Originally Posted by Unregistered:
I was convicted twice of shoplifting in a two year period.I was in a "bad" period of my life and made some stupid decisions that will now follow me the rest of my life. I accept responsibility for what I did but I am truly a different person with a different attitude on life. I have a nurturing nature and had dreams of pursuing a career in Early Childhood Development. I had each conviction expunged and have been trouble free for your years. I recently applied for a criminal exemption to work in a daycare and I was denied. They said I had to wait five consecutive years, I had more than one conviction and had no proof of rehab. I am at a loss. I have requested an appeal but am not feeling very Hopeful.
Have you considered seeing a counselor? Maybe if they had some proof that you are trying to better yourself it can speed up the process. You mentioned that you had more than one conviction, was it only in shoplifting or was there confrontations involved?
Though I have heard of a case where someone who wanted to be a nurse (they also need to pass background checks) ran a red light and would have only gotten a small ticket but I guess she was having a bad day because she thought it would be a good idea to tell the cop off and mouthed off to him. When she went to apply for a nursing program she had a mark on her record for verbal assault from that incident. If she wouldn't have said anything to him she would have just gotten a ticket and just had to pay it and nothing would happen; but since the incident involved threatening another person it is sticking with her forever and now she can't be a nurse or any profession that involves other people.
Also sometimes you may think that things are deleted or expunged from your record but still show up and effect your future. One of my ECE teachers said that once she had a student who when she was still in high school (just after she turned 18) she was intimate with her boyfriend who was still only 17 at the time and when his parents found out they reported her. She thought that she got it erased from her record because she didn't have to register as a sex offender but I guess something like that never gets completely off record, so now she cannot be a nurse or a teacher or type of professional career that involves working directly with people (especially children).