Please Help F5 on juvenile record

[Scottman187]

Hello,

I am new to the community and I really need some help. My girlfriend has a felony 5 currently on her record for "drug abuse". She was 16 when she got this charge on her record. Since then she has completely turned around her attitude and has been completely sober. She is now 21 years old and has just completed her STNA classes and PCA classes. She will be taking the test for the state on July 12. Well, she just got information from the local sheriffs office stating that her Felony information would be sent to the institution she took her STNA at. She was under the impression that these records were sealed from public viewing. After extensive amounts of research I have discovered that even if these records were "Sealed" or "Expunged" there is still ways for certain divisions to gain access to this information. Next week we will be following up on the paper work to get this information "Sealed". She is a "First time offender", this is the only offense she has ever been involved with in the state of Ohio. My question is will this completely ruin her chances of ever getting a job? Or will they not be able to see the record because it is "Sealed"? Will she be able to take the test to become a "STNA"? Will hospitals completely throw her application out the window if they see this information? She has been doing soooo good in school and I would hate to see her loose all of these opportunities because of something that happened when she was a child. Please help, any information will greatly be appreciated. Thank you!

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

To be honest, only her state board of nursing (BON) can answer most of these questions. BONs make decisions to license or issue certificates (in this post I'll use "license" to refer to both) those with a criminal record on a case-by-case basis...and they usually won't answer questions in advance but will only make a decision once she's applied and submitted all of her paperwork. But the BON can answer questions about what she'll need to disclose and what she has to do in order to submit her application...if she prefers she can ask the BON these questions anonymously--just register a new gmail or yahoo address and write them with that.

Unfortunately there's no guarantee she'd be licensed. She may...or she may not.

Same thing pretty much applies for places of employment, except that if a BON does decide to grant her a license, that doesn't mean that an employer will automatically hire her: employers have the right to evaluate her criminal record and make their own decisions.

As far as how she should answer questions on BON/employment applications, those questions are best answered by a lawyer.

Also, I would recommend that should she ever have to go in front of the BON regarding her record, that she bring a lawyer with her. The BON is not the nurses' friend; they don't care about whether she's learned her lesson from her childhood. Their priority is the public first and foremost; nurses are considered second if at all.

Best of luck to her.