- The problem, in two pagesThirty-three years of federal law, the audits that measured compliance, and why a duty spread across 56 jurisdictions, 575 tribal nations and nearly 2,000 screening companies (2019 estimate) cannot work without one system.
- The Broken PatchworkWhy 28 federal laws since 1965 have not produced a working background-check system for children, older adults and people with disabilities, and what closes the gap without new legislation.
- The 28 laws28 federal laws since 1965 on the care and protection of children, older adults and people with disabilities, and which of them require a background check.
- Seven failure modesSeven documented failure modes of caregiver background checks, from no duty to screen to one-time checks, identity fraud and results that do not travel, each traced to a statute, government report or survey.
- What it costsCosts tied to abuse, exploitation and repeated checks: a Boy Scouts settlement trust of about $2.48 billion, elder financial exploitation losses estimated at $28.3 billion a year, litigation and duplicated checks, each traced to its source.
- What changesIdentity proved before the check, a rescreen every year after it, and a verified identity that carries over: how the existing statutes become a working system without new legislation.
- The Foster Care Compliance GapEleven federal foster-care requirements, 331,747 children, and a system that cannot prove to its own auditors that the required things happened. The documented failures, what they cost, and the missing capability.
- Eleven requirementsCase reviews, permanency hearings, monthly visits, home screening, the 24-hour missing-child report and more: the eleven federal foster-care requirements and the event each one assumes.
- Where compliance breaksWhat HHS-OIG, GAO, ACF reviews and state data show about foster-care compliance: missing children never reported to NCMEC, visits self-reported, ineligible claims disallowed.
- What the gap costsFederal disallowances, withheld Title IV-E funds, contempt fines and a program with no full national error rate since FY2020: the documented cost of the compliance gap.
- Who pays for screeningNo dedicated federal program pays for the fingerprint checks the Adam Walsh Act requires. State fees, the Title IV-E match, the closed National Background Check Program, and the map.
- The adequate systemWhat an adequate system would verify for every federal foster-care requirement: identity, presence, visits, reports and eligibility, recorded at the time and kept for the auditor.
- Supporting MaterialThe register of sources behind the statistics on fcomply.com: statutes, audits, court opinions and agency data, with links and supporting quotes where available.
- The Broken PatchworkWhy 28 federal laws since 1965 have not produced a working background-check system for children, older adults and people with disabilities, and what closes the gap without new legislation.
Site map
Every page, grouped the way a newcomer would read them: the problem, the products, the pages for your kind of organization, then the reference material.
- ProductsThe two products, side by side.
- Complied IDIn development: identity proved before the background check runs, then a rescreen every year once it launches.
- Foster Care Compliance SystemAn active concept in development: every child enrolled, every presence verified, every requirement recorded as it happens.
- For State AgenciesState Title IV-E agencies must report missing children immediately (24 hours at most) and ensure monthly caseworker visits. FComply is building a system to verify identity and presence and keep the proof.
- For Foster Care AgenciesChild-placing and foster care agencies must complete monthly visits and know where every child is. FComply is building a system to verify presence and log visits, and Complied ID, in development, will screen caregivers.
- For Senior and Disability CareHome care, assisted living and disability services depend on the people they hire. Complied ID, in development, will verify identity, run background checks and rescreen yearly.
- How it would roll outThe honest clock for a national compliance operator: pilot results 18 months after the pilot starts, repeatable state onboarding by year three, majority coverage by year five to seven, with the benchmarks, the gates and the operating model.
- The returnSix places the current system costs money — repeated screenings, failed reporting, improper payments, caseworker time, audits, litigation — seven sources of return, and the rules for claiming any of it.
- ResourcesPlain-English guides to the 24-hour missing-from-care rule, what the HHS-OIG audits found, state-by-state requirements, and why one-time background checks fail.
- The 24-Hour Rule: 42 U.S.C. §671(a)(35)(B), explainedWhat 42 U.S.C. §671(a)(35)(B) requires when a foster child goes missing: reports to law enforcement and NCMEC within 24 hours, who is covered, and what changed in 2023.
- What the OIG actually found: missing-from-care reporting, 2018–2020HHS-OIG estimates for 74,353 missing-from-care episodes in 46 states, 2018 to 2020: 47% never reported to NCMEC, 22% late, 19% not properly reported for NCIC entry.
- Missing from care: state-by-state reporting requirements and audit exposureThe federal duty to report immediately (24 hours at most), state and local rules on children missing from care as each is read at source, and the investigations that have named states.
- Why one-time checks failA background check at hire says nothing about the years that follow, and nothing if the identity was not real. Why identity must be verified first, and checked again every year.
- Digital chain of custody: what it means to verify a child’s presenceWhat it takes to verify a foster child’s presence: identity enrollment, proof of presence, geo-verified check-ins, verified monthly visits and a lasting record.
- Glossary: NCIC, NCMEC, AFCARS, Title IV-E, NCPA, missing-from-carePlain definitions of NCIC, NCMEC, AFCARS, Title IV-E, the National Child Protection Act, missing from care, liveness detection, synthetic identity and more.
- About UsFounders, board and mission.
- Steve LarsonSteve Larson is the Founder, CEO and Chairman of the Board of FComply, which he established in 2024. He is also the founder of Q5id, Inc.,…
- Dianna CollinsonDianna Collinson is the Co-Founder, Chief Operating Officer and Corporate Secretary of FComply with over 25 years of experience in both B2B and B2C…
- Anthony ClemAnthony Clem is a skilled information security leader who served as CIO for the Oregon Department of Emergency Management. With 30+ years of…
- C. David ShepherdC. David Shepherd is the Chief Executive Officer of Readiness Resource Group, Inc. (RRG), a veteran-owned business serving homeland security,…
- Raymond HumphreyRaymond Humphrey is a globally recognized authority on security matters, uniquely having served both as President of ISMA and ASIS, the largest…
- Contact usDemos, partnerships and press.
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