Volunteer screening in West 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 West Virginia different
West Virginia routes most mandatory checks through one state fitness-determination program, WV CARES: an employer never sees the rap sheet, only an eligible or ineligible notice from the Office of Inspector General, and a cleared person can move between providers of the same type without new prints while Rap Back monitoring continues. The program moved from Chapter 16 to W. Va. Code § 16B-15 in 2024, and since June 7, 2026 clearances must be renewed 90 to 60 days before they expire. Child care is stricter than long-term care: misdemeanor drug, person and morality offenses and serious traffic offenses also disqualify, and no provisional work is allowed before clearance. We found no West Virginia ban-the-box or state FCRA law, and its child victim rate of 14.7 per 1,000 is about twice the national 7.2 (ACF Child Maltreatment 2024).
The short version: West Virginia has no general volunteer-screening law; checks are required by setting. Licensed child care centers and out-of-school-time centers must put every volunteer 18 or older who gives two or more scheduled hours a week through a WV CARES state and FBI fingerprint check, sex offender registry checks and abuse-registry searches in every state lived in during the past five years before the volunteer works with children (78CSR1 § 8.4; 78CSR21 § 7.4). Family child care facilities check volunteers 18 and older and every adult household member (78CSR18 § 16.1), and child placing agencies and residential child care facilities screen volunteers who work with youth like staff (78CSR2 § 8.4.2; 78CSR3 § 10.3.6). WV CARES, now W. Va. Code § 16B-15-1 et seq. under the Office of Inspector General, also covers regular, unsupervised volunteers with direct access at nursing homes, assisted living and other long-term care 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.
- 1
WV CARES Act
W. Va. Code §§ 16B-15-1 to 16B-15-9; 71CSR11
The West Virginia Clearance for Access: Registry and Employment Screening Act, recodified by S.B. 300 (2024), requires registry prescreening, state and FBI fingerprint checks and Rap Back enrollment for direct access personnel of nursing homes, assisted living, home health, hospice, personal care, adult day care and ICF/IID providers and, by rule, child care and child welfare providers. Volunteers performing irregular or supervised functions are not direct access personnel. A $25 prescreening fee applies (71CSR11 § 3.1).
- 2
Family Child Care Facility Background Check
W. Va. Code R. § 78-18-16
At license application and renewal, family child care facilities must demonstrate WV CARES compliance for all owners, operators, staff, and volunteers age 18+, including adult household members.
- 3
Out-of-School-Time Child Care Centers
W. Va. Code R. § 78-21-7
Out-of-school-time child care centers must run a WV CARES criminal background check on each staff member and each volunteer (18 or older, two or more scheduled hours a week), with narrow exceptions, and no one may work with children before the fitness determination arrives (78CSR21 §§ 3.44, 7.4).
- 4
Child Care Centers Licensing
W. Va. Code R. § 78-1-8.4
Each staff member and volunteer (18 or older, two or more scheduled hours a week) needs a WV CARES fingerprint fitness determination before working with children, plus sex offender and abuse-registry checks in every state lived in for five years.
- 5
Child Placing and Residential Child Care
W. Va. Code R. §§ 78-2-8.4.2, 78-3-10.3.6
Volunteers working directly with youth complete WV CARES and protective-service record checks; residential facilities must screen volunteers the same way as employees.
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Mandated Reporting
W. Va. Code § 49-2-803
Any employee, coach or volunteer 18 or older of an entity that provides organized activities for children must report suspected abuse to DHS immediately and within 24 hours, notify the person in charge, and also report serious physical abuse or sexual abuse or assault to the State Police (§ 49-2-803(a), (c), (d)).
Which of your volunteers this reaches
Run your actual roster against this list. The roles below are where West Virginia's requirements apply; everyone else is a risk decision rather than a legal one.
- Volunteers 18 and older who give scheduled direct service two or more hours a week at licensed child care centers and out-of-school-time child care centers (WV CARES fingerprint clearance before any contact with children; 78CSR1 § 8.4, 78CSR21 § 7.4)
- Volunteers 18 and older, owners, staff and every adult household member at licensed family child care facilities (78CSR18 § 16.1)
- Volunteers working directly with youth for licensed child placing (foster care) agencies, and volunteers at residential child care and treatment facilities, who must pass the same checks as employees (78CSR2 § 8.4.2; 78CSR3 § 10.3.6)
- Regular, unsupervised volunteers with direct access at nursing homes, assisted living, home health, hospice, personal care, adult day care, ICF/IID and other WV CARES covered providers; volunteers in irregular or supervised roles are excluded (W. Va. Code § 16B-15-1; 71CSR11)
- Caregivers and adult household members of registered family child care homes and of informal or relative family child care homes that choose to register (78CSR19 and 78CSR20 § 6.4; § 49-2-113(g))
- Staff and volunteers of out-of-school-time programs (children 6+, or affiliated with a congressionally chartered organization) and of county parks-and-recreation or municipal out-of-school-time, summer recreation and day camps that rely on the § 49-2-113(e)(8) child care licensing exemption, which requires state and federal checks on all volunteers and staff
- Employees and other persons (on our reading, volunteers) who will have contact with Hope Scholarship students at a provider that accepts Hope Scholarship payments (W. Va. Code § 18-31-11(a)(5))
- Optional, not required: school volunteers and field-trip chaperones — we found no state statute requiring checks; county board policy decides
- Optional, not required: community youth sports coaches and volunteers — we found no statute requiring checks, but the 24-hour mandated-reporter duty applies
- Optional, not required: other nonprofit volunteers — a verified qualified entity may search the State Police Central Abuse Registry for $10 a name (W. Va. Code §§ 15-2C-6, 15-2C-9)
Which check, from which agency
West Virginia does not use one check for everything. These are the distinct instruments in play — they search different databases and are not interchangeable.
