Nonprofit compliance in Louisiana

Louisiana has no general volunteer background check mandate. Checks are required for volunteers at licensed early learning centers (an LDOE child care criminal background check under R.S. 17:407.42), at DCFS-licensed child-placing agencies, maternity homes and residential homes (R.S. 46:51.2), at LDH-licensed therapeutic group homes (R.S. 15:587.1.2), for CASA volunteers (Children’s Code article 424.1), for volunteer school chaplains (R.S. 17:3013) and for independent youth head coaches who are not family members (R.S. 15:587.3(A)(2)). Other organizations may choose fingerprint checks through VECHS (R.S. 15:587.7) or the youth-serving organization law (R.S. 15:587.3).

• R.S. 17:407.42 and Bulletin 137 — Child care criminal background checks (CCCBC) (La. R.S. 17:407.42; LAC 28:CLXI §§1801–1819) — Every owner, volunteer, staff member and employee of any kind at a licensed early learning center needs an LDOE eligibility determination based on Louisiana and FBI fingerprints, the DCFS central registry and sex offender registries before being present when children are, renewed at least once every five years. A person with a listed crime or registry record may not volunteer.
• R.S. 46:51.2 and 46:1414.1 — DCFS-licensed child-placing agencies, maternity homes and residential homes (La. R.S. 46:51.2(A)(12), (E)–(F); 46:1414.1; LAC 67:V) — No person, volunteers included, may be taken on by these providers until fingerprinted and cleared of listed crimes, and anyone on the state central registry as a perpetrator may not work or volunteer there. Licensing rules require FBI fingerprint checks and a registry clearance before a volunteer is present. Other child care provider organizations such as Big Brother/Big Sister and scouting may request checks with consent.
• Louisiana Revised Statutes § 15:587.7 — VECHS (La. R.S. 15:587.7 (Acts 2018, No. 376, eff. Jan. 1, 2019; amended 2019, 2024 and by Acts 2026, No. 483, eff. Aug. 1, 2026)) — Optional. A business or organization that provides care or care placement services to children, the elderly or people with disabilities registers with the Louisiana Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information and may then require employees, volunteers and contractors to be fingerprinted for a state check and, on request, an FBI check. The entity alone decides suitability, is not liable solely for failing to check, and since Aug. 1, 2026 a private entity may not receive expunged records.
• R.S. 15:587.3 — Youth-serving organizations and youth coaches (La. R.S. 15:587.3) — Religious, charitable, educational, athletic and youth-serving organizations may require volunteers who work with children to be fingerprinted for a state and FBI check; a volunteer who refuses must not work with children. A head coach of youth athletes who coaches outside such an organization, and is not a family member, must be fingerprinted.
• Children’s Code arts. 603, 609 and 610 — Mandatory reporters (La. Ch.C. arts. 603, 609, 610) — Mandatory reporters include anyone who teaches, trains or supervises children in a voluntary or professional capacity, CASA volunteers, and administrators, employees and volunteers of day camps, summer camps, youth centers, youth recreation programs and other organizations offering organized activities for children, as well as clergy (except for confidential communications). Reports must be made immediately.
• Who it reaches: Volunteers at licensed early learning centers (child day care centers, Head Start and nonpublic prekindergarten programs): an LDOE child care criminal background check (CCCBC) — Louisiana and FBI fingerprints, the DCFS state central registry, state and national sex offender registries, and other-state checks for anyone who lived elsewhere in the past five years — before being present when children are, repeated at least every five years (R.S. 17:407.42; LAC 28:CLXI §§1803, 1807, 1811); Volunteers at DCFS-licensed child-placing agencies (foster care and adoption), maternity homes and residential homes for children: a State Police or FBI fingerprint check at child-placing agencies, an FBI check at maternity and residential homes, and a state central registry clearance before being present or having access to children (R.S. 46:51.2(A)(12); R.S. 46:1414.1; LAC 67:V §§6710, 6961, 7111, 7314); the same fingerprint rule reaches volunteers at juvenile detention facilities (R.S. 46:51.2(F)(1)); CASA volunteers: no assignment to a child until a comprehensive criminal background check is done (Children’s Code art. 424.1(D)); the court may also request a DCFS central registry search (art. 616(D)); Volunteers and interns at therapeutic group homes licensed by the Louisiana Department of Health: fingerprint criminal check and child abuse registry checks; a person with a listed crime or registry finding may not volunteer (R.S. 15:587.1.2; LAC 48:I.6210); Volunteer school chaplains in public schools: fingerprint-based state and federal check before volunteering; registered sex offenders and child predators barred (R.S. 17:3013); Head coaches of youth athletes who coach outside any religious, charitable, educational, athletic or youth-serving organization and are not a family member of the child: fingerprint check through the Louisiana Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information (R.S. 15:587.3(A)(2)); AmeriCorps members and others in national service covered positions: the federal National Service Criminal History Check; the Volunteer Louisiana Commission and AmeriCorps grantees may obtain Louisiana State Police records, and the Commission FBI records, for it (45 CFR part 2540; R.S. 15:587(H)); Optional, not required: any organization that provides care, supervision, instruction or recreation to children, the elderly or people with disabilities may register with the Louisiana Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information as a VECHS qualified entity and require state and FBI fingerprint checks of volunteers; since Aug. 1, 2026 private entities may not receive expunged records (R.S. 15:587.7); Optional, not required: religious, charitable, educational, athletic and youth-serving organizations, including youth sports leagues, may require volunteers who work with children to be fingerprinted for a state and FBI check, and must keep a volunteer who refuses away from children (R.S. 15:587.3(A)(1), (C)); Optional, not required, in our reading: Big Brother/Big Sister, scouting and other child care provider organizations may request state criminal history on volunteers with supervisory or disciplinary authority over children, with the volunteer’s written consent (R.S. 46:51.2(E)–(F)(3)); read literally, R.S. 46:51.2(A)(12) could make this a requirement, so ask counsel; Optional, not required: school volunteers other than chaplains — Louisiana’s school check law covers employees and contractor staff, so volunteer checks depend on district policy (R.S. 17:15); Optional, not required: camp volunteers — camps are exempt from child care licensing and we found no camp screening statute (R.S. 17:407.33(1), 17:407.35(A)); Optional, not required: volunteers at nursing facilities, home health, hospice, adult day and other LDH-licensed adult care providers — the mandatory check covers paid nonlicensed staff only (R.S. 40:1203.1(6), 40:1203.2).
• Check types in use: LDOE child care criminal background check (CCCBC): Louisiana and FBI fingerprints with FBI rap back, DCFS state central registry, state and national sex offender registries, and other-state checks for the past five years (LAC 28:CLXI §1803; R.S. 15:587.1(B)(1)(b)); Louisiana Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information fingerprint check through VECHS (FBI check on request) or R.S. 15:587.3 (FBI check automatic) ($26 state processing fee, $10 fingerprinting fee and a $5 technology fee; FBI fee extra) (R.S. 15:587(B); 15:587.7); DCFS state central registry clearance through CANS for DCFS-licensed facilities and therapeutic group homes, $25 (DCFS CANS fee table; art. 616(H) caps the search fee at $25); FBI fingerprint check for staff and volunteers of DCFS-licensed residential homes, maternity homes and child-placing agencies (LAC 67:V); Louisiana Sex Offender and Child Predator Registry and National Sex Offender Registry checks; Right to Review: an individual’s own certified Louisiana criminal history, which DCFS-licensed child-placing agencies accept for one year (R.S. 15:588; 15:587.1.1; LAC 67:V §7314); early learning centers need an LDOE CCCBC instead.
• Administered by: Louisiana Department of Education (licenses early learning centers and runs the child care criminal background check, CCCBC); Department of Children and Family Services (state central registry and CANS clearances; licenses child-placing agencies, maternity homes and residential homes); Louisiana State Police Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information (fingerprint criminal history, VECHS, Right to Review); Louisiana Department of Health (therapeutic group homes and adult care providers).

