Title 249—PHILADELPHIA RULES PHILADELPHIA COUNTY Child Protective Services Law; No. 1 of 2016 [46 Pa.B. 2855]
[Saturday, June 4, 2016]Order And now, this 12th day of May, 2016, upon consideration of the 2014 and 2015 amendments to the Pennsylvania State Child Protective Services Law which requires First Judicial District (''FJD'') employees, volunteers (interns), and job applicants whose employment or volunteer responsibilities include, as an integral component, the regular and repeated contact with children under the age of 18 in the course of providing care, supervision, guidance or control of the children to obtain criminal background checks and child abuse clearances from the FBI, Pennsylvania State Police, and Department of Human Services prior to December 31, 2015 and every 60 months thereafter, the Administrative Governing Board of the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania (''AGB'') has decided that effective immediately:
1) No individual under the age of 16 years of age shall be permitted to be employed in any capacity (full time or part time), or to serve as a volunteer or as an intern in the FJD, unless specifically approved in writing by the AGB.
2) FJD employees who supervise any employee, volunteer or intern who are between 16 and 18 years of age must notify the Office of Human Resources (''OHR'') via email as soon as they are assigned to supervise such minor employee, volunteer or intern. Any FJD employee who currently supervises such minors must notify OHR within ten (10) days of the distribution of this order to FJD employees.
3) Upon receipt of such notification, OHR must forthwith verify that the criminal background checks and child abuse clearances listed below have been submitted and that they are current. In the event such reports and clearances have not been submitted or are not current, OHR shall coordinate with the supervisor the following requests:
a. Pennsylvania Child Abuse Clearance.
b. Pennsylvania State Police Records Check.
c. FBI Report (which requires submission of a full set of Fingerprints).
The cost for the above reports and clearances will be paid by the FJD.
The provisions of this Order do not apply to minors who attend FJD facilities for courtroom observations under the supervision of the minors' school or other institution.
This Order shall be filed with the Office of Judicial Records in a Docket maintained for orders issued by the Administrative Governing Board of the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania, and shall be submitted to the Pennsylvania Bulletin for publication. Copies of the order shall be submitted to the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts, American Lawyer Media, The Legal Intelligencer, Jenkins Memorial Law Library, and the Law Library for the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania, and shall be posted on the website of the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania: http://www.courts.phila.gov/regs.
By the Court
HONORABLE SHEILA WOODS-SKIPPER,
Chair, Administrative Governing Board
First Judicial District of Pennsylvania
President Judge, Court of Common Pleas
Philadelphia County[Pa.B. Doc. No. 16-946. Filed for public inspection June 3, 2016, 9:00 a.m.]
