Bottom Line for Alabama Nonprofits
- ✓Volunteers in DHR-licensed or approved child care, including church-exempt child care ministries (our reading of § 38-13-2(9)): ALEA and FBI fingerprint check with a DHR suitability letter, plus, for those with unsupervised access, child abuse/neglect and sex offender registry checks, renewed at least every five years in licensed and subsidy programs (§§ 38-13-3(a)(1), 38-7-3(c)(2); DHR child care rules)
- ✓Employees and volunteers of DHR-registered youth residential programs, including faith-based programs, private alternative boarding schools and outdoor or treatment programs that house children more than 24 hours, before any unsupervised contact (§ 38-15-5)
- ✓Foster and adoptive parents and adult household members; volunteers in licensed child-placing agencies, residential child-care facilities and DHR-licensed adult care; and students, mentors and volunteers of DHR contractors whose essential function includes unsupervised access (§ 38-13-3(a)(1)-(3), (5))
- +2 more required roles below
State Laws That Apply to Volunteer Background Checks
Alabama Code § 38-13-3 — Background Check Requirement
Ala. Code § 38-13-3 (Act 2000-775, as amended by Act 2018-278)Requires covered employers, child care facilities (including church-exempt facilities), adult care facilities, child-placing agencies and DHR to have ALEA run fingerprint-based state and FBI checks on employees, applicants and volunteers, and on foster and adoptive parents; DHR reviews the results and issues a written suitability determination. Personnel, students, mentors and volunteers of DHR contractors whose essential function includes unsupervised access are covered, with DHR paying the fee. DHR-exempt adult care facilities may use the process voluntarily.
Alabama Code §§ 38-13-4, 38-13-5 — Notice, Provisional Service and Suitability
Ala. Code §§ 38-13-4, 38-13-5 (as amended by Act 2019-322)Requires a signed criminal-history statement with the statutory notice before service and a check request to ALEA within five business days, lets a volunteer serve provisionally until DHR’s suitability letter arrives, and requires removal of a volunteer DHR finds unsuitable. Volunteers must report any later conviction (§ 38-13-5(b)); knowingly, willfully and intentionally failing to do so is a Class A misdemeanor (§ 38-13-9(a)(4)).
Alabama Code § 38-15-5 — Youth Residential Facility Abuse Prevention Act
Ala. Code § 38-15-5 (Act 2017-374)Every employee and volunteer of a registered religious, faith-based, nonprofit or for-profit youth residential program must pass a criminal background check under § 38-13-3(a)(1) before unsupervised contact with children.
Alabama Code § 38-7-3 — Church-exempt child care
Ala. Code § 38-7-3 (Act 2018-278)Child care that is an integral part of a church ministry or religious school is exempt from licensing unless it takes state or federal funds or runs for profit. It must still file staff criminal history under § 38-13-3 with DHR every year, pass inspections, notify parents, and post that it is not DHR-licensed.
Alabama Code § 15-20A-13 — Sex offender volunteer bar
Ala. Code § 15-20A-13 (as amended by Act 2025-201)Adult registrants may not volunteer at schools, child care or organizations serving primarily children, within 2,000 feet of a school or child care facility, near parks and athletic fields (for child offenders), or as first responders. Knowingly giving a registrant a volunteer position at a child care facility or an organization serving primarily children is a Class C felony.
Alabama Code §§ 41-9-650.1 to 41-9-650.5 — Alabama Background Check Service
Act 2026-374, effective October 1, 2026ALEA may run name-based or biometric checks for any nonprofit or volunteer organization screening volunteers, with the volunteer’s express permission kept for at least three years. The record fee is capped at $30, and Rap Back alerts are optional.
