Bottom Line for Pennsylvania Nonprofits
- ✓Adult volunteers with a child-care service, a school, or a program, activity or service who are responsible for a child's welfare or have direct volunteer contact with children (23 Pa.C.S. § 6344.2(a))
- ✓“Direct volunteer contact” needs both parts: care, supervision, guidance or control of children, and routine interaction with them — regular, repeated contact that is integral to the role (§ 6303)
- ✓Covered programs include youth camps, recreational and sports programs, outreach, enrichment and educational programs, and troops and clubs sponsored by a school or a public or private organization — which reaches churches (§ 6303)
- +2 more required roles below
State Laws That Apply to Volunteer Background Checks
Child Protective Services Law — volunteers (Act 153 of 2014, as amended by Act 15 of 2015)
23 Pa.C.S. §§ 6303, 6344.2, 6344.3, 6344.4An adult volunteer with a child-care service, a school, or a program, activity or service who is responsible for a child's welfare or has direct volunteer contact with children must submit the clearances in § 6344(b) before being approved. A person responsible for selecting volunteers who intentionally fails to require them commits a third-degree misdemeanor (§ 6344.2(b)). Volunteers must tell the organization in writing within 72 hours of an arrest or conviction for a disqualifying offense, or of being named in a founded or indicated report (§ 6344.3(g)). The law has no exemption for nonprofits or churches.
Pennsylvania State Police criminal history clearance (PATCH)
23 Pa.C.S. § 6344(b)(1)A name-based search of Pennsylvania State Police criminal history records — Pennsylvania records only, not federal. Free for volunteers through the PATCH website. Results for people with no record can come back immediately; requests marked “under review” may take two to four weeks.
Pennsylvania Child Abuse History Clearance
23 Pa.C.S. § 6344(b)(2)A Department of Human Services certification of whether the applicant is named in the Statewide database as the alleged perpetrator in a pending child abuse investigation or as the perpetrator of a founded or indicated child-abuse report. Unfounded reports and general protective services assessments are not included. Free for volunteers once every 57 months; results are issued within 14 days of receipt (online applications are fastest).
FBI fingerprint check and the 10-year residency exception
23 Pa.C.S. §§ 6344(b)(3), 6344.2(b.1)A fingerprint-based FBI check through the state's vendor, IDEMIA/IdentoGO, using the DHS volunteer service code 1KG6ZJ. The volunteer fee is $22.95, rising to $25.95 on October 1, 2026. Not required for an unpaid volunteer who has lived in Pennsylvania for the entire previous 10 years — or has received a DHS FBI clearance since moving here — and swears in writing that they are not disqualified. That exception never applies to volunteers in child day-care centers, group day-care homes or family child-care homes (§ 6344.2(b.1)(4)).
Who Must Be Screened in Pennsylvania
!Legally Required to Be Screened
- •Adult volunteers with a child-care service, a school, or a program, activity or service who are responsible for a child's welfare or have direct volunteer contact with children (23 Pa.C.S. § 6344.2(a))
- •“Direct volunteer contact” needs both parts: care, supervision, guidance or control of children, and routine interaction with them — regular, repeated contact that is integral to the role (§ 6303)
- •Covered programs include youth camps, recreational and sports programs, outreach, enrichment and educational programs, and troops and clubs sponsored by a school or a public or private organization — which reaches churches (§ 6303)
- •School volunteers are covered like any other volunteer; volunteers in child day-care centers, group day-care homes and family child-care homes always need all three clearances, plus out-of-state and National Sex Offender Registry checks (§§ 6344.2(b.1)(4), 6344(f.1))
- •Not covered: a student volunteering at an event on their own school's grounds, sponsored by that school, who isn't responsible for a child's welfare (§ 6344.2(b.1)(3))
Types of Background Checks Required in Pennsylvania
How to Get Background Checks in Pennsylvania
$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 Pennsylvania law requires.
Start Free Today →Volunteer Screening in Pennsylvania: What You Need to Know
Pennsylvania's clearance rules took their current shape in the Child Protective Services Law amendments that followed the Penn State child-abuse scandal, and three details trip organizations up. First, the FBI fingerprint check is waived only for volunteers who have lived in the state for the full previous 10 years, only with a signed disclosure statement, and never in child day care. Second, clearances are free for volunteers only once every 57 months, and an FBI result obtained for another agency or employer doesn't satisfy DHS. Third, the 60-month renewal clock runs from the date of the oldest clearance (§ 6344.4(3)), so clearances issued months apart all renew on the earliest one's schedule. Volunteers who live in another state may serve provisionally for up to 30 days in a calendar year if they meet their home state's clearance standards (§ 6344.2(f)).
Compliance Tips for Pennsylvania Nonprofits
- 1
Collect every required clearance before a volunteer starts. The only provisional window for volunteers is for out-of-state residents who meet their home state's clearance standards — up to 30 days in a calendar year.
- 2
Point volunteers to the free options: PATCH volunteer checks and the child abuse clearance cost nothing (once every 57 months). The volunteer FBI fee is $22.95, rising to $25.95 on October 1, 2026. An organization can prepay through a DHS online business account or an IdentoGO no-charge authorization code (NCAC) agreement.
- 3
Keep the signed DHS disclosure statement on file for any volunteer who uses the 10-year residency exception, and make sure FBI checks use the DHS volunteer service code — results obtained for another agency don't count.
- 4
Track renewals every 60 months from each volunteer's oldest clearance date.
- 5
Tell volunteers they must report, in writing within 72 hours, an arrest or conviction for a disqualifying offense or being named in a founded or indicated report; willful failure is a third-degree misdemeanor. If you learn of one, require new clearances at the organization's cost (§ 6344.3(g)–(h)).
- 6
Many covered volunteers are also mandated reporters: § 6311(a)(7) names an individual, “paid or unpaid,” who is an integral part of a regularly scheduled program, activity or service and is responsible for a child's welfare or has direct contact with children.
- 7
A commercial check such as VolunteerBadge's can add nationwide coverage and identity verification, but it does not replace any Pennsylvania clearance.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Pennsylvania require background checks for my nonprofit’s volunteers?
Yes, for volunteers in the roles Pennsylvania law covers. Pennsylvania has one of the broadest volunteer clearance laws in the country. Under the Child Protective Services Law as amended after the Penn State child-abuse scandal (Act 153 of 2014 and Act 15 of 2015), an adult volunteer who is responsible for a child's welfare or has direct volunteer contact — the care, supervision, guidance or control of children and routine interaction with them — must provide a Pennsylvania State Police criminal history clearance and a Department of Human Services child abuse clearance, and usually an FBI fingerprint check.
How long does a Pennsylvania volunteer background check take?
Official state checks: PATCH: often immediate online, or two to four weeks if under review; Child Abuse Clearance: within 14 days of receipt; FBI: results mailed in about 7–10 business days (no-record results can be viewed online sooner). VolunteerBadge's national criminal search returns most results in minutes; a record that needs human FCRA review can take up to about 72 hours.