How to Fill Out and Submit the NY SCR Database Check Form (LDSS-3370)

The New York SCR database check form LDSS-3370 is what New York’s Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) uses to search the Statewide Central Register for any substantiated finding of child abuse or maltreatment against you. To complete it, you list every name you’ve used, every physical address for the past 28 years, and every current household member, then sign it and hand it to the employer, licensing agency, or foster care agency that requested the check. They submit it to OCFS. The check is a civil records search only; it does not replace a criminal background check.

Who Has to File One

New York Social Services Law Section 424-a requires the check for anyone applying for a certificate, license, or permit to run a child care program — family day care homes, group family day care homes, child care centers, and school-age child care programs all fall under it. Employees and volunteers at those programs who will have regular, substantial contact with children need the check before they can be left unsupervised with kids in care.¹

Prospective foster and adoptive parents go through the same process, and so does every person over 18 living in the applicant’s home.¹ Provider agencies serving vulnerable populations must run checks on anyone being actively considered for a role with regular contact with the people they serve.

One boundary worth knowing: if you’ve lived outside New York in the last five years and your employer receives Child Care Development Block Grant funds, the LDSS-3370 alone won’t be enough. Federal rules require a registry check in every state you’ve lived in during that window, so your employer may need to contact other states separately.

Getting the Right Version of the Form

The LDSS-3370 comes in different versions for different program types. The day care and child care services version, for example, is labeled OCFS-LDSS-3370-DCCS.² Your employer, licensing agency, or foster care agency will usually give you the correct version or point you to it. Submitting the wrong one delays processing. If you’re not sure which applies, the SCR can be reached at 518-474-5297.

Filling Out the Form

Before you start writing, pull together your full name history, a continuous address list going back 28 years, and the personal details of everyone currently in your home. The form is short. The prep work is the job.

Names and Aliases

Put your current legal name on the first line. On the maiden/alias line, list every other name you’ve used — previous married names, maiden names, aliases — and circle whether each is a maiden name or alias. If you have none, write “NONE” rather than leaving the line blank.³ The register searches under every name you list, so an omission can make the check miss a record or match you to someone else’s.

28-Year Address History

List every address where you’ve lived for the past 28 years, starting with your current address and working backward.⁴ For foster and adoptive parent applicants, household members may need to provide their own histories too. A few rules cause most of the returns:

No P.O. boxes. Every entry must be a physical street address.⁵
No gaps. The timeline has to be continuous. Short stays still count.
Full addresses. Street, apartment number, city, state, and zip on every line.

If you genuinely can’t remember an old address, give the best information you have. A best-effort entry moves through; a blank line gets the form sent back.

Current Household Members

List everyone who currently lives in your home, related or not — spouse, children, roommates, other relatives.³ For each person, give the full name, relationship to you, sex, and date of birth. Any maiden names or aliases they’ve used go on the form too, and if they have none, write “NONE.”⁴ OCFS uses this information to be sure any match it finds is actually you or someone in your household. If you run out of lines, attach an additional page.

Signatures and Dates

Sign exactly as your name appears in the applicant section. Signing “Vicki Smith” when the form reads “Victoria Smith” is enough to get the form returned.⁵ Every household member being screened has to sign as well. And don’t sign it too early: OCFS will not accept a form with a signature date more than six months old.

Submitting the Form

You usually don’t submit the LDSS-3370 yourself. Your employer, licensing agency, or foster care agency collects it from you, reviews it for completeness and legibility, and sends it to OCFS.⁵

Paper forms go to:

Statewide Central Register
P.O. Box 4480, Attention: Service Center Unit
Albany, NY 12204-0480

Agencies registered with OCFS can also use the SCR Online Clearance System to submit and track requests electronically.⁶ Individual applicants don’t have access to that portal.

Certain check categories carry a processing fee. Payment is typically by money order or certified check; cash and personal checks are generally not accepted and cause the form to be returned unprocessed. Each form needs its own separate payment — don’t combine multiple checks into one.

Why Forms Get Returned

OCFS returns incomplete or defective forms without processing them. The most common reasons:

Handwriting that isn’t easily readable. Type the information or print clearly.
Blank required fields. Alias lines with no aliases should read “NONE.”
Signatures that don’t match the printed name on the form.
Signature dates older than six months.
Gaps in the 28-year address history.
P.O. box addresses instead of physical ones.

⁵

A returned form means your agency has to come back to you for corrections and resubmit. That can push a start date or a licensing timeline back by weeks.

What the Results Mean

OCFS sends the response to the requesting agency, not to you directly. A finding of no indicated report means the register has no substantiated record involving you, and the hiring or licensing process moves forward.

An indicated result means a prior investigation found, by a fair preponderance of the evidence, that abuse or maltreatment occurred and you were involved. It doesn’t automatically disqualify you. It triggers a secondary review by the agency that requested the check, which weighs whether the finding is relevant to the specific role.¹

Reports that were investigated and found unsubstantiated — called “unfounded” — are legally sealed and are not disclosed to employers.

If You Have an Indicated Report

Two channels are available to challenge an indicated finding. Within 90 days of being notified, you can ask OCFS to amend the record. OCFS runs an internal administrative review of the records, reports, and information in its possession and decides whether a fair preponderance of the evidence still supports the finding.⁷ If the evidence doesn’t hold up, the report is amended to unfounded, sealed, and no longer disclosed.

If the administrative review upholds the finding, or if you’re denied employment or a license because of the report, you can request a fair hearing. It must be scheduled within 30 days of your request absent an adjournment for good cause, and a decision must issue within 60 days after the hearing ends.¹ The agency carries the burden of proof at the hearing. Even if the underlying conduct is found to have occurred, the hearing can still consider whether it is reasonably related to your ability to work with children, taking into account severity, how long ago it happened, and evidence of rehabilitation.

1
New York State Senate. New York Social Services Code 424-A
2
New York State Office of Children and Family Services. Statewide Central Register Database Check Form LDSS-3370 DCCS
3
New York State Office of Children and Family Services. Statewide Central Register Database Check Form
4
NYC Health + Hospitals. Instructions for Completing the NYS State Central Register Database Check Form
5
SUNY Cobleskill. Instructions for Completing the Statewide Central Register Database Check Form
6
OCFS. SCR Online Clearance System – Child Protective Services
7
New York State Senate. New York Social Services Code 422