DC Foster Care Background Check and Clearances: What Every Adult Must Complete

Every adult in a D.C. foster home — not just the applicant — must complete a full suite of background clearances before a license can be issued. This is non-negotiable, and it's the part of the process most applicants fail to prepare their household for in advance.

The clearance requirements come from DCMR Title 29, Chapter 60, and they're divided into criminal history checks and a unique D.C.-specific administrative requirement: the Certificate of Clean Hands.

Who Must Be Cleared

Every household member aged 18 and older must complete the background check process. This includes:

• The primary applicant(s)
• Spouses or domestic partners
• Adult children living in the home
• Any other adult who is a permanent or regular member of the household

If a household member turns 18 during your licensing process, their clearances must be initiated immediately. Waiting until your renewal cycle is not an option — clearances are a condition of the original license, not just renewal.

The Four Required Background Checks

1. FBI Fingerprint Check. A national criminal history review run through the Federal Bureau of Investigation. You must be fingerprinted at an authorized fingerprint collection site. Your licensing agency will provide instructions on where to go in D.C. The results go directly to CFSA. Processing times vary — currently ranging from a few days to several weeks depending on submission volume.

2. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Criminal History Request. This is the local D.C. criminal history check. It covers offenses within the District that may not appear in a national search. You request this directly from MPD. Processing times are generally faster than the FBI check but can still take one to two weeks.

3. Child Protection Register (CPR) Clearance. This check verifies that no adult in the household has a finding of child abuse or neglect on D.C.'s local registry. The form is submitted through your licensing agency to CFSA.

4. Sex Offender Registry Check. Verification against both national and D.C. local registries. This is run as part of the processing rather than requiring a separate action from the applicant.

What Disqualifies You

D.C. law sets out permanent disqualifiers — offenses for which no waiver or exception exists:

• Felony conviction for child abuse or neglect
• Felony conviction for spousal abuse
• Felony conviction for a crime involving violence, including rape, sexual assault, or homicide

Other offenses are not automatic disqualifiers but are reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Certain drug crimes or physical assault convictions may be considered if they occurred more than five years prior to the application date. Licensing workers assess these situations in the context of the full application — rehabilitation, stability since the offense, and the nature of the crime all factor in.

If you have any prior conviction and are uncertain whether it disqualifies you, contact a licensed agency and ask directly before you invest months in the process. Most agencies have licensing workers who can review your situation informally before you formally apply.

The Clean Hands Certification: DC's Unique Requirement

No other state or territory has an equivalent to D.C.'s Clean Hands requirement for foster care licensing. Every applicant must obtain a Certificate of Clean Hands through MyTax.DC.gov.

The certificate verifies that you do not owe more than $100 to the D.C. government. The scope is broad — it covers:

• Unpaid D.C. income or property taxes
• Parking tickets and traffic violations issued by the District
• Water and sewer bills
• Other municipal debts

The look-back period is five years. The system checks your current outstanding balance — it does not look at whether you were ever in arrears, only whether you currently owe money.

Getting Your Certificate

1. Go to MyTax.DC.gov and log in or create an account.
2. Navigate to the "Clean Hands" section and request the certificate.
3. If your account shows no outstanding debt above $100, the certificate generates immediately.
4. If the system shows outstanding debts, you must resolve them — or establish a formal payment plan and make the first payment — before the certificate can be issued.

If You Have Outstanding Debts

Parking tickets are the most common culprit. Many D.C. residents accumulate small fines over years without realizing the aggregate exceeds $100. Check your status at MyTax.DC.gov before you apply — don't wait until you're mid-process. If you need to set up a payment plan, that plan must be established and the first payment made before CFSA will accept your Clean Hands certificate.

The verification process has a five-year tax look-back for compliance. If you've had years where you didn't file a D.C. tax return despite being a D.C. resident, you may need to file amended returns before your account is considered compliant.

This is the most common cause of application delays in D.C. foster care licensing. Address it first.

Timing Your Clearances

All four background checks and the Clean Hands certification can be initiated the moment you submit your application — they don't require you to complete TIPS-MAPP training first. Start them immediately. FBI fingerprint checks in particular can take several weeks, and you cannot be licensed until all clearances are returned and reviewed.

Running clearances in parallel with training rather than sequentially can compress your total licensing timeline by six to ten weeks.

Renewals

Background clearances are not one-time events. Your license is renewed periodically, and clearances must be updated at each renewal cycle. The Clean Hands certification is also required at renewal — keep your tax compliance and parking ticket status clean throughout your fostering career, not just at initial licensing.

The District of Columbia Foster Care Licensing Guide includes a complete document checklist for the clearances process alongside guidance on the TIPS-MAPP training, home inspection, and agency selection steps — everything you need to move through the D.C. licensing process in the right order.

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