REFUGE HOUSE, INC.

PURPOSE

To protect the safety and well-being of children in care by ensuring that every person who has, or could have, contact with or access to children in Refuge House's care holds a current, eligible background-check determination before that contact begins, and that eligibility is maintained continuously thereafter. This policy establishes a single, agency-wide standard for staff, foster/adoptive caregivers and their household members, substitute caregivers, volunteers, and contracted providers, in compliance with 26 Texas Administrative Code (TAC) Chapter 745, Subchapter F (Background Checks), the TAC Chapter 749 Minimum Standards for Child-Placing Agencies, and the Residential Child Care (RCC) / SSCC contract.

POLICY STATEMENT

Refuge House does not permit any person to be present at the operation, in a verified foster/adoptive home, or otherwise in contact with children in care until that person has the background checks required for their role and a determination of eligible from the Centralized Background Check Unit (CBCU) of Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) Child Care Regulation (CCR). Background checks are submitted, tracked, and maintained through the Child Care Regulation Provider Portal, and Refuge House continuously monitors eligibility through ongoing criminal-history monitoring ("Rap Back") and periodic Employee List validation. No person who is ineligible may be present at the operation or have contact with children in care.

SCOPE

This policy applies to every person who is required to have a background check under 26 TAC §745.611 and Chapter 749, including but not limited to:

• Agency staff and applicants — all employees and employment applicants (administrative, direct-service, clinical, and support), and the controlling persons of the agency (owners, directors, and others with controlling authority).
• Foster and adoptive caregivers and applicants, and all household members age 14 and older residing in a foster/adoptive home.
• Substitute caregivers, respite providers, and babysitters used by foster/adoptive homes.
• Volunteers and interns who will have contact with children in care (and any volunteer with unsupervised access).
• Contracted treatment-team members and service providers (e.g., Registered Nurses, Licensed Therapists/LCSWs, behavioral mentors) who will have contact with children in care.
• Any other person who will regularly or temporarily be present at the operation or a foster home while children are in care, as required by rule.

Exclusions — Persons for Whom Refuge House Does Not Submit a Background Check

Consistent with 26 TAC §745.605, Refuge House is not required to submit a CCR background-check request for certain persons. The exclusion most relevant to service delivery is for outside licensed professionals (§745.605(b)(3)): Refuge House is not required to submit a background check on a professional who is licensed, or is required to have a background check to meet another governmental entity's requirements — for example, Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) workers, physical therapists, speech therapists, counselors, and psychologists — provided that (a) Refuge House does not employ or contract with the professional, and (b) the professional is present only in an official capacity. (A further condition — written parental consent before unsupervised access — applies specifically to day-care operations and not to Refuge House's 24-hour foster-care setting; Refuge House nonetheless ensures appropriate supervision of any such professional's contact with a child.)

This exclusion does NOT apply to anyone Refuge House employs or contracts with. Because Refuge House's contracted treatment-team members (e.g., contracted Licensed Therapists/LCSWs, RNs, behavioral mentors) are engaged under contract, the exclusion does not cover them, and Refuge House obtains the required background checks and eligibility determinations for those individuals (see Scope and Provision 1). The exclusion applies to outside professionals who serve a child in their own official capacity and whom Refuge House neither employs nor contracts (for example, a child's ECI provider, an external evaluator, or a clinician engaged directly through STAR Health or another entity).

Refuge House does not separately submit checks for persons excluded under §745.605 in their capacity as DFPS or HHSC Child Care Regulation employees or volunteers acting in that capacity. Refuge House documents the basis for any exclusion it applies.

