6000 Interns and Youth Volunteers
6100 Student Interns
FBCE August 2022
A student intern is a college student at the undergraduate or graduate level who wants to gain professional experience in a specific field. Such a student majors in a variety of subjects, including but not limited to health, social services, business administration, law, and criminal justice.
Any college student working with DFPS to earn course credit or to gain professional experience is an intern. This includes a student who is a temporary employee or has other paid positions with DFPS.
Most DFPS interns are unpaid. However, some programs may offer interns grants or other funds. All interns are considered volunteers and are subject to the same policies and procedures as other DFPS volunteers.
An intern may receive course credit if the following agree on the credit in advance:
- Intern.
- Intern’s supervisor at DFPS.
- College or other educational institution.
DFPS does not require a memorandum of understanding (MOU), or affiliation agreement, with a college or university. However, DFPS has a process for creating one if the educational institution requires it. See the DFPS Contract Handbook, Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for more information.
The intern and DFPS supervisor determine a work schedule that meets the needs of both DFPS and the intern. An intern tracks his or her hours and enters them into the volunteer management hub monthly.
Background Checks
A DFPS intern must have a background check.
The FBCE employee enters all background check requests into the Automated Background Check System.
A student may begin serving as a DFPS intern after all the following have occurred:
- The intern has cleared all required background checks, including the following:
- DFPS.
- Department of Public Safety (DPS).
- FBI, if applicable.
- The intern has signed and submitted Form 0251 Volunteer Confidentiality Agreement.
6200 Youth Volunteers
FBCE August 2022
DFPS allows youth ages 14 to 17 to volunteer.
All DFPS volunteer policies and procedures apply to youth volunteers. Also, the youth’s parent or guardian completes and submits Form 0280 Student Youth Volunteer Program before the youth begins to volunteer. Child labor laws do not apply to youth volunteers.
Opportunities for youth volunteers include the following tasks:
- Helping with general support tasks in a DFPS office.
- Stocking and taking inventory for emergency resource rooms.
A youth volunteer may not perform any of the following tasks:
- Provide transportation.
- Interact directly with DFPS clients, such as in the following roles:
- Child Protective Services (CPS) hospital sitter.
- Adult Protective Services (APS) companion.
- APS medication deliverer.
6210 Supervision of Youth Volunteers
FBCE August 2022
Like other DFPS volunteers, a student volunteer may not be supervised by relatives. Only youth and students who have been placed in a work assignment by the designated volunteer supervisor are considered DFPS volunteers.
6220 Youth Volunteers in Groups
FBCE August 2022
This section applies to youth younger than 18 who volunteers for a one-time event as part of an organization or group.
No minimum age requirement is set for this type of youth volunteer. However, an adult sponsor of the group who is 18 or older must supervise the youths.
In this situation, the youth and his or her adult sponsors are not required to complete the following forms:
- Volunteer application.
- Background check process.
Required Forms
The parent or guardian of each youth in the group completes and submits Form 0280 Student Youth Volunteer Program.
Each member of the group (youth and adult sponsors) signs and submits Form 0251 Volunteer Confidentiality Agreement and complies with this agreement.
If the group’s project will use confidential information from a client, the following requirements apply:
- The client or client’s guardian completes and submits Form 0252 Release of Confidential Information for Volunteer Services before the group receives the client’s confidential information.
- The caseworker keeps the signed form in the client’s file.