Georgia Lawmakers Pass New Regulations for Child Care Employees
Georgia lawmakers passed a bill this week that will change some rules for daycare centers. House Bill 350 will require childcare workers to pass a national fingerprint records check every five years. Listen to the broadcast version of this story.
Currently, state law requires daycare directors to pass national checks, but other employees just have to pass state checks. Ray Higgins is a Deputy Commissioner with Georgia’s Department of Early Care and Learning. He says the new requirement will provide an extra layer of security.
“Having very complete and reliable information about the backgrounds of those working with our most vulnerable and precious population is so critically important to child safety in Georgia,” Higgins says, “We just want to make sure we’re doing everything we can on a preventative basis to ensure and improve child safety.”
Higgins says the checks will scan for criminal records in all 50 states.
“The potential applicant will get their fingerprints captured electronically,” he says, “Those fingerprints will be transmitted to the GBI and later to the FBI to do the fingerprints-based records check. The results will be submitted back to DECAL. We will review the results and then make a determination.”
The bill has made it through both chambers and now heads to the governor for his signature.
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