Does Wyoming require background checks for volunteers?

No statute makes it a general duty. Wyoming’s checks come from agency rules for particular programs: DFS-licensed child care (Child Care Licensing Rules ch. 11, § 3(g)), DFS-certified substitute care such as group homes, residential treatment centers and crisis shelters, Medicaid Community Choices Waiver providers (Medicaid Rules ch. 34, § 10), hospice programs, and domestic violence, sexual assault and victim-service programs funded through the Attorney General’s Division of Victim Services. Churches, youth sports, nonprofit summer camps, co-ops and most school volunteer programs set their own standard or follow district policy.

What is Wyoming’s $10 volunteer fingerprint check, and does it include the FBI?

Under W.S. § 7-19-106(k), the Division of Criminal Investigation may release a person’s Wyoming criminal history to an applicant who submits the person’s fingerprints and proof of their consent, filed through a Wyoming criminal justice agency. Section 7-19-108(a)(ii) caps the fee at $10 when the applicant is an organization providing volunteer services to youth or victims of family violence and the check is solely to decide a prospective volunteer’s suitability; otherwise the cap is $15. DCI says the $10 check is “only a Wyoming/WIN background check” — Wyoming plus Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington — and does not include the FBI.

What does a DFS Central Registry screen show, and who can request one?

It shows whether the Wyoming Department of Family Services has substantiated abuse or neglect of a child or vulnerable adult by the person, or has an investigation open. Under W.S. §§ 14-3-214(f) and 35-20-116(a), any employer or entity whose employees or volunteers may have unsupervised access to children or vulnerable adults may apply, with a form signed by the volunteer. The fee is $10 per screen, plus an online processing fee, and DFS currently quotes six to seven business days. It covers DFS’s own findings only — not criminal records or other states’ registries.

Do volunteers in Wyoming child care need fingerprints?

In DFS-licensed child care, yes. DFS’s Child Care Licensing Rules require owners, directors, adult staff, employees, substitutes and volunteers who are in the facility during operating hours to have a Central Registry check, national and state sex offender registry checks, a full FBI fingerprint check and state criminal history checks — for Wyoming and every state lived in during the past five years — on file before working. The Wyoming Central Registry and state sex offender registry checks repeat every year; the FBI, state criminal history and national sex offender registry checks repeat every five years. Staff under 18 and visitors must be under an adult staff member’s direct supervision at all times.

Who must report child abuse in Wyoming?

Every person. W.S. § 14-3-205(a) says “any person” who knows or has reasonable cause to believe or suspect that a child has been abused or neglected must immediately report it to the child protective agency (DFS) or local law enforcement, or cause a report to be made. Staff of an institution, school, facility or agency also notify the person in charge, but that doesn’t relieve their own duty unless a report has already been made or will be made. The law presumes a reporter acted in good faith, and a good-faith report carries civil and criminal immunity (§ 14-3-209). Separately, failing to report abuse of a vulnerable adult carries up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine (§ 35-20-111(b)).

Do Wyoming fire departments and ambulance services have to fingerprint volunteers?

No — it is their choice. W.S. § 7-19-201(a)(vii) covers prospective volunteers of a public fire department, ambulance service, county fire service or fire protection district only “if the department, service, county or district requires” fingerprinting, and § 7-19-201(e) says the military department, a public fire department, an ambulance service or a regional emergency response team “may” require it.

Does a VolunteerBadge check replace a check Wyoming requires?

No. A VolunteerBadge check never replaces or counts toward a check a Wyoming rule requires — the DFS child care licensing checks (Central Registry, sex offender registries, FBI fingerprints and state criminal checks), DFS substitute care checks, a Medicaid Community Choices Waiver screening, or the registry check AG-funded victim-service programs run. Use it for the church, league, camp and co-op roles Wyoming leaves unregulated, or as an added layer beside the checks a rule requires.

Free guide · 2026 edition · From Cheyenne to Cody: Wyoming volunteer screening

Upon Appropriate Application: The Wyoming guide to screening volunteers: the DCI consent check and its $10 volunteer rate, DFS Central Registry screens, the child care, group care, Medicaid waiver and victim-services rules that require checks, and the reporting duty Wyoming gives any person

Wyoming has no law that makes every nonprofit screen its volunteers. It gives organizations two consent-based tools — a Division of Criminal Investigation fingerprint check, capped at $10 for youth and family-violence programs, and a $10 DFS Central Registry screen — and it writes firm checks into the rules for licensed child care, DFS-certified group care, the Medicaid Community Choices Waiver and state-funded victim services. Outside those programs, the one duty Wyoming lays on every volunteer is to report suspected abuse, immediately.

