Background Checks
All newly hired employees are subject to a series of background checks prior to their employment at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. When an individual verbally accepts an offer from our organization, the following checks are immediately done by our background checking vendor, Certiphi Screening:
- 7-year county criminal history check, residence and place of employment
- 7-year federal criminal history check, residence and place of employment
- Social Security number verification and validation
- Sanctions base search (Sanctions base is a proprietary database that helps employers in the healthcare field search for administrative and disciplinary actions against potential employees)
These checks are fully automated and are usually complete prior to your orientation date/first day of work.
Additional checks may be performed e.g., non-U.S. citizens may be subjected to searches germane to their home country.
Of utmost importance is the mandate that all employees fill out a request form that will allow Certiphi to obtain a child abuse report. These searches also go back 7 years, and include a residence and place of employment search.
Pennsylvania clearance forms will be provided to you by your Human Resources Consultant and will be included with your offer letter/package; bring the completed forms with you to orientation. If a search needs to be done in another state, and the state allows for child abuse searches Certiphi Screening will contact you directly and send you the appropriate forms.
It is imperative that you, as the new employee, fill out the appropriate state forms and mail them back in the postage-paid envelope provided by Certiphi/Vertical Screen. Certiphi/Vertical Screen will then mail the forms to the respective state capital. Depending upon the state, a copy of your clearance should be back to you within 4-6 weeks (unless the state in which the clearance is performed is automated). When you receive the hard copy clearance, you must make a copy of the clearance and give it to your HR Consultant (i.e., the person who hired you).
Should you have any questions at all regarding the background checking process, especially the child abuse clearance process, do not hesitate to call your HR Consultant.