Volunteer screening in Alabama: the complete guide
The statutes that apply, which of your volunteers they reach, which agency runs which check, what organizations here actually get wrong, and the order to do it in.
What makes Alabama different
Alabama’s Title 38, Chapter 13 names volunteers alongside employees and applicants throughout, covering child, elder and disability care settings regulated by DHR. Alabama has no youth-sports background-check law, but faith-based child care is a special case: a church or religious-school ministry that takes no public money may skip DHR licensing yet must still file its staff’s § 38-13-3 criminal history with DHR every year. From October 1, 2026 any nonprofit may request an ALEA check through the new Alabama Background Check Service, and from January 1, 2027 overnight camps may not keep staff, including volunteers, with sexual or violent convictions. Alabama also explicitly requires volunteers at youth residential facilities (including faith-based organizations) to clear a background check before any unsupervised contact. We found no state FCRA analog; the federal FCRA governs consumer-report checks. In Chapter 38-13 settings, volunteers must self-report later convictions (§ 38-13-5(b)).
The short version: Alabama has no law requiring every nonprofit to screen volunteers. Chapter 38-13 of Title 38 (Act 2000-775) requires ALEA and FBI fingerprint checks, with a written DHR suitability determination, for volunteers in DHR-licensed or approved child care (including church-exempt child care ministries), DHR-licensed adult care, child-placing agencies, foster and adoptive homes and DHR-contracted programs, and § 38-15-5 extends the same check to volunteers at registered youth residential programs, including faith-based ones. Youth sports have no background-check law; coaches instead take an annual injury-prevention course under the Coach Safely Act. From October 1, 2026, §§ 41-9-650.1 to 41-9-650.5 authorize ALEA to provide background checks for noncriminal justice purposes through a new Alabama Background Check Service — including to “[a]ny nonprofit or volunteer organization to screen a prospective or current volunteer of the organization” (§ 41-9-650.1(a)(3)) — and to establish an Alabama Rap Back Program; ALEA had not published a request route or fee schedule for it as of October 1, 2026, so confirm availability with ALEA before relying on it.
The statutes, one at a time
These are the laws that create the obligation. Read the citation, not a summary of it, before you build a policy around it.
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Alabama Code § 38-13-3 — Background Check Requirement
Ala. Code § 38-13-3 (Act 2000-775, as amended by Act 2018-278)
Requires covered employers, child care facilities (including church-exempt facilities), adult care facilities, child-placing agencies and DHR to have ALEA run fingerprint-based state and FBI checks on employees, applicants and volunteers, and on foster and adoptive parents; DHR reviews the results and issues a written suitability determination. Personnel, students, mentors and volunteers of DHR contractors whose essential function includes unsupervised access are covered, with DHR paying the fee. DHR-exempt adult care facilities may use the process voluntarily.
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Alabama Code §§ 38-13-4, 38-13-5 — Notice, Provisional Service and Suitability
Ala. Code §§ 38-13-4, 38-13-5 (as amended by Act 2019-322)
Requires a signed criminal-history statement with the statutory notice before service and a check request to ALEA within five business days, lets a volunteer serve provisionally until DHR’s suitability letter arrives, and requires removal of a volunteer DHR finds unsuitable. Volunteers must report any later conviction (§ 38-13-5(b)); knowingly, willfully and intentionally failing to do so is a Class A misdemeanor (§ 38-13-9(a)(4)).
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Alabama Code § 38-15-5 — Youth Residential Facility Abuse Prevention Act
Ala. Code § 38-15-5 (Act 2017-374)
Every employee and volunteer of a registered religious, faith-based, nonprofit or for-profit youth residential program must pass a criminal background check under § 38-13-3(a)(1) before unsupervised contact with children.
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Alabama Code § 38-7-3 — Church-exempt child care
Ala. Code § 38-7-3 (Act 2018-278)
Child care that is an integral part of a church ministry or religious school is exempt from licensing unless it takes state or federal funds or runs for profit. It must still file staff criminal history under § 38-13-3 with DHR every year, pass inspections, notify parents, and post that it is not DHR-licensed.
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Alabama Code § 15-20A-13 — Sex offender volunteer bar
Ala. Code § 15-20A-13 (as amended by Act 2025-201)
Adult registrants may not volunteer at schools, child care or organizations serving primarily children, within 2,000 feet of a school or child care facility, near parks and athletic fields (for child offenders), or as first responders. Knowingly giving a registrant a volunteer position at a child care facility or an organization serving primarily children is a Class C felony.
