suspicion that the individual has a history that may
pose a risk to the health, safety, or welfare of the child. The information or report must be specific
to the potential subject of the background check and shall not be based on the race, religion,
ethnic background, age, class, or lifestyle of the potential subject.
    Subd. 2. General procedures. (a) When initiating a background check under subdivision 1,
the agency shall require the individual being assessed to provide sufficient information to ensure
an accurate assessment under this section, including:
    (1) the individual's first, middle, and last name and all other names by which the individual
has been known;
    (2) home address, zip code, city, county, and state of residence for the past five years;
    (3) sex;
    (4) date of birth; and
    (5) driver's license number or state identification number.
    (b) When notified by the commissioner or the responsible social services agency that
it is conducting an assessment under this section, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension,
commissioners of health and human services, law enforcement, and county agencies must
provide the commissioner or the responsible social services agency or county attorney with the
following information on the individual being assessed: criminal history data, reports about
the maltreatment of adults substantiated under section 626.557, and reports of maltreatment of
minors substantiated under section 626.556.
    Subd. 3. Multistate information. For every background study completed under this section,
the subject of the background study shall provide the responsible social services agency with
a set of classifiable fingerprints obtained from an authorized agency. The responsible social
services agency shall provide the fingerprints to the commissioner, and the commissioner shall
obtain criminal history data from the National Criminal Records Repository by submitting the
fingerprints to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
In cases involving the emergency placement of children, the social services agency or county
attorney may request a name-based check of the National Criminal Records Repository. In those
cases, fingerprints of the individual being checked must be forwarded to the Bureau of Criminal
Apprehension for submission to the Federal Bureau of Investigation within 15 calendar days of
the name-based check. If the subject of the name-based check does not provide fingerprints upon
request, the child or children must be removed from the home.
    Subd. 4. Notice upon receipt. The commissioner must provide the subject of the background
study with the results of the study as required under chapter 245C.
History: 2005 c 136 art 15 s 6; 2007 c 8 s 1; 2007 c 147 art 3 s 29