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Girls Walking Down a Camp Trail and Laughing

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Join Girl Scouts

At Girl Scouts, the next opportunity to stand up, speak up, and take the lead is never far away. With us, you’ll unleash your inner G.I.R.L. (Go-getter, Innovator, Risk-Taker, Leader)™!

Joining Instructions

Steps to Register a Girl
  1. Use our online join form for girls to get started! You’ll be asked for some basic contact information and then taken to our Opportunity Catalog, to choose how she would like to participate in Girl Scouts. 

  2. Search our Opportunity Catalog to find a local Girl Scouting option that works for your family. Options that are available in your immediate zip code for your girl’s grade will be displayed. To find the best option, you may need to expand the zip code radius, or enter your girl’s school zip code instead. 

    • If you’ve been given a troop number but can’t find it in the catalog, don’t worry! You can select “Unsure” which will allow you to type the troop number or other identifying information into a text box. 

    • If you aren’t sure what troop to pick, you can always select “Looking for a troop in….” Our staff work to place girls that selected this option into new or existing troops. In order to begin this process, we do ask that girls are registered members, which involves paying the $25 membership fee. If we are unable to find a troop option that works for your family, we are happy to refund the membership fee. 

    • Interested in starting a new troop and being your girl’s troop leader? Select “I want to lead her troop.” Once you’ve registered her, you can register as a troop leader by selecting the same option from our Volunteer Opportunity Catalog. 

    • You will also have the option to register your girl as an Individually Registered Member. Some girls prefer to work on their own with an adult family member so they can choose activities they love that fit into their schedules. We call these girls Juliettes!

  3. Complete the joining process by purchasing a Girl Scouts of the USA membership for your girl. Annual membership is $25 and financial assistance is available.

If you have any questions, please contact us. We are happy to provide you with additional information and walk you through the joining process.

Steps to Register as an Adult or Volunteer

All adults who join Girl Scouts will have the option to volunteer with us—before you begin, check out all the volunteer roles we have available to see what sparks your interest. Your gift of time—as a core volunteer or an occasional helper—helps girls grow into leaders!

  1. Use our online join form for adults and volunteers to get started! You’ll be asked for some basic contact information. Please provide your full name as it appears on your social security card, as this information will be used to run volunteer background checks. 

  2. You’ll be taken to our Volunteer Opportunity Catalog, where you choose how you’d like to participate in Girl Scouts. Volunteer roles in your immediate zip code will be displayed. To find the best option for you and your family, you may need to expand the zip code radius, or enter your girl’s school zip code instead.

    • If you’ve been given a troop number or a volunteer role but can’t find it in the catalog (or you aren’t sure what to pick), don’t worry! You can select “Unsure” which will allow you to type the troop number and the role you wish to occupy into a text box.

    • Interested in starting a new troop and being your girl’s troop leader? Select “I want to lead her troop.”

    • Not ready to volunteer? Just continue registering without selecting a volunteer role. You can contact us anytime after you join to add volunteerism to your Girl Scout experience.

  3. Whether you join as an adult or as a volunteer, you will be required to purchase a Girl Scouts of the USA membership. Annual membership is $25 and financial assistance is available.

  4. If you selected a volunteer role, follow-up emails will guide you through completing your required background check. Look for an invitation from our background check vendor “The Advocates at Verified Volunteers.”

  5. After your volunteer background check has been processed you will be officially on-boarded (with training) as a new Girl Scout volunteer. If you selected “I want to lead her troop,” a staff member will be in touch to provide you with a new troop number and information about adding girls to the troop.

If you have any questions, please contact us. We are happy to provide you with additional information and walk you through the joining process.

Steps to Register a Pre-Kindergarten Girl

Girls who will enter kindergarten in fall 2019 cannot officially join Girl Scouts until May 1, 2019. Instead we ask that you complete an interest form so we can follow up with you in the spring.

  1. Complete our online form to notify us that you are interested in registering your girl for Girl Scouts. You’ll be asked for some basic contact information. Adults interested in leading a troop for their Pre-K girl should also fill-out the interest form and indicate “Troop Leader” when asked how you would like to be part of your girl’s experience.

