Rep. Tina Pickett, who serves constituents in Bradford, Sullivan, and Susquehanna Counties announced last week that a new website has been created to help adults working with children understand new laws that require more extensive background checks and clearances.
In addition to teachers and other professionals assigned to the care of children and teens in Pennsylvania, volunteers also play a vital role in mentoring and looking after today’s youth. Ensuring that our children are in safe hands is a top priority of the Department of Human Services, which has launched a new website to provide guidance for adults about new rules that went into effect on Dec. 31, 2014.
According to Rep. Tina Pickett, www.KeepKidsSafe.pa.gov was designed to help raise awareness about many of the changes taking place regarding child abuse background clearances in the state. The changes came about as a result of the Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse scandal, which spurred the Task Force on Child Protection to recommend new and stronger laws to further protect children.
Someone whose profession involves direct contact with children will be required to obtain both criminal background check clearances and child abuse clearances, which must be renewed every three years.
Required clearances obtained by employees how prior to Dec. 31, 2014 will be valid for three years from the time they were most recently certified. Employees whose existing clearances are more than three years old – or those who have never before obtained clearances -will have until Dec. 31, 2015 to obtain the clearances.
Volunteers who have resided in the Commonwealth continuously for at least the past 10 years will be required to obtain only the State Police criminal background check and the child abuse clearance. In addition to these two clearances, volunteers residing in Pennsylvania for less than 10 years will additionally need to obtain an FBI criminal background check clearance by July 1, 2015. Clearances obtained prior to July 1 will be valid for three years from the initial certification date. It should be emphasized that these background clearances are portable, meaning that volunteers do not have to duplicate the process for each position held.
The clearances include the State Police criminal background check; a child abuse clearance from the state Department of Human Services (formerly the Department of Public Welfare); and an FBI criminal background check clearance, which includes fingerprinting. Some organizations incur the cost, while others ask the volunteers to pay. The fees are: child abuse clearance, $10; state police criminal background check clearance, $10; and FBI clearance, $30.
The vast majority of organizations, schools and churches that use volunteers already have their own stringent background check clearance policies in place. The new law sets minimum requirements, but nothing in this law prohibits organizations from establishing or continuing even more stringent internal policies.
The new law does not subject one-time volunteers, such as parents who visit school for a career day or as a guest reader, to these requirements.
The www.KeepKidsSafe.pa.gov website also includes online training and providers, changes to the Child Protective Services Law, and online ChildLine clearances with links to state police, FBI clearance applications and electronic reporting of child abuse suspicions.
Anyone with suspicions that a child is being abused should call the department’s statewide ChildLine hotline at 800-932-0313.