Your first step is to contact our New Family Liaison.

Our New Family Liaison is here to answer any question you may have about PALS to help you determine if PALS will be a good fit for you.

Important Note: This is a parent-run program and all parents are required to complete jobs and tasks as part of their commitment to join.

Your next step is obtaining Clearances.

As a volunteer organization, each adult that attends needs to have the following:

1. PA Child Abuse Clearance,

2. PA State Police Criminal Record Check, and  

3. FBI Criminal Background Check or eligible affadavit.  

• If you have NOT lived in Pennsylvania for at least 10 years, you are required to provide us with an FBI Criminal Background Check. If you have already obtained a FBI Criminal Background check since the time that you moved to Pennsylvania, you may provide us with a copy of that.  If you have never obtained an FBI Criminal Background check, please use the link below for IdentGo Fingerprinting Applicant Registration, choose Digital Fingerprinting, and enter the code 1KG6ZJ for DHS Volunteer https://www.identogo.com/locations/pennsylvania.
• If you have lived in Pennsylvania for at least 10 years, you can submit an affidavit attesting to that fact (this can be a previously used one for organizaitons like Scouts or your school district). Signing this affidavit affirms that you have lived in PA for at least 10 years and have not been convicted of a felony or any crime that would preclude volunteering with children in the last 5 years.

Once you have received your clearances, email a pdf copy of each to our Secretary at secretary@palsenrichment.org. These will be kept confidential.

Clearances are valid for 5 years. The PA clearances need to be renewed after 5 years; the FBI Criminal Background Check does not need to be renewed if you can submit a written affadavit that you have lived continuously in Pennsylvania since you obtained the previous FBI Clearance Check and have not been convicted of a felony or any crime that would preclude volunteering with children since the date of your last FBI Clearance Check. 

Then our New Family Liaison will put you on the Waitlist!

PALS has grown so much over the years and now serves roughly 50 families every semester! Because of this and the limitations with our rented space, new members interested in joining are put on a waitlist. You must turn in valid clearances to be put on the wait list. The deadline for each semester's waitlist will be listed on our home page as well as our Calendar. After you are placed on the waitlist, our New Family Liaison will communicate a date by which families will be notified about registering for the following semester. Families will be invited off the waitlist when and if space opens up for their children.

Please contact the New Family Liaison if you are interested in joining.