Grants Management Division

Award Condition: Determination of Suitability

Effective March 31, 2023, all subawards/subgrants administered by the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, Grants Management Division (GMD), for which the purpose of some or all of the activities to be carried out under the subaward is to benefit a set of individuals under 18 years of age, are subject to the provisions of the current Determination of suitability required, in advance, for certain individuals who may interact with participating minors award condition (hereinafter, “award condition") established by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

This award condition was incorporated into many DOJ Office for Justice Programs (OJP) and Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) awards starting in calendar year 2019. The full award condition can be accessed on the OJP and OVW websites:

Office for Justice Programs

Office on Violence Against Women

Subrecipients may not permit any covered individual as defined by the award condition to interact with any participating minor in the course of activities under the award, unless the subrecipient first has made a written determination of the suitability of that individual to interact with participating minors. Each determination must be based on current and appropriate information as described in the award condition, and taking into account the factors and considerations described in the award condition.

In addition to employees of a subrecipient organization, covered individuals may also be consultants, contractors, employees of a contractor, trainees, volunteers, teachers, or any other individuals expected interact with individuals under 18 years of age who are the intended recipients of services or programming supported by grant funds as described in the application. Interaction includes physical contact, oral and written communication, and may be in person or by electronic (or similar) means.

In the interest of promoting child safety, GMD has added two (2) award condition enhancements to the baseline requirements set forth in the award condition:

Requirement to Maintain Written Policy: Subrecipients must implement formal, written policies and procedures that (a) document the factors and considerations that will be considered in making determinations regarding suitability, (b) identify the specific public sex offender and child abuse websites/registries, criminal history registries, and similar repositories of criminal history records that will be searched when making determinations regarding suitability, and (c) address “personally-accompanied contact" situations as defined in paragraph 3(c)(2) of the award condition.
Updates and Reexamination Schedule: Subrecipients must update all required searches specified within this policy and reexamine the covered individual's suitability in light of those search results every two (2) years. When appropriate, the determination must be modified or withdrawn.

In addition, subrecipients are strongly encouraged to maintain written policies and procedures designed to prevent child sexual abuse. GMD recommends that such policies include the six (6) components of child sexual abuse prevention for organizations identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) within its publication titled Preventing Child Sexual Abuse Within Youth-serving Organizations: Getting Started on Policies and Procedures. This resource is accessible HERE.

Required Searches

When making determinations regarding suitability, subrecipients must consider the results of all searches listed below, each of which must be completed no earlier than six (6) months before the determination regarding suitability:

Public Sex Offender and Child Abuse Website/Registries
The Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website	Required
Kentucky Public Sex Offender Registry	Required
Kentucky CHFS Child Abuse & Neglect (CAN) Registry	Required
Public sex offender and child abuse websites/registries for each state other than Kentucky in which the individual is expected to, or reasonably likely to, interact with a participating minor in the course of activities under the award	If Applicable to the Covered Individual
Public sex offender and child abuse websites/registries for each state other that Kentucky in which the individual has lived, worked, or gone to school at any time during the past five (5) years	If Applicable to the Covered Individual

Criminal History Registries and Similar Repositories of Criminal History Records Searches must encompass at least the time period beginning five (5) calendar years preceding the date of the search request.
Criminal history registry for each state in which the individual lives, works, or goes to school, or has lived, worked or gone to school at any time during the past five (5) years	Required
Criminal history registry for each state in which the individual is expected to, or reasonably likely to, interact with a participating minor in the course of activities under the award	Required

All criminal history searches must be fingerprint-based, if legally available. Name-based searches using current and, if applicable, previous names and aliases, may be performed in place of fingerprint-based criminal history searches if a fingerprint search is not legally available to the organization. When applicable, subrecipients must certify that fingerprint searches are not legally available to the organization on the Determination of Suitability to Interact with Participating Minors Certification submitted at the time of application.

Documentation Requirements

Subrecipients must maintain all documentation related to written determinations of suitability at the program site for the duration of the records retention period. These records shall be made available during compliance monitoring engagements and may be requested at any time within the records retention period.

Written Determinations of Suitability. Subrecipients must maintain a written determination of the suitability to interact with participating minors for each covered individual as defined within the award condition following the completion of the required information searches. Written determinations include a full account of the searches performed and dates of performance.
All records and reports generated through completion of required searches.
Determination of Suitability to Interact with Participating Minors Certification. Subrecipients must complete a Determination of Suitability to Interact with Participating Minors Certification at the time of application. The form should list all covered individuals deemed suitable to interact with participating minors, the date the covered individual(s) received the designation of suitability by the subrecipient, and the information searches performed, and the dates of each information search.

Failure to comply with this award condition, including the award condition enhancements described within this policy, may result in GMD taking appropriate action with respect to the subrecipient and the subaward. Among other things, GMD may withhold award funds, disallow costs, or suspend or terminate the award. The DOJ, including the OJP or OVW, also may take other legal action as appropriate.