*As of June 1, 2022, Checkr no longer offers Standard and Premium Criminal Packages; however, customers who purchased Standard or Premium Criminal packages before June 1 will continue to see these package names on their account.*
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Background check packages for volunteers and candidates serving the faith community.
Background checks have become an integral part of many faith-based communities’ safety programs. More and more states now require organizations including non-profits to run background checks for anyone working with vulnerable populations. Vulnerable populations are generally defined based on certain factors like age, particular health conditions, diseases, or disabilities. Churches and other volunteer organizations must maintain the trust of their members, donors and communities. Maintaining this trust often includes a thorough background check process for people working in sensitive roles.
This article will explain Checkr's Basic+, Essential, and Professional background check packages, and help you determine which will best serve your needs.
How does a community decide which background checks are comprehensive enough to protect their members and volunteers?
We recommend a few best practice guidelines to follow when deciding which background checks to run as part of your trust and safety program:
- Make sure that background checks include comprehensive searches suitable for the role.
- Either re-order background checks on a regular cadence (either annually or at another defined interval, using subscriptions) or enroll volunteers in a monitoring program such as Continuous checks.
- Have adjudication criteria in place to review results and make decisions in a consistent and compliant manner.
Picking a background check package and making sure it’s appropriate for your open position is a key step in finding the right candidates and volunteers to support your organization.
Checkr offers a number of searches that we have grouped into packages designed to meet the diverse resourcing needs of our faith-based partners. We’ll help you evaluate these Packages and understand how they can contribute to a successful safety program for your community.
Checkr’s Basic+ package
Checkr’s Basic+ package may be appropriate for volunteers that do not interact with sensitive or vulnerable populations.
The "Basic+" report package offered by Checkr includes the most common searches:
These searches are run as a group. Checkr will then surface any information that is legally reportable in each state.
For more information on this package, see ` in Checkr’s Help Center.
Checkr’s Essential and Professional packages
Either the Essential or Professional package is strongly encouraged for volunteers that do interact with vulnerable populations. When an individual is working with these populations, the level of search should be equal to or above the level of risk of a safety incident.
Checkr’s Essential package
The Essential Background Check Package includes all of the searches in the Basic+ package, as well as a county search of your volunteer’s or candidate’s current county of residence.
What is a county search?
A county search searches publicly available county criminal records, including felony, misdemeanor, and pending criminal records. Checkr initiates this search based on information revealed from our national search or SSN trace. When a "hit" is identified in the national search, Checkr automatically upgrades the report to add a county search for those "hits." This means that Checkr searches any counties identified by the national search as having a possible record to obtain.
For many criminal records, the county courthouse is the source of truth. County records, which make up the majority of criminal offenses, are available in all counties in all 50 states, and are located in county courthouses across the 3,200 counties in the US. We highly recommend including a county search for a clear and complete picture of the individual you are considering.
Checkr’s Professional package
The Professional package from Checkr includes all of the searches in the Essential package.
The Professional package also includes a county search for every county where your candidate or volunteer has had a registered address for the past 7 years. This provides a more thorough search for more sensitive roles. The Basic+ package does not automatically initiate a county search for these previous addresses unless one of the other checks in the Basic+ package indicates that there might be a record to be found in these counties.
By including this expanded county criminal search in the background check packages for your staff and volunteers, you are driving a higher level of assurance that the individuals you are onboarding meet your community’s trust and safety standards.
Choosing a background check package that is tailored to the level of risk associated with a role should be a best practice when building your trust and safety programs.