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Criminal Background Check
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I have worked as a teacher and as a therapist and for both careers, I have had
to have a criminal background check. This precautionary step is a great
screening tool for employers who hire people who work with children. Recently, I
have come across a few news articles that involve people who work with children
who have a criminal record. Not everyone who works with children is required to
have a criminal background check. This is a very disturbing trend and many
school districts and childcare providers are taking steps to assure that their
employees have a criminal background check before going into the field.
In addition to the criminal background check, many employers are requiring that
employees have a clearance check that involves a history of child abuse. This is
another screening tool that is essential for people who are going to work with
children because it checks for crimes specific to children. A person may not
pass a criminal background check because he was caught shoplifting when he was
eighteen. The person may be a model citizen and he may be very good with
children, but he will probably not secure a position because of the criminal
background check.
Recently, I had to be fingerprinted to complete clearances for the University of
Phoenix online education program. The state of Arizona requires teachers to have
a fingerprint clearance in addition to the traditional criminal background
check. I wasn’t concerned about the results of the fingerprint background check,
but I did have to take my five-month-old daughter to the police station so mommy
could get fingerprinted by the local police.
For some reason I did not give a second thought to the criminal background
check, but the fingerprint clearance gave me bad dreams. I guess that it had to
do with having to take a baby to a police station or just good old-fashioned
guilt, but I kept dreaming that the fingerprints came up in an investigation for
a major crime. The dreams were really disturbing and I told my husband that I
must have a guilty conscious. He thinks that it has to do with the realization
that the Federal Government makes the fingerprint clearance and I’m beginning to
see things on a larger scale.
Maybe the guilty dreams have to do with the fact that no one is perfect. We have
all made mistakes and we have all had to face the consequences for our mistakes.
Passing a criminal background check is no problem for a law-abiding citizen like
me, but passing a fingerprint background check seems to strike me on a more
personal level. After all, a part of me is literally cleared through the state.
I guess that I realize that I am not perfect and I should feel lucky to have an
opportunity to touch the lives of our children through my career.
Related News Items
Statewide Criminal Background Check
Resources
Employee Background Check - Criminal
Background Check
Criminal Records Resource Center
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