DEFINITIONS

• CCR — HHSC Child Care Regulation, the state entity that regulates child-placing agencies and administers background checks under 26 TAC Chapter 745, Subchapter F.
• CBCU — the Centralized Background Check Unit within CCR that reviews criminal history and abuse/neglect history and issues the eligibility determination. CBCU Support Line: 1-800-645-7549.
• Child Care Regulation Provider Portal — the HHSC online system (childcare.hhs.texas.gov) through which each Refuge House operation — Dallas (Operation #859955) and San Antonio (Operation #891410) — submits background-check requests, validates its employee list, requests waivers/variances, and views determinations and history. (Submit each person under the operation with which they are affiliated.)
• Fingerprint-based criminal history check — a comparative fingerprint search of the DPS (Texas) and FBI (national) criminal-history databases, the DPS Texas sex-offender registry, and the FBI National Sex Offender Registry, completed through the DPS vendor IdentoGO under the Fingerprint Applicant Services of Texas (FAST) program.
• Central Registry check — a search of the DFPS automated record (IMPACT) for sustained findings of child abuse or neglect; includes out-of-state abuse/neglect checks for any person who has lived in another U.S. state or territory in the previous five years.
• Eligibility determination — CBCU's decision that a person is Eligible, Eligible with conditions (following a risk evaluation), or Ineligible to be present at the operation / have contact with children in care.
• Risk evaluation / Waiver or Variance — the CBCU process by which a person with certain criminal history or an abuse/neglect finding may be evaluated and, where granted, found eligible subject to conditions. Requested and tracked through the portal's Waiver/Variance function.
• Rap Back — ongoing monitoring under which DPS/FBI automatically notify CCR of a subject's subsequent arrests, which may change a person's eligibility at any time.
• Employee List Validation — the periodic portal process ("Validate Employee List") by which Refuge House confirms that the persons affiliated with the operation are accurate and current, so that Rap Back monitoring applies only to active personnel.

POLICY PROVISIONS

1. Required Background Checks

For each person within scope, Refuge House obtains the background checks required for that person's role and supervision level under 26 TAC Chapter 745, Subchapter F. Depending on role and residency history, these include: a fingerprint-based criminal history check (DPS + FBI), a name-based Texas criminal history check, a Central Registry (abuse/neglect) check, sex-offender registry checks, and out-of-state abuse/neglect checks where the person has resided outside Texas in the prior five years. When a request is submitted through the portal, the required check types are selected automatically based on operation type, the person's role, supervision level, and out-of-state residency.

1A. Exceptional Care Additional Caregivers (2INgage)

SSCC-2INGAGE — addition start (provider-specific; remove this block if the 2INgage contract ends)

For any additional caregiver engaged to provide 2INgage Exceptional Care one-on-one supervision, Refuge House obtains an approved HHSC Child Care Regulation background-check determination before that caregiver has contact with the child. A separate additional caregiver is assigned per child, and Exceptional-Care-funded supervision is not provided by a household member or by a Medicaid-funded medical professional. (2INgage Provider Manual Rev. 1.2026 §5, pp.28–29)

SSCC-2INGAGE — addition end

2. Timing — Eligibility Before Contact

• No contact before eligibility. A person may not be present at the operation, work in or be verified for a foster/adoptive home, or otherwise have contact with children in care until CBCU has issued an Eligible (or Eligible with conditions) determination for the appropriate role.
• Staff. All employment offers are contingent on an eligible determination. Background checks are initiated as part of pre-employment screening, and a person is not solely responsible for, or in unsupervised contact with, a child until eligibility is confirmed. (See the Personnel Manual — Employee Selection Process.)
• Caregivers and household members. Background checks are completed and eligible determinations obtained before a foster/adoptive home is verified and before any household member age 14+ is present with a child in care. (See the Foster Home Studies / T3C Credentialing Policy, FC-17.)
• New roles and new associations. When an existing eligible person takes on a new role, Refuge House submits the new role through the portal's Submit Background Check Request function ("submit a new role for an existing individual").

3. Submission and Fingerprinting

• Refuge House submits all background-check requests through the Child Care Regulation Provider Portal ("Submit Background Check Request").
• Fingerprints are completed through IdentoGO (FAST) using the Service Code and UEID provided after a request is submitted.
• Refuge House tracks each request and its status (Pending → Active, or Inactive) in the portal's Background Check History.

4. Determinations ("Unified Response")

CBCU returns one of the following determinations, which Refuge House honors immediately:

• Eligible (permitted contact). The person may be present at the operation and have contact with children in care. In the portal, the person appears with Conditions: No / Ineligible: No and an Active status.
• Eligible with conditions (additional action / variance). Following a risk evaluation, the person may be present only subject to conditions specified by CBCU. Refuge House must implement and document those conditions, which may be managed through the portal's Waiver/Variance function. In the portal, the person appears with Conditions: Yes.
• Ineligible (no contact). The person may not be present at the operation or have any contact with children in care. Refuge House immediately ensures the person has no such contact. In the portal, the person appears with Ineligible: Yes.
• Pending. While a determination is Pending, the person is treated as not yet eligible — they may not have unsupervised contact with children in care, and may not be present except as expressly allowed by rule for the role.

5. Five-Year Renewal

Background checks must be renewed at least every five (5) years. Renewal includes resubmitting fingerprints through IdentoGO/FAST. Refuge House tracks upcoming expirations and initiates renewals before the prior determination lapses so that eligibility is continuous.

