Current through the 2024 Regular Session
Section 43-20-57 - Persons prohibited from working or residing in family child care home; resident with disability counted as child in care; access to records of workers and volunteers in home(1) No person shall knowingly maintain a family child care home if, in such family child care home, there resides, works or regularly volunteers any person who: (a)(i) Has a felony conviction for a crime against persons;(ii) Has a felony conviction under the Uniform Controlled Substances Act;(iii) Has a conviction for a crime of child abuse or neglect;(iv) Has a conviction for any sex offense as defined in Section 45-33-23, Mississippi Code of 1972; or(v) Any other offense committed in another jurisdiction or any federal offense which, if committed in this state, would be deemed to be such a crime without regard to its designation elsewhere;(b) Has been adjudicated a juvenile offender because of having committed an act which if done by an adult would constitute the commission of a felony and which is a crime against persons;(c) Has had a child declared in a court order in this or any other state to be deprived or a child in need of care based on an allegation of physical, mental or emotional abuse or neglect or sexual abuse;(d) Has had parental rights terminated pursuant to Section 93-15-101 et seq., Mississippi Code of 1972; or(e) Has an infectious or contagious disease, as defined by the State Department of Health pursuant to Section 41-23-1, Mississippi Code of 1972.(2) No person shall maintain a family child care home if such person has been found to be a disabled person in need of a guardian or conservator, or both.(3) Any person who resides in the home and who has been found to be a disabled person in need of a guardian or conservator, or both, shall be included in the total number of children allowed in care.(4) In accordance with the provision of this subsection (4), the State Department of Health shall have access to any court orders or adjudications of any court of record, any records of such orders or adjudications, criminal history record information in the possession of the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol or court of this state concerning persons working, regularly volunteering or residing in a family child care home. The department shall have access to these records for the purpose of determining whether or not the home meets the requirements of Sections 43-20-51 through 43-20-65.(5) No family child care home or its employees shall be liable for civil damages to any person refused employment or discharged from employment by reason of such home's compliance with the provisions of this section if such home acts in good faith to comply with this section.Laws, 1990, ch. 552, § 18; Laws, 2000, ch. 499, § 27, eff. 7/1/2000.