DSS tightens adoption procedures

Prospective foster or adoptive parents will face much tougher scrutiny, the Rowan County Social Services Board decided this week.

The board agreed to go where no other county in the state has.

Those seeking to become adoptive or foster parents in Rowan will undergo limited civil records checks and be asked to produce copies of legal documents associated with prior divorces.

Staffers clearly did not favor the added investigation and warned that the action may reduce the number of parents willing to jump through the hoops.

Social Services Director Sandra Wilkes and other staffers said the department must build trust with the potential parents.

“As Reagan told Gorbachev, ‘Trust, but verify’ ” replied board member Jeff Morris.

“It will really cut into our applications,” said Carla Mallinson who works with the foster and adoptive parent program. “Some good people will be rejected.”

“For the sake of the children, it’s essential,” Morris replied.

Last month board members questioned the procedures and investigation into the backgrounds of prospective parents. Board members suggested that civil legal actions may hold information relevant to the process that will be missed in the current background process.

In late July, a Salisbury man was charged with 13 counts of statutory rape for having sex with his adopted daughter starting when she was 14 years old. Prior to that, the man and his wife had been foster parents.

An eight-member committee looked in depth at the current background check requirements and at what civil record checks would require.

Tom Brewer, director of the children’s Protective Services section, detailed the extensive criminal records checks that are part of the current procedure.

Criminal checks are completed for all family members 18 years or older. All family members must be fingerprinted.

The department does its own fingerprinting to avoid a $10 charge by the Sheriff’s Department.

Fingerprints are processed through the state and applicant names are searched through all state systems and then through FBI’s national data base. Applicants are automatically disqualified for any felony conviction, including drug abuse or child abuse, or if they have been convicted of driving while intoxicated in the past five years.

The state does not require a civil records check, and Brewer said no county in North Carolina does a civil records check as part of the application process for adoptive or foster parents.

Members of the committee, including David Wilson, a Social Services attorney, repeatedly pointed out that civil record checks will require additional manpower and expenses.

Civil records must be checked in courthouses.

For applicants who have moved here from other counties or states, a complete civil records check would require sending a staffer on the road or hiring a private investigator.

Staffers proposed adding a dozen questions to the application form. Many of those questions relate to sexual abuse, domestic violence and apply to the applicants as well as anyone living in the home.

The agency also will require applicants to list each address where they have lived or received mail in the past 10 years.

The board stopped short of asking for a complete civil records check.

Instead, members agreed to have a private investigator verify addresses and do some additional civil checks.

The board directed staff to look at ways to get information on domestic violence — or 50-B — orders, which is treated as a civil action. That information is not currently available to the the department.

The 12 additional questions will be added to the standard application and a warning will be added that all information is subject to verification.

In addition, all applicants who have been divorced will be asked to provide legal documents related to any divorce.

Wilson cautioned that divorces often bring out the worst in both parties, and all charges may not be factual.

Staffers warned that getting into divorce information may cause people to walk away.

“People may walk away,” agreed Morris, adding, “They may have something to hide.”

The board agreed that information related to divorces would have to be carefully screened.

In the application process, if anything raises a red flag, board members indicated a thorough check of all civil and criminal records should be carried out.

Contact Jessie Burchette at 704-797-4254 or jburchette@salisburypost.com .