Bottom Line for Alaska Nonprofits
- ✓Volunteers 16 or older who regularly serve in a licensed child care facility (five or more non-relative children) and have regular contact with the children, supervised or not: fingerprint-based state and FBI Background Check Program clearance before starting (AS 47.05.310(d); 7 AAC 10.900(b); 7 AAC 57.310–.315)
- ✓Volunteers 16 or older with regular contact, or access to clients’ records or money, at other entities licensed by the Department of Health or DFCS, including assisted living and host care homes, nursing facilities, hospices, home health agencies, hospitals, residential child care and psychiatric treatment centers, foster homes, child placement agencies and runaway shelters (AS 47.32.010; 7 AAC 10.900(b))
- ✓Volunteers 16 or older with regular contact at providers certified or paid by the Department of Health or DFCS to serve clients, including public home care, Medicaid home- and community-based waiver and community mental health case-management providers (AS 47.05.300; 7 AAC 10.900(b))
- +2 more required roles below
State Laws That Apply to Volunteer Background Checks
Alaska Background Check Program
Alaska Stat. § 47.05.300 through § 47.05.390 and 7 AAC 10.900–10.990Requires every entity licensed, certified or paid by the Department of Health or the Department of Family and Community Services to submit each owner, employee, unsupervised volunteer and other person 16 or older with regular contact for a Department of Health background check (fingerprint-based state and FBI criminal check plus civil-registry check) before association; names stay flagged for new arrests, checks last five years with annual verification, and 7 AAC 10.905 sets permanent, 10-year, 5-year and 3-year barriers.
Interested-Person Criminal Record Checks (DPS)
Alaska Stat. §§ 12.62.160(b)(9), (e), 12.62.400(a)(12) and 12.62.900(17)Lets an organization that places anyone, paid or unpaid, in a position with supervisory or disciplinary power over a minor or dependent adult request that person’s Alaska criminal record from the Department of Public Safety as an interested person, and add an FBI national check by submitting fingerprints; DPS charges $20 without fingerprints or $35 with them, plus the FBI fee (13 AAC 68.900). The check is optional.
Child Abuse Reporting — School Volunteers and Coaches Named
Alaska Stat. §§ 47.17.020, 47.17.290Makes volunteers who interact with children in a public or private school more than four hours a week mandated reporters, along with school athletic coaches, including volunteer coaches who meet hours, training and signed-acknowledgment conditions; reports are due within 24 hours and failure to report is a class A misdemeanor (AS 47.17.068).
Who Must Be Screened in Alaska
!Legally Required to Be Screened
- •Volunteers 16 or older who regularly serve in a licensed child care facility (five or more non-relative children) and have regular contact with the children, supervised or not: fingerprint-based state and FBI Background Check Program clearance before starting (AS 47.05.310(d); 7 AAC 10.900(b); 7 AAC 57.310–.315)
- •Volunteers 16 or older with regular contact, or access to clients’ records or money, at other entities licensed by the Department of Health or DFCS, including assisted living and host care homes, nursing facilities, hospices, home health agencies, hospitals, residential child care and psychiatric treatment centers, foster homes, child placement agencies and runaway shelters (AS 47.32.010; 7 AAC 10.900(b))
- •Volunteers 16 or older with regular contact at providers certified or paid by the Department of Health or DFCS to serve clients, including public home care, Medicaid home- and community-based waiver and community mental health case-management providers (AS 47.05.300; 7 AAC 10.900(b))
- •Foster home household members 16 or older (release and fingerprints with the license application; 7 AAC 67.030); a new volunteer who might have unsupervised contact with a foster child must be reported to the licensing agency (7 AAC 67.170)
- •Staff and volunteers of accredited day camps that use the child care licensing exemption (fingerprint checks to the Background Check Program standard, done by the camp or through the program; 7 AAC 57.015(a)(11), (b))
Optional — no Alaska statute we found requires a check
- ◦school volunteers, field-trip chaperones and unpaid coaches (we found no statute requiring checks; certificated teachers are fingerprinted under AS 14.20.020, and school volunteers working with children more than four hours a week are mandated reporters, AS 47.17.020(a)(9))
- ◦youth sports, church, mentoring, overnight camp and other nonprofit volunteers (we found no statute requiring checks; an organization placing someone over minors or dependent adults may request that person’s Alaska record from DPS as an interested person, AS 12.62.160(b)(9))
- ◦senior center, meal-delivery and other adult-services volunteers at programs not licensed, certified or paid by the Department of Health or DFCS (we found no statute requiring checks)
Types of Background Checks Required in Alaska
How to Get Background Checks in Alaska
$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 Alaska law requires.
Start Free Today →Volunteer Screening in Alaska: What You Need to Know
Alaska’s program is built for distance: when no fingerprinting is available within 100 miles by road, the Department of Health can issue a provisional clearance valid for 90 days with prints due within 30 days (7 AAC 10.920). Once cleared, a volunteer’s name stays flagged in the state’s public-safety network so new arrests reach the Department of Health in real time, and the clearance lasts five years while the volunteer stays with a covered provider (7 AAC 10.910(c), 10.915(e)). Alaska has no general adult expungement, and a suspended imposition of sentence still counts as a conviction for the program (7 AAC 10.905(m)).
Compliance Tips for Alaska Nonprofits
- 1
Determine whether your organization is licensed or certified by, or eligible for payments from, the Department of Health or the Department of Family and Community Services (AS 47.05.300); if so, the Background Check Program applies to volunteers 16 or older with regular contact, whatever their title. The Department of Health waives the $40 application fee for unpaid volunteers of state-run or 501(c)(3) providers; the DPS and FBI fees still apply (7 AAC 10.910(b)(5)).
- 2
Barrier crimes are listed in 7 AAC 10.905: some are permanent, others bar a person for 10, 5 or 3 years, pending charges bar contact until resolved, and a set-aside suspended imposition of sentence still counts; variances can be requested except where federal law forbids them (7 AAC 10.930).
- 3
If fingerprinting is not available within 100 miles by road, request a provisional clearance and submit the prints within 30 days; the provisional clearance lasts 90 days (7 AAC 10.920).
- 4
Supervision alone does not exempt a volunteer who has regular contact, daily or recurring, with the people you serve; the exemptions in 7 AAC 10.900(d), such as relatives, visitors, vendors and occasional guests, are a closed list and require supervised access. A genuinely one-time helper has no recurring contact and appears to fall outside 7 AAC 10.900(b)(6) and 10.990(c); confirm with your oversight division.
- 5
AmeriCorps-funded programs in Alaska must also meet the federal National Service Criminal History Check rules (45 C.F.R. 2540.200–.207), which are separate from the state program.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Alaska require background checks for my nonprofit’s volunteers?
Only for volunteers in specific roles or settings; no Alaska rule covers every nonprofit. Alaska has no law requiring nonprofits in general to screen volunteers. The mandatory checks come from the state Background Check Program (AS 47.05.300–.390; 7 AAC 10.900–.990), run by the Department of Health: in any program licensed, certified or paid by the Department of Health or the Department of Family and Community Services, including child care, foster, residential and elder care, every volunteer 16 or older with regular contact with the people served, and every unsupervised volunteer with access to their records or money, needs a fingerprint-based state and FBI criminal check and a civil-registry check before starting.
How long does a Alaska volunteer background check take?
Official state checks: Not published by the state; the Department of Health can issue a provisional clearance valid for 90 days while fingerprint results are pending (7 AAC 10.920). VolunteerBadge's national criminal search returns most results in minutes; a record that needs human FCRA review can take up to about 72 hours.