- WV CARES registry prescreening ($25): HHS-OIG exclusions list, WV Medicaid exclusions, national and WV nurse aide registries, SAM, the national sex offender website and the WV sex offender registry
- State fingerprint-based criminal history check (West Virginia State Police Criminal Identification Bureau)
- FBI national fingerprint-based criminal history check, with Rap Back enrollment
- Child care settings: out-of-state criminal and sex offender registry checks and child and adult abuse-registry searches for every state lived in during the past five years, repeated every five years
- Protective services (child abuse and neglect) record check for child care, child placing and residential child care settings
- Optional: State Police Central Abuse Registry name search for qualified entities ($10)
Administered by: Office of Inspector General, WV CARES Division (fitness determinations); West Virginia State Police Criminal Identification Bureau (fingerprints, Central Abuse Registry); Department of Human Services (child care and child welfare licensing)
What organizations in West 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
Run the WV CARES registry prescreening first ($25); fingerprints are submitted only after a clean prescreen (W. Va. Code § 16B-15-3(d); 71CSR11 § 3.1).
- 2
In licensed child care, no staff member or volunteer may work with children until the WV CARES fitness determination arrives; the 60-day provisional rule does not apply to persons responsible for the care of children (78CSR1 § 8.4.f; 71CSR11 § 6.4).
- 3
Family child care facilities and homes must screen every adult household member, and a new household member must be checked within 180 days of moving in (78CSR18 § 16.1; 78CSR19 § 6.4.d).
- 4
For child care volunteers, search sex offender registries and child and adult abuse registries in every state lived in during the past five years, and repeat the abuse-registry search every five years (78CSR1 §§ 8.4.c.6–8.4.c.7, 8.4.d).
- 5
Track clearance expiration: since June 7, 2026 a WV CARES applicant must resubmit 90 to 60 days before the clearance expires (W. Va. Code § 16B-15-3(g)).
- 6
Keep the WV CARES fitness determination and any variance in each volunteer’s file, and require volunteers to report any arrest, charge or conviction to the director within 24 hours (78CSR1 §§ 8.4.c, 8.5.e.1).
- 7
Make sure adult volunteers who work with children know they are mandated reporters: report to DHS immediately and within 24 hours, and also notify the person in charge (W. Va. Code § 49-2-803(a)).
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 West 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 West Virginia organizations ask
Does West Virginia require background checks for all volunteers?
West Virginia has no general volunteer-screening law; checks are required by setting. Licensed child care centers and out-of-school-time centers must put every volunteer 18 or older who gives two or more scheduled hours a week through a WV CARES state and FBI fingerprint check, sex offender registry checks and abuse-registry searches in every state lived in during the past five years before the volunteer works with children (78CSR1 § 8.4; 78CSR21 § 7.4). Family child care facilities check volunteers 18 and older and every adult household member (78CSR18 § 16.1), and child placing agencies and residential child care facilities screen volunteers who work with youth like staff (78CSR2 § 8.4.2; 78CSR3 § 10.3.6). WV CARES, now W. Va. Code § 16B-15-1 et seq. under the Office of Inspector General, also covers regular, unsupervised volunteers with direct access at nursing homes, assisted living and other long-term care providers.
Which of my volunteers does West Virginia law actually reach?
Based on the statutes cited on this page: Volunteers 18 and older who give scheduled direct service two or more hours a week at licensed child care centers and out-of-school-time child care centers (WV CARES fingerprint clearance before any contact with children; 78CSR1 § 8.4, 78CSR21 § 7.4); Volunteers 18 and older, owners, staff and every adult household member at licensed family child care facilities (78CSR18 § 16.1); Volunteers working directly with youth for licensed child placing (foster care) agencies, and volunteers at residential child care and treatment facilities, who must pass the same checks as employees (78CSR2 § 8.4.2; 78CSR3 § 10.3.6); Regular, unsupervised volunteers with direct access at nursing homes, assisted living, home health, hospice, personal care, adult day care, ICF/IID and other WV CARES covered providers; volunteers in irregular or supervised roles are excluded (W. Va. Code § 16B-15-1; 71CSR11); Caregivers and adult household members of registered family child care homes and of informal or relative family child care homes that choose to register (78CSR19 and 78CSR20 § 6.4; § 49-2-113(g)); Staff and volunteers of out-of-school-time programs (children 6+, or affiliated with a congressionally chartered organization) and of county parks-and-recreation or municipal out-of-school-time, summer recreation and day camps that rely on the § 49-2-113(e)(8) child care licensing exemption, which requires state and federal checks on all volunteers and staff; Employees and other persons (on our reading, volunteers) who will have contact with Hope Scholarship students at a provider that accepts Hope Scholarship payments (W. Va. Code § 18-31-11(a)(5)); Optional, not required: school volunteers and field-trip chaperones — we found no state statute requiring checks; county board policy decides; Optional, not required: community youth sports coaches and volunteers — we found no statute requiring checks, but the 24-hour mandated-reporter duty applies; Optional, not required: other nonprofit volunteers — a verified qualified entity may search the State Police Central Abuse Registry for $10 a name (W. Va. Code §§ 15-2C-6, 15-2C-9). Those categories are where West 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 West Virginia?
Office of Inspector General, WV CARES Division (fitness determinations); West Virginia State Police Criminal Identification Bureau (fingerprints, Central Abuse Registry); Department of Human Services (child care and child welfare 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 West 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 West 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 West Virginia that most often means Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, 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 West 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 Office of Inspector General, WV CARES Division (fitness determinations); West Virginia State Police Criminal Identification Bureau (fingerprints, Central Abuse Registry); Department of Human Services (child care and child welfare 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 West Virginia volunteers for $5
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