UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — To comply with Pennsylvania's Child Protective Services Law, Penn State Human Resources, in partnership with the Office of Ethics and Compliance, now offers fingerprint scanning services at the University Park campus for employees and individuals volunteering on behalf of the University.
To provide appropriate supervision of a minor, state law and Penn State require anyone identified as an "Authorized Adult" to obtain the three Pennsylvania required clearances and renew them every five years. An Authorized Adult is any individual over the age of 18, who is paid or unpaid, and who interacts with, supervises, chaperones or otherwise oversees minors in University-sponsored youth program activities, recreational, and/or residential facilities.
The required clearances include the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Fingerprint Criminal Background Check, Pennsylvania State Police Background Check, and Pennsylvania Child Abuse History Clearance.
With the return of fingerprinting services at University Park, Penn State aims to enable easier access to the fingerprint scanning requirement for candidates, current employees and volunteers. Services being offered at University Park include:
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Completion of FBI fingerprints.
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Confirmation and assistance in completion of the two other required clearances (Pennsylvania State Police Background Check and Child Abuse Clearance).
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Detailed next steps for submitting the FBI fingerprint results.
Fingerprinting services are being offered in the Penn State HR Welcome Center, located in Suite 136 in The 331 Building at Innovation Park. While exact days and hours for fingerprinting services may fluctuate based on demand, general services will be available at least three days per week. The current weekly schedule for fingerprinting is from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Penn State HR is a private fingerprinting location and subsequently the fingerprinting service offered by Penn State is not open to the general public.
Candidates and current Penn State employees will register and schedule appointments via Penn State’s background check provider, First Advantage. Volunteers will register and schedule online through IDEMIA/IdentoGO, the fingerprinting service provider, using Penn State’s dedicated location code. In order to assist with the volunteer process, Penn State HR has posted a set of instructions in the WorkLion KnowledgeBase. Please note, this set of instructions does not include any specific unit information regarding volunteer clearance processing.
For more information about Authorized Adults and clearance requirements, visit the Office of Ethics and Compliance online. For more information regarding the fingerprint scanning services, contact HR Services at 814-865-1473 or via the WorkLion portal.