6. Ongoing Monitoring, Self-Disclosure, and Loss of Eligibility

• Rap Back. Because fingerprint-based checks are enrolled in ongoing DPS/FBI Rap Back monitoring, CCR may notify Refuge House at any time of new criminal-history information affecting a person's eligibility.
• Immediate removal. If CBCU notifies Refuge House that a person is no longer eligible (or imposes new conditions), Refuge House immediately removes that person from any contact with children in care and takes the personnel/credentialing action required by the determination.
• Self-disclosure. All persons within scope must promptly notify Refuge House of any arrest, charge, conviction, deferred adjudication, or abuse/neglect finding occurring after their last check; failure to disclose is grounds for disciplinary action up to termination or removal.

7. Employee List Validation

Refuge House keeps its operation's list of affiliated persons accurate so that Rap Back monitoring covers only active personnel. On the schedule prompted by CCR (CCR notifies the operation ~30 days before validation is due), Refuge House uses the portal's Validate Employee List function to confirm the list and inactivate any person no longer associated with the operation. (Most recent validation on file: 04/02/2026.)

8. Recordkeeping and Confidentiality

• Although determinations and history are viewable in the portal, Refuge House maintains the background-check results and CBCU notifications it receives in its own records: in personnel files for staff, in the home's licensing/credentialing file (Radius) for caregivers and household members, and in provider files for contracted providers.
• Background-check information is confidential and is accessed only by personnel with a legitimate need to know, and is protected from unauthorized access or release, consistent with Texas Human Resources Code §40.005(d)–(e) and the Employee Privacy and Confidentiality policies.

SSCC-EMPOWER — addition start (provider-specific; remove this block if the EMPOWER contract ends)

For any additional caregiver providing EMPOWER Exceptional Care one-on-one supervision, Refuge House obtains an approved HHSC Child Care Regulation background-check determination before the caregiver has contact with the child; a separate additional caregiver is assigned per child, and such supervision is not provided by a household member or a Medicaid/Superior Health-funded medical professional (EMPOWER Provider Manual Rev. 1.2026 §5, p.31).

SSCC-EMPOWER — addition end

SSCC-4KIDS — addition start (provider-specific; remove this block if the 4Kids4Families contract ends)

For the 4Kids4Families network, Refuge House maintains programs and policies ensuring no Prohibited Person (e.g., a felony within five years, an active protective order, or an adverse or pending CANE finding) has contact with children, and immediately bars any staff member with an unresolved incident pending the SSCC's written consent (4Kids4Families Subcontractor Agreement Art. I §1.4, Art. XV). Personnel files include the current professional license, completed Forms 2970c/2971c, and background-check results (Art. XVIII §2).

SSCC-4KIDS — addition end

9. Exclusion Screening, E-Verify, and Renewal (SSCC / HHS contract requirements)

In addition to the Child Care Regulation background checks above, and as required by Refuge House's SSCC contracts (applied agency-wide):

• Exclusion screening — before offering employment or a contract, and at least quarterly thereafter, Refuge House checks the federal exclusion databases (HHS-OIG LEIE and SAM.gov). (2INgage Provider Services Agreement §4.33)
• E-Verify — Refuge House uses E-Verify to confirm employment eligibility of all persons employed for the contract term. (DFPS UTC Addendum §8.25)
• Renewal & Principals — background disclosures/releases are renewed at intervals not exceeding 24 months; agency Principals complete checks via the applicable system; on a cleared reassignment, Refuge House notifies DFPS/SSCC within 10 business days and obtains approval before reassignment. (DFPS UTC Addendum §8.23)

QUALITY ASSURANCE AND COMPLIANCE

• The Administrator (or designee) is responsible for ensuring all required checks are current and that no ineligible person has contact with children in care.
• Refuge House monitors: completion of checks before contact/employment/verification; pending determinations; five-year renewal due dates; Employee List Validation due dates; and Rap Back notifications.
• Non-compliance response: a person without a current eligible determination is kept from contact with children; for caregivers this includes a placement hold; for staff, appropriate performance/employment action; for contracted providers, suspension or contract review.