  2. In the spring, we will reach out to you via the contact information provided on the form to help get your girl registered. If you indicated on the form that you are interested in becoming a Troop Leader, a staff member will reach-out to provide additional information about the role.

 

For a paper version of the join forms, contact us.

Familias hispanohablantes: Pueden descargar nuestro Formulario de Inscripción para Niñas/Muchachas y Adultos (PDF). Más información acerca de Girl Scouts en nuestra página girlscouts.org/es.html.

Want to know more before joining?

Learn about financial assistance, what Girl Scouts do or see all the ways to volunteer. Speak with us in-person at informational Girl Scout events. Still have questions? See our FAQ, or ask us anything!

Background Checks for Volunteers

Parents, guardians, and girls trust that Girl Scouts is a safe place for them, and we take that trust seriously. It is our policy is to conduct criminal background checks on all new volunteers, and to repeat them on all volunteers every three years. There is no cost to volunteers for background checks.

Get Started on Your Background Check

When you register as a Girl Scout Volunteer, you will be guided through a background check process. If you are already a Girl Scout member and would like to volunteer, contact us for assistance setting up and completing your check.

You’ll spend a few minutes completing an online form to get your check started. We often hear back from our background check agency within twenty-four hours, so that you can get started volunteering right away.

Volunteer Eligibility & Disqualification

Girl Scouts River Valleys cannot work with an adult who has been convicted of, has pleaded guilty to, has received adjudication for, or has pleaded no contest to the following crimes:

Automatic Disqualification

  • Registered sex offenders are not eligible for membership in Girl Scouts of the USA and may not participate in any capacity with Girl Scouts. Any adult listed on a sex offender registry (past or present) will not be approved to serve as a Girl Scout volunteer. If an adult is no longer listed on a sex offender registry and is released from probation, they may be eligible to participate in activities as a parent. This is at the sole discretion of Girl Scouts River Valleys and will be determined on a case-by-case basis.
  • Crimes against children
  • Felony offenses against persons
  • Felony offenses against a family member
  • Crimes defined as public indecency
  • Crimes involving the use of weapons
  • Any violent crime
  • Any felony drug-related offense
  • Any felony conviction within the five (5) year period preceding the background check
  • Any offense involving driving under the influence, driving while intoxicated or equivalent within the two (2) year period preceding the background check will be automatically disqualified. Any texting/driving charges, Girl Scouts River Valleys will require an annual background check review. Any subsequent driving-related charges may result in release from the volunteer position.
  • Residing on the same premises as a registered sex offender (may only participate as a parent/guardian)

Possible Disqualification

For all other criminal offenses, or felony convictions older than the five-year period, Girl Scouts River Valleys shall review the applicant’s situation on a case-by-case basis. The decision whether to allow service within Girl Scouts River Valleys’ discretion, and factors to be considered include, but are not limited to:

  • The nature and severity of the criminal conduct
  • The position for which the person seeks to volunteer
  • The length of time since the criminal conduct occurred
  • The circumstances under which the crime was committed
  • The degree of rehabilitation
  • The likelihood that the person will commit the crime again
  • The number of crimes committed by the prospective volunteer
Credit Checks are Not Required

We do not check financial information or credit for any of our volunteer positions. We are only doing a criminal background check. As you review the information on our vendor’s website you will see reference to the Fair Credit Reporting Act because that governs criminal background checks as well as credit checks. Despite this reference, we are not checking your credit.

Social Security Numbers are Required

Providing your social security number helps our vendor find the correct person’s records as they perform your check. Respecting our member’s personal information is very important to Girl Scouts. Our vendor, Verified Volunteers, provides a secure online process for submitting your information. Girl Scouts River Valleys does not see or store your social security number and Verified Volunteers only stores the last four digits. We are confident that there is little to no risk to you in our online background check process.

If you do not have a social security number, please contact us.

Using Existing Background Checks

Girl Scouts River Valleys uses Verified Volunteers, a very widely-used vendor for background checks. If your other organization also uses this vendor, you may be able to share the check they ran with us. Log into Verified Volunteers to learn more about sharing your check. Due to security, legal, and technical limitations, we are unable to accept checks run by other background check vendors.