Instructions
PA State Clearances
1. PA Child Abuse History Clearance
Volunteers are eligible to receive one free of charge Child Abuse Clearance every 57 months if they meet all 3 criteria below:
- Must not have received a free volunteer background certification within the last 57 months.
- Certification is necessary to satisfy requirements under Chapter 63, subsection 6344(b) of Title 23 of PA State Law.
- Certification will not be valid or used for any other purpose, including employment.
To apply for a free Child Abuse History Clearance, please complete the online application here: compass.state.pa.us/cwis/public/home.
By law, processing should take no more than 14 days. You should receive a confirmation email after registration. For any questions about the online application, please contact the CWIS Support Center at 1-877-343-0494.
Your application is typically processed quickly. Please retain digital and physical copies of the clearance returned and provide a copy during the SC2 volunteer onboarding process.
2. PA State Police Criminal Record Check
Go to the Pennsylvania EPATCH website to submit a Volunteer Record Check here: epatch.pa.gov/home.
Like the above PA Child Abuse History Clearance, the PA State Police Criminal Record Check is free for volunteers and should be processed quickly. Please retain digital and physical copies of the clearance returned and provide a copy during the SC2 volunteer onboarding process.
3. FBI Criminal Background Check
Individuals who have lived in PA for the last 10 years are not required to complete the FBI fingerprinting process and background check. See PA FBI Exemption Disclosure for more information.
If you have not lived in PA for the last 10 years, you will need to complete an FBI Criminal Background Check. The process costs $23.25 for volunteers, with instructions provided here. All resulting documentation should be kept for your records with copies provided to SC2 during the volunteer onboarding process.
PA FBI Exemption Disclosure
Download and sign the disclosure statement here. Reminder: This is only required if you HAVE lived in PA for the last 10 years.
4. Mandated Reporter Training
All volunteers must complete Mandated Reporter Training. This training is available for free here: reportabusepa.pitt.edu. At the end of the training, you will be provided a certificate, please provide a copy during the SC2 volunteer onboarding process.
Online Application
After completing the above clearances and training, please review and sign the following documents, and complete the online application form (sent to you by your SC2 contact).
Note: These documents will either need to be submitted digitally (through our application form, preferred) or delivered physically to a member of the SC2 team.