REGULATORY ALIGNMENT

• 26 TAC Chapter 745, Subchapter F — Background Checks: who requires checks (§745.611); persons for whom a request is not required, including outside licensed professionals (§745.605, esp. §745.605(b)(3)); risk evaluation (§745.695); and eligibility, renewal, Rap Back, and Employee List Validation provisions.
• 26 TAC Chapter 749 — Minimum Standards for Child-Placing Agencies: requires the agency to comply with the background-check requirements of 26 TAC Chapter 745, Subchapter F, and to keep background-check results confidential per Texas Human Resources Code §40.005(d)–(e).
• HHSC Child Care Regulation — Centralized Background Check Unit process and Provider Portal.
• DPS / FBI — fingerprint-based criminal history and Rap Back; IdentoGO/FAST fingerprinting.
• DFPS Central Registry (IMPACT) — abuse/neglect history.
• RCC / SSCC Contract — contractual background-check and child-safety requirements.
• FY-26 SSCC Joint Monitoring Tool — Administrative (Desk) Review item: "Criminal Background Check Policy."

RELATED POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

• Personnel Manual & HR Handbook — Employee Selection Process (staff background checks)
• FC-17 Foster Home Studies and T3C Credentialing Policy / Foster Home Studies Procedure (caregiver/household background checks and clearances)
• Recruitment and Retention of Foster Families Policy (substitute caregiver checks)
• Alternative and Substitute Care Policy and Procedure (substitute caregivers / babysitting)
• FC-16 Staff and Caregiver Training Policy (contracted-provider qualification verification)
• Employee Privacy Policy; Confidentiality and Non-disclosure Policy (recordkeeping/confidentiality)
• FC-BC-01.1 Background Check Procedure — step-by-step portal submission, fingerprinting (IdentoGO/FAST), determination handling, risk evaluation / Waiver-Variance, recordkeeping, five-year renewal, ongoing Rap Back monitoring, and Employee List Validation.

FORMS / REFERENCES

• HHSC Form 2971 — Child Care Regulation Request for Background Check
• Child Care Regulation Provider Portal — https://childcare.hhs.texas.gov/ (Background Checks; Validate Employee List; Waiver/Variance)
• CBCU Support Line — 1-800-645-7549
• Background Check Tracking Log (renewals, Employee List Validation dates)
• Self-Disclosure / Notification of New Criminal or CANRA Information form

SSCC alignment (FY-26): 2INgage Provider Manual Rev. 1.2026 — §5 (pp.28–29 Exceptional Care additional caregivers). Cross-reference: FC-CQI-01 Continuous Quality Improvement Policy; FY-26 SSCC coverage tracker (temporary-reference/fy26-sscc-joint-monitoring/sscc-alignment/).

SSCC alignment (FY-26) — EMPOWER: EMPOWER Provider Manual Rev. 1.2026 — §5 (p.31 Exceptional Care additional caregivers). Cross-reference: FC-CQI-01 Continuous Quality Improvement Policy; FY-26 SSCC variance matrix.

SSCC alignment (FY-26) — OCOK: OCOK Network Management Operations Manual Rev. 7-1-2025 — reviewed; aligned, no additional provider-specific provisions required in this document. Cross-reference: FC-CQI-01 Continuous Quality Improvement Policy; FY-26 SSCC variance matrix.

SSCC alignment (FY-26) — 4Kids: 4Kids4Families Joint Operations Manual (Dec 2025) / Subcontractor Agreement — Agreement Art. I §1.4, Art. XV (Prohibited Person); Art. XVIII §2 (personnel files). Cross-reference: FC-CQI-01 Continuous Quality Improvement Policy; FY-26 SSCC variance matrix.

SSCC alignment (FY-26) — Belong: Belong Stage I & II Provider Manual (Aug 2025) / Provider Services Agreement — reviewed; aligned, no additional provider-specific provisions required in this document. Cross-reference: FC-CQI-01 Continuous Quality Improvement Policy; FY-26 SSCC variance matrix.

SSCC alignment (FY-26) — SFCS: SFCS Placement Provider Manual (July 2020, publicly-sourced — currency unconfirmed) / 2019 Affiliate Provider Agreement — reviewed; aligned, no additional provider-specific provisions required in this document. Cross-reference: FC-CQI-01 Continuous Quality Improvement Policy; FY-26 SSCC variance matrix.

This policy establishes the governing principles for background checks and eligibility. The corresponding procedure (FC-BC-01.1) operationalizes these principles with specific steps (who, when, where, and how). Process details reflect the HHSC Child Care Regulation background-check system as of June 2026; staff should follow current CCR rules and guidance from the agency's assigned CBCU representative, and confirm any SSCC/contract-specific requirements with DFPS.