Volunteer screening in Montana: the complete guide

What makes Montana different

Montana treats convictions, deferred sentences, deferred prosecutions and initial arrest records as public criminal justice information with no restriction on dissemination (Mont. Code Ann. §§ 44-5-103(13), 44-5-301), so anyone can buy a Montana DOJ name-based search. Records of a deferred sentence that has been dismissed become confidential (§ 46-18-204), arrests that never led to a conviction are removed, and a person may expunge misdemeanors once in a lifetime (§ 46-18-1104). Montana’s own consumer reporting law bars reporting any arrest, indictment or conviction more than seven years old, counted from disposition, release or parole, with no salary exception (§ 31-3-112(5)). A 2025 law put Montana’s child abuse central registry into statute, and a listing may affect a person’s ability to volunteer with children (§ 41-3-901), and officers, directors and volunteers of 501(c) nonprofits are personally immune except for willful or wanton misconduct (§ 27-1-732).

The short version: Montana has no general volunteer background check law; checks are required by setting. Since July 1, 2025, every public school district must require a fingerprint-based national background check, through educator licensure or reviewed by the district, before anyone, employee or not, has unsupervised contact with students at school, school activities or in transit (Mont. Code Ann. § 20-3-323(1)(d), HB 745). Licensed and registered child care requires DOJ and FBI fingerprint checks under DPHHS rules, and people with direct access to youths in private alternative adolescent programs are fingerprinted (§ 52-2-805). Any organization screening volunteers who have or may have unsupervised contact with children may request DPHHS child protective services findings (§ 41-3-205(3)(o)), and Montana treats convictions and deferred sentences as public criminal justice information (§ 44-5-103(13)).

Which of your volunteers this reaches

Run your actual roster against this list. The roles below are where Montana's requirements apply; everyone else is a risk decision rather than a legal one.

• Anyone, volunteers included, who will have unsupervised contact with students of a public school district in school, at school-sponsored activities or in transit (fingerprint-based national check through educator licensure or reviewed by the district, since July 1, 2025; Mont. Code Ann. § 20-3-323(1)(d))
• Volunteers who work in licensed child care centers or registered family and group child care homes (DOJ and FBI fingerprint check before working, plus registry, child protective services and name checks; DPHHS rules, ARM 37.95.161 as printed in 2021, now ARM 37.96.10)
• Everyone associated with a private alternative adolescent residential or outdoor program who has direct access to participants (DOJ and FBI fingerprint and child protection check; § 52-2-805(1)(a))
• Staff and volunteers with regular access to patients at licensed youth residential treatment centers (fingerprint checks DPHHS must require by rule under the 2025 law, § 50-5-248(2)(f); whether DPHHS has adopted those rules is unconfirmed)
• Youth foster home license applicants (criminal, child protection and DOJ and FBI fingerprint check; § 52-2-622(4))
• CASA special advocates (application with required background information and a screening interview before appointment; the statute names no criminal, registry or fingerprint check; § 41-3-112(2))
• Optional, not required: nursing home, assisted living and adult day care volunteers (we found no statute requiring checks; assisted living facilities must check new employees under § 50-5-225, and DPHHS releases adult protective services findings to service providers on written request under § 52-3-813)
• Optional, not required: church, camp, youth sports, mentoring, nonpublic school and other nonprofit volunteers (we found no Montana statute requiring checks; screening is organization policy)

What organizations in Montana 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. 1

   Public schools: before any volunteer, coach or chaperone has unsupervised contact with students, obtain a fingerprint-based national check through the Montana DOJ and have the trustees, superintendent or a designee review it (§ 20-3-323(1)(d)); the law turns on unsupervised contact, so keep other volunteers supervised.

2. 2

   HB 745 sets no recheck cycle and does not say who pays, so write both into the district’s student protection policy.

3. 3

   Licensed or registered child care: send volunteers through DPHHS Child Care Licensing’s FBI fingerprint process before they start (DPHHS says fingerprinting is free at Spark Montana locations), and confirm the current renewal cycle in ARM 37.96.10.

4. 4

   For an FBI check of a youth-serving volunteer, write Volunteer and the role in the Reason Fingerprinted field to get the Montana DOJ’s $25 NCPA/VCA fee instead of $30, and first confirm with Montana Criminal Records (406-444-3625) that your organization qualifies.

5. 5

   Request a DPHHS child protective services check with the notarized DPHHS release for the volunteer’s category (CFS-400 for most volunteers; DPHHS says there is currently no cost); DPHHS reports only whether information indicates a risk to children, and it will not process a release notarized more than six months earlier.

6. 6

   Montana’s 1975 consumer reporting law bars reporting arrests, charges and convictions more than seven years old, counted from disposition, release or parole (§ 31-3-112(5)); whether federal law preempts it is unsettled, so ask counsel how it applies.

Questions Montana organizations ask