Volunteer screening in Virginia: 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 Virginia different
Since July 1, 2021, the child day program rules have lived in Title 22.1 under the Department of Education (§ 22.1-289.035, replacing repealed § 63.2-1720.1), and since February 1, 2026 the Board of Education’s background check rules sit in 8VAC20-821.
The short version: Virginia has no general volunteer background-check law, but it mandates checks for volunteers in specific licensed settings. Every volunteer at a licensed child day center, home-based child care, license-exempt religious child day center or subsidy-funded program must pass a fingerprint-based national check, a Virginia Child Protective Services Central Registry search and out-of-state checks before serving and every five years (Va. Code § 22.1-289.035). Volunteers who will be alone with children at licensed child-placing agencies and independent foster homes (§ 63.2-1720) and all volunteers at children’s residential facilities (§ 63.2-1726) are also covered. Any organization serving children, the elderly or people with disabilities may request a State Police–screened national fingerprint check under § 19.2-392.02, which also defines the “barrier crimes” that disqualify covered volunteers. The Virginia Department of Education licenses child day programs and the Department of Social Services licenses child welfare agencies.
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
Child Day Programs and Home-Based Child Care — Volunteer Background Checks
Va. Code § 22.1-289.035
Bars licensed child day centers, home-based child care, license-exempt religious child day centers and subsidy-funded programs from using any volunteer who will be alone with, in control of, or supervising children if convicted of a barrier crime defined in § 19.2-392.02 or the subject of a founded child abuse or neglect complaint. All volunteers and volunteer applicants must give a sworn disclosure and complete a national fingerprint check, a Virginia Central Registry search and criminal, sex offender and abuse registry checks for any state lived in during the past five years, before serving and every five years after. A volunteer may start early only after a qualifying fingerprint result and while supervised at all times.
- 2
Children's Residential Facilities Background Check
Va. Code § 63.2-1726
Requires every volunteer at a children’s residential facility regulated or operated by the Departments of Social Services, Education, Military Affairs, or Behavioral Health and Developmental Services to be fingerprinted for an FBI check and cleared through the Central Registry before working. It bars most barrier-crime convictions and pending charges (clause (iv) only within five years) and founded abuse or neglect cases, and the volunteer bears the cost unless the facility chooses to pay.
- 3
National Criminal Background Checks — Care Providers
Va. Code § 19.2-392.02
Lets any business or organization providing care to children, the elderly or people with disabilities request a State Police–screened national fingerprint check on employees, and on volunteers who have or may have unsupervised access to a child. Defines the barrier crimes used across Virginia screening law. The State Police and the FBI may each charge a volunteer no more than $18, and not requesting a check is not negligence per se.
- 4
Assisted Living Facilities and Adult Day Centers — Employee Checks, Volunteer Supervision
Va. Code § 63.2-1720
Requires criminal history checks for compensated employees of assisted living facilities and adult day centers and bars clause (i) barrier-crime convictions. Volunteers may serve only with the permission, or under the supervision, of a person who has received a clearance; we found no statute requiring the volunteers themselves to be checked.
Which of your volunteers this reaches
Run your actual roster against this list. The roles below are where Virginia's requirements apply; everyone else is a risk decision rather than a legal one.
- All volunteers at licensed child day centers, home-based child care, license-exempt religious child day centers and subsidy-funded child care
- All volunteers at children’s residential facilities
- Volunteers who will be alone with children at licensed child-placing agencies and independent foster homes
- Regular volunteers and interns who will be alone with residents in juvenile detention centers and group homes
- Foster and adoptive parent applicants and adult household members, before approval by a child-placing agency
Which check, from which agency
Virginia does not use one check for everything. These are the distinct instruments in play — they search different databases and are not interchangeable.
