Criminal background check API for schools & childcare
One API call across jail bookings, state corrections, courts, warrants and federal custody, scored on date of birth. Contractors, volunteers and visitors are checked with the $0.15 data call at sign-in or each season. Teacher, aide and substitute hiring runs as an FCRA order, alongside the fingerprint check your state requires.
25 free searches, no card. $0.15 a call, no platform fee, no seats, no minimum. No integration yet? The same search runs from the dashboard.
curl https://api.offendersearch.app/v1/criminal/search \ -H "X-API-Key: $OFFENDERSEARCH_KEY" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"query": {"firstName": "Mei", "lastName": "Chen", "dob": "1990-01-17"}}' // response { "status": "complete", "counts": { "records": 0, "sourcesIncomplete": 0 }, "records": [] } // a record carries its type and status { "recordType": "criminal_record", "currentStatus": "released", "matchState": "dob_match", "matchConfidence": 0.96, "matchBasis": "lastName:exact firstName:exact dob:match" }
School criminal background check workflow. A data call for safety checks, an FCRA order when a hire is decided.
Put each person on a path. Contractors, vendors and visitors at sign-in, and volunteers each season, use the $0.15 data call. Teachers, aides and substitutes being hired go to an FCRA order.
Send name and date of birth. One POST across 1,164 live jurisdictions: county jails, state corrections, courts, warrants and federal custody.
Branch on record type and status. A dismissed case and an active warrant are different facts. Write which ones trigger an escort before the first one appears.
For hires, use an FCRA order. Consent and disclosure, the check, dispute handling and adverse-action steps, alongside the state fingerprint check.
Keep one record for the network. Every search stored by campus, with every jurisdiction that answered.
School criminal background check API: request and response. One POST per person, or the same search from the dashboard with no code.
curl https://api.offendersearch.app/v1/criminal/search \ -H "X-API-Key: $OFFENDERSEARCH_KEY" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"query": {"firstName": "Mei", "lastName": "Chen", "dob": "1990-01-17"}}' // response { "status": "complete", "counts": { "records": 0, "sourcesIncomplete": 0 }, "records": [] } // a record carries its type and status { "recordType": "criminal_record", "currentStatus": "released", "matchState": "dob_match", "matchConfidence": 0.96, "matchBasis": "lastName:exact firstName:exact dob:match" }
| Person | Checked for | Result | Answered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mei Chen | contractor sign-in | No record | 1,164 |
| Jordan Sample | contractor sign-in | Court case · year_match | 1,164 |
| J. Sample | contractor sign-in | Warrant · dob_match | 1,164 |
Criminal API docs › · Search from the dashboard › · Bulk criminal record search ›
When schools, childcare providers, and youth programs run a criminal background check. Each moment on its path: the data call or the FCRA order.
When a contractor or vendor arrives
Trades, vendors and delivery staff with building access checked from the ID before the badge prints.
Each volunteer season
The cohort sent as one batch, billed per row, before the first event.
Before a teacher, aide or substitute is hired
The hiring check runs through an FCRA order, alongside the fingerprint check your state requires.
Between rechecks for regular volunteers
A new booking, warrant or case arrives by signed alert, instead of waiting for the next season.
What a school criminal background check covers. Five record layers, scored on date of birth and cited to the jurisdiction on every record.
| Record type | What the front office learns | Coverage |
|---|---|---|
| Jail bookings | A recent arrest and booking: charges, booking date, in custody or released. A booking is not a conviction. | 1,408 county rosters · 1027 live |
| State corrections | State custody, parole or release, with the facility and release date. | 53 systems |
| Court cases | Filed charges and how they ended: dismissed, convicted, disposed. | 36 court sources |
| Warrants | An open warrant, the issuing jurisdiction and its status today. | 34 warrant sources |
| Federal custody | Federal custody, or release from it. | searched live |
Criminal screening challenges for schools, childcare providers, and youth programs
- Criminal records live in thousands of county jails, courts and warrant systems, not one list.
- Contractors and volunteers arrive faster than a manual county-by-county lookup.
- A dismissed case, an old booking and an active warrant mean very different things.
- Staff hiring carries FCRA and fair-chance duties that a sign-in check does not.
What criminal background checks give schools, childcare providers, and youth programs
A criminal answer before the badge prints, with every response timed.
Jail, corrections, courts, warrants and federal custody in one call. No per-county integrations.
An FCRA path for staff hires, through your screening company, kept apart from sign-in.
One audit trail for the network. Every check stored by campus, clear or not.
Hiring staff? Run the school criminal background check as an FCRA order.
When a result will help decide whether to hire or engage a teacher, aide, substitute or a volunteer in a role that works like a job, the check is a consumer report. It runs as an FCRA order through FCRA Partner Access, placed by a background screening company or screening platform under a written FCRA agreement: disclosure and consent, the check, a copy of the report and a summary of rights before any adverse action, and a dispute path for the person.
The $0.15 criminal search is for safety checks. It is not a consumer report, and standard results are never the reason an applicant is turned away.
