Police record check required by law?

This makes total sense; but as no parent has ever asked for this I have not bothered to update my Police Check...oops!

I found this on the CCPRN (Ottawa) website; how did I not know about this sooner;)....http://www.ccprn.com/

"2. The law requires that all those working in the vulnerable sector (this includes home child care providers) have a current Police Record Check. To obtain this, go to your nearest police station, and they will, for a fee, provide you with this document on yourself. Forms are available at http://www.ottawapolice.ca/en/Servin...cks/index.aspx or page 27 of this guide."

I had to have one of these done in order to be contracted through the licensed agency when I started and I had to get another one done when I accepted a child who was a ward of Family Children Services so I have always had one to show any client who 'asked' but you are so correct most do not ask about these.

Part of the challenge with Police Checks is they provide a fall sense of security ~ they only serve to rule out people who have been CAUGHT doing something wrong to children and they are only as good as the day they are done because you could commit a crime 4 days after and it would not show up on your record .... there have been cases of people working in 'licensed / regulated' settings with a record because their initial police check came back clean and they committed crime after words.

I also get that since this costs $$$$ from our budget and since we are 'unregulated' and therefore it is up to us to voluntarily choose to do this and than up to the parents in our care to ensure that this is done before enrolling ~ so if clients using our services are not bothered to ask for a police check than why keep forking out the $$$ to have it done so it can sit in a binder somewhere and expire.

Been in business 5 years and no one has ever really 'read' mine or my spouses it just sits there in my portfolio and they 'brush past it' in the interview?

Yup, I've only had 2 people ask to see mine over the past 4 years. I haven't updated as it would come out the same and I don't plan to update it until someone wants it again. I'm not wasting my money on it.

I haven't done mine since I graduated ECE in 1994. I've never had anyone ask. Really, though it makes sense, I had no idea that as home care providers, that we were expected to do so. Oops :) Thanks for the heads up!

Not sure I agree with what the CCPRN is saying in the sense that while they may have asked the police there are very few organizations including the police that truly understand our business and how it operates. The reason organizations like an agency, boy scouts or now even our church for teaching Sunday School ask for it is to protect themselves not the parents or children. It is a form of passing the buck so to speak in the sense of they can claim due diligence in the future.

I haven't had one done since the late nineties when I had to have it done in London to be a block parent. I see it simply as a money grab that tells the parents nothing of value. If a caregiver has their own children in the home then likely there are no issues since if there were then CAS would have removed the caregiver's children from the home too.

All our licensing "hoop jumping" is a money grab! We just have to shut up and do what we have to. Government. :) :)

I don't have one and never have had one. In almost 5 years I've only had one Dad ask if I had it and I asked him if I was a single Mom raising 4 children and working 2 jobs nonstop to make ends meet when would I have time to break the law? I didn't sign them on. :rolleyes: