Clear Childcare Staff
Before Children Are in Their Care
A new hire can't be alone with children until their clearance comes back — and a rejected submission stalls the start date or surfaces at your next licensing visit. We get childcare staff cleared through Community Care Licensing the first time, at your center or our San Jose office.
Cleared, licensed childcare staff — documented for Community Care Licensing.
How a childcare center clears staff for licensing
California licenses childcare through the Department of Social Services Community Care Licensing Division, and Health & Safety Code §1596.871 requires a criminal-record clearance before an employee, applicant, or other adult subject to the requirement has contact with children in care. That clearance runs on a fingerprint-based Live Scan submission to the California DOJ — a name-only or database check does not satisfy it.
We capture each person's prints at our San Jose office or onsite at your center, transmit them electronically to the DOJ and the FBI, and the results, with a Child Abuse Central Index check, return to your facility under your own ORI. You receive a completion record to keep in your licensing and personnel files for an application, a renewal, or a licensing visit.
Because the clearance includes a national FBI criminal-history check, out-of-state hires and adults with prior residence elsewhere are covered in the same sitting. Where an agency asks for a mailed card instead of an electronic submission, we also roll FD-258 ink cards for the same applicant.
Who must be cleared
Center directors and owner-operators, teachers and aides, and the employees and applicants a center brings on. In a family child-care home, the licensee and adults 18 and older who live or are regularly present in the home are part of the clearance too. We fingerprint each person and document the submission for your file.
One vendor for the whole clearance
Live Scan for DOJ and FBI clearance, FD-258 ink cards where an agency requires a mailed card, and Form I-9 verification for new hires — coordinated under one childcare account instead of stitched together across several providers.
What California childcare licensing requires
A childcare license in California is conditioned on criminal-record clearance for the people responsible for children. Health & Safety Code §1596.871 and the Community Care Licensing regulations in Title 22 require that clearance through fingerprint-based Live Scan, processed by the California DOJ together with the FBI and the Child Abuse Central Index, before a person counts toward your staffing or has unsupervised contact with children.
Clearances are tied to your facility and the applicant type and submitted under your own ORI, so they are not transferable from a previous employer — each center or family child-care home runs its own. The same fingerprint-based clearance underpins licensing for healthcare and senior-care facilities and for youth-serving organizations under AB 506, two areas we work in alongside childcare.
- Criminal-record clearance for staff under Health & Safety Code §1596.871 (Community Care Licensing, Title 22).
- A fingerprint-based Live Scan submission to the California DOJ — a name-only or database check does not satisfy it.
- A national FBI criminal-history check as part of the clearance.
- A Child Abuse Central Index (CACI) check under Penal Code §11170.
- In a family child-care home, the licensee and adults 18 and older living or regularly present in the home.
- License-exempt and in-home caregivers cleared through the TrustLine Registry (Health & Safety Code §1596.60).
- District- and school-operated programs may also clear staff under the California Education Code.
Fingerscan Digital provides fingerprinting and identity-verification services; we are not your legal or licensing advisor. Confirm clearance, exemption, and disqualification requirements with Community Care Licensing or your own counsel.
What it costs a childcare center to get clearance wrong
Clearance is not paperwork you can backfill. A missed or rejected submission can stall a hire, draw a licensing finding, or leave a center out of compliance while children are already enrolled. Each row below names the rule and the real cost of getting it wrong.
| What goes wrong | Governing rule | What it costs |
|---|---|---|
| Staff member has contact with children before clearance clears | Health & Safety Code §1596.871; Title 22 | Licensing citation and possible civil penalties; the individual must be removed from contact until cleared. |
| Name-based or database check used instead of Live Scan | Health & Safety Code §1596.871 | Does not satisfy the clearance. The center stays out of compliance and exposed at a licensing visit. |
| Prints rolled by a non-DOJ-certified roller | California Business & Professions Code §22440 et seq. | Submission rejected by the DOJ. The process restarts with a certified roller, and government fees already paid are lost. |
| Wrong ORI number or applicant-type code on the BCIA 8016 | Penal Code §11105; agency BCIA 8016 requirements | DOJ rejects or misroutes the submission, fees are paid twice, and a start date slips one to two weeks. |
| No completion record kept for the licensing file | Title 22 documentation requirements | A finding at a licensing visit and cleanup overhead when clearance has to be reconstructed by hand. |
Fingerprinting is completed by a California DOJ-certified Live Scan provider — verify on the California DOJ provider listing ↗ — and the federal portion is submitted through FBI-approved Channeler partners ↗ for expedited results.
How a childcare center clears staff for licensing, in five steps
Request a quote
Tell us how many people you need cleared, your location, your timeline, and whether you need Live Scan, FD-258 cards, or both. We confirm scope and send a quote — pricing depends on volume, so there is no fixed figure to guess at.
Open your account
We exchange a W-9 and a short services agreement, set up net-30 billing, and configure your ORI and BCIA 8016 so staff and applicants never pay at the kiosk.
Send your staff details
Send us each person's information, or the completed Live Scan request forms. We confirm the correct applicant type and prepare every submission before capture.
Fingerprinting
We capture each person's prints at our San Jose office or onsite at your center and transmit them electronically to the California DOJ and the FBI — the founder who is accountable for the result does the work.
Clearance & records
Clearance results, with the Child Abuse Central Index check, return to your facility under your ORI. You receive a completion record for your licensing and personnel files.
Any provider can take prints. Here's what we do that they don't
We make the clearance land
A wrong ORI or applicant-type code on the BCIA 8016 gets a submission rejected — and a rejected clearance keeps a teacher off the floor. We confirm the ORI, applicant type, and print quality before anything goes to the DOJ, so it clears the first time.
