Every EnvironMentors Faculty/Staff and Student Mentor must obtain three Publicly Available Clearances and complete Penn State’s Reporting Suspected Child Abuse training. Please refer to the link “Clearance Instructions Volunteer“ for detailed steps for completing the background checks and certifications for volunteering. Please refer to the link “LRN Instructions Volunteers“ for detailed steps for completing the Penn State Training.
Clearances Required – valid for 5 years
1. Pennsylvania State Police Criminal Background Check (SP4‐164)
2. Pennsylvania Child Abuse History Clearance Form (CY‐113)
3. Federal (FBI) Fingerprint Criminal Background Check (Criminal History Report)** –
- A fingerprint-based federal criminal history (FBI) submitted through the Pennsylvania State Police, or its authorized agent is required if the volunteer has lived outside the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the last 10 years.
- If you have lived in PA for the past 10+ years and are not submitting the FBI clearance, you must sign and return the attached disclosure form.
- Please note that we do not accept background checks by the PA Department of Education. They must be submitted through the Department of Human Services(DHS).
Link 1: Clearance Instructions Volunteer
Training Required: You are also required to take the Penn State online training “Reporting Suspected Child Abuse” – must be completed annually.
1. To access the training, visit http://lrn.psu.edu/ and select Volunteer/Other. Once you are logged in, the training should appear on the homepage. If it doesn’t, please search for it by name.
2. Once you find the training, select Launch.
3. Once you’ve completed your training with a score of 80% or higher, select Learning, View Your Transcript and change Active to Completed to pull up your certificate of completion. Save it as a pdf.
Link 2: LRN Instructions Volunteers
Disclosure Required
The “DHS Self Disclosure Form” is required for volunteers who:
a. Have lived in PA for 10+ years and aren’t getting the FBI clearance.
OR
b. Obtained their clearances for a purpose other than THIS specific program.
Link 3: DHS Self Disclosure Form
