Bottom Line for Virginia Nonprofits
- ✓All volunteers at licensed child day centers, home-based child care, license-exempt religious child day centers and subsidy-funded child care
- ✓All volunteers at children’s residential facilities
- ✓Volunteers who will be alone with children at licensed child-placing agencies and independent foster homes
- +2 more required roles below
State Laws That Apply to Volunteer Background Checks
Child Day Programs and Home-Based Child Care — Volunteer Background Checks
Va. Code § 22.1-289.035Bars licensed child day centers, home-based child care, license-exempt religious child day centers and subsidy-funded programs from using any volunteer who will be alone with, in control of, or supervising children if convicted of a barrier crime defined in § 19.2-392.02 or the subject of a founded child abuse or neglect complaint. All volunteers and volunteer applicants must give a sworn disclosure and complete a national fingerprint check, a Virginia Central Registry search and criminal, sex offender and abuse registry checks for any state lived in during the past five years, before serving and every five years after. A volunteer may start early only after a qualifying fingerprint result and while supervised at all times.
Children's Residential Facilities Background Check
Va. Code § 63.2-1726Requires every volunteer at a children’s residential facility regulated or operated by the Departments of Social Services, Education, Military Affairs, or Behavioral Health and Developmental Services to be fingerprinted for an FBI check and cleared through the Central Registry before working. It bars most barrier-crime convictions and pending charges (clause (iv) only within five years) and founded abuse or neglect cases, and the volunteer bears the cost unless the facility chooses to pay.
National Criminal Background Checks — Care Providers
Va. Code § 19.2-392.02Lets any business or organization providing care to children, the elderly or people with disabilities request a State Police–screened national fingerprint check on employees, and on volunteers who have or may have unsupervised access to a child. Defines the barrier crimes used across Virginia screening law. The State Police and the FBI may each charge a volunteer no more than $18, and not requesting a check is not negligence per se.
Assisted Living Facilities and Adult Day Centers — Employee Checks, Volunteer Supervision
Va. Code § 63.2-1720Requires criminal history checks for compensated employees of assisted living facilities and adult day centers and bars clause (i) barrier-crime convictions. Volunteers may serve only with the permission, or under the supervision, of a person who has received a clearance; we found no statute requiring the volunteers themselves to be checked.
Who Must Be Screened in Virginia
!Legally Required to Be Screened
- •All volunteers at licensed child day centers, home-based child care, license-exempt religious child day centers and subsidy-funded child care
- •All volunteers at children’s residential facilities
- •Volunteers who will be alone with children at licensed child-placing agencies and independent foster homes
- •Regular volunteers and interns who will be alone with residents in juvenile detention centers and group homes
- •Foster and adoptive parent applicants and adult household members, before approval by a child-placing agency
Types of Background Checks Required in Virginia
How to Get Background Checks in Virginia
$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 Virginia law requires.
Start Free Today →Volunteer Screening in Virginia: What You Need to Know
Since July 1, 2021, the child day program rules have lived in Title 22.1 under the Department of Education (§ 22.1-289.035, replacing repealed § 63.2-1720.1), and since February 1, 2026 the Board of Education’s background check rules sit in 8VAC20-821.
Compliance Tips for Virginia Nonprofits
- 1
Review the barrier crime list in Va. Code § 19.2-392.02 (§§ 63.2-1719 and 22.1-289.034 extend it to juvenile adjudications). Barrier crimes cannot be waived for child day program or child welfare agency volunteers, and most other felonies stop counting after five years.
- 2
Complete the fingerprint check, Central Registry search and out-of-state checks before a child day program volunteer starts. The statute allows an earlier start only after a qualifying fingerprint result, and only with supervision at all times by someone cleared within the past five years.
- 3
Child day programs must keep background check records for at least two years after a volunteer stops serving, in locked files or a secure electronic file (8VAC20-821-210).
- 4
For volunteers in juvenile detention centers, group homes or halfway houses, follow the separate 6VAC35-41-290 and 6VAC35-101-290 regulations which apply the background check requirements to regular volunteers and interns who will be alone with a resident.
- 5
Even if your nonprofit is not licensed, if your volunteers have unsupervised access to children, consider requesting a State Police–screened national check under Va. Code § 19.2-392.02. Volunteers who serve only older or disabled adults don’t qualify, and Sunday-school-type religious instruction programs are excluded.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Virginia require background checks for my nonprofit’s volunteers?
Only for volunteers in specific roles or settings; no Virginia rule covers every nonprofit. Virginia has no general volunteer background-check law, but it mandates checks for volunteers in specific licensed settings.
How long does a Virginia volunteer background check take?
Official state checks: State Police national checks under § 19.2-392.02: reasonable efforts to respond within 15 business days; other turnaround times vary by agency. VolunteerBadge's national criminal search returns most results in minutes; a record that needs human FCRA review can take up to about 72 hours.