Iowa Code § 125.14A - Personnel of a licensed program admitting juveniles

1. If a person is being considered for licensure under this chapter, or for employment involving direct responsibility for a child or with access to a child when the child is alone, by a program admitting juveniles subject to licensure under this chapter, or if a person will reside in a facility utilized by such a program, and if the person has been convicted of a crime or has a record of founded child abuse, the record check evaluation system of the department and the program for an employee of the program shall perform an evaluation to determine whether the crime or founded child abuse warrants prohibition of licensure, employment, or residence in the facility. The record check evaluation system shall conduct criminal and child abuse record checks in this state and may conduct these checks in other states. The evaluation shall be performed in accordance with procedures adopted for this purpose by the department. 2. If the record check evaluation system determines that a person has committed a crime or has a record of founded child abuse and is licensed, employed by a program licensed under this chapter, or resides in a licensed facility the record check evaluation system shall notify the program that an evaluation will be conducted to determine whether prohibition of the person’s licensure, employment, or residence is warranted. 3. In an evaluation, the record check evaluation system and the program for an employee of the program shall consider the nature and seriousness of the crime or founded child abuse in relation to the position sought or held, the time elapsed since the commission of the crime or founded child abuse, the circumstances under which the crime or founded child abuse was committed, the degree of rehabilitation, the likelihood that the person will commit the crime or founded child abuse again, and the number of crimes or founded child abuses committed by the person involved. The record check evaluation system may permit a person who is evaluated to be licensed, employed, or to reside, or to continue to be licensed, employed, or to reside in a program, if the person complies with the record check evaluation system’s conditions relating to the person’s licensure, employment, or residence, which may include completion of additional training. For an employee of a licensee, these conditional requirements shall be developed with the licensee. The record check evaluation system has final authority in determining whether prohibition of the person’s licensure, employment, or residence is warranted and in developing any conditional requirements under this subsection. 4. If the record check evaluation system determines that the person has committed a crime or has a record of founded child abuse which warrants prohibition of licensure, employment, or residence, the person shall not be licensed under this chapter to operate a program admitting juveniles and shall not be employed by a program or reside in a facility admitting juveniles licensed under this chapter. 5. In addition to the record checks required under this section, the record check evaluation system may conduct dependent adult abuse record checks in this state and may conduct these checks in other states, on a random basis. The provisions of this section, relative to an evaluation following a determination that a person has been convicted of a crime or has a record of founded child abuse, shall also apply to a random check conducted under this subsection. 6. A program or facility shall inform all new applicants for employment of the possibility of the performance of a record check and shall obtain, from the applicant, a signed acknowledgment of the receipt of the information. 7. A program or facility shall include the following inquiry in an application for employment: Do you have a record of founded child or dependent adult abuse or have you ever been convicted of a crime, in this state or any other state? 90 Acts, ch 1221, §1; 91 Acts, ch 138, §1; 92 Acts, ch 1163, §33; 94 Acts, ch 1130, §11; 2023 Acts, ch 19, §88