- Fingerprint-based Virginia State Police criminal history check
- FBI national criminal history fingerprint check
- Virginia Child Abuse and Neglect Central Registry check
- Criminal history, sex offender and child abuse registry checks from every state lived in during the past five years (child day programs, Va. Code § 22.1-289.035(B))
Administered by: Virginia Department of Education (child day programs); Virginia Department of Social Services (child welfare agencies; its Office of Background Investigations processes fingerprint and Central Registry checks, including for Department of Education providers); Virginia State Police (Central Criminal Records Exchange)
Typical processing: State Police national checks under § 19.2-392.02: reasonable efforts to respond within 15 business days; other turnaround times vary by agency
What organizations in Virginia 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
Review the barrier crime list in Va. Code § 19.2-392.02 (§§ 63.2-1719 and 22.1-289.034 extend it to juvenile adjudications). Barrier crimes cannot be waived for child day program or child welfare agency volunteers, and most other felonies stop counting after five years.
- 2
Complete the fingerprint check, Central Registry search and out-of-state checks before a child day program volunteer starts. The statute allows an earlier start only after a qualifying fingerprint result, and only with supervision at all times by someone cleared within the past five years.
- 3
Child day programs must keep background check records for at least two years after a volunteer stops serving, in locked files or a secure electronic file (8VAC20-821-210).
- 4
For volunteers in juvenile detention centers, group homes or halfway houses, follow the separate 6VAC35-41-290 and 6VAC35-101-290 regulations which apply the background check requirements to regular volunteers and interns who will be alone with a resident.
- 5
Even if your nonprofit is not licensed, if your volunteers have unsupervised access to children, consider requesting a State Police–screened national check under Va. Code § 19.2-392.02. Volunteers who serve only older or disabled adults don’t qualify, and Sunday-school-type religious instruction programs are excluded.
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 Virginia 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.
- 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.
- 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 Virginia organizations ask
Does Virginia require background checks for all volunteers?
Virginia has no general volunteer background-check law, but it mandates checks for volunteers in specific licensed settings. Every volunteer at a licensed child day center, home-based child care, license-exempt religious child day center or subsidy-funded program must pass a fingerprint-based national check, a Virginia Child Protective Services Central Registry search and out-of-state checks before serving and every five years (Va. Code § 22.1-289.035). Volunteers who will be alone with children at licensed child-placing agencies and independent foster homes (§ 63.2-1720) and all volunteers at children’s residential facilities (§ 63.2-1726) are also covered. Any organization serving children, the elderly or people with disabilities may request a State Police–screened national fingerprint check under § 19.2-392.02, which also defines the “barrier crimes” that disqualify covered volunteers. The Virginia Department of Education licenses child day programs and the Department of Social Services licenses child welfare agencies.
Which of my volunteers does Virginia law actually reach?
Based on the statutes cited on this page: All volunteers at licensed child day centers, home-based child care, license-exempt religious child day centers and subsidy-funded child care; All volunteers at children’s residential facilities; Volunteers who will be alone with children at licensed child-placing agencies and independent foster homes; Regular volunteers and interns who will be alone with residents in juvenile detention centers and group homes; Foster and adoptive parent applicants and adult household members, before approval by a child-placing agency. Those categories are where Virginia'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 Virginia?
Virginia Department of Education (child day programs); Virginia Department of Social Services (child welfare agencies; its Office of Background Investigations processes fingerprint and Central Registry checks, including for Department of Education providers); Virginia State Police (Central Criminal Records Exchange). Typical processing is State Police national checks under § 19.2-392.02: reasonable efforts to respond within 15 business days; other turnaround times vary by agency.
Does a VolunteerBadge check satisfy Virginia'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 Virginia 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 Virginia that most often means Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia. 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 Virginia 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 Virginia Department of Education (child day programs); Virginia Department of Social Services (child welfare agencies; its Office of Background Investigations processes fingerprint and Central Registry checks, including for Department of Education providers); Virginia State Police (Central Criminal Records Exchange), 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 Virginia 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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