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Alabama Code §§ 41-9-650.1 to 41-9-650.5 — Alabama Background Check Service
Act 2026-374, effective October 1, 2026
ALEA may run name-based or biometric checks for any nonprofit or volunteer organization screening volunteers, with the volunteer’s express permission kept for at least three years. The record fee is capped at $30, and Rap Back alerts are optional.
Which of your volunteers this reaches
Run your actual roster against this list. The roles below are where Alabama's requirements apply; everyone else is a risk decision rather than a legal one.
- Volunteers in DHR-licensed or approved child care, including church-exempt child care ministries (our reading of § 38-13-2(9)): ALEA and FBI fingerprint check with a DHR suitability letter, plus, for those with unsupervised access, child abuse/neglect and sex offender registry checks, renewed at least every five years in licensed and subsidy programs (§§ 38-13-3(a)(1), 38-7-3(c)(2); DHR child care rules)
- Employees and volunteers of DHR-registered youth residential programs, including faith-based programs, private alternative boarding schools and outdoor or treatment programs that house children more than 24 hours, before any unsupervised contact (§ 38-15-5)
- Foster and adoptive parents and adult household members; volunteers in licensed child-placing agencies, residential child-care facilities and DHR-licensed adult care; and students, mentors and volunteers of DHR contractors whose essential function includes unsupervised access (§ 38-13-3(a)(1)-(3), (5))
- Volunteers with one-on-one contact at assisted living, home health, hospice, hospital, nursing, rehabilitation and designated adult group-home providers: the provider must query DHR’s Elder and Adult Abuse Registry (§ 38-9G-5; a registry query, not a fingerprint check)
- From January 1, 2027: all staff, including volunteers, at overnight camps with cabins for campers 16 and under may not have a sexual or violent conviction as disclosed by ALEA or an approved screening contractor (Act 2026-368, § 4(a))
- Optional, not required: youth sports coaches and league volunteers. Alabama has no youth-sports background-check law; coaches of high-risk sports for ages 14 and under on public property must instead complete an annual injury-prevention course (§ 22-11F-3)
- Optional, not required: school volunteers and chaperones. The school law covers employees only (§ 16-22A-5); follow your local board or private school policy
- Optional, not required: other nonprofits working with children, elders or people with disabilities outside DHR licensing, although § 38-13-2(17) defines employer broadly enough that counsel should confirm; from October 1, 2026 § 41-9-650.1(a)(3) authorizes ALEA to provide a background check to any nonprofit or volunteer organization to screen a prospective or current volunteer, though ALEA had not published a request route as of October 1, 2026
Which check, from which agency
Alabama does not use one check for everything. These are the distinct instruments in play — they search different databases and are not interchangeable.
- ALEA and FBI fingerprint check for Chapter 38-13 settings, taken by DHR’s vendor Fieldprint ($47.20 per application); DHR issues a written suitability determination (§ 38-13-7(b))
- DHR Child Abuse/Neglect Central Registry clearance (Form DHR-DFC-1598, no fee), plus other-state registry checks for anyone who lived elsewhere in the past five years (child care)
- Alabama sex offender registry search (free, immediate) and National Sex Offender Registry search (child care)
- DHR Elder and Adult in Need of Protective Services Abuse Registry query for adult-care volunteers with one-on-one contact (§ 38-9G-5)
- ALEA personal criminal history record review: $25 (ALEA asks for fingerprints and photo ID; DHR says a mailed request takes at least 4–5 weeks); the $25 statutory fee (§ 32-2-61) is repealed Oct. 1, 2026, and ALEA’s new fee power is § 41-9-650.3
- From October 1, 2026: Alabama Background Check Service for nonprofits, name-based (Alabama records only) or biometric, record fee capped at $30 plus any FBI cost, optional Rap Back alerts up to $12 per year (§§ 41-9-650.1 to 41-9-650.4)
Administered by: Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR) Office of Criminal History issues suitability determinations for Chapter 38-13 checks (fingerprints taken by Fieldprint and processed by ALEA and the FBI) and runs the Child Abuse/Neglect Central Registry and the Elder and Adult Abuse Registry; ALEA holds Alabama criminal records and the sex offender registry and, from October 1, 2026, runs the Alabama Background Check Service
Typical processing: We found no published turnaround for DHR fingerprint checks; volunteers may serve provisionally pending DHR’s suitability letter (§ 38-13-4(b)). ALEA personal record review by mail: at least 4–5 weeks.
What organizations in Alabama get wrong
These are the specific, local mistakes — the exemption that gets misapplied, the second database nobody runs, the deadline that arrives before anyone has written a policy.
