Act 151 of 1994 specified that employees of public schools, hired as of July 1, 1996,
must undergo background checks for child or student abuse.

Act 15 of 2015 amended the clearance requirements to require background checks
be performed upon initial hire and then renewed every 60 months.

ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION
Effective December 31, 2014, the Pennsylvania Child Abuse History Clearance application
can be submitted online at https://www.compass.state.pa.us/CWIS. Once you enter the
website you will be directed to the Child Welfare Portal where you must create an account or
log-in if you already have an account (Note: you will need a valid email address to create an
account). Creating an account and submitting your clearance application online will give
you immediate access to your results or the status of your results if your results cannot be
processed immediately.