Volunteer screening in Arkansas: 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 Arkansas different
Arkansas’s Criminal History for Volunteers Act, enacted in 2005, is permissive: any organization whose volunteers serve children under 16, people 65 or older, domestic-abuse victims or people with disabilities may register with the State Police, and since 2013 public schools may too. Its definition of conviction counts sealed and expunged convictions, and a non-government organization gets only a qualified or not-qualified answer from the FBI check. Since 2023, any person 18 or older who observes child abuse, sexual abuse or sexual exploitation is a mandated reporter, and school coaching volunteers need fingerprint and registry checks. Child care licensing moved from DHS to the Department of Education under the LEARNS Act (Act 237 of 2023).
The short version: Arkansas has no law requiring every nonprofit to screen volunteers. The Criminal History for Volunteers Act (Ark. Code §§ 12-12-1601 to -1610) lets any organization whose volunteers serve children, the elderly, domestic-abuse victims or people with disabilities register with the Arkansas State Police and request checks with the volunteer’s signed authorization. Checks are mandatory only in specific settings: licensed child care and out-of-school-time programs (by licensing rule), licensed child welfare agencies such as foster placement agencies and residential homes (Ark. Code § 9-28-409), and public-school registered volunteers who coach (Ark. Code § 6-17-414, as amended by Act 792 of 2023).
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.
- 1
Criminal History for Volunteers Act
Ark. Code Ann. §§ 12-12-1601 to 12-12-1610 (Act 1778 of 2005)
Lets a volunteer organization serving children under 16, people 65 or older, domestic-abuse victims or people with disabilities register with the Arkansas State Police and, with the volunteer’s signed authorization, receive Arkansas convictions, pending Arkansas felony arrests and sex-offender registration status. An FBI fingerprint check is optional; the State Police reviews it against the organization’s filed list of disqualifying offenses and reports only whether the volunteer qualifies. Requests must be kept at least three years and results kept confidential.
- 2
School coaching volunteers
Ark. Code Ann. § 6-17-414(a), (b) (Act 792 of 2023); § 6-22-105
A public school board must require a registered volunteer who is obtaining a coaching certificate or will coach students to pass state and FBI fingerprint checks and a Child Maltreatment Central Registry check before any unsupervised contact with students; the volunteer pays unless the board does. Districts that run a registered-volunteers program must require a fingerprint check dated within 90 days and training before significant unsupervised contact.
- 3
Child Welfare Agency Licensing Act checks
Ark. Code Ann. § 9-28-409 (Act 269 of 2021; Act 186 of 2023)
Volunteers with direct and unsupervised contact with children in a licensed child welfare agency, including foster placement agencies and residential and group homes, need a Child Maltreatment Central Registry check, a State Police check and an FBI fingerprint check, and may not begin volunteering until the checks are complete.
- 4
Child care licensing rules
20 CAR §§ 1025-209, 1025-210, 1025-404, 1026-304, 1027-101(4)(C), 1027-110, 1027-111, 1027-305, 1028-108
Licensed childcare centers, family homes and out-of-school-time programs, including summer day camps, must have a Child Maltreatment Central Registry check on file for volunteers with routine contact, renewed every two years in centers, out-of-school-time programs and registered family homes (§§ 1025-209, 1027-110, 1028-108), and day programs running three weeks a year or less need no license (§ 1027-101(4)(C)); volunteers left alone with children, counted in ratios or given supervisory or disciplinary control are treated as staff and also need fingerprint checks every five years.
- 5
Registered offender working with children prohibited
Ark. Code Ann. § 5-14-129
A Level 3 or Level 4 registered sex offender commits a Class D felony by engaging in an occupation or participating in a volunteer position that requires working or interacting primarily and directly with children under 16.
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Mandated reporting of child maltreatment
Ark. Code Ann. § 12-18-402
Names volunteer roles including domestic violence shelter volunteers, CASA volunteers, victim assistance volunteers, volunteers at a reproductive healthcare facility and school volunteer coaches or directors age 21 or older; since Act 727 of 2023 any person 18 or older who observes abuse, sexual abuse or sexual exploitation of a child must report. Reports go immediately to the Child Abuse Hotline, 1-800-482-5964.
