Arkansas Volunteer Background Check Requirements

Lets a volunteer organization serving children under 16, people 65 or older, domestic-abuse victims or people with disabilities register with the Arkansas State Police and, with the volunteer’s signed authorization, receive Arkansas convictions, pending Arkansas felony arrests and sex-offender registration status. An FBI fingerprint check is optional; the State Police reviews it against the organization’s filed list of disqualifying offenses and reports only whether the volunteer qualifies. Requests must be kept at least three years and results kept confidential.

A public school board must require a registered volunteer who is obtaining a coaching certificate or will coach students to pass state and FBI fingerprint checks and a Child Maltreatment Central Registry check before any unsupervised contact with students; the volunteer pays unless the board does. Districts that run a registered-volunteers program must require a fingerprint check dated within 90 days and training before significant unsupervised contact.

Volunteers with direct and unsupervised contact with children in a licensed child welfare agency, including foster placement agencies and residential and group homes, need a Child Maltreatment Central Registry check, a State Police check and an FBI fingerprint check, and may not begin volunteering until the checks are complete.

Licensed childcare centers, family homes and out-of-school-time programs, including summer day camps, must have a Child Maltreatment Central Registry check on file for volunteers with routine contact, renewed every two years in centers, out-of-school-time programs and registered family homes (§§ 1025-209, 1027-110, 1028-108), and day programs running three weeks a year or less need no license (§ 1027-101(4)(C)); volunteers left alone with children, counted in ratios or given supervisory or disciplinary control are treated as staff and also need fingerprint checks every five years.

A Level 3 or Level 4 registered sex offender commits a Class D felony by engaging in an occupation or participating in a volunteer position that requires working or interacting primarily and directly with children under 16.

Names volunteer roles including domestic violence shelter volunteers, CASA volunteers, victim assistance volunteers, volunteers at a reproductive healthcare facility and school volunteer coaches or directors age 21 or older; since Act 727 of 2023 any person 18 or older who observes abuse, sexual abuse or sexual exploitation of a child must report. Reports go immediately to the Child Abuse Hotline, 1-800-482-5964.

Does Arkansas require background checks for my nonprofit’s volunteers?

Only for volunteers in specific roles or settings; no Arkansas rule covers every nonprofit. Arkansas has no law requiring every nonprofit to screen volunteers. The Criminal History for Volunteers Act (Ark. Code §§ 12-12-1601 to -1610) lets any organization whose volunteers serve children, the elderly, domestic-abuse victims or people with disabilities register with the Arkansas State Police and request checks with the volunteer’s signed authorization.

How long does a Arkansas volunteer background check take?

Timing varies by check type. VolunteerBadge's national criminal and sex offender registry searches return most results in minutes; a record that needs human FCRA review can take up to about 72 hours. For current fingerprint-check timing, contact: Arkansas State Police Identification Bureau (volunteer checks); Department of Education Office of Early Childhood (child care licensing and background checks); Department of Human Services (Child Maltreatment Central Registry, Adult Maltreatment Registry, child welfare agency licensing).