Background check pre-BON

[audraaj]

Hello Allnurses,

I am currently finishing up my prerequisites before applying to nursing school and I am worried about a few things that may come up in my background check. I got into some trouble as a young adult over ten years ago and was convicted of a felony for delivery of marijuana, and a few small misdemeanors. I paid a lawyer to deal with everything over ten years ago in Oregon and am not sure of what may show up on my record as a conviction. I live in Texas now, and I would like to find somewhere in Texas that can give me a full background check before I fill out a declaratory order so that I don't make any mistakes when disclosing my background. Does anyone know of any companies that perform background checks similar to those that the Texas BON performs? That is if I would even be accepted with a felony.

Thank you!

Aj

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

I don't know if this will be good news or not, but in Texas, admission to a nursing program includes background checks. (detailed information is on that link). This requirement was introduced to eliminate the problem of successful graduates who are barred from licensure because of issues that arose on the background check prior to NCLEX. It was a horrible situation.

Wishing you the best of luck on your nursing education.

[TuesdaysChild]

Hey there

Others know better than I do about the nursing end, but I did work in criminal court for several years. Criminal cases are public record, so you should be able to Google the district clerk in the state and county where you were arrested and do an online case search on the clerk's website.

If the conviction is on your record, and if you were over 18 it likely is, there's still hope. Since you were young and it sounds like it was an isolated offense, you're probably a good candidate for expungement. That means you or an attorney on your behalf can make a motion to the court to expunge your record so that it is completely erased. I've never seen a judge refuse to do this in similar circumstances where the offense is minor, the defendant was young, it's an old case and they've demonstrated that it's a potential barrier to education and job opportunities.

*You will have to file the motion in the original County in Oregon. You can't petition a court in Texas. Thought I should add that.