Durbin, Hawley Introduce Bipartisan Bill To Amend National Child Protection Act To Expand Nationwide Background Check Access

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, introduced a bipartisan bill to amend the National Child Protection Act of 1993 (NCPA) to ensure that individuals with unsupervised access to children, such as those under contract with a school, are, once again, authorized to have a national background check.

Since 1993, the National Child Protection Act/Volunteers for Children Act (NCPA/VCA) has made nationwide background checks available for individuals who have access to children through qualified entities.  However, the Child Protection Improvements Act of 2018 (CPIA) amended the NCPA/VCA, inadvertently narrowing NCPA/VCA’s scope and no longer authorizing contractors working with vulnerable populations to receive a nationwide background check.

“When parents drop their kids off at school, they shouldn’t have to worry if their children are safe in the care of the school’s faculty.  While the Child Protection Improvements Act was passed with the intent of keeping children safe, it created an inadvertent complication in securing nationwide background checks for all personnel with unsupervised access to children, namely contractors hired by schools,” said Durbin.  “Schools and other state agencies often rely on contractors for a number of services geared toward children, including safe transportation.  I’m introducing bipartisan legislation with Senator Hawley to correct the current patchwork approach to securing nationwide background checks for contractors who work with children.”

“Background checks for childcare workers are common sense.  My legislation with Senator Durbin fixes an oversight in the law and will help keep American kids safe.  Parents should be assured that everyone who works with their kids, even contractors, has been thoroughly vetted,” said Hawley.

Prior to the amendments made to the NCPA/VCA by the CPIA of 2018, individuals with unsupervised access to children, such as those under contract with a school, were authorized to have a national background check conducted under the previous definition of “provider.”  The CPIA changed the language of “provider” to “covered individual,” and the corresponding changes to the definition of “covered individual” removed the provision that covered contractors.  As a result, there is now a patchwork approach to background checks for contractors dependent on each state’s NCPA-enabling statutes that were all drafted before the CPIA made this change.  This approach puts children and other vulnerable individuals at risk of abuse, and the inconsistent availability of nationwide background checks may force contractors that operate nationwide to suspend hiring in states with NCPA-enabling statutes that did not foresee this issue.

Durbin and Hawley’s bill amends the NCPA/VCA to ensure that businesses and organizations under contract with qualified entities to work with vulnerable populations are included in the definition of “covered individuals.”  This change will allow those businesses and organizations to once again request nationwide background checks for their personnel working with these vulnerable populations, as well as for individuals that the businesses or organizations license or certify to provide care for these populations.

A copy of the bill is available here.

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