New York Statewide Central Register (SCR) Clearance Process

A New York Statewide Central Register clearance is a background check run by the Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) against the state’s database of investigated child abuse and maltreatment reports. Most people get one because an employer, licensing agency, or foster or adoption agency requires it before letting them work with or care for children. You apply by submitting form LDSS-3370, paying a $25 fee if your category requires it, and waiting for OCFS to return either a “no record found” response or a disclosed indicated report.

Who Has To Get One

Social Services Law § 424-a sets out two broad groups of people who need an SCR clearance: those screened by a licensing agency and those screened by a provider agency.¹

The licensing category covers people applying to run a family day care, group family day care, child care center, or school-age child care program, along with employees and volunteers in those programs who will have regular and substantial contact with children. It also covers prospective foster and adoptive parents (plus every adult in the household), directors of camps covered by Article 13-B of the Public Health Law, and prospective successor guardians.

The provider category covers anyone being considered for employment, currently employed, volunteering, or hired as a consultant at an agency serving children or vulnerable populations, provided the role involves regular and substantial contact with the people the agency cares for. Outside vendors and contractors whose employees will have that same contact are covered too.¹

Foster and adoptive parent applicants face additional screening beyond the SCR: a state criminal history check through the Division of Criminal Justice Services, a national FBI check, a Justice Center register check, and out-of-state child abuse registry checks for anyone in the household who lived elsewhere during the previous five years.²

What the Form Asks For

The standard form is the LDSS-3370, “Statewide Central Register Database Check,” available from the OCFS website.³ Before you start filling it in, gather:

Your full legal name and every prior name you have used, including maiden names and aliases.
Every address you have lived at since turning 18, with no gaps.
Full name, date of birth, and Social Security number for every person currently living in your home, including children.

Check every Social Security number against the actual card. One transposed digit produces a mismatch that stalls the whole request. If you have lived outside New York during the previous five years, complete form OCFS-6001 as well so OCFS can request child abuse registry checks from those states.⁴

How To Submit the Application

By Mail

Individual applicants and agencies that do not use the online portal mail the completed LDSS-3370 to OCFS in Rensselaer; the mailing address prints on the form instructions. Each form goes in with a separate $25 payment when the fee applies. OCFS accepts certified checks, postal or bank money orders, teller’s checks, cashier’s checks, and agency checks made payable to “New York State Office of Children and Family Services.” Include the applicant’s name and agency code on the check.³

Paper submissions take longer. Between mailing time and manual data entry at OCFS, plan on several weeks for a response, depending on backlog.

Online Through FAMS

Licensed and registered child care programs can submit clearance requests electronically through the SCR Online Clearance System, accessed inside the Facility Application and Management System (FAMS). Users log in with MY.NY.GOV credentials. Before the clearance link appears, the authorized user has to complete an “SCR Database Check Attestation” by reviewing and accepting the system’s terms and conditions.⁵ Results come back digitally, cutting turnaround compared with paper.

The $25 Fee

Section 424-a requires a $25 fee for certain categories of SCR database checks. The categories that trigger the fee include applicants for a license to operate a day care center, prospective family or group family day care providers, prospective day care employees, Universal Pre-K teachers, and applicants for employment at agencies other than day care programs.⁴

Not every request pays. The LDSS-3370 instructions list multiple category codes, and several carry no charge. Local Departments of Social Services screening their own prospective employees, for example, can bill the fee against their reimbursement instead of collecting it from the applicant. If your category is not clear, check the form instructions for your code or ask the requesting agency before you send payment.

What the Results Say

OCFS returns one of two responses to the requesting agency and the applicant. “No record found” means you are not listed in the SCR as the subject of an indicated report, and the agency can move ahead. An “indicated report on file” response means the register contains at least one entry where an investigation found evidence that abuse or maltreatment occurred.

An indicated finding is not a criminal conviction. For investigations begun on or after January 1, 2022, “indicated” means the investigation found a fair preponderance of evidence that abuse or maltreatment occurred.⁶

Before OCFS discloses an indicated report to the requesting agency, it performs a “relevant and reasonably related” review, deciding whether the conduct behind the report connects to the role you are seeking. A report that is not relevant and reasonably related may not be disclosed at all.⁷

If an Indicated Report Comes Back

An indicated report does not automatically disqualify you. The requesting agency has to weigh the report against the rest of your background before deciding whether to hire, retain, approve, or give you access to the people it serves. It may ask you to explain the circumstances and may ask you to sign a release so it can obtain the report itself.⁸

If the agency denies employment, terminates you, or denies you access based even partly on the indicated report, it must give you a written statement of reasons that specifically identifies the report as a basis for the decision. That written notice exists so you have a record you can challenge.⁸

Challenging an Indicated Report

If you believe the indicated report against you is wrong, you have 90 days from the date OCFS notifies you of the indication to request that the commissioner amend the record. This step is mandatory before you can request a hearing.⁶

The challenge runs in two stages. First is an administrative review: OCFS requests all records from the child protective service that investigated. The investigating agency has 20 working days to send its files, and OCFS then has 15 working days to review the materials and decide whether a fair preponderance of evidence supports the finding. No testimony is taken; it is a paper review. OCFS also uses this stage to decide whether the report is relevant and reasonably related to your employment.

If the report survives that review, you can request an administrative hearing before an administrative law judge. At the hearing, the investigating agency has the burden of proving by a fair preponderance of the evidence that the abuse or maltreatment occurred. Both sides can present records and testimony.⁹

One timing issue to know about: if a Family Court proceeding under Article 10 is pending on the same allegations, OCFS must pause the administrative appeal until that case concludes, which can stretch the process considerably.⁷ Questions about the appeals process go to AdministrativeAppealsQuestions@ocfs.ny.gov.

How Long a Clearance Lasts

For child care workers, an approved comprehensive background check (which includes the SCR clearance) is valid for up to five years, as long as there is no break in child care employment lasting more than 180 days. Leave a child care job for more than six months and you will need a new clearance when you come back.¹⁰

For foster and adoptive parents, the initial clearance covers the certification period, and agencies update the information at recertification. Provider agencies can also recheck current employees against the SCR, but no more than once every six months per employee.¹

1
New York State Senate. New York Code Social Services Law 424-a – Inquiry to Statewide Central Register
2
Legal Information Institute. New York Comp. Codes R. and Regs. Tit. 18 421.19 – Foster Parents
3
New York State Office of Children and Family Services. OCFS-LDSS-3370 – Statewide Central Register Database Check
4
New York State Office of Children and Family Services. Comprehensive Background Check Packet
5
New York State Office of Children and Family Services. Facility Application and Management System (FAMS) Comprehensive Background Check (CBC) Process
6
New York State Senate. New York Code Social Services Law 422 – Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment
7
New York State Office of Children and Family Services. Changes to Administrative Appeals Challenging Indicated Reports of Child Abuse and Maltreatment (21-OCFS-ADM-33)
8
New York State Office of Children and Family Services. Notification of Social Service Law 424-a Procedures
9
New York State Office of Children and Family Services. State Central Registry Hearings FAQ
10
New York State Office of Children and Family Services. Comprehensive Background Check (CBC) Renewals