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

Written for Wyoming child care directors, group home and shelter staff, waiver and hospice providers, and the churches, leagues and camps no rule reaches
How the DCI consent check and its $10 volunteer rate work, and why it stops at the WIN states
DFS child care, substitute care, Community Choices Waiver and victim-services rules, section by section
A reporting card built on Wyoming’s any-person duty, and a worksheet for the $10 DCI check

Who Upon Appropriate Application is for

Child care and preschool directors, group home and shelter staff, victim-service coordinators, Medicaid waiver and hospice providers, and church, league, camp and co-op leaders — anyone in Wyoming who places volunteers near children or vulnerable adults and wants the law as written, section by section.

5.6

child victims of abuse or neglect per 1,000 Wyoming children in 2024 — 714 children — against 7.2 nationally. Wyoming reported no child maltreatment deaths in 2023 or 2024.

ACF, Child Maltreatment 2024

33.5%

of Wyoming residents volunteered through an organization in 2023, 15th among the 50 states.

VolunteerBadge analysis of AmeriCorps CEV 2023

$10

The most DCI may charge a youth-serving or family-violence volunteer organization to check a prospective volunteer’s fingerprints — a Wyoming and seven-state WIN check, not an FBI check.

W.S. § 7-19-108(a)(ii); DCI ATS FAQ

Cited to primary sources

Wyoming at a glance

Permissive statutes, mandatory rules: Our full-text search of Titles 1–42 found no duty on nonprofits in general to check volunteers. The statutes that pair volunteers with checks are permissive, sector-specific or fee rules; mandatory checks come from DFS, Department of Health and Attorney General rules for particular programs.; W.S. §§ 7-19-201(a), 7-19-108(a)(ii), 14-3-214(f), 35-20-116(a)
The DCI check: prints and consent: DCI may release a person’s Wyoming record to a private applicant who submits the person’s fingerprints and proof of consent through a Wyoming criminal justice agency. The recipient may not pass it on for any other purpose.; W.S. § 7-19-106(c), (j), (k)(ii)
$10 for youth and family-violence programs: The DCI fee is capped at $15, and at $10 for organizations providing volunteer services to youth or victims of family violence, solely to vet a prospective volunteer. DCI says that check covers Wyoming and the WIN states only; results generally take two weeks, up to five or six.; W.S. § 7-19-108(a)(ii); DCI ATS FAQ
Central Registry screens on request: Any employer or entity whose volunteers may have unsupervised access to children or vulnerable adults may request a DFS Central Registry screen with the volunteer’s signed consent: $10 per screen, currently six to seven business days.; W.S. §§ 14-3-214(f), 35-20-116(a); DFS Central Registry Rules ch. 3, §§ 2–3
Licensed child care: checks before working: Volunteers in a DFS-licensed facility during operating hours need Wyoming and five-year out-of-state registry checks, sex offender registry checks, an FBI fingerprint check and state criminal checks on file before working; the Wyoming registry and state sex offender checks repeat yearly, the FBI, state criminal and national sex offender checks every five years.; DFS Child Care Licensing Rules ch. 11, § 3(g) (eff. Apr. 21, 2026)
Group care screens volunteers like staff: DFS-certified group homes, residential treatment centers, crisis shelters and placement agencies screen volunteers “as set forth in these rules for staff,” with a Central Registry check every year and an FBI fingerprint check every five years.; DFS Substitute Care Rules ch. 3, §§ 8(e)(iii), 10(d)
Community Choices Waiver volunteers: Adult volunteers who may have unsupervised access to participants pass a registry, federal exclusion, national name-and-SSN criminal database and NSOPW screening, repeated every five years. No one convicted of a sexual offense may volunteer.; Wyo. Admin. Rules, Medicaid ch. 34, § 10
Any person reports, immediately: Anyone who knows or has reasonable cause to believe or suspect child abuse or neglect must report it immediately to DFS or local law enforcement. We found no criminal penalty for failing to report child abuse; failing to report vulnerable-adult abuse is a misdemeanor.; W.S. §§ 14-3-205(a)–(b), 35-20-103(a), 35-20-111(b)
Volunteering is “employment” for registrants: A registered sex offender who volunteers more than 14 days, or 30 days in a year, must register where they volunteer. Since July 1, 2026, a registrant may not establish a residence within 1,000 feet of a licensed or government-run child care facility.; W.S. §§ 7-19-301(a)(xvii), 7-19-302(a), 6-2-320(a)(v)