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In DHR-regulated programs, volunteers must tell you about any conviction after their check (§ 38-13-5(b)), and knowingly, willfully and intentionally failing to is a Class A misdemeanor (§ 38-13-9(a)(4)); put the statutory notice in your volunteer application and repeat the duty in your volunteer agreement.
- 2
Alabama has no youth-sports background-check law. What it does require: every coach, paid or volunteer, in a league running high-risk sports for ages 14 and under on public property must finish an ADPH-approved injury course within 30 days and every year, with completion records kept (§ 22-11F-3), and leagues face fines from the third straight year of noncompliance (§ 22-11F-4). Screen coaches anyway: registrants convicted of a child sex offense may not volunteer within 500 feet of an athletic field (§ 15-20A-13(c)).
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In Chapter 38-13 settings, collect the signed criminal-history statement before the volunteer starts, submit fingerprints and consent within five business days (§ 38-13-4(c)), and let the volunteer serve only provisionally until DHR’s suitability letter arrives (§ 38-13-4(b)).
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If a disability prevents fingerprinting (for example loss of both hands or severe scarring of all fingers), the statute substitutes a written consent to a name-only check (§ 38-13-3(c)).
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Chapter 38-13 disqualifies violent offenses, sex crimes, crimes that injure or maltreat a child, elder or disabled person, crimes against children and drug sale or distribution (§ 38-13-2(31)). DHR makes the suitability determination, not your organization, and you must remove a volunteer DHR finds unsuitable (§ 38-13-4(d)); a disqualification that is not for a sex crime or a crime against a child, elder or disabled person can be challenged after 10 years for felonies or 5 for misdemeanors (§ 38-13-7(e)-(f)).
The order to do it in
- 1
Write the policy before you screen anyone
Decide which roles require a check, who reviews a result, and who makes the final call — in writing, before you have a result to review. Deciding under pressure with a parent on the phone is how organizations end up with a decision they cannot defend. Our free policy generator will draft one you can edit.
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Sort your roster by unsupervised access, not by job title
The statutes above turn on contact and supervision, not on what a role is called. A "greeter" who walks children to the restroom has unsupervised access; a "coach" who is never alone with anyone may not.
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Match each role to the right instrument
Where Alabama mandates a specific channel — fingerprint, a named registry, an agency portal — use that channel for that role. Use a broad multi-source check as the baseline for everyone else.
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Collect consent correctly the first time
FCRA requires a standalone written disclosure and a separate written authorization. Bundling either into a volunteer application or a waiver is the single most common compliance defect, and it is the one plaintiffs' lawyers look for.
- 5
Run the check, then follow adverse action if anything surfaces
Pre-adverse notice with a copy of the report and a summary of rights, a reasonable window to dispute, then the final notice. Build the waiting period into your start dates rather than discovering it under pressure.
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Set a re-screen interval and let it run
A clearance describes the day it was run. Most organizations use one to two years; some insurers require annual for roles with unsupervised access to children.
Questions Alabama organizations ask
Does Alabama require background checks for all volunteers?
Alabama has no law requiring every nonprofit to screen volunteers. Chapter 38-13 of Title 38 (Act 2000-775) requires ALEA and FBI fingerprint checks, with a written DHR suitability determination, for volunteers in DHR-licensed or approved child care (including church-exempt child care ministries), DHR-licensed adult care, child-placing agencies, foster and adoptive homes and DHR-contracted programs, and § 38-15-5 extends the same check to volunteers at registered youth residential programs, including faith-based ones. Youth sports have no background-check law; coaches instead take an annual injury-prevention course under the Coach Safely Act. From October 1, 2026, §§ 41-9-650.1 to 41-9-650.5 authorize ALEA to provide background checks for noncriminal justice purposes through a new Alabama Background Check Service — including to “[a]ny nonprofit or volunteer organization to screen a prospective or current volunteer of the organization” (§ 41-9-650.1(a)(3)) — and to establish an Alabama Rap Back Program; ALEA had not published a request route or fee schedule for it as of October 1, 2026, so confirm availability with ALEA before relying on it.
Which of my volunteers does Alabama law actually reach?