Who Must Be Screened in Alabama
!Legally Required to Be Screened
- •Volunteers in DHR-licensed or approved child care, including church-exempt child care ministries (our reading of § 38-13-2(9)): ALEA and FBI fingerprint check with a DHR suitability letter, plus, for those with unsupervised access, child abuse/neglect and sex offender registry checks, renewed at least every five years in licensed and subsidy programs (§§ 38-13-3(a)(1), 38-7-3(c)(2); DHR child care rules)
- •Employees and volunteers of DHR-registered youth residential programs, including faith-based programs, private alternative boarding schools and outdoor or treatment programs that house children more than 24 hours, before any unsupervised contact (§ 38-15-5)
- •Foster and adoptive parents and adult household members; volunteers in licensed child-placing agencies, residential child-care facilities and DHR-licensed adult care; and students, mentors and volunteers of DHR contractors whose essential function includes unsupervised access (§ 38-13-3(a)(1)-(3), (5))
- •Volunteers with one-on-one contact at assisted living, home health, hospice, hospital, nursing, rehabilitation and designated adult group-home providers: the provider must query DHR’s Elder and Adult Abuse Registry (§ 38-9G-5; a registry query, not a fingerprint check)
- •From January 1, 2027: all staff, including volunteers, at overnight camps with cabins for campers 16 and under may not have a sexual or violent conviction as disclosed by ALEA or an approved screening contractor (Act 2026-368, § 4(a))
Optional — no Alabama statute we found requires a check
- ◦youth sports coaches and league volunteers. Alabama has no youth-sports background-check law; coaches of high-risk sports for ages 14 and under on public property must instead complete an annual injury-prevention course (§ 22-11F-3)
- ◦school volunteers and chaperones. The school law covers employees only (§ 16-22A-5); follow your local board or private school policy
- ◦other nonprofits working with children, elders or people with disabilities outside DHR licensing, although § 38-13-2(17) defines employer broadly enough that counsel should confirm; from October 1, 2026 any nonprofit may request an ALEA check on a volunteer (§ 41-9-650.1(a)(3))
Types of Background Checks Required in Alabama
How to Get Background Checks in Alabama
$5 per check — a national criminal database search, sex offender registries in all 50 states and an SSN trace, with human FCRA review when a record needs it. It never replaces a check Alabama law requires.
Start Free Today →Volunteer Screening in Alabama: What You Need to Know
Alabama’s Title 38, Chapter 13 names volunteers alongside employees and applicants throughout, covering child, elder and disability care settings regulated by DHR. Alabama has no youth-sports background-check law, but faith-based child care is a special case: a church or religious-school ministry that takes no public money may skip DHR licensing yet must still file its staff’s § 38-13-3 criminal history with DHR every year. From October 1, 2026 any nonprofit may request an ALEA check through the new Alabama Background Check Service, and from January 1, 2027 overnight camps may not keep staff, including volunteers, with sexual or violent convictions. Alabama also explicitly requires volunteers at youth residential facilities (including faith-based organizations) to clear a background check before any unsupervised contact. We found no state FCRA analog; the federal FCRA governs consumer-report checks. In Chapter 38-13 settings, volunteers must self-report later convictions (§ 38-13-5(b)).
Compliance Tips for Alabama Nonprofits
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In DHR-regulated programs, volunteers must tell you about any conviction after their check (§ 38-13-5(b)), and knowingly, willfully and intentionally failing to is a Class A misdemeanor (§ 38-13-9(a)(4)); put the statutory notice in your volunteer application and repeat the duty in your volunteer agreement.
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Alabama has no youth-sports background-check law. What it does require: every coach, paid or volunteer, in a league running high-risk sports for ages 14 and under on public property must finish an ADPH-approved injury course within 30 days and every year, with completion records kept (§ 22-11F-3), and leagues face fines from the third straight year of noncompliance (§ 22-11F-4). Screen coaches anyway: registrants convicted of a child sex offense may not volunteer within 500 feet of an athletic field (§ 15-20A-13(c)).
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In Chapter 38-13 settings, collect the signed criminal-history statement before the volunteer starts, submit fingerprints and consent within five business days (§ 38-13-4(c)), and let the volunteer serve only provisionally until DHR’s suitability letter arrives (§ 38-13-4(b)).
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If a disability prevents fingerprinting (for example loss of both hands or severe scarring of all fingers), the statute substitutes a written consent to a name-only check (§ 38-13-3(c)).
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Chapter 38-13 disqualifies violent offenses, sex crimes, crimes that injure or maltreat a child, elder or disabled person, crimes against children and drug sale or distribution (§ 38-13-2(31)). DHR makes the suitability determination, not your organization, and you must remove a volunteer DHR finds unsuitable (§ 38-13-4(d)); a disqualification that is not for a sex crime or a crime against a child, elder or disabled person can be challenged after 10 years for felonies or 5 for misdemeanors (§ 38-13-7(e)-(f)).
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Alabama require background checks for my nonprofit’s volunteers?
Only for volunteers in specific roles or settings; no Alabama rule covers every nonprofit. Alabama has no law requiring every nonprofit to screen volunteers. Chapter 38-13 of Title 38 (Act 2000-775) requires ALEA and FBI fingerprint checks, with a written DHR suitability determination, for volunteers in DHR-licensed or approved child care (including church-exempt child care ministries), DHR-licensed adult care, child-placing agencies, foster and adoptive homes and DHR-contracted programs, and § 38-15-5 extends the same check to volunteers at registered youth residential programs, including faith-based ones.
How long does a Alabama volunteer background check take?
Official state checks: We found no published turnaround for DHR fingerprint checks; volunteers may serve provisionally pending DHR’s suitability letter (§ 38-13-4(b)). ALEA personal record review by mail: at least 4–5 weeks. VolunteerBadge's national criminal search returns most results in minutes; a record that needs human FCRA review can take up to about 72 hours.