The Child Abuse Central Index, known as CACI, is a confidential statewide database kept by the California Department of Justice that lists people named in substantiated reports of child abuse or severe neglect.1California Department of Justice – Office of the Attorney General. Child Abuse Central Index (CACI) If your name is on it, law enforcement, child welfare agencies, and licensing bodies can see it, and that single fact can block you from working with children, becoming a foster or adoptive parent, or holding certain licenses. For adults, a listing is effectively permanent unless you challenge it, and the window to challenge it is short.
How a Name Gets on the CACI
County welfare departments and law enforcement agencies investigate reports of child abuse and severe neglect. When the investigation ends, Penal Code 11165.12 requires the agency to classify the finding as substantiated, inconclusive, or unfounded.2California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 11165.12 A substantiated finding means the evidence makes it more likely than not that abuse or neglect occurred. Only substantiated reports go to the Department of Justice for inclusion in the CACI, and agencies are prohibited from forwarding anything short of that threshold.3California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 11169
Each entry includes identifying details for the person accused and the child, the type of abuse or neglect investigated, and the agency that submitted the finding.4California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 11167
Severe Neglect Is Included
The index covers more than physical or sexual abuse. Under Penal Code 11165.2, severe neglect reaches failing to protect a child from severe malnutrition or medically diagnosed failure to thrive, and it reaches a caregiver who willfully places a child in danger by withholding adequate food, clothing, shelter, or medical care. This is the category people often don’t anticipate, because the assumption is that the CACI only tracks violent conduct.
Who Can See CACI Records
The CACI is not public. The Department of Justice releases information only to entities authorized by statute, and the authorized list is broader than most people expect:5California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 11170
- Law enforcement and child welfare agencies investigating child abuse or severe neglect
- District attorneys handling related prosecutions
- The Department of Social Services and county licensing agencies running background checks for childcare licenses, foster care approval, or employment involving supervisory authority over children
- County adoption agencies screening employees and volunteers with direct contact with children
- Court Appointed Special Advocate programs vetting applicants and volunteers
- Child death review teams
- Agencies placing children in out-of-home settings, including tribal agencies
- Government agencies running background investigations for peace officer applicants
- Out-of-state agencies approving foster or adoptive parents
One protection is written into the regulations and often overlooked. No agency may act solely on a CACI listing to grant or deny employment, licensing, or any other benefit. The entity receiving the information must obtain the original investigative report from the submitting agency and draw its own independent conclusions about the quality of the evidence.6Legal Information Institute. California Code of Regulations Title 11 Section 903 In practice, a CACI hit almost always triggers deeper scrutiny and frequently ends the application.
What a Listing Blocks
Before issuing a childcare center license, the Department of Social Services must run a CACI check on the applicant and every person subject to a criminal record review at the facility, and it has authority to deny the license, employment, or even someone’s presence in the facility based on the results.7New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. California Code of Regulations 22 CCR 101170.2 – Child Abuse Central Index
The reach extends well past childcare licensing. Prospective foster and adoptive parents face mandatory CACI screening, and a substantiated finding is treated as a serious obstacle to approval. Teachers, pediatric healthcare workers, and volunteers at organizations serving children face the same background check.
Interstate Reach
A California listing follows you across state lines. The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 requires every state to check its child abuse registry when evaluating prospective foster or adoptive parents, including other adults in the household, for the previous five years, and to cooperate with registry check requests from other states.8Child Welfare Information Gateway. Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 – P.L. 109-248 Out-of-state agencies can request California CACI information directly from the Department of Justice.9California Department of Justice – Office of the Attorney General. Out-of-State Foster and Adoption Agencies
What a Listing Does Not Do
A CACI listing is not a criminal conviction. It is an administrative finding that exists separately from any criminal case, even when both run in parallel. It also does not, by itself, prohibit firearm ownership or purchase. The Department of Justice’s firearms-prohibiting categories cover specific convictions and court orders and do not include administrative CACI listings.10California Department of Justice. Firearms Prohibited Categories
Notice and the 30-Day Deadline to Challenge
When an agency forwards a substantiated report to the Department of Justice, it must send written notice to the person being listed.3California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 11169 That notice opens the right to a grievance hearing. The deadline to request one is 30 calendar days from the date printed on the notice, not the date you received it. The request can be submitted by mail, fax, or hand delivery to the county agency.
Miss the 30 days and you generally waive the hearing, and the listing becomes permanent. If you never received the original notice, you may still be able to request a hearing within 30 days of first learning about the listing, but you carry the burden of explaining the delay.
A procedural trap: if a related criminal case or dependency court proceeding is pending, the county will not schedule a grievance hearing until that case ends. If the court sustains the allegation, the CACI listing stands. If the court does not sustain the petition, you can then request a hearing within the allowed time.
At the hearing itself, a hearing officer or administrative law judge serves as the neutral decision-maker. You can present evidence and testimony. The agency has to prove the substantiated finding by a preponderance of the evidence, the same standard used in the original investigation. The presiding official either upholds the listing or directs the agency to change the finding and tell the Department of Justice to remove it.
How Long a Listing Lasts
For adults, a substantiated listing has no automatic expiration. The only routes off are a successful grievance hearing or later judicial review. For a person who was under 18 at the time of the report, the listing is automatically deleted 10 years after the date of the incident, provided no additional report involving that person is received during that period.5California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 11170 A new report resets the clock.
That permanence for adults is why the 30-day hearing deadline matters so much. Once it closes without a request, there is no routine administrative way to reopen the matter.
How to Check Whether You Are Listed
You can find out whether your name is in the CACI by submitting a self-inquiry to the Department of Justice. The request must be in writing, notarized, and include your name, address, date of birth, and either a social security number or California identification number.11California Department of Justice – Office of the Attorney General. Child Abuse Central Index Self Inquiries You can use the Department’s self-inquiry form (BCIA 4056) or send a notarized letter listing every name you have used and your previous California addresses.
Mail requests to the Department of Justice, Bureau of Criminal Information and Analysis, Child Abuse Central Index, P.O. Box 903387, Sacramento, CA 94203-3879. If there is a match, the Department responds in writing with the date of the report and the name of the submitting agency. To get the underlying investigative file, contact that agency directly.
No employer, agency, or other person is legally permitted to require you to produce your CACI self-inquiry record or to require you to say whether such a record exists.11California Department of Justice – Office of the Attorney General. Child Abuse Central Index Self Inquiries
Taking It to Court After a Hearing
Losing a grievance hearing is not necessarily the end. You can challenge the decision in Superior Court by filing a petition for writ of administrative mandate under Code of Civil Procedure 1094.5.12California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 1094.5 The court reviews whether the hearing was fair and whether the evidence supported the decision.
Filing deadlines turn on who ran the hearing. For local agencies, such as a county welfare department, the window is generally 90 days after the decision becomes final, and the clock starts only when the agency properly notifies you. For state administrative decisions, the catchall deadline is 30 days after the reconsideration period expires. Miss either and judicial review is gone.
You also have to have exhausted your administrative remedies first, meaning you went through the grievance hearing and raised your arguments there. Courts will not consider issues raised for the first time on review. Filing requires a verified petition in Superior Court and a formal request for the administrative record.