It only costs $20 to run a state-mandated background check – but the real cost is often much higher.
Realizing that, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announced earlier this week that he’s doing away with the $20 fee to run a background check on volunteers who work with kids.
Although twenty bucks may not seem like a lot, that decision could have major implications for State College’s nonprofits and other volunteer-based organizations.
Andrea Boyles, operations director of the Centre County Youth Services Bureau, explains that several state laws were passed over the last year that created new, more stringent guidelines for preventing child abuse. One of the new requirements was for organizations to run background checks on any volunteer who wants to work around children.
“Once the law passed, many people worried that it could stop some folks from volunteering if they had to pay for a clearance,” Boyles says. “The decision to waive the fee is really good news for people who want to give their time, but who might not have that extra $20 to make it happen.”
Boyles says the law doesn’t specify who pays for the background checks. Either the organization could cough up the twenty bucks, or the volunteer could – but both of those options were a cause for concern. Forcing the volunteers to pay could keep them from coming out, but forcing nonprofits to pay could place an unfair burden on organizations that already deal with limited finances.
By getting rid of that extra $20 fee, Boyles says nonprofits will be able to focus on the importance of keeping children safe and recruiting volunteers with much less difficulty.
But some leaders of volunteer-based groups feel that Wolf’s decision only addresses a small part of a larger problem.
Jennifer Meengs, Vice President of State College Little League, recently attended a division conference where league leaders debated the language of Pennsylvania’s new child protective laws.
Despite Wolf’s announcement that he wants to “develop needed clarifications to the Child Protective Services Law,” Meengs says the Little League leaders weren’t sure exactly which volunteers would need background checks. Obviously coaches work close enough with the kids to need one, but do concession stand workers?
“Every parent in State College Little League is required to work a concession stand shift. Everyone pitches in and works; it’s how we keep things going,” Meengs says. “We might have to end up processing over 400 people for background checks for this.”
Meengs is quick to stress that eliminating the $20 fee is a big step in the right direction, but she hopes it’s only the first step of a longer journey.
“I hope there will be some reevaluation of some people who currently fall under the requirements for the checks,” Meengs says. “If not, we’d probably have to shut down the stands and go with vending machines, and no one wants to do that.”
