Does the national mentoring standard require background checks?

Yes. MENTOR’s Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring (5th edition, 2025) calls for a criminal history records check as part of mentor screening — ideally a national FBI fingerprint check — along with a written application, a face-to-face interview and at least two references.

Should we screen other adults who live in a mentor’s home?

Where a young person may visit or meet at the mentor’s home, MENTOR’s standard encourages checking the other adults who live there, along with a home assessment. Site-based programs where matches never meet at home may reasonably skip those steps.

Free guide · 2026 edition · For mentoring program directors & match staff

Safe Matches: A mentor screening and match-safety playbook for youth mentoring programs

What the national mentoring standard expects, what a real background check covers, and how to keep every one-on-one relationship safe for the life of the match.

By the VolunteerBadge research team · Published September 11, 2026

Written for mentoring directors and match support staff, from community programs to e-mentoring
A 30-day rollout that screens current mentors without pausing a match
A match-safety policy checklist and a family letter for enrollment packets
Sources from MENTOR, the CDC and BJS to California and Pennsylvania law

Who Safe Matches is for

Mentoring program directors, match support staff, volunteer coordinators and boards — at Big Brothers Big Sisters–style community programs, school- and site-based programs, faith-based mentoring ministries, workplace programs and e-mentoring platforms. If your program pairs an adult with a young person, this playbook was written with your matches in mind.

34%

of young people never had an adult mentor of any kind — an estimated 16 million.

The Mentoring Effect (2014)

93%

of the offenders in juvenile sexual assaults reported to police were family members or acquaintances of the child, and only 7% were strangers.

Bureau of Justice Statistics

for a full, identity-verified background check on a mentor — or $0 to the program if mentors cover their own.

VolunteerBadge pricing

From the Safe Matches executive summary

Six things to get right before the first match

1
The one-on-one relationship is both the power and the risk.
The CDC calls for more stringent screening where an organization’s mission requires one-on-one time — and names mentoring programs.
2
The national standard sets the bar.
MENTOR’s Elements of Effective Practice calls for a written application, a face-to-face interview, a criminal history check, reference checks and a formal commitment.
3
Screen more deeply where youth visit homes or ride in cars.
Home assessments, checks on other adults in the home, and driving records.
4
Mentors are covered by the FCRA too.
Get a mentor’s consent before the check, and send the specific notices before declining anyone because of it.
5
The check starts a match; support keeps it safe.
Match support for the life of the match, and clear rules for contact, outings, transportation and digital communication, do the rest.
6
Re-screen as matches continue.
MENTOR suggests periodic re-screening — for example, reexamining criminal history every three years.

Inside Safe Matches, chapter by chapter

01
Why one-on-one matches need more than trust
Why one-on-one matches need more than trust, on a page for your staff and board.
02
Why one-on-one relationships need a real safeguard
Time alone by design, homes and cars, growing trust and digital contact.
03
What the national standard expects
MENTOR’s Element 6 (2025) and the 4th edition’s screening benchmarks.
04
What the law and your funders require
Federal grants, AmeriCorps, California and Pennsylvania — and the FCRA.
05
Five components, plus your model’s extras
Five components worth insisting on, and the extras your mentoring model calls for.
06
Mentors, household adults and match staff
Mentors of every model, household adults, match staff, peer mentors and leadership.
07
Match safety: support, contact rules, outings and closure
Match support, contact rules, outings, transportation, home visits and closure.
08
Written criteria before you decline a mentor
Written criteria, a fair review, and the FCRA’s adverse-action steps before declining a mentor.
09
Suspending a match while a concern is resolved
A concern-response plan built for matches that meet one-on-one.
10
Current mentors screened in 30 days
Screen new and existing mentors without interrupting a match.
11
What screening costs, and parents’ role
What screening costs a mentoring program, and how to give parents a real role.
12
Community, school, faith-based, workplace, group and e-mentoring
How screening shifts for site-based, faith-based, workplace, group and online matches.
A
Appendix A: Mentoring program safety policy checklist
Draft or audit your written policies before matching.
B
Appendix B: Letter to families: how we screen our mentors
How we screen our mentors, written to drop into an enrollment packet.
C
Appendix C: Match tracker, mentor training, citations
Match tracker, free training and every citation.

Get the free guide

Questions Safe Matches answers

Does the national mentoring standard require background checks?: Yes. MENTOR’s Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring (5th edition, 2025) calls for a criminal history records check as part of mentor screening — ideally a national FBI fingerprint check — along with a written application, a face-to-face interview and at least two references.
Should we screen other adults who live in a mentor’s home?: Where a young person may visit or meet at the mentor’s home, MENTOR’s standard encourages checking the other adults who live there, along with a home assessment. Site-based programs where matches never meet at home may reasonably skip those steps.

Beyond Safe Matches

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.