My brother has two petty theft misdemeanors in California. Any advice?

[truckinusa, BSN, LPN, RN]

My brother was convicted twice about 10 and 3 years ago for petty theft misdemeanors. Both records are expunged. I'm not quite sure what expungement accomplishes, but is there any chance of him getting into school in any state? He wanted to do respiratory therapy and they are saying 7 years before he can attend school. Its been 3 years. Is this the case in every state? I live in Oklahoma and don't know if maybe it is more lenient here with nursing schools. I have no idea. Any suggestions?

[truckinusa, BSN, LPN, RN]

Talked to my nursing school about the possiblity of him attending here and they said it wasn't a problem as long as the board would license him? I wonder how that works with the board?

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

Most BONs will tell you that they can't give a definite ruling about licensure until they receive the application, because each application is reviewed on a case-by-case basis. They'll give info, but they won't make final decisions until you apply for licensure. And in order to get to the point of applying to the BON for licensure...you have to complete nursing school. And there is your catch-22...and your nursing school should know that.

The expungement will help him when job hunting, but most BONs require the disclosure of expunged records.

Your brother should contact his state's BON to see what information they can give him. Your brother also should be the one to contact the local nursing/respiratory therapy schools to ask about application with a record. He should also check with a lawyer to see how he should answer the Convictions/Criminal History questions on his school and/or job applications.

I know you are trying to help him, but HE has to be the one doing this, for his own sake. So tell him what he needs to do, then let him decide if he wants to do the work.

Best of luck to both of you.

[Stephalump]

I don't know about CA, but in TX we can apply to the BON for our background check and clearance at any time - even before applying to a program. If that's a possibly, I would just go ahead and do it and get your answer before bothering to apply to schools. I'm pretty sure there will probably be some sort of extended process in his case, and BONs look at each situation individually, so it's hard to say what the results will be.

[CP2013]

The OP suggested her brother wants to go to school for respiratory therapy - are they still governed by the BON?

If not, I would seek out the governing board for licensure of respiratory therapists and verify their methods for background checks, period of wait time, and such.

Best of luck to your brother.