From the Upon Appropriate Application executive summary

Where Wyoming requires a check — and where it only offers one

1
No statute makes nonprofits screen volunteers.
Our full-text search of Titles 1–42 found no duty on nonprofits in general to check volunteers. Every section pairing volunteers with a check is permissive, limited to a sector, or a fee rule; the mandates sit in agency rules for particular programs.
2
The state criminal check runs on prints and consent.
DCI releases a record to a private requester only with the person’s fingerprints and proof of consent, filed through a Wyoming criminal justice agency. The fee is capped at $15, or $10 for youth and family-violence volunteer organizations — and DCI says the $10 check covers Wyoming and the WIN states, not the FBI.
3
The abuse registry is open on request.
Any organization whose volunteers may have unsupervised access to children or vulnerable adults may ask DFS for a Central Registry screen, with the volunteer’s signed consent, for $10. DFS currently quotes six to seven business days.
4
Licensed child care checks everything first.
Volunteers in a DFS-licensed facility during operating hours need registry, sex offender, FBI fingerprint and state criminal checks, covering five years of addresses, on file before they work. The Wyoming registry and state sex offender checks repeat every year; the FBI, state criminal and national sex offender checks every five.
5
Group care, waivers and victim services add their own rules.
DFS-certified group care rechecks volunteers against the registry every year and by FBI prints every five; Community Choices Waiver providers screen adult volunteers four ways every five years; AG-funded programs run a registry check before a volunteer has contact with children.
6
Every person must report.
Anyone who knows or suspects that a child has been abused or neglected must report it immediately to DFS or local law enforcement. Wyoming names no professions, and telling a supervisor doesn’t end a person’s own duty unless a report has been or will be made.

Inside Upon Appropriate Application, chapter by chapter

01
Two consent-based tools, a few firm rules
Where Wyoming requires a check, where it merely offers one, and three Wyoming numbers.
02
Nine settings and two open tools
Nine settings, the volunteers each rule reaches, and why agency rules do most of the work.
03
The DCI check: prints, consent and the $10 rate
Sections 7-19-106 and 7-19-108, the WIN states, the missing FBI route and how to submit.
04
“Upon appropriate application”: the Central Registry screen
Sections 14-3-214(f) and 35-20-116: who may apply, what comes back and how to keep it.
05
Licensed child care: the full set, before day one
DFS rule chapter 11: volunteers, visitors, the four checks, their clocks and the CCL-108.
06
Who can’t be present — and who needs no license
The 2026 disqualifier list, the older FAQ version, and the camps and programs § 14-4-102 exempts.
07
Group care, shelters and victim services
DFS substitute care rules for volunteers and the Attorney General’s shelter and victim-service rules.
08
Waivers, hospice and the adult registry
Community Choices and DD waivers, hospice, assisted living, adult day care and adult reporting.
09
Schools, sports, fire and EMS
District policy, PTSB prints, school-grounds limits for registrants, and optional fire and EMS prints.
10
Everyone reports: § 14-3-205
The any-person duty, the supervisor rule, immunity, penalties and training volunteers.
11
Registrants, records and what a DCI check misses
Volunteering as employment, the 2026 limits, missing arrest cards and expungement.
12
No ban-the-box, federal notices, § 1-1-125 and raffles
No ban-the-box, federal notice steps, § 1-1-125 immunity, annual reports, bingo and raffles.
13
Ten dated changes, and the sections no act touched
Ten dated changes, and the core sections no act touched.
14
An extra layer, never Wyoming’s own check
Setting by setting, where a commercial check adds a layer and where Wyoming’s own check stays required.
A
Appendix A: Child care, waivers and victim services
Groundwork, child care, substitute care, waivers and hospice, victim services and reporting.
B
Appendix B: A reporting card and a DCI worksheet
A § 14-3-205 card for volunteers and a step list for the $10 DCI volunteer check.
C
Appendix C: Every numbered source, and the gaps
VolunteerBadge’s Wyoming pages and guides, every numbered source, and the documents we couldn’t retrieve.