Which of your volunteers this reaches
Run your actual roster against this list. The roles below are where Arkansas's requirements apply; everyone else is a risk decision rather than a legal one.
- Volunteers with direct and unsupervised contact with children in a licensed child welfare agency (foster placement agencies, residential and group homes): registry, State Police and FBI checks before starting (Ark. Code § 9-28-409)
- Volunteers with routine contact with children in licensed childcare centers, family homes and out-of-school-time programs: Child Maltreatment Central Registry check before starting and every two years, plus State Police and FBI fingerprint checks if left alone, counted in ratio or given supervisory or disciplinary control (20 CAR pts. 1025-1028)
- Public-school registered volunteers who coach or are obtaining a coaching certificate: state and FBI fingerprint checks and a Child Maltreatment Central Registry check before unsupervised contact with students (Ark. Code § 6-17-414, Act 792 of 2023)
- Division of Children and Family Services volunteers with direct and unsupervised contact with children: registry and State Police checks, FBI if not an Arkansas resident for five years, renewed every two years (9 CAR § 40-203)
- Registered volunteers in a school district that runs a registered-volunteers program: fingerprint check dated within 90 days before significant unsupervised contact with students (Ark. Code § 6-22-105)
- Optional, not required: any other volunteer who serves children, people 65 or older, domestic-abuse victims or people with disabilities, through the Criminal History for Volunteers Act (Ark. Code §§ 12-12-1601 to -1610)
- Optional, not required: volunteers at nursing homes, home health, hospice and disability service providers, whom Ark. Code § 20-38-101 excludes from its check mandate
- Optional, not required: youth sports coaches outside schools; Arkansas requires only annual injury-prevention training for coaches of children 14 and under in high-risk sports on public property (Coach Safely Act, Act 642 of 2023)
- Optional, not required: staff and volunteers at an overnight temporary camp, which is exempt from child welfare licensing (9 CAR § 31-101(14)(B))
Which check, from which agency
Arkansas does not use one check for everything. These are the distinct instruments in play — they search different databases and are not interchangeable.
- Arkansas State Police name-based check under the volunteer act: Arkansas convictions, pending Arkansas felony arrests and sex-offender registration status (form ASP-122VOL, $10.00)
- FBI fingerprint check through the State Police ($20.00 for Arkansas plus FBI on ASP-122VOL; non-government organizations get a qualified or not-qualified result, not the FBI record)
- Arkansas Child Maltreatment Central Registry check (DHS; $10.00 per request plus a $1 online fee, waived for nonprofits that upload 501(c)(3) proof; required every two years in licensed child care, out-of-school-time and child welfare settings)
- Adult Maltreatment Registry check (DHS online request, signature and payment)
- National Sex Offender Registry check (included in the DESE Office of Early Childhood online state and federal check for licensed child care programs)
- Out-of-state registry and criminal checks for anyone who lived outside Arkansas in the past five years (child care and child welfare rules)
Administered by: Arkansas State Police Identification Bureau (volunteer checks); Department of Education Office of Early Childhood (child care licensing and background checks); Department of Human Services (Child Maltreatment Central Registry, Adult Maltreatment Registry, child welfare agency licensing)
What organizations in Arkansas 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.
- 1
To use the State Police volunteer route, register with the ASP Identification Bureau first; if you want FBI results and are not a government entity, file your list of disqualifying offenses with the ID Bureau, which then tells you only whether the volunteer qualifies (Ark. Code § 12-12-1605; form ASP-122VOL).
- 2
Keep a copy of every volunteer check request for at least three years and treat results as confidential; knowingly disclosing them to an unauthorized person or using them for other purposes is a Class A misdemeanor (Ark. Code §§ 12-12-1606(c), 12-12-1607(c), 12-12-1608).
- 3
Do not assume a volunteer’s sealed record stays hidden: the volunteer act defines a conviction regardless of whether it has been sealed or expunged (Ark. Code § 12-12-1603(2)).
- 4
In licensed child care or out-of-school-time programs, put a Child Maltreatment Central Registry check on file before a volunteer has routine contact with children and renew it every two years; anyone left alone with children needs the full staff checks (20 CAR §§ 1025-209, 1025-404, 1027-305).
