Nebraska to reexamine background check requirements for child care workers

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – Nebraska lawmakers are reconsidering the background check process for child care workers.

In Nebraska, child care employees are required to be fingerprinted before being employed.

But staffing shortages at the Nebraska State Patrol and the Department of Health and Human Services are causing delays.

That is leading to staffing shortages at child care providers.

Legislative Resolution 191, introduced by State Sen. Teresa Ibach in May, seeks to speed up the process.

The Health and Human Services Committee held a hearing on the resolution on Wednesday.

Mitchell Clark of First Five Nebraska, a nonprofit working to improve early childhood care, was one of the speakers.

“Some of the state laws in effect have added certain steps in the process,” Clark told Channel 8. “And that’s what we’re exploring: if there’s ways we can make it more efficient.”