H08- 029– Information

May 7, 2008

TO: / Area Agency on Aging (AAA) Directors
Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) Regional Administrators
Home and Community Services (HCS) Division Regional Administrators
FROM: / Bill Moss, Director, Home and Community Services Division
Linda Rolfe, Director, Division of Developmental Disabilities
SUBJECT: /
FINGERPRINT-BASED CHECKSAND ELECTRONIC FINGERPRINTING FOR INDIVIDUAL PROVIDERS (IP), HOME CARE AGENCY PROVIDERS, AND DDD PROVIDERS
Purpose: / To provide AAA (and their home care agency [HCA]contractors), DDD, and HCS staff with information about upcoming changes in the fingerprint-based background check process.
Background: /
  • Chapter 43.43 RCW requires a fingerprint-based background check forall providers and applicants serving children or people with developmental disabilities who have lived in Washington less than 3 consecutive years.
  • RCW 43.20A.710 requires AAA/HCS fingerprint-based background checks forIPs and home care agency providers that have lived in Washington less than three consecutive years.
  • HCS/AAA/HCA staff were trained to roll fingerprints on prospective contractors. DDD primarily sends providers to local law enforcement for their fingerprinting.
  • Statewide, AAA/HCS/HCA/DDDhave experienced a rate of ‘rejected prints’ above 35%. This has resulted in providers having to have their fingerprints rolled multiple times, causing significant delays in providers meeting requirements to be qualified.
  • Children’s Administration (CA) fingerprint requirements are in the Adam Walsh Act, which passed in the 2007 Legislature. This legislation requires fingerprint-based background checks for foster and adoptive parents, and ‘other adult(s) in household.’ CA has also experienced a high reject rate.

What’s new, changed, or
Clarified /
  • DDD, HCS, the Background Check Central Unit (BCCU), Central Contract Services, and CA partnered to develop a Request for Proposal (RFP) for electronic fingerprinting.
  • The department completed the RFP process and now has a contract in place with Integrated Biometric Technology (IBT).
  • IBT does electronic fingerprinting with a number of states and has a reject rate of less than 5%.
  • IBT will provide locations throughout the state for completing the fingerprinting.
  • When implemented, AAA/HCS/DDD will:
  • No longer need to roll fingerprints or send providers to law enforcement agencies to roll prints.
  • Experience a greatly reduced time frame in which they will receive the WSP/FBI fingerprint results
  • Experience less turn around time for the overall background check process because of decreased rejects associated with electronic fingerprinting.

ACTION: / We are meeting with IBT this week and will draft an MB with instructions and a schedule for implementation of the electronic fingerprinting.
Related
REFERENCES: / RCW 43.20A.710
Chapter 388-101 WAC
RCW 43.43.837
ATTACHMENT(S):
CONTACT(S): / Sue McDonough, Program Manager Shaw Seaman, Program Manager
(360) 725-2533 (360) 725-3443