Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities

Oversight of Criminal History Record Checks for Employees of Voluntary Agencies and Registered Providers

The Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (OMRDD) provides residential, day and family support services to approximately 140,000 New Yorkers with developmental disabilities. At the time of our audit, there were reportedly 675 voluntary agencies that assisted the developmentally disabled with a variety of activities and 278 registered providers delivering services such as transportation and staffing to the voluntary agencies.

All prospective employees, volunteers and operators of the voluntary agencies and registered providers, who have regular and substantial unsupervised or unrestricted physical contact with the developmentally disabled, are required by law to undergo a background check as a condition of their employment. We audited the voluntary agencies’ and registered providers’ compliance with this requirements and found that, in general, they were in compliance with the requirement. We also found that OMRDD’s oversight procedures appeared adequate to detect instances of noncompliance. However, we also determined that certain improvements were needed in OMRDD’s oversight procedures to minimize the length of time instances of noncompliance remained undetected in the agencies and provide greater oversight to the providers.

For a complete copy of Report 2007-S-112 click here.
For a copy of the 90-day response click here.
For a copy of the associated follow-up report click here.