Does New York require background checks for volunteers?

Only in certain settings, each tied to its own register: state and national sex-offender registry searches for every camp employee and volunteer, fingerprint and SCR clearances for child day care volunteers with the potential for unsupervised contact, and Staff Exclusion List and fingerprint checks in Justice Center settings. Schools can’t fingerprint volunteers through the state, and many other programs have no state mandate.

Can we ask New York volunteers about sealed records?

No. Executive Law § 296(16) makes it unlawful, unless a statute requires or permits it, to ask about or act on sealed convictions, arrests that ended in the person’s favor, adjournments in contemplation of dismissal or youthful offender adjudications in connection with “employment, including volunteer positions.” The person may answer as if they never happened. Convictions sealed under the Clean Slate Act are included.

Can a commercial background check replace a New York state clearance?

No. The camp’s state registry search goes through DCJS and its national search uses the Justice Department’s public website, child day care clearances through OCFS, and Staff Exclusion List and fingerprint checks through the Justice Center; the FBI results never go to a private organization. In New York, a commercial check is for roles outside those three systems, identity verification, all-50-state registry searches and re-checks between state cycles.

Free guide · 2026 edition · Camps, OCFS, the Justice Center and sealed records in New York

The Right Register: The New York volunteer screening guide: camps, child care, Justice Center settings and schools, the register each one checks, and the sealed-record rules behind every volunteer decision

New York has no single volunteer-check law. It sends each setting to its own register — the camp registry search, OCFS clearances, the Staff Exclusion List — and limits what any organization may ask about a record. This guide shows you which rule is yours.

By the VolunteerBadge research team · Sources checked September 11, 2026

Written for New York camp directors, child care operators, OPWDD, OMH and OASAS providers, and studio and league leaders
Every New York rule that reaches volunteers, setting by setting, with its contact test
Sealed records, Clean Slate and Article 23-A — what you may ask and how to weigh a record
A 17-item New York policy checklist and a plain-words letter to volunteers

Who The Right Register is for

Camp directors, child care operators, OPWDD, OMH, OASAS and OCFS-licensed providers, school and PTA volunteer coordinators, studio owners, and youth-league, mentoring, community-theater and church leaders — anyone in New York who puts volunteers near children, older adults or people with disabilities.

45,746

child victims of maltreatment in New York in 2024 — 11.5 for every 1,000 children.

ACF, Child Maltreatment 2024

108

New York children who died from abuse or neglect in 2024.

ACF, Child Maltreatment 2024

25.5%

New Yorkers who volunteered through an organization in 2023 — 41st of the 50 states and D.C.

AmeriCorps CEV data

Cited to primary sources

New York at a glance

Camps: everyone, every year: The camp operator must check whether each employee and volunteer is on the DCJS Sex Offender Registry and the national sex offender registry (the Justice Department’s public website) before the first day of work and annually before arrival, and keep the names submitted and DCJS’s results on site. DOH says the public web search doesn’t satisfy the rule.; N.Y. Pub. Health Law §§ 1392-a, 1394-a, 1394-b; 10 NYCRR § 7-2.5(l); DOH camp registry fact sheet
Child day care: fingerprints for unsupervised contact: Every prospective volunteer with the potential for unsupervised contact with children in care gets a DCJS criminal history check, an FBI fingerprint check, a New York sex-offender registry search and an SCR database check, repeated at least every five years.; N.Y. Soc. Serv. Law § 390-b(1)(a), (c), (d), (g), (2)(a), (2)(c)
Justice Center: the Staff Exclusion List first: Covered facilities must check the Staff Exclusion List before allowing any volunteer who will have the potential for regular and substantial contact with a service recipient; a listed person can’t be placed in that contact.; N.Y. Soc. Serv. Law § 495(2)–(3)
Justice Center: fingerprints for unsupervised physical contact: OPWDD and OMH providers request a state and FBI check, through the Justice Center, of each prospective volunteer who will have regular and substantial unsupervised or unrestricted physical contact with clients.; N.Y. Mental Hyg. Law §§ 16.33(a), 31.35(a)
Schools don’t fingerprint volunteers: The Education Law fingerprints prospective school employees; NYSED lists “Volunteer — No.” Volunteers with direct student contact are still covered by Article 23-B’s rules on abuse in an educational setting.; N.Y. Educ. Law §§ 305(30)(a), 1125(3)–(4), 1126(1)
Sealed records are off-limits: Unless a statute requires or permits it, no one may ask about or act on sealed convictions, favorable dispositions, ACDs or youthful offender adjudications in connection with “employment, including volunteer positions.”; N.Y. Exec. Law § 296(16)
Clean Slate: three and eight years: Since November 16, 2024, eligible misdemeanor convictions are sealed three years, and felonies eight years, after release or sentencing; sex offenses and most class A felonies are excluded.; N.Y. Crim. Proc. Law § 160.57(1)(b)
Pending: registry searches for youth studios: S5257C / A6568B would require youth service providers to search sex-offender registries for regular volunteers before they start and every five years. It passed both houses in May 2026 and had not been delivered to the Governor as of September 11, 2026.; S5257C / A6568B (2025–2026), proposed Gen. Bus. Law § 398-h(1)–(3)

