Bottom Line for Wisconsin Nonprofits
- ✓Child care volunteers counted toward staff-to-child ratios, and anyone else with direct contact and unsupervised access to children, at licensed or certified child care and licensed day camps — fingerprint check before starting and every 5 years (Wis. Stat. § 48.686; DCF 13.02(4))
- ✓Volunteers who replace a staff person or are counted toward staff-to-client ratios at DHS-regulated entities such as nursing homes, assisted living, hospice and home health — for example, a hospice volunteer who acts as staff in clients’ homes (Wis. Stat. § 50.065; DHS P-00038 § 2.1.2)
- ✓Overnight (recreational and educational) camp staff, paid or unpaid — sex offender registry review before starting and a background check at least every 2 years (ATCP 78.03(13), 78.26(1))
- +1 more required roles below
State Laws That Apply to Volunteer Background Checks
Wisconsin Statutes § 50.065 — Caregiver Law
Wis. Stat. § 50.065; ch. DHS 12, Wis. Admin. CodeRequires every DHS-regulated entity (nursing homes, assisted living, hospice, home health and others) to obtain a DOJ criminal history search, caregiver misconduct registry and other records for each caregiver before hire and at least every 4 years (Wis. Stat. § 50.065(2)(b), (3)(b)). The statute defines caregivers as employees and contractors with regular, direct client contact; DHS applies it to volunteers only when they replace a staff person or are counted toward staff-to-client ratios (DHS P-00038 § 2.1.2).
Wis. Stat. §§ 48.685 and 48.686 — Child care, foster care and group home checks
Wis. Stat. §§ 48.685, 48.686; chs. DCF 12, DCF 13, DCF 56 and DCF 57, Wis. Admin. CodeLicensed and certified child care and licensed day camps must submit a fingerprint-based DCF background check for each caregiver and household member age 10 or older before they start and at least every 5 years (Wis. Stat. § 48.686(2)(ab)); caregivers include volunteers counted toward staff-to-child ratios (DCF 13.02(4)(b)). Foster homes, group homes and residential care centers follow Wis. Stat. § 48.685 on a 4-year cycle; group homes must check every volunteer before they begin (DCF 57.15, effective June 1, 2026), and Level 5 foster homes must check volunteers every 4 years (DCF 56.135(8)).
Who Must Be Screened in Wisconsin
!Legally Required to Be Screened
- •Child care volunteers counted toward staff-to-child ratios, and anyone else with direct contact and unsupervised access to children, at licensed or certified child care and licensed day camps — fingerprint check before starting and every 5 years (Wis. Stat. § 48.686; DCF 13.02(4))
- •Volunteers who replace a staff person or are counted toward staff-to-client ratios at DHS-regulated entities such as nursing homes, assisted living, hospice and home health — for example, a hospice volunteer who acts as staff in clients’ homes (Wis. Stat. § 50.065; DHS P-00038 § 2.1.2)
- •Overnight (recreational and educational) camp staff, paid or unpaid — sex offender registry review before starting and a background check at least every 2 years (ATCP 78.03(13), 78.26(1))
- •Group home volunteers (age 18 or older) — background check before starting and a background information disclosure every 4 years (DCF 57.15, effective June 1, 2026); volunteers at Level 5 foster homes — disclosure form and background check before starting and every 4 years (DCF 56.135(8), effective Dec. 1, 2025)
Types of Background Checks Required in Wisconsin
How to Get Background Checks in Wisconsin
$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 Wisconsin law requires.
Start Free Today →Volunteer Screening in Wisconsin: What You Need to Know
Wisconsin’s screening law is setting-by-setting. DHS’s Caregiver Law reaches volunteers only when they replace staff or count toward ratios — a church group that visits a nursing home without replacing staff or counting in ratios is not covered (our example), while DHS’s own example, a hospice volunteer acting as staff in clients’ homes, is (DHS P-00038 § 2.1.2). Wisconsin makes it a Class F felony for a person convicted of a serious child sex offense to take a volunteer position working primarily and directly with children under 16, and coaching and youth organization roles are prima facie covered (Wis. Stat. § 948.13(3)). The Wisconsin Fair Employment Act’s conviction-record rules do not reach unpaid volunteers (LIRC, Ficken v. Harmon Solutions Group, 2003; Kirksey v. Int’l Assoc. for Orthodontics, 2022). Many large youth programs screen by policy rather than law: UW System institutions check volunteers in positions of trust under Regent Policy 20-19, rechecking those with access to minors or patients every four years, and Wisconsin 4-H checks volunteers at enrollment and every 2 years.
Compliance Tips for Wisconsin Nonprofits
- 1
Apply DHS’s volunteer test for every role at a DHS-regulated entity: a volunteer who replaces a staff person or is counted toward staff-to-client ratios needs a Caregiver Law background check under Wis. Stat. § 50.065; one who neither replaces staff nor counts in ratios, such as a supervised group visitor, is not covered by the law (DHS P-00038 § 2.1.2).
- 2
Background checks under the Caregiver Law must be renewed every four years — set calendar reminders for volunteer records, not just employees, to avoid lapsing coverage.
- 3
Obtain and retain the Background Information Disclosure (BID) form (DHS-approved) from every volunteer subject to the Caregiver Law before placement; this is a required document independent of the criminal history check result.
- 4
For licensed child care and day camps, follow Wis. Stat. § 48.686 and ch. DCF 13 rather than DHS 12: DCF runs a Fieldprint fingerprint check before the person starts and every 5 years, and volunteers counted in ratio are covered.
- 5
Before placing any volunteer with children under 16, run a sex offender registry search: Wis. Stat. § 948.13 makes it a felony for a person convicted of a serious child sex offense to take such a volunteer role, including coaching and youth organization work.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Wisconsin require background checks for my nonprofit’s volunteers?
Only for volunteers in specific roles or settings; no Wisconsin rule covers every nonprofit. Wisconsin has no general volunteer background check law. Checks follow the setting: the DHS Caregiver Law (Wis. Stat. § 50.065; ch. DHS 12) reaches volunteers at DHS-regulated entities such as nursing homes, assisted living, hospice and home health only when they replace a staff person or are counted toward staff-to-client ratios; licensed or certified child care and licensed day camps require a DCF fingerprint check before starting and every 5 years for anyone with direct contact and unsupervised access, including volunteers counted in ratio (Wis. Stat. § 48.686; DCF 13.02(4)); overnight camps must screen all paid or unpaid camp staff at least every 2 years (ATCP 78.26(1)); and since June 1, 2026 group homes must check every volunteer (DCF 57.15).
How long does a Wisconsin volunteer background check take?
Official state checks: We found no published turnaround: WORCS name-based requests are submitted and results retrieved online, and we found no DOJ or DCF standard timeline for fingerprint 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.