REFUGE HOUSE, INC.

PURPOSE

To operationalize the Background Check and Eligibility Policy (FC-BC-01) by providing the step-by-step process for requesting, completing, evaluating, recording, renewing, and continuously monitoring background checks for all persons within scope, using the HHSC Child Care Regulation (CCR) Provider Portal and the Centralized Background Check Unit (CBCU). Where this procedure and FC-BC-01 differ, the policy controls.

SCOPE

All persons required to have a background check under 26 TAC Chapter 745, Subchapter F: agency staff and applicants and controlling persons; foster/adoptive caregivers, applicants, and household members age 14+; substitute caregivers, respite providers, and babysitters; volunteers/interns with child contact; and contracted treatment-team members and service providers. Caregiver/household-member checks are performed within the home study process; the operational steps for those persons are detailed in the Foster Home Studies Procedure, §2 "Background Checks and Clearances," and are governed by this procedure and FC-BC-01.

DEFINITIONS

See FC-BC-01 for full definitions (CCR, CBCU, fingerprint-based check, Central Registry, eligibility determination, risk evaluation / Waiver-Variance, Rap Back, Employee List Validation). Key portal terms used below: Submit Background Check Request, Validate Employee List, Waiver/Variance, and statuses Pending / Active / Inactive with Conditions and Ineligible flags.

PROCEDURE

1. Determine Who Requires a Check and Which Checks

2. Submit the Background Check Request (Portal)

3. Complete Fingerprinting (IdentoGO / FAST)

4. Monitor Pending Requests and Receive the Determination

5. Act on the Determination ("Unified Response")

6. Risk Evaluation / Waiver or Variance

7. Record and Retain Results

8. Five-Year Renewal

9. Ongoing Monitoring (Rap Back) and Immediate Removal

10. Validate the Employee List

11. Self-Disclosure of New Information

IMPLEMENTATION — Pulse Background Check Monitoring

The Pulse compliance platform provides a Background Checks monitoring view (Compliance Dashboard) supporting the ongoing-monitoring steps above (Steps 4, 7, 8, 9, and 10). The DFPS Child Care Regulation Provider Portal is the authoritative system of record for eligibility; the implementation supports monitoring and reconciliation and does not submit checks, make eligibility decisions, or replace any portal action — staff perform all portal submissions, validations, and inactivations per Steps 2–11.

The Background Checks view:

• Reconciles people against the portal. Gathers every person Refuge House is responsible for checking across both operations — Dallas (#859955) and San Antonio (#891410) — including staff, foster/adoptive caregivers, household members age 14+, substitute caregivers, babysitters, alternative caregivers, and frequent visitors, and compares them against the operation's portal eligibility list (the CBCU "Unified Response" per person), the authoritative source for eligibility.
• Classifies eligibility from the portal determination, never by counting individual checks: ineligible, eligible with conditions, eligible, pending, or inactive. An ineligible determination surfaces as the highest-priority alert.
• Surfaces gaps. Flags a person age 14+ in an applicable role who has no portal determination (a true gap) versus a resident minor under 14 who is not yet required to be checked, and maintains an "approaching 14" watchlist that flags a resident minor as the 14th birthday nears so a check can be initiated before it is due.
• Tracks five-year renewals by calculating determination date + 5 years and flagging upcoming and past-due renewals (supports Step 8).
• Drives the Employee List Validation worklist (supports Step 10): identifies persons still Active/Pending in the portal who are no longer affiliated with Refuge House, prompting staff to inactivate them in the portal so Rap Back covers only active personnel. The §745.605 exclusion applies so outside licensed professionals are not treated as gaps.
• Provides a recordkeeping overlay (supports Step 7 and FC-BC-01 §8): links each person to the filed CBCU determination/notification PDF in the licensing/credentialing/personnel record and flags records missing the filed document. Staff submitted under both operations carry two filed records (one per operation).
• Produces a weekly reconciliation report — emailed to designated recipients, runnable on demand and on a weekly schedule — highlighting ineligible determinations, eligible-with-conditions, 14+ gaps, renewals due, the Employee List Validation worklist, missing filed records, and the approaching-14 watchlist.

The portal eligibility list is ingested into the view by import of the exported portal list.

QUALITY ASSURANCE

REFERENCES AND REGULATORY ALIGNMENT

• 26 TAC Chapter 745, Subchapter F — Background Checks: §745.611 (who requires checks), §745.605 (persons for whom a request is not required, incl. outside licensed professionals at §745.605(b)(3)), Division 5 §745.695 (risk evaluation), and the subchapter's provisions on submission, determinations, renewal, Rap Back, and Employee List Validation.
• 26 TAC Chapter 749 — Minimum Standards for Child-Placing Agencies: requires the agency to comply with the background-check requirements of Chapter 745, Subchapter F, and to keep background-check results confidential per Texas Human Resources Code §40.005(d)–(e); self-disclosure of new information.
• HHSC Child Care Regulation — CBCU and Child Care Regulation Provider Portal; DPS/FBI fingerprinting via IdentoGO/FAST; DFPS Central Registry (IMPACT).
• T3C Blueprint (October 2025) — foster-home credentialing requirements: background checks are a prerequisite to T3C credentialing and are completed within the home study/credentialing process (see FC-17). The Blueprint does not establish a separate background-check standard distinct from the CCR/CBCU rules above.
• RCC / SSCC Contract — child-safety and background-check requirements; confirm any DFPS contract-side checks with the contract manager.
• FY-26 SSCC Joint Monitoring Tool — Administrative (Desk) Review: "Criminal Background Check Policy."

RELATED POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

• FC-BC-01 Background Check and Eligibility Policy (governing policy)
• FC-17 Foster Home Studies and T3C Credentialing Policy; Foster Home Studies Procedure (§2 Background Checks and Clearances — caregiver/household operational steps)
• Personnel Manual & HR Handbook — Employee Selection Process (staff)
• Recruitment and Retention of Foster Families Policy; Alternative and Substitute Care Policy and Procedure (substitute caregivers/babysitters)
• FC-16 Staff and Caregiver Training Policy / Procedure (contracted-provider verification)
• Employee Privacy Policy; Confidentiality and Non-disclosure Policy

This procedure operationalizes FC-BC-01. The Executive Director may update it to reflect changes in the CCR Provider Portal, CBCU process, or regulations without Board approval, provided it remains aligned with the policy's intent. Process details reflect the HHSC CCR background-check system as of June 2026; follow current CCR guidance and the agency's assigned CBCU representative.