Does Montana require background checks for volunteers?

By place, not by person. In the Montana Code titles we searched, no statute requires nonprofits in general to check volunteers; checks attach to specific settings: public school districts (since July 1, 2025, anyone with unsupervised contact with students), licensed and registered child care under DPHHS rules, private alternative adolescent residential or outdoor programs, youth residential treatment centers once DPHHS adopts rules under a 2025 law, and youth foster home applicants. Camps, youth sports, churches and most adult care volunteers are left to the organization.

Does HB 745 require fingerprints for Montana school volunteers?

If they will have unsupervised contact with students, yes. HB 745 (Mont. Code Ann. § 20-3-323(1)(d)) requires each public school district to adopt a policy requiring that anyone, regardless of employment status, has completed a fingerprint-based national check — through educator licensure, or through Montana DOJ with the results reviewed by the trustees, superintendent or a designee — before unsupervised contact with students in school, at a school-sponsored activity or in transit to one. Supervised volunteers are outside the clause. The law sets no recheck cycle, doesn’t say who pays, and doesn’t cover nonpublic schools, so ask your district for its policy.

What fingerprint check do Montana child care volunteers need?

In licensed centers and registered family and group homes, DPHHS rules require a Montana DOJ and FBI fingerprint check before working in the facility, and DPHHS applies its checks to volunteers. The 2021 rule text renewed the fingerprint check every five years and required registry, protective services and name-based checks before work and annually. DPHHS has since moved the rules to ARM 37.96, so confirm the current cycle with Child Care Licensing. DPHHS points providers to free FBI fingerprinting at Spark Montana locations.

Can a Montana nonprofit check whether a volunteer has a child abuse record?

Yes. Mont. Code Ann. § 41-3-205(3)(o) lets any person or entity screening employees or volunteers who may have unsupervised contact with children request substantiated child abuse or neglect findings from DPHHS in writing. The volunteer signs a release in front of a notary; DPHHS won’t process one notarized more than six months earlier, says there is currently no cost, and reports only whether information indicates a risk. An organization that acts on it in good faith is immune from civil liability.

Which Montana volunteers does § 41-3-201 name as reporters?

Some are. Mont. Code Ann. § 41-3-201 names a guardian ad litem or court-appointed advocate authorized to investigate, and Montana defines the special advocate as a trained volunteer. Clergy, day-care and substitute care operators and employees, and foster care, residential and institutional workers are named too; school volunteers, volunteer coaches and camp staff are not. Anyone may report to DPHHS’s hotline, 1-866-820-5437, 24 hours a day.

Can a VolunteerBadge check count toward HB 745 or DPHHS fingerprinting?

No. Nothing fingerprint-based runs through VolunteerBadge — it is not a fingerprint channel — so its check doesn’t count toward an HB 745 school fingerprint check, DPHHS child care fingerprinting, a youth residential program’s fingerprint check or any Montana DOJ fingerprint check. Use it for camps, leagues, congregations and the supervised school roles a district allows, and beside the DPHHS protective services check, which searches a different database.

Free guide · 2026 edition · HB 745 on the school bus, DPHHS rules and public records

In Transit: The Montana guide to screening volunteers: HB 745’s fingerprint rule for adults alone with students, even on the bus; child care and youth residential checks; the DPHHS protective services check; public criminal records; and a seven-year rule from 1975

Montana puts no check duty on nonprofits in general. But since July 1, 2025, every public school district must require a fingerprint-based national check, through educator licensure or reviewed by the district, before anyone — “regardless of employment status” — has unsupervised contact with students in school, at a school-sponsored activity or in transit to one. Child care checks sit in DPHHS rules that have since moved, youth residential programs fingerprint anyone with direct access, any organization screening people who may be alone with children can ask DPHHS for a protective services check, currently free, and convictions are public by statute. The chapters take each rule in turn, starting with HB 745’s clause read phrase by phrase.

