Clearances Process

In the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania all volunteers working with children must have three specific clearances on file with the organization they volunteer with. Please share the original coppies with the Director of Religious Education(link sends e-mail), Ebee Bromley. These clearances must be kept up to date every FIVE years.

ONE: Complete a Pennsylvania Child Abuse Clearance. You can do that here: Child Welfare Portal(link is external). It is free. Make sure to carve out enough time to do so as it is rather time sucking (Sorry. Not our idea.) There are a number of steps.

1 ) If this is your first time getting clearances - Create an account - select "create individual account"

For Keystone Id - use letters only

2) Check your email for your Username (which you just created) and a temporary password

3) Log back in using the temporary password

4) Create a permanent password, with very specific guidelines about what is permitted/required

5) Log back in AGAIN using the permanent password

6) Create an application for your clearance, which involves listing every PERSON and PLACE that you have lived in/with since 1975. No, we’re not kidding.

7) Wait about 2 weeks for the agency to complete your check. At that point, they should email you that your clearance is ready and you should be able to access it online, especially if you wrote down your extremely complicated password. They will also mail you a copy if you selected that option.

TWO: Complete a Pennsylvania Criminal History check through PATCH here(link is external). It's free and is a fairly painless procedure. After navigating a few screens you will get a result which looks like this:

Click on the Blue link starting with an R (shown in this picture covered with a gray box with x's for privacy sake. That will get you to this screen:

You're almost done: click on the link that says Certification Form at the bottom of this screen. THAT will get you your actual certificate:

Once this is on your screen you can print it directly, or you can start the printing process and then in the print dialogue tell your computer to save it as a PDF, which you will be able to print or email directly to us!

THREE: either submit an Affirmation of Residency and Lack of Criminal History OR have your fingerprints taken for an FBI background check.

Affadavitc_160267.pdf ​ for those who've lived in PA for 10 years of longer you can download this affidavit, print it out, sign it, have someone witness that you signed it (does not need to be notarized or any special hoops - just someone else who saw you sign it) and send it to us either by scanning, mailing, or handing it to us in person.

OR if you have NOT lived in Pennsylvania for ALL of the past 10 years, you will need to register online to have your fingerprints taken for an FBI background check.

Registering is pretty easy: go to UEnroll(link is external). The code you want to enter is 1KG6ZJ.

Things to note #1: it is NOT free (cost ~$25). If this is a cost you are able to absorb, well and good. If it is a hardship for you, please do not hesitate to ask for us to cover the cost.

Things to note #2: it is VERY IMPORTANT to use the correct code listed above in bold type. For reasons best known to bureaucracy, there are multiple ways to get an FBI fingerprint background check in PA. Some of those ways result in a document we can accept, others do not. For example, if you work or volunteer in a school and had your fingerprints done there, we cannot accept the unofficial printout showing that for this portion of the background check process. (Again, sorry. Not our idea.)

Once you are registered, you make an appointment directly with a fingerprinting location to go in person and have your fingerprints taken digitally. A searchable database of locations is here: https://www.identogo.com/locations(link is external). Several weeks after you go have your fingerprints taken you will receive a blue shaded paper certificate. Bring this document to us for us to physically see in person and make a copy of (you keep the original.)