The whole clearance, one vendor
DOJ, FBI, and the Child Abuse Central Index in one sitting — plus FD-258 cards or Form I-9 for an out-of-area hire. You're not chasing three vendors to close one file.
We come to your center
Sending a teacher to a kiosk pulls them out of ratio. We capture prints onsite at your center, scheduled around your hours, or at our San Jose office — whichever keeps your classrooms covered.
Documented for your licensing file
You get a completion record a Community Care Licensing analyst will accept at an application, a renewal, or a visit — not a generic kiosk receipt.
Billing your staff never touch
The center is invoiced on net-30 terms under your own ORI, so applicants don't pay at the counter and no one files a reimbursement.
Founder-led, local, bilingual
You work with the founder who is accountable for the result, not a rotating counter clerk — with intake in English, Vietnamese, and Spanish, and a DOJ listing you can verify yourself.
Clearance for every kind of childcare program
Childcare & daycare centers
Teachers, aides, directors, and applicants cleared under Community Care Licensing before they count toward staffing or have unsupervised contact with children.
Family child-care homes
The licensee plus adults 18 and older who live or are regularly present in the home, all fingerprinted and documented for your file.
Preschools & pre-K
Staff cleared for a new license application or a renewal, scheduled around your program calendar at your site or our office.
After-school & enrichment
Clearance for staff and regular adults working with children on a hiring deadline, with a completion record for licensing or your funder.
License-exempt & in-home care
Caregivers and providers cleared through the TrustLine Registry where a license is not required but a background check still is.
Out-of-area hires
A national FBI check covers staff who lived in another state, captured in one sitting — with FD-258 ink cards where an agency wants a mailed card.
Set up a childcare account for ongoing staff clearance
Centers and family child-care networks that hire through the year — and multi-site operators with several locations — can run a standing account instead of requesting a fresh quote for every hire. Setup takes minutes and is free.
- Net-30 invoicing as standard, with one consolidated statement per location.
- Centralized ORI and billing so staff and applicants never pay at the kiosk.
- Staff-list intake by secure upload; completion records returned for your licensing file.
- Signed services agreement and W-9 on file; submissions prepared under the correct applicant type.
- Coverage at our San Jose office and onsite across the Bay Area, with mailed FD-258 statewide.
Set up a childcare account → or email info@fingerscan-digital.com.
Request a childcare clearance quote
Tell us about your staff and we'll send a quote to your inbox. We reply within one business day; nothing is published and no payment is taken here.
Quinnie Do — Founder, California DOJ-Certified Live Scan Provider
Quinnie Do founded Fingerscan Digital Inc to give Bay Area organizations a single, accountable vendor for workforce fingerprinting and identity verification. Her team supports childcare centers and family child-care homes through Community Care Licensing clearance, alongside healthcare, education, and employer screening. Fingerscan Digital Inc is a California DOJ-certified Live Scan provider — verify our DOJ provider listing ↗ — and Quinnie is a commissioned Notary Public, an IRS-authorized tax preparer, and a licensed real estate agent (LDA #268). Federal checks are submitted through FBI approved Channelers (Departmental Order submissions) ↗. English service standard; native Vietnamese spoken by Quinnie; Spanish supported by an on-staff partner.
Feedback we hear from childcare operators
Representative, illustrative comments shown for context — not verified live reviews. Replace with consented client quotes, or display verified Google reviews via the Trustindex block below.
“We had three new teachers starting and a licensing renewal due the same month. They cleared everyone quickly and gave us a record we could drop straight into the file.”
Center directorChildcare center (illustrative)“As a family child-care home I wasn't sure who in my household needed to be cleared. They walked me through it and handled the whole submission.”
LicenseeFamily child-care home (illustrative)“They knew exactly which ORI and applicant type we needed. No rejected submissions, which is not what we got the last time staff went out on their own.”
Operations leadPreschool network (illustrative)Childcare & daycare fingerprinting FAQ
Do childcare workers need fingerprinting in California?
Yes. Childcare staff obtain a criminal-record clearance under Health & Safety Code §1596.871, and Live Scan fingerprinting submitted to the California DOJ is part of that process. A name-only or database check does not satisfy it.
Does this apply to family child-care homes?
Yes. Family child-care homes and centers both carry clearance requirements supported by fingerprinting. In a family child-care home, the licensee and adults 18 and older who live or are regularly present in the home are included.
Can staff be fingerprinted onsite at our center?
Yes. We capture prints at our San Jose office or onsite at your center, whichever fits your hiring schedule. Volume and location are captured on the quote form.
How fast do DOJ and FBI results come back?
We submit the same day we capture prints. Electronic Live Scan typically returns DOJ results within a few days, with the FBI portion usually close behind, though timing depends on the DOJ and FBI and on whether a record needs manual review.
Does a name-based background check satisfy childcare licensing, or do we need Live Scan?
A fingerprint-based Live Scan submission to the DOJ, with the FBI and the Child Abuse Central Index, is what Community Care Licensing relies on under Health & Safety Code §1596.871. A name-only or database check generally does not meet it. Confirm your specifics with Community Care Licensing.
What is the TrustLine Registry, and who needs it?
TrustLine is California's background-check registry for license-exempt and in-home caregivers — for example, providers who are not separately licensed. Where a license is not required but a background check still is, the caregiver is cleared through TrustLine (Health & Safety Code §1596.60).
Do you provide a record we can keep for our licensing file?
Yes. You receive a completion record showing who was printed and when, suitable for your licensing and personnel files. We provide fingerprinting services, not legal advice; confirm documentation requirements with Community Care Licensing or your counsel.
Clear your childcare staff before children are in their care
Tell us how many people you need cleared and your timeline. We'll send a quote and complete your Live Scan for Community Care Licensing — at your center or at our San Jose office.