What is the background check process for potential foster parents?

In order to become a foster parent in California, you need to get a license from the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) and pass a criminal background check.[2464] Prospective foster parents, as well as anyone else who will have contact with the foster child, must provide two sets of fingerprints to the California Department of Justice (CA DOJ)—one set is to run a state record check and one set is to perform a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) national check.[2465]

In addition to checking a person’s criminal history, the CA DOJ checks the Child Abuse Registry and reports to the CDSS any previous complaints for the CDSS to further investigate.[2466]

PLEASE NOTE: The same background check rules and process apply to a person living in a foster home OR providing childcare to a foster child, even if that person is not the foster parent him/herself[2467]

  1. 2464

    See Cal. Health & Safety Code §1522. See also “HHS06 Foster Care Criminal Background Checks,” California Performance Review (2007), available at http://cpr.ca.gov/cpr_report/Issues_and_Recommendations/Chapter_2_Health_and_Human_Services/HHS06.html (“Responses from the state must be received, identified criminal records cleared, and a Child Abuse Registry cleared before a license for the care of foster children can be issued.”). ↑

  2. 2465

    See Cal. Health & Safety Code §1522(d)(4)(D) (“[A]n applicant for a foster family home license or for certification as a family home, and any other person specified in subdivision (b) who is not exempt from fingerprinting, shall submit a set of fingerprint images and related information to the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, through the Department of Justice, for a state and federal level criminal offender record information search, in addition to the criminal records search required by subdivision (a).”). ↑

  3. 2466

    See Cal. Health & Safety Code §1522.1(a) (“(a) Prior to granting a license to, or otherwise approving, any individual to care for or reside with children, the department shall check the Child Abuse Central Index pursuant to paragraph (4) of subdivision (b) of Section 11170 of the Penal Code.”). ↑

  4. 2467

    See Cal. Health & Safety Code §1522(b)(1)(B) (This section applies to “Any person, other than a client, residing in the facility or certified family home.”). ↑