By the VolunteerBadge research team · Sources checked September 12, 2026

Written for Montana school districts, child care and youth residential programs, CASA, camps and ministry leaders
HB 745’s school fingerprint rule read phrase by phrase — including the ride to the game
Child care, youth residential care, CASA and the DPHHS protective services check, with the MCA section or ARM rule for each
A Montana volunteer reporting card and a setting-by-setting checklist you can adapt

Who In Transit is for

School district volunteer coordinators and the administrators who review HB 745 checks, PTA and booster leaders, child care owners and directors, residential, group home, foster care and CASA staff, camp, 4-H, Scout, league and ministry leaders, adult care volunteer coordinators, and nonprofit boards — anyone in Montana deciding who may be alone with a student, a child or a vulnerable adult.

10.7

child maltreatment victims per 1,000 Montana children in federal fiscal year 2024, against 7.2 nationally — 2,492 children.

ACF, Child Maltreatment 2024

31,416

calls to DPHHS’s child abuse hotline in Montana’s state fiscal year 2026; 21,776 became reports and 9,218 required an investigation.

DPHHS, Montana School Guidelines 2026–2027

37.2%

of Montanans volunteered through an organization in 2023 — 8th of 50 states by our ranking.

VolunteerBadge analysis of AmeriCorps CEV data

Cited to primary sources

Montana at a glance

Schools, child care and youth homes: No statute we found requires Montana nonprofits in general to check volunteers. The required checks attach to settings — public schools, licensed and registered child care, youth residential programs and youth foster homes.; Mont. Code Ann. §§ 20-3-323(1)(d), 52-2-805(1)(a), 50-5-248(2)(f), 52-2-622(4)
Schools: anyone alone with students: Since July 1, 2025, each public school district’s student protection policy must require a fingerprint-based national check — through educator licensure, or through Montana DOJ with results reviewed by the trustees, superintendent or a designee — before anyone, regardless of employment status, has unsupervised contact with students in school, at a school-sponsored activity or in transit to one. No recheck cycle; no payer named; a district that fails to implement files a correction plan with OPI.; Mont. Code Ann. §§ 20-3-323(1)(d), 20-3-324(30); HB 745 (2025)
Child care: DOJ and FBI fingerprints: DPHHS rules require a Montana DOJ and FBI fingerprint check before working in a licensed center or registered home. The 2021 rule text renewed it every five years, with Montana and national registry checks, and protective services and name checks for each state lived in over the prior five years, before work and annually. The rules have moved to ARM 37.96 — confirm the current cycle.; Mont. Code Ann. §§ 52-2-721, 52-2-723; ARM 37.95.161 (DPHHS 2021 printing), now ARM 37.96.10
Outdoor and residential youth programs: Private alternative adolescent residential or outdoor programs fingerprint each person associated with the program who has direct access to participants. A 2025 law directs DPHHS to require fingerprint checks for anyone with regular access to patients at youth residential treatment centers, including volunteers; whether the rules exist yet is unconfirmed.; Mont. Code Ann. §§ 52-2-805(1)(a), 50-5-248(2)(f)
Protective services check on request: Anyone screening volunteers who may have unsupervised contact with children may request substantiated DPHHS findings with a notarized release; DPHHS won’t process a release notarized more than six months earlier, says there is currently no cost, and reports only whether information indicates a risk. Good-faith use is immune. A 2025 central registry may affect a person’s ability to volunteer.; Mont. Code Ann. §§ 41-3-205(3)(o), 41-3-203(3), 41-3-901; DPHHS CFSD Background Checks page
Public criminal records: Convictions, deferred sentences and initial arrest records are public criminal justice information with no restriction on dissemination. Montana DOJ’s online name search costs $20; its fee schedule, dated March 1, 2019, lists $30 for an FBI fingerprint check and $25 for volunteers under the NCPA/VCA.; Mont. Code Ann. §§ 44-5-103(13), 44-5-301(1); Montana DOJ fee schedule
A volunteer role on the reporter list: Montana names a guardian ad litem or court-appointed advocate authorized to investigate, and defines the special advocate as a trained volunteer. Clergy and day-care and residential workers are named; school volunteers are not. A named reporter who knowingly fails to report known sexual abuse commits a felony. Hotline: 1-866-820-5437.; Mont. Code Ann. §§ 41-3-102(35), 41-3-201, 41-3-207(3)
Volunteer immunity: Officers, directors and volunteers of any 501(c) organization are not individually liable for acts or omissions within their official capacity, except for willful or wanton misconduct; the organization itself is not protected.; Mont. Code Ann. § 27-1-732

