Bottom Line for Washington Nonprofits
- ✓Child care and early learning volunteers who count in staff-to-child ratio or are authorized for unsupervised access — DCYF background check with fingerprints (WAC 110-06; WAC 110-300-0100(10))
- ✓Volunteer CASAs and guardians ad litem in dependency cases — WSP and FBI fingerprint check, updated every three years (RCW 13.34.100(3))
- ✓Volunteers or interns with regular or unsupervised access to children in DCYF-licensed or contracted foster homes and group care (WAC 110-04-0040)
- +2 more required roles below
State Laws That Apply to Volunteer Background Checks
RCW 43.43.830 — Background Checks, Access to Children or Vulnerable Persons (Definitions)
Wash. Rev. Code § 43.43.830Defines 'business or organization,' 'vulnerable adult,' and related terms for background check purposes. Establishes the framework under which businesses and nonprofits may request criminal history information from the WSP for prospective employees and volunteers serving children, elderly (60+), or persons with disabilities.
RCW 43.43.832 — Background Checks, Disclosure of Information
Wash. Rev. Code § 43.43.832Requires WSP to disclose conviction records to businesses and organizations requesting checks for prospective employees or volunteers who may have supervised or unsupervised access to children, elderly, or individuals with disabilities. Also addresses sharing of criminal background information by health care facilities.
RCW 43.43.832(5) — Conditional Engagement Pending a Required Check
Wash. Rev. Code § 43.43.832(5)Whenever state law requires a state conviction record check, persons may be employed or engaged as volunteers on a conditional basis pending its completion. When an FBI national check is required, the individual may also serve conditionally pending national check completion.
HB 1385 (2025) — National Crime Prevention and Privacy Compact; Qualified-Entity Fingerprint Checks
RCW 43.43.8325 (Laws of 2025, ch. 60, § 2; effective July 27, 2025)Directs WSP to execute the National Crime Prevention and Privacy Compact and, once WSP approves them, authorizes qualified entities to conduct fingerprint-based state and national criminal history checks for applicants (including volunteers) who provide care for children, elderly (60+), or individuals with disabilities.
Who Must Be Screened in Washington
!Legally Required to Be Screened
- •Child care and early learning volunteers who count in staff-to-child ratio or are authorized for unsupervised access — DCYF background check with fingerprints (WAC 110-06; WAC 110-300-0100(10))
- •Volunteer CASAs and guardians ad litem in dependency cases — WSP and FBI fingerprint check, updated every three years (RCW 13.34.100(3))
- •Volunteers or interns with regular or unsupervised access to children in DCYF-licensed or contracted foster homes and group care (WAC 110-04-0040)
- •Adult family home volunteers who may have unsupervised access to residents — Washington name and date-of-birth check through DSHS, renewed every two years (WAC 388-76-10161(3), 388-76-10165)
- •Volunteers, students and interns with unsupervised access to vulnerable adults, children or juveniles at DSHS- or DCYF-licensed, certified or contracted providers — WSP and FBI fingerprints where RCW 43.43.837 and program rules require (RCW 43.43.837(9)(a))
Types of Background Checks Required in Washington
How to Get Background Checks in Washington
$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 Washington law requires.
Start Free Today →Volunteer Screening in Washington: What You Need to Know
About 2.06 million Washingtonians — 32.8% of residents — formally volunteered in 2023, above the 28.3% national rate (AmeriCorps). By statute, an organization may use a WSP record only for the initial engagement decision; further dissemination is prohibited and exposes it to a civil action for damages (RCW 43.43.834(5)). Since July 27, 2025 (HB 1385), any Washington care provider — profit or nonprofit — can apply to WSP to run state and FBI fingerprint checks on volunteers as a qualified entity. Washington’s Fair Chance Act expressly does not apply to an employer seeking a nonemployee volunteer (RCW 49.94.010(7)(d)); the amended Act’s conditional-offer timing, two-business-day hold and written-decision duties reach paid roles without unsupervised access to children or vulnerable adults from July 1, 2026 (15+ employees) and January 1, 2027 (smaller employers).
Compliance Tips for Washington Nonprofits
- 1
Use the DSHS Background Check Central Unit (BCCU) if your organization is licensed or contracted with DSHS (DCYF-licensed child care, foster and group care programs use DCYF’s own background check unit instead) — BCCU processes DSHS name-based and fingerprint-based background checks; confirm with DSHS whether its checks cover your volunteers.
- 2
WSP WATCH is an online name and date-of-birth search, not a fingerprint check — WSP itself says only fingerprint verification positively links a person to a record. Nonprofits pay no WSP fee for these checks (RCW 43.43.838(2)); for state and FBI fingerprint results, apply to WSP as a qualified entity under RCW 43.43.8325.
- 3
Follow RCW 43.43.834: tell each applicant before you query WSP that a check may be made, require each applicant to disclose convictions and civil adjudicative findings (put it in writing; facilities licensed to serve vulnerable adults need a sworn written disclosure under RCW 43.43.842(1)(b)), give the applicant WSP’s response within ten days, and use it only for the initial engagement decision. Conditional engagement pending a check is authorized only where state law requires the check (RCW 43.43.832(5)).
- 4
Search the Washington State Sex Offender Registry (public, searchable online) as an immediate and free first screen before formal check submission, particularly for high-volume volunteer recruitment periods. The public site posts level II and III offenders, and level I offenders only while out of compliance or without a fixed residence (RCW 4.24.550(5)(a)), so it misses most level I registrants.
- 5
HB 1385 (effective July 27, 2025) lets qualified entities run state and FBI fingerprint checks on volunteers, but you must get WSP approval before submitting, keep a signed waiver for each person, and give them a reasonable time to correct the record before declining them (RCW 43.43.8325(7)–(8)). School districts may, but need not, fingerprint volunteers with regularly scheduled unsupervised access to small groups (RCW 28A.400.303(3)).
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Washington require background checks for my nonprofit’s volunteers?
Only for volunteers in specific roles or settings; no Washington rule covers every nonprofit. Washington has no general volunteer background-check mandate. Its Child and Adult Abuse Information Act (RCW 43.43.830–.845) lets organizations serving children under 16, vulnerable adults and people with developmental disabilities obtain Washington State Patrol conviction records on volunteers — mandatory checks apply only in regulated settings such as licensed child care, foster and group care, adult family homes and court-appointed special advocate programs.
How long does a Washington volunteer background check take?
Official state checks: WSP WATCH name and date-of-birth searches return results online; a result marked Pending posts within 24–48 hours (WSP WATCH). We found no published WSP turnaround for fingerprint or FBI checks. VolunteerBadge's national criminal search returns most results in minutes; a record that needs human FCRA review can take up to about 72 hours.