- 5
Train volunteers that Arkansas now makes any adult who observes child abuse, sexual abuse or sexual exploitation a mandated reporter, that reports go to the Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-482-5964 immediately, and that anonymous reports are no longer accepted (Ark. Code §§ 12-18-402, 12-18-303, as amended by Act 727 of 2023).
- 6
If your organization coaches children 14 and under in football, basketball, baseball, volleyball, soccer, hockey, cheerleading or lacrosse on public property, have every coach, paid or volunteer, finish a Department of Health-approved injury-prevention course within 30 days and every year, and keep the records (Coach Safely Act, Act 642 of 2023; 6 CAR pt. 521).
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 Arkansas 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.
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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.
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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 Arkansas organizations ask
Does Arkansas require background checks for all volunteers?
Arkansas has no law requiring every nonprofit to screen volunteers. The Criminal History for Volunteers Act (Ark. Code §§ 12-12-1601 to -1610) lets any organization whose volunteers serve children, the elderly, domestic-abuse victims or people with disabilities register with the Arkansas State Police and request checks with the volunteer’s signed authorization. Checks are mandatory only in specific settings: licensed child care and out-of-school-time programs (by licensing rule), licensed child welfare agencies such as foster placement agencies and residential homes (Ark. Code § 9-28-409), and public-school registered volunteers who coach (Ark. Code § 6-17-414, as amended by Act 792 of 2023).
Which of my volunteers does Arkansas law actually reach?
Based on the statutes cited on this page: Volunteers with direct and unsupervised contact with children in a licensed child welfare agency (foster placement agencies, residential and group homes): registry, State Police and FBI checks before starting (Ark. Code § 9-28-409); Volunteers with routine contact with children in licensed childcare centers, family homes and out-of-school-time programs: Child Maltreatment Central Registry check before starting and every two years, plus State Police and FBI fingerprint checks if left alone, counted in ratio or given supervisory or disciplinary control (20 CAR pts. 1025-1028); Public-school registered volunteers who coach or are obtaining a coaching certificate: state and FBI fingerprint checks and a Child Maltreatment Central Registry check before unsupervised contact with students (Ark. Code § 6-17-414, Act 792 of 2023); Division of Children and Family Services volunteers with direct and unsupervised contact with children: registry and State Police checks, FBI if not an Arkansas resident for five years, renewed every two years (9 CAR § 40-203); Registered volunteers in a school district that runs a registered-volunteers program: fingerprint check dated within 90 days before significant unsupervised contact with students (Ark. Code § 6-22-105); Optional, not required: any other volunteer who serves children, people 65 or older, domestic-abuse victims or people with disabilities, through the Criminal History for Volunteers Act (Ark. Code §§ 12-12-1601 to -1610); Optional, not required: volunteers at nursing homes, home health, hospice and disability service providers, whom Ark. Code § 20-38-101 excludes from its check mandate; Optional, not required: youth sports coaches outside schools; Arkansas requires only annual injury-prevention training for coaches of children 14 and under in high-risk sports on public property (Coach Safely Act, Act 642 of 2023); Optional, not required: staff and volunteers at an overnight temporary camp, which is exempt from child welfare licensing (9 CAR § 31-101(14)(B)). Those categories are where Arkansas'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 Arkansas?
Arkansas State Police Identification Bureau (volunteer checks); Department of Education Office of Early Childhood (child care licensing and background checks); Department of Human Services (Child Maltreatment Central Registry, Adult Maltreatment Registry, child welfare agency licensing). Processing time varies by check type and volume; confirm current turnaround with the agency before committing to a start date for a volunteer.
Does a VolunteerBadge check satisfy Arkansas'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 Arkansas 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 Arkansas that most often means Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas. 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 Arkansas 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 Arkansas State Police Identification Bureau (volunteer checks); Department of Education Office of Early Childhood (child care licensing and background checks); Department of Human Services (Child Maltreatment Central Registry, Adult Maltreatment Registry, child welfare agency licensing), 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 Arkansas volunteers for $5
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