Volunteer screening in Alaska: 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 Alaska different
Alaska’s program is built for distance: when no fingerprinting is available within 100 miles by road, the Department of Health can issue a provisional clearance valid for 90 days with prints due within 30 days (7 AAC 10.920). Once cleared, a volunteer’s name stays flagged in the state’s public-safety network so new arrests reach the Department of Health in real time, and the clearance lasts five years while the volunteer stays with a covered provider (7 AAC 10.910(c), 10.915(e)). Alaska has no general adult expungement, and a suspended imposition of sentence still counts as a conviction for the program (7 AAC 10.905(m)).
The short version: Alaska has no law requiring nonprofits in general to screen volunteers. The mandatory checks come from the state Background Check Program (AS 47.05.300–.390; 7 AAC 10.900–.990), run by the Department of Health: in any program licensed, certified or paid by the Department of Health or the Department of Family and Community Services, including child care, foster, residential and elder care, every volunteer 16 or older with regular contact with the people served, and every unsupervised volunteer with access to their records or money, needs a fingerprint-based state and FBI criminal check and a civil-registry check before starting. Convictions carry permanent, 10-, 5- or 3-year barriers, and the $40 application fee is waived for unpaid volunteers of state or 501(c)(3) providers.
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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Alaska Background Check Program
Alaska Stat. § 47.05.300 through § 47.05.390 and 7 AAC 10.900–10.990
Requires every entity licensed, certified or paid by the Department of Health or the Department of Family and Community Services to submit each owner, employee, unsupervised volunteer and other person 16 or older with regular contact for a Department of Health background check (fingerprint-based state and FBI criminal check plus civil-registry check) before association; names stay flagged for new arrests, checks last five years with annual verification, and 7 AAC 10.905 sets permanent, 10-year, 5-year and 3-year barriers.
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Interested-Person Criminal Record Checks (DPS)
Alaska Stat. §§ 12.62.160(b)(9), (e), 12.62.400(a)(12) and 12.62.900(17)
Lets an organization that places anyone, paid or unpaid, in a position with supervisory or disciplinary power over a minor or dependent adult request that person’s Alaska criminal record from the Department of Public Safety as an interested person, and add an FBI national check by submitting fingerprints; DPS charges $20 without fingerprints or $35 with them, plus the FBI fee (13 AAC 68.900). The check is optional.
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Child Abuse Reporting — School Volunteers and Coaches Named
Alaska Stat. §§ 47.17.020, 47.17.290
Makes volunteers who interact with children in a public or private school more than four hours a week mandated reporters, along with school athletic coaches, including volunteer coaches who meet hours, training and signed-acknowledgment conditions; reports are due within 24 hours and failure to report is a class A misdemeanor (AS 47.17.068).
Which of your volunteers this reaches
Run your actual roster against this list. The roles below are where Alaska's requirements apply; everyone else is a risk decision rather than a legal one.
- Volunteers 16 or older who regularly serve in a licensed child care facility (five or more non-relative children) and have regular contact with the children, supervised or not: fingerprint-based state and FBI Background Check Program clearance before starting (AS 47.05.310(d); 7 AAC 10.900(b); 7 AAC 57.310–.315)
- Volunteers 16 or older with regular contact, or access to clients’ records or money, at other entities licensed by the Department of Health or DFCS, including assisted living and host care homes, nursing facilities, hospices, home health agencies, hospitals, residential child care and psychiatric treatment centers, foster homes, child placement agencies and runaway shelters (AS 47.32.010; 7 AAC 10.900(b))
- Volunteers 16 or older with regular contact at providers certified or paid by the Department of Health or DFCS to serve clients, including public home care, Medicaid home- and community-based waiver and community mental health case-management providers (AS 47.05.300; 7 AAC 10.900(b))
- Foster home household members 16 or older (release and fingerprints with the license application; 7 AAC 67.030); a new volunteer who might have unsupervised contact with a foster child must be reported to the licensing agency (7 AAC 67.170)
- Staff and volunteers of accredited day camps that use the child care licensing exemption (fingerprint checks to the Background Check Program standard, done by the camp or through the program; 7 AAC 57.015(a)(11), (b))
- Optional, not required: school volunteers, field-trip chaperones and unpaid coaches (we found no statute requiring checks; certificated teachers are fingerprinted under AS 14.20.020, and school volunteers working with children more than four hours a week are mandated reporters, AS 47.17.020(a)(9))
- Optional, not required: youth sports, church, mentoring, overnight camp and other nonprofit volunteers (we found no statute requiring checks; an organization placing someone over minors or dependent adults may request that person’s Alaska record from DPS as an interested person, AS 12.62.160(b)(9))
- Optional, not required: senior center, meal-delivery and other adult-services volunteers at programs not licensed, certified or paid by the Department of Health or DFCS (we found no statute requiring checks)
Which check, from which agency
Alaska does not use one check for everything. These are the distinct instruments in play — they search different databases and are not interchangeable.
