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Issue Alert - 10-01-06

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Date:

Jan 05, 2010
Program Area:

Child Development and Care (CDC)
Issue Summary:

When a child care aide or relative care provider is denied enrollment for CDC, DHS will send the aide/provider a copy of any criminal background check matches on which the denial is based
Persons Affected:

Individuals denied enrollment as a CDC provider
For More Information:

Center for Civil Justice 320 S. Washington, 2nd Floor Saginaw, MI 48607 (989) 755-3120, (800)724-7441 Fax: (989) 755-3558 E-mail: info@ccj-mi.org

Michigan Poverty Law Program 611 Church Street, Suite 4A Ann Arbor, MI 48104-3000 (734) 998-6100 (734) 998-9125 Fax

Background

DHS does criminal background checks at enrollment and periodically thereafter to determine whether they will approve child care aides or relative care providers to receive CDC payments.  DHS looks at histories on the individual seeking payment and also on any adults living in the relative care provider’s home.  (Child care aides provide care in the child’s home.)

 

In the past, when DHS denied CDC provider enrollment because of a match in the criminal background check, DHS did not provide information about the history on which the denial was based.  

What's Happening?

As the result of advocacy by legal services attorneys in Michigan,  DHS now requires that a copy of the criminal background information be sent to the provider when enrollment is denied or terminated. This will help providers assess whether the information used is accurate and whether it involves a person in their home. 

(For example, DHS routinely does a match of its own records to identify persons who are listed in its records as living at the same address as the provider and then does criminal background checks on all such persons.  This may result in CDC provider enrollment denials based on the criminal background of a person who lives in the same building as the provider, but in a different apartment.) 

What Should Advocates Do?

 Help clients determine whether the criminal history information is a valid reason for

1.     denying or terminating provider enrollment (crimes may be coded and require a match with the list of disqualifying offenses in the DHS Crime Codes Exhibit http://www.mfia.state.mi.us/olmweb/ex/CrimeCodesExhibit/CrimeCodesExhibit.pdf)

Help clients request administrative review and provide information supporting enrollment.  See BEM 704 http://www.mfia.state.mi.us/olmweb/ex/bem/704.pdf

What Should Clients Do?

Seek legal help if DHS denies or terminates your enrollment as a CDC provider based on a criminal history check, if you believe the information is inaccurate, is not a valid basis for denial of enrollment, or is not relevant to you or an adult (age 18 or older) in your home.

See below for information about finding legal help.

Finding Help

Most legal aid and legal services offices handle these types of cases, and they do not charge a fee.

You can locate various sources of legal and related services, including the free legal aid office that serves your county, at MichiganLegalAid.org.

You can also look in the yellow pages under "attorneys" or call the toll-free lawyer referral number, (800) 968-0738.