|
What JuliannaTeresa is talking about is the fingerprint check. If your prints are scanned by a computer and computer-compared, it can take as little as 72 hours.
However, we all know that most social services agencies aren't up on the latest technology! The old-fashioned federal fingerprint check can take as long as 6 weeks. The local one can take less, depending on where you live, and sometimes they're nice enough to run the two checks at the same time! (Imagine that...)
For the local, in addition to fingerprints you often have your name run through all the local police precincts' computers in case you have a "pending" local case that isn't complete with a verdict yet. On the one hand, you don't want anyone falling through the cracks (like an accused child abuser allowed to adopt because he hasn't been found guilty "yet"). But on the other hand, if you have a common name then the search will turn up many possibles, and it takes a while to prove that YOU are not any of THEM. So that time frame can vary.
If you've recently moved from somewhere else, they often have to do the local check in that area, too.
Our agency tells us to expect about 6 weeks, since they're one of the ones that runs everything at the same time, thank goodness!
|