What is a Central Registry Exception?

In Arizona, if you work with the public, you must have a Fingerprint Clearance card.

It requires a background check on the Central Registry. The registry is a collection of databases where the Department of Child Safety keeps the information about allegations of child abuse, adult abuse, or neglect.

If you don’t pass this background check, you may be eligible for a central registry exception. This exception allows a person to receive a fingerprint clearance card despite having substantiated claims of neglect or abuse.

To receive a central registry exception, you’ll need to prove to the Arizona Fingerprint Board you have been rehabilitated. But first, however, you’ll need to fill out an application.

At this point, you’ll want to make sure you have an attorney’s assistance. They can help you with the process. Sometimes, you may also need to appear before the Arizona Fingerprint Board. You’ll want to know central registry hearing factors if this is the case.

Arizona Fingerprint Board

The Arizona Fingerprint Board also offers information on the central registry exception process. On their site, you’ll find information on investigator reviews, expedited reviews, administrative hearings, and board hearings. Click here to see for yourself.

Arizona Central Registry Exception

A Central Registry Exception is for individuals listed on the CPS central registry. After receiving an application, the Board will conduct an expedited review. The Arizona Board of Fingerprinting determines whether to grant a central registry exception within twenty days of receiving the application. 

Chelle Law Fingerprint Clearance Card hearing lawyers handle Arizona Central Registry Exception applications with the Arizona Fingerprint Board. 

What is the Arizona Central Registry Exception?

What is the Arizona State Central Registry Exception? 

The Arizona Central Registry is essentially a database of individuals in Arizona that have substantiated claims of abuse or neglect of children through the DCS (Department of Child Services) in Arizona. Suppose you’ve had criminal convictions for similar incidents, abuse, or neglect of children. In that case, you’ll be placed on the Central Registry. 

In Arizona, specific jobs require a background check, including a search of the Arizona Central Registry. Suppose you’re going to apply for a job requiring a background check, and you have substantiated claims of abuse or neglect or have had criminal convictions for the same of children. That job cannot hire you unless you get a Central Registry exception with the Arizona Board of Fingerprinting.

Next, how would you apply for the Central Registry exception with the Board? The Board will want the documents associated with the substantiated claim to make the process as simple as possible. If there’s a criminal conviction, they need the court documents, the police records—that type of thing. Ultimately, the Board wants to know that if these things happened, the individual has been rehabilitated to some extent so that the Board feels comfortable allowing them to be around vulnerable children.

There are some crimes for which you cannot get a good cause exception, and you’ll never be granted a central registry exception. They have a list on the website with the Arizona Board of Fingerprinting. It’s in the Arizona Revised Statutes of what’s called precluded offenses.

There are crimes you can appeal with the central registry exception or good cause exception. And there are crimes where you will never get a fingerprint clearance card. Let’s break that down. If you did have a crime that put you on the Central Registry and is considered a precluded offense that completely stops you from ever getting a card, you’re out of luck. 

However, if you land on the list for not a crime, but there was a child services investigation, and they substantiated a claim of abuse or neglect, that would be the situation where you would be able to apply for the Central Registry exception with the Board of Fingerprinting.

If nothing has happened since that time, meaning there has been no rehabilitation at all, you haven’t gone to counseling, haven’t done therapy or ethics training, or you have never been able to get custody of the child involved, that type of thing. It’s going to be very difficult to get the central registry exception. These are rare, to be honest. 

Most of the time, if someone does have a substantiated claim of abuse or neglect in their past, they’ll avoid applying for jobs where the Level 1 Fingerprint Clearance Card is necessary. However, a few want to go through with it, and that’s what this process is for.

So, that’s what a central registry exception is in Arizona.

Arizona State Central Registry Board Hearing

The Board may grant a central registry exception at a hearing if the individual can show the Board the person has been successfully rehabilitated. The Board may also consider the person’s criminal record when determining whether or not a person has been rehabilitated.

After the hearing, the Board will either grant or deny a central registry exception. It usually happens within eighty days after the hearing.

Contact us today if you would like to schedule a consultation or set up an appointment with one of our attorneys to discuss a central registry exception application.