Get the free guide

Upon Appropriate Application: Wyoming questions answered

Does Wyoming require background checks for volunteers?: No statute makes it a general duty. Wyoming’s checks come from agency rules for particular programs: DFS-licensed child care (Child Care Licensing Rules ch. 11, § 3(g)), DFS-certified substitute care such as group homes, residential treatment centers and crisis shelters, Medicaid Community Choices Waiver providers (Medicaid Rules ch. 34, § 10), hospice programs, and domestic violence, sexual assault and victim-service programs funded through the Attorney General’s Division of Victim Services. Churches, youth sports, nonprofit summer camps, co-ops and most school volunteer programs set their own standard or follow district policy.
What is Wyoming’s $10 volunteer fingerprint check, and does it include the FBI?: Under W.S. § 7-19-106(k), the Division of Criminal Investigation may release a person’s Wyoming criminal history to an applicant who submits the person’s fingerprints and proof of their consent, filed through a Wyoming criminal justice agency. Section 7-19-108(a)(ii) caps the fee at $10 when the applicant is an organization providing volunteer services to youth or victims of family violence and the check is solely to decide a prospective volunteer’s suitability; otherwise the cap is $15. DCI says the $10 check is “only a Wyoming/WIN background check” — Wyoming plus Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington — and does not include the FBI.
What does a DFS Central Registry screen show, and who can request one?: It shows whether the Wyoming Department of Family Services has substantiated abuse or neglect of a child or vulnerable adult by the person, or has an investigation open. Under W.S. §§ 14-3-214(f) and 35-20-116(a), any employer or entity whose employees or volunteers may have unsupervised access to children or vulnerable adults may apply, with a form signed by the volunteer. The fee is $10 per screen, plus an online processing fee, and DFS currently quotes six to seven business days. It covers DFS’s own findings only — not criminal records or other states’ registries.
Do volunteers in Wyoming child care need fingerprints?: In DFS-licensed child care, yes. DFS’s Child Care Licensing Rules require owners, directors, adult staff, employees, substitutes and volunteers who are in the facility during operating hours to have a Central Registry check, national and state sex offender registry checks, a full FBI fingerprint check and state criminal history checks — for Wyoming and every state lived in during the past five years — on file before working. The Wyoming Central Registry and state sex offender registry checks repeat every year; the FBI, state criminal history and national sex offender registry checks repeat every five years. Staff under 18 and visitors must be under an adult staff member’s direct supervision at all times.
Who must report child abuse in Wyoming?: Every person. W.S. § 14-3-205(a) says “any person” who knows or has reasonable cause to believe or suspect that a child has been abused or neglected must immediately report it to the child protective agency (DFS) or local law enforcement, or cause a report to be made. Staff of an institution, school, facility or agency also notify the person in charge, but that doesn’t relieve their own duty unless a report has already been made or will be made. The law presumes a reporter acted in good faith, and a good-faith report carries civil and criminal immunity (§ 14-3-209). Separately, failing to report abuse of a vulnerable adult carries up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine (§ 35-20-111(b)).
Do Wyoming fire departments and ambulance services have to fingerprint volunteers?: No — it is their choice. W.S. § 7-19-201(a)(vii) covers prospective volunteers of a public fire department, ambulance service, county fire service or fire protection district only “if the department, service, county or district requires” fingerprinting, and § 7-19-201(e) says the military department, a public fire department, an ambulance service or a regional emergency response team “may” require it.
Does a VolunteerBadge check replace a check Wyoming requires?: No. A VolunteerBadge check never replaces or counts toward a check a Wyoming rule requires — the DFS child care licensing checks (Central Registry, sex offender registries, FBI fingerprints and state criminal checks), DFS substitute care checks, a Medicaid Community Choices Waiver screening, or the registry check AG-funded victim-service programs run. Use it for the church, league, camp and co-op roles Wyoming leaves unregulated, or as an added layer beside the checks a rule requires.

Beyond Upon Appropriate Application

The Wyoming sources behind Upon Appropriate Application

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.