From the The Right Register executive summary

Six New York rules, register by register

1
Camps, day care and the Justice Center differ.
Camps check every employee and volunteer against the state and national sex-offender registries; child day care fingerprints volunteers who could be alone with children; Justice Center settings check the Staff Exclusion List and run fingerprint checks; the Education Law fingerprints school employees and never volunteers.
2
You can’t simply order a state record check.
DCJS releases criminal histories only where a law authorizes a fingerprint check, and not to businesses that sell background checks. The public alternative is the court system’s $95 name-and-birth-date search.
3
The registry has a trap.
The public registry website lists only Level 2 and 3 offenders, so the Department of Health says it doesn’t satisfy the camp rule. Camps submit names to DCJS instead — free — and also search the national sex offender public website.
4
Sealed means sealed — for volunteers too.
Executive Law § 296(16) bars asking about or acting on sealed records in “employment, including volunteer positions.” Clean Slate now seals many convictions automatically after three or eight years.
5
A commercial check never replaces a state clearance.
The FBI results behind OCFS and Justice Center clearances never go to a private organization, and no commercial report stands in for the SCR, the Staff Exclusion List or the camp registry search.
6
A studio mandate is waiting.
A bill that passed both houses in May 2026 would require registry searches — not criminal checks — for regular volunteers at dance, music, sports-training and tutoring providers, nonprofit or for-profit. It isn’t law yet.

Inside The Right Register, chapter by chapter

01
Registers, sealed records, what not to ask
The New York registers, the sealed-record limits and the pending studio bill in brief.
02
No single law: the setting decides
A role map of every New York rule that reaches volunteers, and its contact test.
03
What you may see, and what you may not
DCJS limits, the $95 OCA search, § 296(16) and Clean Slate.
04
Weighing a record: Article 23-A
The two-part test, the eight factors, and how New York writes them into volunteer rules.
05
Children’s camps
The annual state and national registry searches, counselor inquiries and the director’s extra checks.
06
Child day care
Fingerprint and SCR clearances for volunteers with potential unsupervised contact.
07
Justice Center settings
The Staff Exclusion List, fingerprint checks and temporary approval.
08
Schools: no fingerprints for volunteers
Why the Education Law fingerprints employees only, and how Article 23-B reaches volunteers.
09
Studios, stages and sports
The free registry line, the pending § 398-h bill, AED plans and child performers.
10
Named reporters and the elder-abuse gap
Who must report, the Vulnerable Persons’ Central Register and the elder-abuse gap.
11
The New York City overlay
Fair Chance for interns, not volunteers — and where state rules step back.
12
Charity registration
Article 7-A and the trust law, exemptions and the CHAR500 thresholds.
13
Clean Slate, new camp duties and the studio bill
Clean Slate, new camp and reporting duties, and the bills to watch.
14
Between state cycles, never for DCJS
Where a consumer report fits between New York’s state cycles, and why it never stands in for DCJS, OCFS or the Justice Center.
A
Appendix A: A policy audit for registers and sealing
Seventeen items to build or audit a policy around New York’s registers and sealed-record rules.
B
Appendix B: Letter to volunteers: how screening works in New York
How New York screening works, sealed records included, in plain words.
C
Appendix C: Every statute, regulation and DOH source
Companion New York pages and guides, plus every statute, regulation and DOH source cited.

Get the free guide

The Right Register: New York questions answered

Does New York require background checks for volunteers?: Only in certain settings, each tied to its own register: state and national sex-offender registry searches for every camp employee and volunteer, fingerprint and SCR clearances for child day care volunteers with the potential for unsupervised contact, and Staff Exclusion List and fingerprint checks in Justice Center settings. Schools can’t fingerprint volunteers through the state, and many other programs have no state mandate.
Can we ask New York volunteers about sealed records?: No. Executive Law § 296(16) makes it unlawful, unless a statute requires or permits it, to ask about or act on sealed convictions, arrests that ended in the person’s favor, adjournments in contemplation of dismissal or youthful offender adjudications in connection with “employment, including volunteer positions.” The person may answer as if they never happened. Convictions sealed under the Clean Slate Act are included.
Can a commercial background check replace a New York state clearance?: No. The camp’s state registry search goes through DCJS and its national search uses the Justice Department’s public website, child day care clearances through OCFS, and Staff Exclusion List and fingerprint checks through the Justice Center; the FBI results never go to a private organization. In New York, a commercial check is for roles outside those three systems, identity verification, all-50-state registry searches and re-checks between state cycles.

Beyond The Right Register

The New York sources behind The Right Register

Checked September 11, 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 11, 2026.