A note on what we do and don't do. Booster RH does not run background checks. No screening provider is connected to the platform and no check can be run through it. This article is about how to arrange screening with a provider of your own. See Terms, section 15.
Here is an uncomfortable truth most booster club leaders would rather not think about: your volunteers work closely with children, and chances are none of them have been screened. They drive kids to away games, supervise concession stands, chaperone overnight trips, and manage locker room logistics — all without anyone verifying that they should be in those roles. It is not that parents are being careless. It is that no one ever told them this was part of the job. That needs to change.
Background checks are not about assuming the worst in people. They are about building a system where every child, every volunteer, and every organization is protected. When screening is standard, no one feels singled out, and everyone can focus on what they showed up to do — support their kids.
The Legal Landscape
A growing number of states now require background checks for any adult who works with minors in a supervised or unsupervised capacity, and many school districts have adopted their own policies that extend to booster club volunteers. The specifics vary by state — some mandate checks only for overnight chaperones, while others require them for anyone who interacts with students during school-sponsored activities.
Even where the law does not explicitly require screening, it is widely considered a best practice. Youth sports organizations, scouting groups, and faith-based programs have been implementing volunteer screening for years. Booster clubs are catching up, and for good reason: if something goes wrong and your organization never bothered to run a basic check, the legal and reputational consequences can be severe. Background checks protect the children in your program, the reputation of your organization, and the volunteers themselves, who deserve to have their good standing confirmed rather than assumed.
What a Background Check Actually Covers
When people hear "background check," they sometimes imagine a dramatic FBI investigation. In reality, a standard volunteer screening is straightforward and typically includes:
- A national criminal history search across multiple databases
- County-level criminal records where the volunteer has lived
- A search of the national sex offender registry
- In some cases, a driving record check for volunteers who transport students
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the volunteer must give written consent before the check is run. No one is screened without their knowledge. The process is designed to be transparent, and results are typically returned within a few business days.
Why Most Clubs Skip It
If background checks are so important, why do most booster clubs still not do them? The reasons tend to fall into three categories: cost, hassle, and awkwardness.
Cost. Traditional screening services can charge $25 to $75 per check, which adds up fast when you have 30 or 40 volunteers. Prices vary a lot by provider and by how deep the search goes, so it is worth getting two or three quotes before you budget for it. Booster RH does not run background checks and does not sell them.
Hassle. Coordinating paper forms, collecting consent, and tracking results across a spreadsheet is genuinely painful. Most screening agencies now run the whole thing online: you send the volunteer a link, they sign the agency's consent form themselves, and the agency tells you when it is done. Ask any provider you are considering how a volunteer starts a check and how you are told the result — if the answer involves printing anything, keep looking. Booster RH is not part of that loop; it does not run checks and does not pass them to anyone who does.
Awkwardness. This is the big one. Nobody wants to look a fellow parent in the eye and say, "We need to check your record before you can help at the bake sale." But here is the thing: when screening is policy — when every volunteer goes through the same process — it stops being personal. Frame it as what it is: a standard safety measure that protects everyone, not an accusation aimed at anyone.
How to Implement Background Checks Effectively
The key to a successful screening program is making it systematic rather than situational. Here is how to get started:
Add it to your bylaws. Make background checks an official club policy. Specify which roles require screening — at minimum, anyone who will have unsupervised access to children, including drivers, overnight chaperones, and coaches' assistants. When it is written policy, enforcement is consistent and fair.
Keep the paperwork off the board. The less manual work involved, the more likely it actually gets done. Whichever provider you use, the volunteer signs that agency's own disclosure and authorisation, the agency runs the search and holds the report, and the club should only ever see a cleared or not-cleared answer — never the underlying record. Any question about what a report says goes to the agency named on the paperwork, not to your board.
Communicate early and often. Announce the policy at the beginning of the season, include it in your welcome email, and explain why it matters. Most parents will not only understand — they will be relieved that someone is taking child safety seriously.
Protecting Your Organization
Beyond the moral imperative, there are practical reasons to implement volunteer screening. Many general liability insurance policies for nonprofits now ask whether your organization conducts background checks, and some offer lower premiums for those that do. If your club ever faces a claim, having documented screening procedures demonstrates that you took reasonable steps to ensure the safety of the children in your care.
There is also the matter of parent confidence. When families know that every adult in the program has been vetted, they are more willing to let their kids participate in travel, after-hours events, and volunteer-led activities. Screening does not just reduce risk — it builds the kind of trust that makes your entire club stronger.
It Is About Culture, Not Suspicion
Requiring background checks is not a statement about your volunteers. The overwhelming majority are exactly who they appear to be: good people giving their time to help kids. Screening simply confirms that, and it creates a culture where safety is everyone's shared responsibility rather than something left to chance. The best booster clubs are not the ones that assume everything will be fine. They are the ones that build systems to make sure it is.