Based on the statutes cited on this page: Volunteers in DHR-licensed or approved child care, including church-exempt child care ministries (our reading of § 38-13-2(9)): ALEA and FBI fingerprint check with a DHR suitability letter, plus, for those with unsupervised access, child abuse/neglect and sex offender registry checks, renewed at least every five years in licensed and subsidy programs (§§ 38-13-3(a)(1), 38-7-3(c)(2); DHR child care rules); Employees and volunteers of DHR-registered youth residential programs, including faith-based programs, private alternative boarding schools and outdoor or treatment programs that house children more than 24 hours, before any unsupervised contact (§ 38-15-5); Foster and adoptive parents and adult household members; volunteers in licensed child-placing agencies, residential child-care facilities and DHR-licensed adult care; and students, mentors and volunteers of DHR contractors whose essential function includes unsupervised access (§ 38-13-3(a)(1)-(3), (5)); Volunteers with one-on-one contact at assisted living, home health, hospice, hospital, nursing, rehabilitation and designated adult group-home providers: the provider must query DHR’s Elder and Adult Abuse Registry (§ 38-9G-5; a registry query, not a fingerprint check); From January 1, 2027: all staff, including volunteers, at overnight camps with cabins for campers 16 and under may not have a sexual or violent conviction as disclosed by ALEA or an approved screening contractor (Act 2026-368, § 4(a)); Optional, not required: youth sports coaches and league volunteers. Alabama has no youth-sports background-check law; coaches of high-risk sports for ages 14 and under on public property must instead complete an annual injury-prevention course (§ 22-11F-3); Optional, not required: school volunteers and chaperones. The school law covers employees only (§ 16-22A-5); follow your local board or private school policy; Optional, not required: other nonprofits working with children, elders or people with disabilities outside DHR licensing, although § 38-13-2(17) defines employer broadly enough that counsel should confirm; from October 1, 2026 § 41-9-650.1(a)(3) authorizes ALEA to provide a background check to any nonprofit or volunteer organization to screen a prospective or current volunteer, though ALEA had not published a request route as of October 1, 2026. Those categories are where Alabama's requirements bite. Volunteers outside them are a policy decision for your organization rather than a statutory one — which does not mean the answer is "skip it", only that the reason to screen is risk management rather than a citation.
Who administers the check in Alabama?
Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR) Office of Criminal History issues suitability determinations for Chapter 38-13 checks (fingerprints taken by Fieldprint and processed by ALEA and the FBI) and runs the Child Abuse/Neglect Central Registry and the Elder and Adult Abuse Registry; ALEA holds Alabama criminal records and the sex offender registry and, from October 1, 2026, runs the Alabama Background Check Service. Typical processing is We found no published turnaround for DHR fingerprint checks; volunteers may serve provisionally pending DHR’s suitability letter (§ 38-13-4(b)). ALEA personal record review by mail: at least 4–5 weeks..
Does a VolunteerBadge check satisfy Alabama's requirement?
It depends on what your state or licensor mandates, and we would rather be straight with you about it than sell past the question. Our $5 check is a broad multi-source criminal and sex-offender search from an FCRA-regulated consumer reporting agency — an excellent primary screen and, for many volunteer roles, the whole answer. It is not a fingerprint or live-scan check. Where Alabama specifically mandates a fingerprint-based state or FBI channel for a role, that requirement stands on its own and our check supplements rather than replaces it.
We operate in more than one state. Whose rules apply?
Generally the rules of the state where the volunteer serves, not where your organization is incorporated. Organizations near a border routinely have volunteers under two different regimes at the same event. For Alabama that most often means Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee. The practical approach is to screen to the strictest standard among the states you operate in, so one process covers all of them.
What happens if we run a check and find something?
That is where federal law takes over from state law. Running background checks makes you a user of consumer reports under the FCRA, so before you decline anyone based on the report you must send a pre-adverse action notice with a copy of the report and a summary of rights, allow a reasonable window to dispute, and only then send the final notice. It is not optional, and it is the step organizations most often miss.
Operating across a Alabama border?
Volunteers are generally governed by the state where they serve. If your programs cross a line, these are the neighbors you are most likely to need.
General information, not legal advice. We are a consumer reporting agency, not a law firm. The statutes cited above are real and current as of August 21, 2026, but they are amended — and a citation is not a substitute for reading how it applies to your specific program. Confirm with Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR) Office of Criminal History issues suitability determinations for Chapter 38-13 checks (fingerprints taken by Fieldprint and processed by ALEA and the FBI) and runs the Child Abuse/Neglect Central Registry and the Elder and Adult Abuse Registry; ALEA holds Alabama criminal records and the sex offender registry and, from October 1, 2026, runs the Alabama Background Check Service, your licensor, your insurer, or your own counsel before relying on any of it. Spot an error? Tell us — we would rather fix it.
Screen your Alabama volunteers for $5
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