In order to ensure transparency and meet our standards for fair and trustworthy volunteering, we require a police clearance certificate from your country of origin. A police clearance certificate is an official document that provides information about criminal convictions.
An “extended police clearance certificate” (e.g. Germany) or a “criminal record certificate for child and youth welfare” (e.g. Austria) is particularly important for the aptitude test when working with children and young people. This document ensures that you have no criminal convictions – even minor ones – that could jeopardise your ability to work with children and young people.
Children are the most vulnerable members of society and must be protected accordingly. The purpose of the certificate is to protect children from potential dangers and to ensure, among other things, that volunteers who take on educational or caring tasks are trustworthy. Anyone who wants to work with children must therefore prove that they are reliable, of good character and respect the dignity of each child. As you will be working with children and young people in the partner projects, a police clearance certificate is mandatory and one of our standards of quality and trust, whether you are volunteering for one month or up to 12 months.
The certificate must not be older than 3 months, please check with your local authority how long it takes to apply for an extended certificate. Please also check that the certificate is available in English!
To apply for an extended certificate, you will usually need a written request from the organisation that requires the certificate. COACH ABROAD will make this request on behalf of our listed partner projects with a letter that we will send to you.