5.3. Process and Procedures

5.3.1. Clearances

In order for the Museum to meet Pennsylvania compliance laws regarding child safety, if there are volunteers inside the building, working one-on-one with children, each volunteer must have all three of the following clearances prior to the date of volunteering: Act 33 (Child Abuse History), Act 34 (Criminal History), and FBI Fingerprinting.

If a student already has a clearance received in the past 60 months, the student can submit copies of the clearance reports with a disclosure statement affirming that nothing has occurred that would have impacted the clearance results since the submission.

If a student does not already have clearance results, a student can submit a request for Acts 33/34 clearances as a volunteer for free.

If the volunteer has lived in PA for 10 consecutive years, he or she may sign an affidavit in lieu of submitting for FBI fingerprinting.

If completing this requirement will present a special or unique hardship, please contact the instructor privately for discussion.

Application Process

The following notes are a guide to applying for clearances. Please let us know if these are in error in any way. We’ll need to transfer copies of the clearance certifications to the museum, so you may also want to make sure you know how to save an web page as a PDF. You may also wish to gather the following information ahead of time:

  1. a list of every address at which you have lived since 1975
  2. a list of every person with whom you have lived since 1975 and their birth date

Procedure

There are three required clearances: PA PATCH, PA Child Abuse, and the FBI fingerprint check. The easiest way for us to manage this is to schedule clearances sessions with Human Resources, and they have a page explaining the process in more detail. A general summary follows:

  • PATCH: Pennsylvania Access To Criminal History
    1. Open https://epatch.state.pa.us/TandC_RCEAction.do
    2. Go to “New Record Check (Volunteers only)”.
    3. You’ll need to accept the terms.
    4. Fill out Personal Information form.
      1. Volunteer Organization Name: Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh
      2. Volunteer Organization Telephone Number: 412-322-5058
    5. The clearance process may involve placing your request in a queue; please read the onscreen instructions carefully, you need to be sure to persist until you see a final downloadable certificate.
    6. Once completed, save the Certificate as a PDF.
  • PA Child Abuse History Clearance
    1. Open the Pennsylvania Child Welfare Portal: https://www.compass.state.pa.us/cwis/public/home
    2. Go to “Create Individual Account”
    3. Follow the instructions for completing as a volunteer and complete the on-line submission.
  • FBI fingerprint clearances
    1. https://www.pa.cogentid.com/index_dpwNew.htm