From the In Transit executive summary

Six Montana rules, from the school bus to the public record

1
No blanket duty.
Across the MCA titles we searched, no statute requires nonprofits in general to check volunteers. Montana’s required checks attach to settings: public schools, licensed and registered child care, private alternative adolescent programs, youth residential treatment centers and youth foster homes.
2
Schools reach everyone, even on the bus.
Since July 1, 2025, each public school district’s policy must require that anyone, regardless of employment status, complete a fingerprint-based national check — through educator licensure, or through Montana DOJ with results reviewed by the trustees, superintendent or a designee — before unsupervised contact with students in school, at a school-sponsored activity or in transit to one. The law sets no recheck cycle and doesn’t say who pays.
3
Child care checks live in DPHHS rules.
The Montana Child Care Act has no fingerprint clause. DPHHS’s 2021 rule text required DOJ and FBI fingerprints before working, renewed every five years, with registry, protective services and name checks before work and annually. DPHHS has since moved those rules to ARM 37.96, so confirm the current cycle. DPHHS points providers to free fingerprinting at Spark Montana locations.
4
Youth residential programs fingerprint.
Private alternative adolescent residential or outdoor programs must fingerprint each person associated with the program who has direct access to participants, and a 2025 law tells DPHHS to require fingerprint checks for anyone with regular access to patients at youth residential treatment centers, including volunteers; whether those rules exist is unconfirmed.
5
The protective services check is open to you.
Any person or entity screening volunteers who may have unsupervised contact with children may request DPHHS substantiated findings with a notarized release. DPHHS says there is currently no cost, reports only whether information indicates a risk, and won’t process a release notarized more than six months earlier. Acting on it in good faith is immune from civil liability.
6
Records are public by statute.
Convictions, deferred sentences, deferred prosecutions and initial arrest records are public criminal justice information with no restriction on dissemination. Montana DOJ sells an online name search for $20, while dismissed deferred sentences, non-conviction arrests and expunged misdemeanors drop out of public view.

Inside In Transit, chapter by chapter

01
Checked by setting, not by statute
Places, not people: where Montana requires checks, with its 31,416 hotline calls and 37.2% volunteering rate.
02
Does it turn on being alone with children?
Does a rule reach the setting, and does it turn on being alone with children? Each role, answered.
03
In transit: HB 745’s student protection policy
The 2025 school clause read phrase by phrase, its two routes and its one enforcement step.
04
What HB 745 leaves each district to decide
Cost, rechecks, supervision, DOJ fees, and a school year role by role.
05
Child care: a DPHHS rule, and a rulebook that moved
Which programs, the 2021 rule text, the move to ARM 37.96, and free fingerprinting.
06
Youth residential programs, foster homes and CASA
Adolescent programs, the 2025 treatment-center law, foster homes and the CASA qualifications.
07
Camps, leagues and congregations
Camp licensing, concussion duties, churches and the 300-foot rule.
08
The DPHHS protective services check
How to request it, what comes back, immunity and the 2025 central registry.
09
Vulnerable adults and Alan’s Law
Assisted living employee checks and the 2025 sentence enhancement for volunteers.
10
Public criminal justice information: what Montana DOJ sells
What is public, CHOPRS, the DOJ fee schedule and the volunteer fingerprint fee.
11
What drops off a Montana record — and what stays on the registry
Non-conviction removal, dismissed deferred sentences, misdemeanor expungement and the registry.
12
A seven-year rule from 1975, and the questions you may ask
Montana’s consumer reporting act, its seven-year limit and the absence of ban-the-box.
13
Montana’s reporters, and the volunteers among them
The CASA and clergy on the list, school volunteers off it, and the hotline.
14
Willful or wanton: immunity, the April 15 report and raffles
Volunteer and director immunity, the annual report and nonprofit raffles.
15
Never toward HB 745 or DPHHS prints
Why it never counts toward HB 745 or DPHHS prints, and why to run it beside the protective services check.
A
Appendix A: Schools, child care, youth residential and adult care
The baseline, public schools, child care, youth residential care, adult care and reporting.
B
Appendix B: A Montana reporting card and the 2023 and 2025 laws
A § 41-3-201 card for volunteers and the session laws that matter, by year.
C
Appendix C: MCA titles searched, and a site out of reach
The MCA titles searched behind each “we found no,” every dated source, and the rules site we couldn’t reach.

