Background checks
:::warning Not currently available Background checks are switched off for every church, and the API refuses the request whether or not you find a way to the screen. There is no date.
This guide stays published — and reachable by its link — because the capability is complete and the guide is accurate about how it behaves. It is unlisted rather than deleted so that anyone who was told about this, or who has this page bookmarked, gets a straight answer instead of a 404. See Not yet available. :::
Passport orders background checks through Checkr, a consumer reporting agency, and tracks the result against the person's record. Scheduling already knows about them — see Scheduling your team for how a missing or flagged check affects who gets proposed for a rota.
:::info Setting up comes first Background checks need your church to be approved by the screening provider before you can order anything. That is a one-off setup in Settings → Background Checks, and the provider's review takes a few days. :::
Setting your church up
Four short steps, and you never leave Passport:
- What this is — what a check covers and what it costs.
- Your church — legal entity name, EIN, and address. These are checked against public records, so they have to match your registration exactly. Your legal name is often not the name on your sign: "Grace Church" may be registered as "Grace Church of Springfield, Inc."
- Purpose and contacts — whether you are checking volunteers or paid staff, and who should receive notices. Volunteers and employees are covered by different rules, so this one cannot be changed later without the provider's help.
- Agreements — three separate agreements: how your church may use the reports under federal law, the provider's terms, and how you are billed. They are separate because they are three different commitments, and you should read each one.
We then send the application to the provider. They review every new church, and we email your admins the moment it is approved. There is nothing else for you to do while you wait.
Ordering a check
From the person's profile, choose the level of check. The price is shown next to each one, before you order anything.
The person gets an email invitation and fills in their own date of birth and Social Security number on the provider's secure form. Your church never sees or handles those details, and neither does Passport. They also sign the disclosure the law requires there, which is why the form has to be theirs rather than something we show you.
When you are charged
When they complete their part, not when you send the invitation. If they never finish, the invitation expires and you are not charged at all. Once the check actually runs, the charge is final — including when the result is not what you hoped.
Each check is a flat price covering the provider's fee, any court record fees, and processing. There is no monthly fee, and nothing at all if you never order one. It goes on the same card as texting and email, and appears as its own separate receipt.
Reading a result
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| Invitation sent | Waiting on them. Nothing charged yet. |
| Checking | The provider is running the searches. |
| Cleared | Nothing came back. Valid for two years. |
| Needs review | Something came back that a person has to read. |
| Suspended | The provider paused it, usually needing more from the applicant. |
| Disputed | They have challenged what the report says. |
| Expired | Past its renewal date. |
| Unreadable | We could not read what the provider sent. Do not treat it as cleared. |
:::warning "Needs review" is not a verdict It means somebody has to read the report and decide — not that the person failed. Treating it as an automatic no is both unfair and, because these are consumer reports, legally risky. :::
Reports live with the provider, not in Passport. We record the status and the dates; the report itself opens on the provider's own system, and we log who opened it. That is deliberate — it is the most sensitive information the product touches, and the fewer places it exists, the better.
Only people you have granted the Background checks permission can see the detail or open a report. Anyone who can schedule sees the status and the expiry date and nothing more, because that is the whole of what a scheduling decision needs.
If you have to turn someone down
If you decide someone cannot serve because of what a report says, federal law requires you to tell them before you make it final, give them a copy of the report and a summary of their rights, and allow time to dispute it. The provider runs that process; Passport shows you where it has got to and will not let the decision be automatic.
Do not act on a Disputed check until it resolves.
Keeping checks current
A cleared check is good for two years. Passport emails your admins 30 days before one expires so a renewal can be ordered before it lapses — an expired check counts as no check when somebody is scheduled into a ministry that involves minors.
Renewing does not wipe the old record. Each order is kept, so you can see what was run, when, and what it cost.
What these checks do not cover
Criminal record searches are not a complete safeguarding programme. In particular, they do not include state child abuse and neglect registries, which several states expect of churches and which have to be requested separately. Some states also restrict what can be reported at all.
Treat a background check as one part of how you protect people, alongside references, an application, and a sensible policy about who is alone with children.
Next steps
- Scheduling your team — how a missing or flagged check changes who auto-fill proposes, and how to set whether it warns or blocks.
- Positions and teams — mark the ministries that involve minors, which is what makes the stricter rule apply.
- For volunteers — what the person you invited sees at their end.