Alaska Foster Care Background Check and Fingerprinting Requirements

The background check process is one of the first things OCS wants to start as soon as you submit your licensing packet — and it is also one of the most common sources of delay. Poor-quality prints, missing authorization forms, and misunderstandings about who in the household must be screened are responsible for a significant portion of licensing timelines that stretch past the standard six to twelve weeks.

Who Must Be Screened

Alaska law requires background checks for every person aged 16 or older who lives in the foster home, volunteers regularly, or has consistent contact with children placed there. The 16-year age threshold is not negotiable and often surprises families who assumed only the applying adults would be checked.

This means: if you have a 17-year-old living in the home, that teenager must submit background release forms and participate in the clearance process. Failure to include household members aged 16 and older will result in your packet being returned incomplete.

What the Screening Includes

OCS runs five separate checks for each required household member:

1. Alaska Department of Public Safety (DPS) criminal history check. This is the state-level criminal records search for convictions within Alaska.

2. FBI fingerprint check. This is a federal criminal history search covering all states. Fingerprints must be submitted on official fingerprint cards or through an approved digital capture service. The FBI processes these independently, and result timelines are outside OCS's control.

3. OCS Central Registry check. A search of Alaska's Child Abuse and Neglect Registry to determine whether any household member has a substantiated finding of child maltreatment.

4. Sex Offender Registry check. OCS checks both the Alaska Sex Offender Registry and the national database.

5. Interstate checks. If any applicant has lived outside Alaska within the past five years, OCS must contact those states and request their abuse and neglect registry records. Each state has different response timelines, and some are slower than others.

What Crimes Are Disqualifying

Alaska's barrier crime regulations under 7 AAC 10.900-10.990 divide criminal history into permanent and time-limited bars.

Permanent bars include crimes against persons under Alaska Statute 11.41 (assault, sexual assault, homicide), arson, child pornography, and sex offenses. There is no pathway to licensure for any person with a permanent barrier crime in their history — no variance, no appeal, no exception.

10-year bars include termination of parental rights and certain substantiated civil findings of child abuse or neglect. These individuals are ineligible for 10 years from the date of the finding.

5-year bars include misdemeanor assault convictions and certain drug-related offenses.

3-year bars include theft in the third degree, criminal trespass, and criminal mischief involving domestic violence.

For crimes in the time-limited categories that have passed their barrier period, a variance request may be possible. The applicant must provide documentation of rehabilitation and demonstrate that the historical incident does not represent a current risk to children. Variances require departmental review, often reaching the OCS Commissioner's office. They are not routine, and they take time.

Variances are strictly prohibited for crimes against children or involving spousal abuse, regardless of how much time has passed.

The Fingerprinting Problem

Fingerprint rejection is more common than most applicants expect. The FBI requires prints that meet minimum quality standards. Older adults, people who work with their hands, and anyone with conditions affecting skin texture may have difficulty producing readable prints on the first submission.

What typically happens when prints are rejected: the FBI or DPS sends back a notification that the prints were unclassifiable. OCS then contacts the applicant to resubmit. Each resubmission adds two to four weeks to the process. In some cases, applicants need to make multiple attempts before producing acceptable prints.

Practical steps that help: moisturize your fingertips for several days before printing, wash hands shortly before the appointment but avoid over-drying, and apply light pressure without smearing. Some licensing workers recommend requesting live-scan digital capture rather than ink cards if that option is available in your area — digital systems can immediately show print quality and allow for retakes on the spot.

What Happens While You Wait for Clearance

Background check processing does not pause the rest of your application. You can attend orientation, complete Core Training, and schedule your home study interview while clearances are pending. However, your license will not be issued until all clearances are returned clean for every household member who was screened.

If you are a relative or kinship caregiver being asked to take in a specific child on short notice, OCS can issue a provisional placement for up to 90 days while full clearances are processed. This allows the child to move in with a known family member immediately without waiting for the full background check cycle to complete.

For a complete walkthrough of the licensing packet requirements and the background check submission process, the Alaska Foster Care Licensing Guide walks through every form, who signs what, and what to do if your clearance comes back with a result you did not expect.

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