Get the free guide

In Transit: Montana questions answered

Does Montana require background checks for volunteers?: By place, not by person. In the Montana Code titles we searched, no statute requires nonprofits in general to check volunteers; checks attach to specific settings: public school districts (since July 1, 2025, anyone with unsupervised contact with students), licensed and registered child care under DPHHS rules, private alternative adolescent residential or outdoor programs, youth residential treatment centers once DPHHS adopts rules under a 2025 law, and youth foster home applicants. Camps, youth sports, churches and most adult care volunteers are left to the organization.
Does HB 745 require fingerprints for Montana school volunteers?: If they will have unsupervised contact with students, yes. HB 745 (Mont. Code Ann. § 20-3-323(1)(d)) requires each public school district to adopt a policy requiring that anyone, regardless of employment status, has completed a fingerprint-based national check — through educator licensure, or through Montana DOJ with the results reviewed by the trustees, superintendent or a designee — before unsupervised contact with students in school, at a school-sponsored activity or in transit to one. Supervised volunteers are outside the clause. The law sets no recheck cycle, doesn’t say who pays, and doesn’t cover nonpublic schools, so ask your district for its policy.
What fingerprint check do Montana child care volunteers need?: In licensed centers and registered family and group homes, DPHHS rules require a Montana DOJ and FBI fingerprint check before working in the facility, and DPHHS applies its checks to volunteers. The 2021 rule text renewed the fingerprint check every five years and required registry, protective services and name-based checks before work and annually. DPHHS has since moved the rules to ARM 37.96, so confirm the current cycle with Child Care Licensing. DPHHS points providers to free FBI fingerprinting at Spark Montana locations.
Can a Montana nonprofit check whether a volunteer has a child abuse record?: Yes. Mont. Code Ann. § 41-3-205(3)(o) lets any person or entity screening employees or volunteers who may have unsupervised contact with children request substantiated child abuse or neglect findings from DPHHS in writing. The volunteer signs a release in front of a notary; DPHHS won’t process one notarized more than six months earlier, says there is currently no cost, and reports only whether information indicates a risk. An organization that acts on it in good faith is immune from civil liability.
Which Montana volunteers does § 41-3-201 name as reporters?: Some are. Mont. Code Ann. § 41-3-201 names a guardian ad litem or court-appointed advocate authorized to investigate, and Montana defines the special advocate as a trained volunteer. Clergy, day-care and substitute care operators and employees, and foster care, residential and institutional workers are named too; school volunteers, volunteer coaches and camp staff are not. Anyone may report to DPHHS’s hotline, 1-866-820-5437, 24 hours a day.
Can a VolunteerBadge check count toward HB 745 or DPHHS fingerprinting?: No. Nothing fingerprint-based runs through VolunteerBadge — it is not a fingerprint channel — so its check doesn’t count toward an HB 745 school fingerprint check, DPHHS child care fingerprinting, a youth residential program’s fingerprint check or any Montana DOJ fingerprint check. Use it for camps, leagues, congregations and the supervised school roles a district allows, and beside the DPHHS protective services check, which searches a different database.

Beyond In Transit

The Montana sources behind In Transit

Checked September 12, 2026. The guide cites each one where it is used.

General information, not legal advice. Laws and agency practice change. Confirm anything you rely on with the agencies named here, your licensor, your insurer or qualified counsel. Spot an error? Tell us and we will fix it.

VolunteerBadge is owned and operated by ScreenForge Labs, LLC, an FCRA-regulated Consumer Reporting Agency that has obtained its FCRA Certificate from the Consumer Data Industry Association (CDIA). This guide is general educational information and is not legal advice. Laws change; this guide's sources were checked as of September 12, 2026.