Skip to content
ConditionalRequirement Level

South Dakota Volunteer Background Check Requirements

South Dakota has no law requiring every nonprofit to screen volunteers; its mandates are sector-specific.

Cover of Signed and Printed

Free whitepaper PDF

Signed and Printed: the South Dakota guide to screening volunteers: the fingerprint rule for licensed child welfare agencies, DSS child care and central registry screening, school checks after 2026, DCI records and the volunteers the law makes report

South Dakota has no statute that makes nonprofits in general screen their volunteers. It writes the duty into particular settings — licensed child care and child welfare agencies, programs that clear volunteers against DSS’s central registry, and accredited schools’ hires — and in the child welfare and registry settings the check starts with the volunteer’s own signature: a § 23-5-12 waiver or a written consent. Here is each rule, section by section.

Get the free guide

Bottom Line for South Dakota Nonprofits

  • ✓Any adult, including a volunteer, who provides care and supervision to children in a licensed child welfare agency, such as a day care center, group family day care home, before and after school program, foster home, group home or residential treatment center (DCI and FBI fingerprint check within 14 days; SDCL 26-6-14.4(3), 26-6-14.5)
  • ✓Child care providers, program employees 14 and older and family day care household members 18 and older, including volunteers in licensed child and school-age programs and registered family day care (federal comprehensive check, repeated at least every five years; ARSD 67:42:17:13)
  • ✓Volunteers and volunteer applicants of group care centers and child placement agencies (central registry screening before serving children; ARSD 67:42:01:05.02, 67:42:07:14(7), 67:42:09:09(7)); residential treatment centers appear to have a parallel rule (ARSD 67:42:08:06, not retrieved)
  • +2 more required roles below

State Laws That Apply to Volunteer Background Checks

Criminal record checks in licensed child welfare agencies

SDCL 26-6-14.3 to 26-6-14.5, 26-6-14.10, 26-6-14.11

Applicants, administrators, adult residents, any adult, including a volunteer, who provides care and supervision to children, and any adult working in a group home, residential treatment center or shelter care facility must sign the SDCL 23-5-12 waiver and be fingerprinted; the licensee sends the prints to the Division of Criminal Investigation and the FBI within 14 calendar days. Anyone convicted of child abuse or a sex offense, convicted of any other felony within five years, or listed on the sex offender or child abuse central registry may not work or provide care there; doing so, or knowingly allowing it, is a Class 1 misdemeanor.

Child care background checks

ARSD 67:42:17:13 (effective July 3, 2023)

All child care providers, program employees age 14 and older and family day care household members age 18 and older must meet federal background check requirements, repeated at least once every five years. DSS says employees and volunteers of licensed child and school-age programs and registered family day care must be screened, and DSS pays the in-state and out-of-state fees.

Central registry screening of volunteers

SDCL 26-8A-12.2; ARSD 67:42:01:05.02, 67:42:07:14, 67:42:09:09

DSS compares the names of current or potential employees or volunteers of CASA programs, nationally accredited child advocacy centers, Department of Corrections juvenile programs and state adolescent treatment programs, and guardian ad litem candidates, against the child abuse and neglect central registry; written consent is required and refusing screening disqualifies the applicant. Group care centers and child placement agencies must screen each volunteer before the volunteer serves children, and a volunteer may not have a substantiated report.

School employee fingerprint checks

SDCL 13-10-12, 13-10-13 (amended by 2026 HB 1003)

Since July 1, 2026, each person over 18 hired by any accredited school, not only a public school district, submits to DCI and FBI fingerprint checks, with the cards sent to DCI before the person enters service, with temporary employment allowed pending results; student teachers are checked, and people hired to officiate or referee school events are exempt. We found no provision requiring checks of unpaid volunteers.

Who Must Be Screened in South Dakota

!Legally Required to Be Screened

  • •Any adult, including a volunteer, who provides care and supervision to children in a licensed child welfare agency, such as a day care center, group family day care home, before and after school program, foster home, group home or residential treatment center (DCI and FBI fingerprint check within 14 days; SDCL 26-6-14.4(3), 26-6-14.5)
  • •Child care providers, program employees 14 and older and family day care household members 18 and older, including volunteers in licensed child and school-age programs and registered family day care (federal comprehensive check, repeated at least every five years; ARSD 67:42:17:13)
  • •Volunteers and volunteer applicants of group care centers and child placement agencies (central registry screening before serving children; ARSD 67:42:01:05.02, 67:42:07:14(7), 67:42:09:09(7)); residential treatment centers appear to have a parallel rule (ARSD 67:42:08:06, not retrieved)
  • •Current or potential volunteers of CASA programs and nationally accredited child advocacy centers, and guardian ad litem candidates in abuse and neglect cases (central registry screening with written consent; SDCL 26-8A-12.2)
  • •Persons over 18 hired by an accredited school, including paid coaches and student teachers (DCI and FBI fingerprint check; SDCL 13-10-12)

Optional — no South Dakota statute we found requires a check

  • ◦unpaid school volunteers, chaperones and volunteer coaches (we found no statute requiring checks; SDCL 13-10-12 reaches people hired by an accredited school)
  • ◦volunteers in developmental disability, nursing facility and assisted living programs (we found no statute or rule requiring checks of volunteers; DHS requires provider policies on checks for employees who provide direct service, ARSD 46:11:04:15.02, and facilities may not knowingly employ anyone convicted of abusing another person, ARSD 44:70:04:03, 44:73:04:04)
  • ◦summer and recreational camps, youth sports, churches, mentoring and other nonprofit volunteers (we found no statute requiring checks; camps designed primarily for character building or recreation are outside child welfare licensing, SDCL 26-6-27)

