Free guide · 2026 edition · For leaders who work with teen volunteers
Old Enough to Help
A playbook for screening, supervising and protecting teen volunteers and junior staff, ages 14–17
What a background check can and can’t find on a teen, who has to sign, what the rules say, and how to supervise, train and hand off at 18.
- 19 pages, written for leaders who work with teen volunteers
- 12 chapters, from consent to the handoff at 18
- A policy checklist and a parent letter you can copy
- Every statute, policy and statistic cited
Who this guide is for
Youth pastors with student leaders, camp directors with counselors-in-training, leagues with junior coaches and teen referees, schools and libraries with student helpers, and nonprofits that welcome service-hour volunteers. If you put 14- to 17-year-olds to work with younger children, this guide is written for you.
35.6%
of those known to police for sex offenses against minors were juveniles themselves — in 2004 data from 29 states.
OJJDP, 2009
14+
is the youngest age VolunteerBadge screens, with a parent or guardian’s authorization.
VolunteerBadge
18
is when most rules start treating a helper as an adult — the moment to run a full adult check.
PA, USOPC, NY camps
From the executive summary
Six things every leader should know about teen volunteers
- 1
A check on a teen usually finds little.
Juvenile records are mostly confidential and often never reach adult databases — so a clean result says little about risk.
- 2
A guardian should sign too.
The FCRA is silent on minors; state law on a minor’s capacity to consent is why guardians sign.
- 3
Lean on the application, interview and references.
The CDC calls for more in-depth applications and interviews for adolescents specifically.
- 4
A teen is never the responsible adult.
Teens assist — supervised, and never alone with younger children.
- 5
Train teens to spot and report.
Including concerns about other youth — and protect teen helpers from adults, too.
- 6
Hand off at 18.
Run a full adult check under their own authorization on their 18th birthday.
What's inside
- 01
The short version
The whole case on one page.
- 02
Why teen helpers are different
Protector and protected, real authority, and what the data on peer harm can and can’t say.
- 03
What a background check can find on a teen
Why juvenile records mostly stay out of view, with California and Florida examples.
- 04
Consent: the FCRA and a guardian’s signature
What federal law says and doesn’t, and how guardian authorization works.
- 05
What the rules say about teen helpers
Pennsylvania clearances, New York camp ages and CITs, Texas child care.
- 06
Youth sports: junior coaches, referees and assistants
SafeSport’s approach to minors in adult roles, and when checks begin.
- 07
Paid teen staff: labor-law touchpoints
Permitted jobs and hours for 14- and 15-year-olds, and paid CITs.
- 08
Screening that works for teens
Applications, interviews, references — and interview questions that reveal judgment.
- 09
Supervision: a teen is never the responsible adult
Six rules for ratios, rooms, bathrooms, messaging and transport.
- 10
Training teens — and protecting them
What teens should learn, and rules for adults working with teen helpers.
- 11
Turning 18: the handoff
What changes at 18, and a calendar so the moment isn’t missed.
- 12
How VolunteerBadge handles teen volunteers
Automatic guardian authorization, one roster, and the check at 18.
- A
Appendix A: Teen volunteer policy checklist
Draft or audit your policy for helpers aged 14 to 17.
- B
Appendix B: Letter to parents and guardians
Explain the guardian authorization and your supervision rules.
- C
Appendix C: Free tools, further reading and sources
Service-hours tracker, support docs and every citation.
Questions
- Is the guide really free?
- Yes. Sign in with Google or LinkedIn and the PDF opens right away. Signing in doesn’t set up an organization, start a trial, or charge anything.
- Can you run a background check on a 15-year-old volunteer?
- Yes — VolunteerBadge screens applicants as young as 14, with a parent or guardian’s authorization collected automatically. But a check on a teen usually finds little, because juvenile records are mostly confidential and often never reach adult databases. The guide explains why applications, interviews, references and supervision matter more for teens.
- Does the FCRA require a parent to sign for a minor?
- The FCRA itself is silent — it defines a consumer as “an individual” and has no guardian provision. Whether a minor can give binding consent is a question of state law, which is why collecting both the teen’s and a guardian’s authorization is the protective, widely used practice.
- Is this legal advice?
- No. It is general education. Rules for minors vary by state, setting and governing body — confirm yours with your state agencies, governing body and qualified counsel.
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.