(325 ILCS 20/10) (from Ch. 23, par. 4160)
Sec. 10. Standards. The Council and the lead agency, with assistance
from parents and providers, shall develop and promulgate policies and
procedures relating to the establishment and implementation of program and
personnel standards to ensure that services provided are consistent with
any State-approved or recognized certification, licensing, registration, or
other comparable requirements which apply to the area of early intervention
program service standards. Only State-approved public or private early
intervention service providers shall be eligible to receive State and
federal funding for early intervention services. All early childhood
intervention staff shall hold the highest entry requirement necessary for that
position.
To be a State-approved early intervention service provider, an individual
(i) shall
not have served or completed, within the preceding 5 years, a sentence for
conviction of any felony that the Department establishes by rule and (ii) shall
not have been indicated as a perpetrator of child abuse or neglect, within the
preceding 5 years, in an investigation by Illinois (pursuant to the Abused and
Neglected Child Reporting Act) or another state. The Department is authorized
to receive criminal background checks for such providers and persons applying
to be such a provider and to receive child abuse and neglect reports regarding
indicated perpetrators who are applying to provide or currently authorized to
provide early intervention services in Illinois. Beginning January 1, 2004,
every provider of State-approved early intervention services and every
applicant to provide
such services must authorize, in writing and in the form required by the
Department, a State and FBI criminal background check, as requested by the Department, and check of child abuse and neglect
reports regarding the provider or applicant as a condition of authorization to
provide early intervention services. The Department shall use the results of
the checks only to determine State approval of the early intervention service
provider and shall not re-release the information except as necessary to
accomplish that purpose.
(Source: P.A. 98-41, eff. 6-28-13.)
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