Louisiana does not require charities in general to register before soliciting. A charitable organization that uses a paid professional solicitor must register annually with the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Section, at least 10 days before soliciting, for a $25 fee (LAC 16:III.515(B)(1)); religious institutions, recognized educational institutions, hospitals and voluntary health organizations are exempt (515(C)). Professional solicitors register separately, pay $150 and, if they have custody or control of contributions, file a bond of at least $25,000 (R.S. 51:1901.1(C)–(D)).

• A Louisiana charity that raises money only through its own volunteers and salaried staff does not register with the Attorney General; neither a volunteer solicitor nor a salaried officer or employee of a charity with a permanent Louisiana establishment is a professional solicitor (R.S. 51:1901(6)).
• Soliciting residents of other states can trigger registration in those states regardless of where you are based — an online donate button reaches all fifty.
• Exemptions exist in most registering states (small organizations, religious organizations, membership appeals) but they are specific and usually must be claimed rather than assumed.
• Confirm current requirements with your state charity office before relying on this — thresholds and exemptions are amended frequently.

These apply regardless of which state you operate in, and they are the ones most commonly missed by small organizations that assume state registration is the whole picture.

• Annual Form 990, 990-EZ, or 990-N. Three consecutive years of non-filing revokes exempt status automatically — this is the single most common way small nonprofits lose their status.
• If you run background checks on volunteers, the Fair Credit Reporting Act applies to you as a user of consumer reports: a standalone written disclosure, separate written authorization, and the pre-adverse and adverse action sequence before acting on a result.
• Public disclosure: your exemption application and recent 990s must be made available on request.
• Employment obligations attach to paid staff regardless of exempt status — payroll tax, worker classification, and wage and hour law all apply.