Volunteers
How does ministry get done? By people working together! If you have a desire to see children know Jesus and lives being changed through discipleship, we'd love to provide you with materials and help you to set up a Good News Club® or 5-Day Club® ministry, or offer you a way to plug in to an existing ministry. Please give us a call at (717) 458-1857 or email us at [email protected]
In Pennsylvania, recent background check laws have gone into effect that require volunteers that will have regular contact with children to comply to these regulations. The PA State Police form and the PA child abuse form are able to be filled out online. If you need help doing this, please call us, and we can either help you over the phone or schedule a time for you to come in to the office so that we can help you. Once you receive the results of these background checks in the mail, you need to send us a copy of your results so that we can have them in our files. Your background checks are confidential and are kept in a locked filing cabinet. If you already have copies of all three clearances (from school or employment), the CEF office only needs a copy of them. Please do not send us the originals of your results; the originals should be kept in a safe place in your home.
1. First, you will need to fill out a confidential screening form for CEF. This is not the same as the state screening forms. You can download and print it out, fill it out, and then return it to us.
In Pennsylvania, recent background check laws have gone into effect that require volunteers that will have regular contact with children to comply to these regulations. The PA State Police form and the PA child abuse form are able to be filled out online. If you need help doing this, please call us, and we can either help you over the phone or schedule a time for you to come in to the office so that we can help you. Once you receive the results of these background checks in the mail, you need to send us a copy of your results so that we can have them in our files. Your background checks are confidential and are kept in a locked filing cabinet. If you already have copies of all three clearances (from school or employment), the CEF office only needs a copy of them. Please do not send us the originals of your results; the originals should be kept in a safe place in your home.
1. First, you will need to fill out a confidential screening form for CEF. This is not the same as the state screening forms. You can download and print it out, fill it out, and then return it to us.
| Confidential Screening Form |
2. You will need to fill out the State Police background check form. This is free for volunteers. You can fill it out online at epatch.state.pa.us/ . After you get your results, please click to see the "certificate" and print it out. Do not print out the "results" screen. Please send a copy to the CEF office.
3. You will also need to fill out the ChildLine Child Abuse background check form. This is also free. The least complicated way of doing this is by downloading both pages of the form, printing it out, filling it out, and sending it to:
Childline Abuse and Registry
PA Department of Human Services
PO Box 8170
Harrisburg, PA 17105-8170
If you prefer to obtain this clearance online, you must go to www.compass.state.pa.us/cwis/public/home and follow their instructions to register on their website and then submit your information for a clearance.
3. You will also need to fill out the ChildLine Child Abuse background check form. This is also free. The least complicated way of doing this is by downloading both pages of the form, printing it out, filling it out, and sending it to:
Childline Abuse and Registry
PA Department of Human Services
PO Box 8170
Harrisburg, PA 17105-8170
If you prefer to obtain this clearance online, you must go to www.compass.state.pa.us/cwis/public/home and follow their instructions to register on their website and then submit your information for a clearance.
| Child Line Clearance page 1 |
| Child Line Clearance page 2 |
4. If you have lived for at least 10 years in the state of Pennsylvania, you will download this Disclosure Statement, sign it, make a copy of it, and send the copy to the CEF office.
| Disclosure Statement |
5. If you have not lived in Pennsylvania for all of the past 10 years, you will need to do the FBI background check, which requires you to be fingerprinted and does have a cost involved. You will go to https://uenroll.identogo.com/ and click Department of Human Services. You will follow the instructions to register for getting your fingerprints taken
6. You should read CEF's Child Protection Policy. You can download it, but do not need to return it to the CEF office. It is only for informational purposes.
6. You should read CEF's Child Protection Policy. You can download it, but do not need to return it to the CEF office. It is only for informational purposes.
| Child Protection Policy |
7. You will also need to read and sign CEF's Worker's Compliance Agreement, then return it to the CEF MJP office. This includes CEF's Statement of Faith.
| Workers Compliance Agreement |
If you are planning to lead a Good News Club or other ministry under CEF's sponsorship, you will also need to complete a 3-hour Mandated Reporter training. This training teaches you how to recognize and report child abuse in the state of Pennsylvania. This training is beneficial to all volunteers, but only required for event leaders. www.reportabusepa.pitt.edu/ You will need to open the "Register" tab first to create a free account to take this free course. Once you have finished, you will print out a certificate showing that you have completed the course.
If you need any help with any of these background check procedures, please give us a call. We want you to be successful in starting your volunteer experience!
If you need any help with any of these background check procedures, please give us a call. We want you to be successful in starting your volunteer experience!