The screening company attests the applicant’s disclosure and authorization on the order.
Exact date of birth only; the seven-year rule and state limits applied before anything is furnished.
Records with verification time; withheld items as counts by reason.
The applicant sees the report in the consumer portal and can dispute any item.
Pre-adverse notice with the report, a waiting period, then a final notice, by the employer.
Criminal background check practices for schools, childcare providers, and youth programs. Record what you checked, not just what you found.
| Jail | County rosters · answered | 0 |
| DOC | State corrections · answered | 0 |
| Court | Court sources · answered | 0 |
| Warrant | Warrant sources · answered | 0 |
| Federal | Federal custody · answered | 0 |
Keep the fingerprint check. Where your state or CCDBG requires a fingerprint-based check, it runs through the state’s designated agency. The search adds county jails, courts, warrants and federal custody.
Match on date of birth. Send the name and date of birth on the license. A name-only hit never looks like an identification.
Write the escort rule first. Decide which record types and statuses mean an escort before the first one appears at the desk.
Monitor the regulars. Volunteers come back every week. A monitor catches a change between seasons.
School criminal screening: what the law requires and what it doesn’t
Child care staff funded under CCDBG need a fingerprint-based FBI check and state criminal repository searches in every state lived in during the past five years, run through the state. K-12 duties are state law and vary widely. A commercial search does not replace either; it adds county jails, courts and warrants, and reaches the visitors and volunteers those checks never cover.
| Jurisdiction | Citation | What it requires |
|---|---|---|
| Federal | 45 CFR § 98.43 | For CCDF-funded child care staff: an FBI fingerprint check and searches of the state criminal repository and sex offender registry in every state lived in during the past five years, with listed disqualifying convictions. |
| Federal | 15 U.S.C. § 1681b(b) | For employment: disclosure and authorization first, and the report plus a summary of rights before adverse action. |
| States and cities | Fair-chance laws | Limit when criminal history may be asked about in hiring, and often require an individualized review. |
And what it doesn’t
No federal statute requires a criminal check on every school visitor. Visitor screening is district policy; build it around the written rule.
Background, not legal advice. Your counsel is the right reader of your own facts.
Criminal and sex offender records for schools & childcare, on one key. Plus monitoring between checks and an FCRA order path for the people you hire.
Sex offender screening
58 US registries, 1.5M records, continuously updated, with the registry photo where one is published.
Sex offender screening for schools & childcare ›Criminal and registry monitoring
People watched between checks. A new booking, warrant or case arrives by signed webhook or email; any employment action that follows runs through an FCRA order.
Monitoring API ›FCRA background check API
When a hire is being decided, the check runs as an FCRA order with consent, disclosure, dispute and adverse-action steps. Pricing is quoted per partner.
Background check API ›Criminal: 1,545 jurisdictions catalogued, 1,164 live, 51 states + DC + federal. Registry: 58 US registries, 1.5M records, continuously updated. See what each state publishes or the live list at /v1/criminal/sources.
What a school criminal background check costs. $0.15 a call, $0.11 past 2,000 a month; FCRA orders quoted per partner.
| Line | How it is counted | Units | Rate | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contractor and vendor sign-ins | 24 campuses × ~6 a day × 20 days | 2,880 | $0.15 → $0.11 | $396.80 |
| Volunteer batch | the season’s new volunteers, per row | 600 | $0.11 | $66.00 |
| Criminal person monitors | regular volunteers between seasons | 400 | $3 / mo | $1,200.00 |
| FCRA orders for hiring decisions | quoted per partner | as used | contact | — |
| Month | no platform fee, no seats, no minimum | 3,480 calls | $1,662.80 |
| Checks / month | Cost | Per check |
|---|---|---|
| 500 | $75.00 | $0.1500 |
| 5,000 | $630.00 | $0.1260 |
| 50,000 | $5,580.00 | $0.1116 |
Criminal and registry calls count toward the same tier. A batch is billed per row, so a roster re-screen costs the same per person as a single lookup. Enterprise plans add custom volume rates and net terms. A fraction of what legacy screening platforms charge.
School criminal background check FAQ
More in the criminal API docs and the FCRA orders docs.
Can we use the $0.15 criminal search to hire a teacher or substitute?
No. A hiring decision runs as an FCRA order, with consent, disclosure, dispute handling and adverse-action steps. The data call is for visitors, contractors and volunteers; standard results are never the reason an applicant is turned away.
Does this replace the state fingerprint check?
No. Where your state or CCDBG requires a fingerprint-based check, it runs through the state’s designated agency. The search adds county jails, courts, warrants and federal custody across every state a person may have lived in.
What should the front office do with a record at sign-in?
Alert designated staff quietly and show them the record type, status and match basis. A name-only hit is a lead, not an identification; confirm the date of birth, then follow the district’s written rule.
Related
Run criminal background checks for schools & childcare with one API
Jail bookings, corrections, courts, warrants and federal custody for visitors and volunteers, and an FCRA path for staff hires. 25 free searches, no card.