Types of Background Checks Required in South Dakota

✓
South Dakota DCI fingerprint-based state criminal history check ($30; the FBI adds $20, paid together as $50, per Unified Judicial System instructions, Rev. 04/2026)
✓
FBI fingerprint-based national check submitted through DCI where a statute authorizes it (licensed child welfare agencies, DSS child care screening, accredited-school hires); we found no general channel for volunteer organizations
✓
DSS Central Registry for Child Abuse and Neglect screening (DSS pays for child care screening; DSS says a screening on its Permission to Screen form, the route it describes for interstate child care agency requests, is free and averages 5–7 business days)
✓
South Dakota and national (NCIC) sex offender registry checks (part of DSS child care screening)
✓
Out-of-state criminal, sex offender and child abuse registry checks for each state lived in during the past five years (child care; 45 C.F.R. 98.43)

How to Get Background Checks in South Dakota

State Agency
South Dakota Attorney General’s Division of Criminal Investigation, Identification Section (fingerprint-based state checks and FBI submissions); Department of Social Services, Office of Licensing and Accreditation (child care and child welfare agency screening) and Child Protection Services (central registry screening); accredited schools (employee checks under SDCL 13-10-12)
Typical processing time: DSS says child care screening results typically take 1–2 weeks after fingerprints are received, and a central registry screening on its Permission to Screen form averages 5–7 business days; DCI turnaround could not be confirmed
Screen Volunteers in South Dakota Through VolunteerBadge

$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 South Dakota law requires.

Start Free Today →

Volunteer Screening in South Dakota: What You Need to Know

South Dakota’s state rap sheet is not a public record: criminal history information is exempt from open-records disclosure, and a person may authorize DCI to release their own record to an organization after a fingerprint-based request (SDCL 23-5-11, 23-5-12). Discharged suspended impositions of sentence are sealed, and petty offense, ordinance and Class 2 misdemeanor cases are removed from the public record after five clean years (SDCL 23A-27-17, 23A-3-34). Registered sex offenders must register where they volunteer for more than 14 days, or 30 days in a year (SDCL 22-24B-3), and since July 1, 2026 community safety zones include licensed and registered child care programs (SDCL 22-24B-22). DSS says South Dakota is not a National Fingerprint File or National Crime Prevention and Privacy Compact state.

Compliance Tips for South Dakota Nonprofits

  1. 1

    Licensed child care and child welfare agencies: have every adult volunteer who provides care and supervision sign the DCI waiver and be fingerprinted, and submit the prints to DCI and the FBI within 14 calendar days of the volunteer’s first day (SDCL 26-6-14.5); DSS requires the central registry result on file before contact with children.

  2. 2

    Track the five-year recheck for child care staff and volunteers (ARSD 67:42:17:13); DSS says a prior screening carries over only if the person has been out of child care work for less than 180 days.

  3. 3

    Group care centers and child placement agencies: check three unrelated references and clear each volunteer against the central registry before the volunteer serves children, and tell volunteers how to report abuse (ARSD 67:42:07:14, 67:42:09:09).

  4. 4

    Since July 1, 2026, coaches of school activities are mandated reporters (SDCL 26-8A-3, 2026 HB 1187); reports go orally and immediately to the state’s attorney, DSS or law enforcement (SDCL 26-8A-8).

  5. 5

    A South Dakota nonprofit corporation must adopt a written privacy protection policy, and give it to the volunteer, before asking a volunteer for a Social Security number (SDCL 47-22-74.1).

  6. 6

    Tribal programs: since July 1, 2026, DCI may obtain national checks at the request of any Indian tribe for listed positions, including tribal child protection and youth program roles and tribal foster parents (SDCL 23-3-15.1).

Frequently Asked Questions

Does South Dakota require background checks for my nonprofit’s volunteers?

Only for volunteers in specific roles or settings; no South Dakota rule covers every nonprofit. South Dakota has no law requiring every nonprofit to screen volunteers; its mandates are sector-specific. Any adult, including a volunteer, who provides care and supervision to children in a licensed child welfare agency (day care centers, group family day care homes, before and after school programs, foster homes, group homes and residential treatment centers) must sign a DCI release and be fingerprinted for state and FBI checks within 14 days of starting (SDCL 26-6-14.4, 26-6-14.5).

How long does a South Dakota volunteer background check take?

Official state checks: DSS says child care screening results typically take 1–2 weeks after fingerprints are received, and a central registry screening on its Permission to Screen form averages 5–7 business days; DCI turnaround could not be confirmed. VolunteerBadge's national criminal search returns most results in minutes; a record that needs human FCRA review can take up to about 72 hours.

FCRA Notice: VolunteerBadge is a Consumer Reporting Agency (CRA) under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. When you use our platform to screen volunteers, you are subject to FCRA requirements including authorization, disclosure, and adverse action procedures. South Dakota may have additional state-law requirements. This page provides general information only — consult legal counsel for your specific situation. Read our FCRA adverse action guide →

Ready to Start Screening Volunteers in South Dakota?

VolunteerBadge collects the FCRA disclosure and authorization, generates adverse-action notices and routes records that need it to human FCRA review — all for $5 per check.

Start Free Today →View Pricing