New Background Clearance Process And Training Requirements For Volunteers/Unpaid Individuals MICHELLE GRUBE, HUMAN RESOURCE GENERALIST, COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES KAREN HACK, 4-H RISK MANAGEMENT & VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR

PA Title 23, Chapter 63 Amendment to PA Title 23: Domestic Relations, Ch. 63: Child Protective Services (HB 435 signed into law as Act 153) Changes requirements for background checks Must be PA Publically Available Effective July 1, 2015 for Volunteers (Note: Volunteers who have not completed background clearances by the July 1 deadline cannot work with youth until those clearances are obtained)

PA Title 23, Chapter 63 Amendment to PA Title 23: Domestic Relations, Ch. 63: Affects University faculty, staff, and volunteers working with anyone under 18 Law defines a child as individuals under 18 years of age Responsible for “care, supervision, guidance, or control” Have “routine interaction”

Authorized Adults “Authorized Adults” as defined in AD39 (Minors Involved in University‐Sponsored Programs or Programs Held at the University and/or Housed in University Facilities) Required to obtain the three clearances Some volunteers exempt from FBI check Minimum age changed from 18 to 14 years “Individuals, age [14] and older…who interact with, supervise, chaperone, or otherwise oversee minors in program activities, recreational, and/or residential facilities” (example: Sr. Camp Counselors)

New Background Clearance Requirements Three clearances required: Pennsylvania State Police Criminal Background Check (SP4‐164) Pennsylvania Child Abuse History Clearance Form (CY‐113) Federal (FBI) Fingerprint Criminal Background Check (Criminal History Report) Exemption: NOT required for volunteers who have lived in PA for the past ten years. Volunteer must complete the Volunteer Exemption from FBI Affirmation form located on the Office of Ethics and Compliance website. Must be renewed every 60 months Penn State has not included these clearances in previous background checks

Criminal Penalties for Not Requiring Clearances An employer, administrator, supervisor, or other person responsible for employment decisions or selection of volunteers that intentionally fails to require the submission of the three clearances commits a misdemeanor of the third degree* Punishable to a maximum of 1 year imprisonment and $1,000 fine† *[23 Pa. C.S. § 6344(B)(2), 23 Pa. C.S. § (B)] †[15 Pa. C.S. § 15.66(a)(7), 15 Pa. C.S. § 15.66(b)(8)]

Process and Tracking Volunteer/Unpaid Individual clearances/training are to be retained/tracked by the program for which they are volunteering/working. Individuals responsible for those programs are responsible for viewing original clearances and signing off on copies as verification they viewed the originals. Those signed copies are to be stored by the program in a locked filing cabinet for auditing and record-keeping purposes (do not send to HR*). Originals are returned to the volunteer/unpaid individual. Please use the required tracking spreadsheet for auditing and record-keeping purposes located at training/volunteers-unpaid-individualshttp://agsci.psu.edu/hr/required-clearances- training/volunteers-unpaid-individuals *Exception for sending clearances to the Human Resources Office. (Please see next slide)

When To Send Volunteer Clearances To Human Resources If volunteer clearances come back with anything other than “No Record Exists”, appropriate paperwork must be sent to the Human Resources Office for review. FBI fingerprinting clearances obtained through the Department of Education must also be sent to Human Resources for review. Required paperwork for review: Child Abuse History Clearance and any rap sheet if applicable. Pennsylvania State Police Clearance and any rap sheet if applicable. FBI fingerprinting clearance and any rap sheet if applicable. If the volunteer is exempt from obtaining the FBI clearance due to living in the state of Pennsylvania for the last 10 years, then we will need their completed Volunteer Exemption from FBI Affirmation form that can be found at the link below. Disclosure-Statement-Application-for-Volunteers.pdf Disclosure-Statement-Application-for-Volunteers.pdf

Tracking Spreadsheet Each volunteer program will be responsible for maintaining a current spreadsheet with accurate up-to-date information. Instructions Delete volunteers from your program who are no longer active as a volunteer. Add new volunteers. Authorized Adult: Does the individual work with minors? If so mark Y and they are required to complete the clearances and Reporting Child Abuse training. If not mark N and they will only need to complete the training. Address: Check that the addresses are correct. Please enter the addresses that you use to correspond with your volunteers. Start Date: This is a required field. If they are an existing volunteer, just note “existing” in that field. If they are new, please enter the date the new volunteer is approved after they have completed all steps of the application, clearance, and training process. Date All 3 Clearances Received: For tracking purposes, please use the date of the earliest completed clearance. Use only actual clearance certificate dates--do not count the FBI exemption affirmation form date. Birthdate: Please add birthdates for all volunteers. Birthdates are being used across the University as a an identifier to help track individuals. If you do not have a birthdate in a volunteer’s enrollment information, it is listed on the PA State Police Criminal Record Check. Clearance Renewal Date: The column includes a formula to auto populate the renewal date based on the Date All 3 Clearances Received column. Notes: This column can be used to make your own notes that may be relevant. Reporting Child Abuse Training Completed: The completion dates in which the volunteer completed the required Building a Safe Penn State: Reporting Child Abuse training. Volunteers should provide your program their certificates of completion. Remember, the correct certificate must say “has completed the Learning Program 2015 Building a Safe Penn State”. The volunteer should also receive an which indicates “Your status in Learning Program “2015 Building a Safe Penn State Reporting Child Abuse” has been changed to: Completed. If you need to verify that someone completed, you may contact Michelle Grube Reporting Child Abuse Training Due: If the volunteer works with minors, they are required to complete the training prior to working with minors and each year by their annual date.

Building a Safe Penn State: Reporting Child Abuse Training Volunteers/Unpaid individuals who work with minors must complete the training prior to working with minors. Ongoing training is required and they must complete the training on an annual basis. Instructions for how to complete the training can be found at: compliancetraining.psu.edu compliancetraining.psu.edu For complete policy information please visit: Policy AD72 - Reporting Suspected Child Abuse (

Office of Ethics and Compliance Most up-to-date information regarding clearances as well as instructions for obtaining clearances (Submission Instructions) can be found at: nd-checks.cfm

Thank You Thank you for your assistance in helping us provide a safe and healthy environment for all children on our campuses and in University programs!