According to PA state Law, and our child protection policy, all volunteers who have direct contact, care, supervision, guidance or control and routine interaction with children, are required to have background checks/certifications completed every 5 years.
Those certifications include:
- Pennsylvania Child Abuse History Clearance (CY113)
- Pennsylvania State Police Criminal Record Check (SP4-164)
- FBI Criminal Background Check (for those who have lived in PA for under 10 years)
- Volunteer Affirmation Form
If you have any of these documents through an employer or another organization and they are under 5 years old, please submit copies by email or drop them off at our office.
If you don’t have one or more of these documents, please follow the instructions below:
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Pennsylvania Child Abuse History Clearance (CY113) Instructions
Please visit: http://www.compass.state.pa.us/CWIS and create an individual account.
Follow the instructions for filling out the online form and create a clearance application. Make sure you select the volunteer category: other (the clearance will be completed for free) with the agency name as West Valley Presbyterian Church.
Each application can be saved as you proceed. The application will take approximately 15 minutes start to finish, depending on the amount of information you include. It will ask you previous names/aliases, addresses, and who the applicant has lived with since 1975. There is no authorization code provided when it asks. When completing the form it will also ask if the results should be mailed or emailed.
West Valley is required to keep a copy for reference. Please provide the emailed or the mailed results.
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Pennsylvania State Police Criminal Record Check (SP4-164)
This can be completed at https://epatch.state.pa.us/Home.jsp. Make sure to select New Background Check-volunteer status (free to complete). It takes about 5 minutes total to complete.
West Valley is required to keep a copy for reference. Please provide the emailed or the mailed results.
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FBI Criminal Background Check
This check only needs to be completed if you have lived outside the state of Pennsylvania within the last 10 years. You will need to indicate this on the Background Check Authorization and Disclosure Form. To obtain this clearance as a volunteer, click here to make an appointment to get fingerprinted. There is a $22.60 charge and reimbursement is available on request.
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Volunteer Affirmation Form
Please print and complete the Volunteer Affirmation Form and return it to the church office. If you prefer you can e-sign an electronic version, please email us for a link. This needs to be completed by everyone seeking to work with children. You will need to provide your name, address, and signature to affirm you have not been convicted of any crimes related to child abuse. You must also agree to abide by our child protection policy, which can be found here. Printed copies of the policy and volunteer affirmation form are available from the church office.
Please see or contact the office if you have any questions.