Head Start Will Screen for Sex Offenders

The secretary of health and human services Friday announced more intensive screening procedures to weed out any sex offenders working with children in the Head Start program. But a report by the department’s inspector general’s office questioned whether the proposed checks will accomplish their purpose.

Secretary Margaret M. Heckler said in a speech read for her to a Virginia women’s conference that the department will begin next month to “require a more selective and more intensive screening” of all prospective members of the Head Start staff, which serves 450,000 low-income preschool children and their families. Head Start employs about 75,000 workers nationwide.

“Individuals will be interviewed, personal and employment reference reviews will be mandatory and a state and national criminal check will be effectuated as required,” the statement said. “Every employee and volunteer will be explicitly advised that sexual activity with, and abuse of, children is illegal.”

Heckler also announced that the department plans to distribute $12.5 million to aid state programs dealing with child abuse and neglect and is making $25 million in social services block grant funds available to states and territories to train “child care workers, operators, parents and licensing personnel, with a focus on reducing child abuse in day care centers.”

She also announced plans for a meeting later this spring of representatives of all federal departments to discuss “coordinating our strategy in the war to curb, if not cure, family violence.”

The speech was read by C. McClain Haddow, the department’s chief of staff, who filled in for Heckler when a schedule change led her to cancel her appearance.

‘No Guarantee’

Meanwhile, the inspector general’s office called employment screening through checks on background, job references and criminal records “desirable, but no guarantee that child molesters will be identified.” Heckler’s text announced the release of the report by the inspector general’s office.

The 23-page report, based on a nationwide series of interviews with 300 officials, found that “education of parents, children, teachers and day care providers to recognize, resist and report sexual abuse is the most effective method of preventing sexual abuse.” It noted that most known sexual abuse of children is perpetrated in the home by relatives or acquaintances of the victims.

California, Georgia and Minnesota are the only states with laws requiring that the records of operators and employees of child care centers be screened against national criminal files, the report said, adding that only California and New York City have undertaken extensive fingerprinting of day care employees.

The report foresees difficulties in carrying out a provision of the legislation requiring that states lose part of their federal day care aid unless they act by Sept. 30 to establish procedures for background and criminal record checks on child care employees.

Although Heckler’s text made no mention of fingerprint checks, the report said that the “only feasible approach” to nationwide screening is to rely on FBI and state fingerprint files, a process that costs $25 per person. If all licensed day care providers were screened in this manner, it said, the process would involve 500,000 checks.