- Fingerprint-based state criminal history check via Alaska DPS
- FBI national criminal history check
- Barrier crime review under 7 AAC 10.905 (permanent, 10-, 5- and 3-year tiers)
- Sex offender registry check
- Civil history databases, including substantiated child abuse or neglect and vulnerable-adult abuse findings (AS 47.05.330); names then stay flagged in APSIN for new arrests (7 AAC 10.915(e))
Administered by: Alaska Department of Health — Background Check Program (checks for all Department of Health and DFCS covered providers); Department of Public Safety — Criminal Records and Identification Bureau (state criminal records, fingerprints and FBI submissions)
Typical processing: Not published by the state; the Department of Health can issue a provisional clearance valid for 90 days while fingerprint results are pending (7 AAC 10.920)
What organizations in Alaska 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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Determine whether your organization is licensed or certified by, or eligible for payments from, the Department of Health or the Department of Family and Community Services (AS 47.05.300); if so, the Background Check Program applies to volunteers 16 or older with regular contact, whatever their title. The Department of Health waives the $40 application fee for unpaid volunteers of state-run or 501(c)(3) providers; the DPS and FBI fees still apply (7 AAC 10.910(b)(5)).
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Barrier crimes are listed in 7 AAC 10.905: some are permanent, others bar a person for 10, 5 or 3 years, pending charges bar contact until resolved, and a set-aside suspended imposition of sentence still counts; variances can be requested except where federal law forbids them (7 AAC 10.930).
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If fingerprinting is not available within 100 miles by road, request a provisional clearance and submit the prints within 30 days; the provisional clearance lasts 90 days (7 AAC 10.920).
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Supervision alone does not exempt a volunteer who has regular contact, daily or recurring, with the people you serve; the exemptions in 7 AAC 10.900(d), such as relatives, visitors, vendors and occasional guests, are a closed list and require supervised access. A genuinely one-time helper has no recurring contact and appears to fall outside 7 AAC 10.900(b)(6) and 10.990(c); confirm with your oversight division.
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AmeriCorps-funded programs in Alaska must also meet the federal National Service Criminal History Check rules (45 C.F.R. 2540.200–.207), which are separate from the state program.
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.
- 2
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.
- 3
Match each role to the right instrument
Where Alaska 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.
- 4
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.
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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.
- 6
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 Alaska organizations ask
Does Alaska require background checks for all volunteers?
Alaska has no law requiring nonprofits in general to screen volunteers. The mandatory checks come from the state Background Check Program (AS 47.05.300–.390; 7 AAC 10.900–.990), run by the Department of Health: in any program licensed, certified or paid by the Department of Health or the Department of Family and Community Services, including child care, foster, residential and elder care, every volunteer 16 or older with regular contact with the people served, and every unsupervised volunteer with access to their records or money, needs a fingerprint-based state and FBI criminal check and a civil-registry check before starting. Convictions carry permanent, 10-, 5- or 3-year barriers, and the $40 application fee is waived for unpaid volunteers of state or 501(c)(3) providers.
Which of my volunteers does Alaska law actually reach?
Based on the statutes cited on this page: Volunteers 16 or older who regularly serve in a licensed child care facility (five or more non-relative children) and have regular contact with the children, supervised or not: fingerprint-based state and FBI Background Check Program clearance before starting (AS 47.05.310(d); 7 AAC 10.900(b); 7 AAC 57.310–.315); Volunteers 16 or older with regular contact, or access to clients’ records or money, at other entities licensed by the Department of Health or DFCS, including assisted living and host care homes, nursing facilities, hospices, home health agencies, hospitals, residential child care and psychiatric treatment centers, foster homes, child placement agencies and runaway shelters (AS 47.32.010; 7 AAC 10.900(b)); Volunteers 16 or older with regular contact at providers certified or paid by the Department of Health or DFCS to serve clients, including public home care, Medicaid home- and community-based waiver and community mental health case-management providers (AS 47.05.300; 7 AAC 10.900(b)); Foster home household members 16 or older (release and fingerprints with the license application; 7 AAC 67.030); a new volunteer who might have unsupervised contact with a foster child must be reported to the licensing agency (7 AAC 67.170); Staff and volunteers of accredited day camps that use the child care licensing exemption (fingerprint checks to the Background Check Program standard, done by the camp or through the program; 7 AAC 57.015(a)(11), (b)); Optional, not required: school volunteers, field-trip chaperones and unpaid coaches (we found no statute requiring checks; certificated teachers are fingerprinted under AS 14.20.020, and school volunteers working with children more than four hours a week are mandated reporters, AS 47.17.020(a)(9)); Optional, not required: youth sports, church, mentoring, overnight camp and other nonprofit volunteers (we found no statute requiring checks; an organization placing someone over minors or dependent adults may request that person’s Alaska record from DPS as an interested person, AS 12.62.160(b)(9)); Optional, not required: senior center, meal-delivery and other adult-services volunteers at programs not licensed, certified or paid by the Department of Health or DFCS (we found no statute requiring checks). Those categories are where Alaska'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 Alaska?
Alaska Department of Health — Background Check Program (checks for all Department of Health and DFCS covered providers); Department of Public Safety — Criminal Records and Identification Bureau (state criminal records, fingerprints and FBI submissions). Typical processing is Not published by the state; the Department of Health can issue a provisional clearance valid for 90 days while fingerprint results are pending (7 AAC 10.920).
Does a VolunteerBadge check satisfy Alaska'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 Alaska 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 Alaska that most often means Washington. 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 Alaska 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 Alaska Department of Health — Background Check Program (checks for all Department of Health and DFCS covered providers); Department of Public Safety — Criminal Records and Identification Bureau (state criminal records, fingerprints and FBI submissions), 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 Alaska volunteers for $5
A broad national criminal search, all 50 state sex-offender registries plus the national registry, and the FCRA disclosure, authorization and adverse-action workflow built in — because step four and step five above are where organizations get into trouble.
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