All University faculty and staff who are responsible for the "care, supervision, guidance, or control" of or have "routine interaction" with anyone under the age of 18 must obtain clearances.
Everyone has a role to play in protecting children
Employees, volunteers, and third-party employees should obtain these publicly available clearances in lieu of a standard background check and renew the clearances every five years:
- Pennsylvania State Police Criminal Background Check (SP-164)
- Pennsylvania Child Abuse History Clearance Form (CY-113)
- Federal (FBI) Fingerprint Criminal Background Check (Criminal History Report)
Please refer to Policy AD39: Minors Involved in University-Sponsored Programs for definitions of child/minor, authorized adult, and mandated reporter.
Please refer to Policy HR99: Background Verification Requirements for the requirements on verifying the backgrounds of any individuals age 16 and over engaged by Penn State in any capacity.
Instructions for obtaining the required clearances can be found on the Penn State Human Resources website. This process must be completed prior to working with children.
*Please note that when communicating with minors via email, ad39ag@psu.edu should be copied.
