To meet Alabama child care licensing requirements, you must obtain a license, permit, or approval from the Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR) before caring for any child unrelated to you, pass fire and health inspections, clear background checks and complete training for every adult on site, maintain staff-to-child ratios set by regulation, and allow unannounced monitoring visits throughout the two-year license term. The rules sit in Alabama Code Title 38, Chapter 7 and the DHR administrative rules at Chapter 660-5-20.
Figure Out Which License You Need
The category your operation falls into drives everything else: the application, the ratios, the physical standards. Alabama defines daytime facilities by how many unrelated children you receive for care.
- Day care home: a family home with up to six children.
- Group day care home: a family home with seven to twelve children and at least two adults present and supervising at all times.
- Day care center: any facility with more than twelve children. This covers nursery schools, kindergartens, and play groups, whether or not they describe themselves as educational.1Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code Title 38 Chapter 7 Section 38-7-2 – Definitions
Parallel categories exist for nighttime care (nighttime home, group nighttime home, nighttime center) using the same numeric thresholds. Residential child care institutions serving more than ten children follow a related but separate rule set.
Programs That Don’t Need a DHR License
Two exemptions catch most of the questions. A preschool that is an integral part of a local church ministry or religious nonprofit elementary school is exempt, provided the program is recognized in the church or school’s governing documents and overseen by its governing board. Exempt church programs still file notice with DHR, keep current fire and health inspections, immunization records, and staff medical histories, and have parents sign affidavits acknowledging the facility is not DHR-regulated.2Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code Title 38 Chapter 7 Section 38-7-3 – License to Operate or Conduct Child-Care Facility
Kindergartens and nursery schools run by a private school for children younger than school age are not “day care centers” if they operate four hours or less per day. Anything beyond four hours falls back under the day care center definition.1Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code Title 38 Chapter 7 Section 38-7-2 – Definitions Exemption from licensing does not block DHR from investigating a safety concern.
What You Need in Place Before You Apply
Several approvals have to be in hand before DHR will act on an application. Start with local zoning so you confirm the address can be used for child care. Zoning fights can stall everything else.
Fire Inspection
Your facility must pass a fire department inspection with no violations before DHR issues a license, permit, or approval. Volunteer fire department inspections are not accepted. The inspection has to be refreshed at least every five years, DHR can require more frequent ones, and the current report must be posted on site.3Alabama Administrative Code. Alabama Administrative Code Rule 660-5-20-.03 – Facilities
Health Inspection and Food Permit
A written health department inspection report goes to DHR. If you prepare food on site, include a current health department food permit. If food is served but not prepared on site, submit written health department approval of your food service plan. Unlike the fire inspection, the health report does not have to be violation-free, but anything flagged still has to be corrected.3Alabama Administrative Code. Alabama Administrative Code Rule 660-5-20-.03 – Facilities
Background Checks for Everyone
Every owner, director, staff member, substitute, and volunteer must clear a full background check before being counted on with children. The required checks are:
- Alabama State Central Registry clearance, valid for five years and renewed on that cycle.
- FBI fingerprint-based national criminal history check.
- National Crime Information Center and National Sex Offender Registry checks.
- In-state criminal history and sex offender registry checks.
- Equivalent criminal history and sex offender registry checks in any other state where the person has lived during the past five years.
While results are pending, a person can be present at the facility but cannot be counted toward the required child-to-staff ratio. Permanent disqualifiers include violent offenses, sex crimes, crimes involving injury to a child or vulnerable adult, and drug distribution convictions, along with equivalent federal or out-of-state convictions.4Alabama Administrative Code. Alabama Administrative Code Rule 660-5-20-.06 – Staff
Staff Qualifications, Training, and Ratios
A child care worker with primary responsibility for a group of children must be at least 18 and hold a high school diploma or GED. Within 90 days of starting, the worker must complete at least one hour of preservice training in each of 12 topics:
- Infectious disease prevention, including immunizations
- SIDS prevention and safe sleep practices
- Medication administration
- Food and allergic reaction emergencies
- Building and premises safety
- Shaken baby syndrome and abusive head trauma prevention
- Emergency preparedness and response
- Hazardous materials handling and bio-contaminant disposal
- Recognizing and reporting child abuse and neglect
- First aid and CPR
- Child transportation precautions, if applicable
- Child development
Until that preservice training is finished, the worker cannot be counted in the ratio. After the first year, each worker completes at least one hour of annual training from an outside source in each of those 12 areas, for a minimum of 12 hours per year.4Alabama Administrative Code. Alabama Administrative Code Rule 660-5-20-.06 – Staff
Drivers transporting children in facility vehicles must be at least 19 with a valid driver’s license. Cooks, janitors, and bus drivers do not count toward the ratio unless they meet all child care worker qualifications and are actively supervising children.
Required Staff-to-Child Ratios
Ratios have to be met at all times during active care:
- Birth to 18 months: 1 staff per 5 children
- 18 months to 2½ years: 1 per 7
- 2 months to 3 years (overlapping bracket): 1 per 8
- 2½ to 4 years: 1 per 11
- 4 years to school age: 1 per 18
- School age to 8 years: 1 per 21
- 8 years and older: 1 per 22
In a mixed-age group, use the ratio for the youngest age bracket if more than 20 percent of the children fall in that bracket. Ratios relax during nap time, and a person only counts if they meet worker qualifications and are giving full attention to supervision.5Alabama Administrative Code. Alabama Administrative Code Rule 660-5-20-.04 – Child Care Program
Submitting the Application and the On-Site Inspection
Applications go to DHR on the department’s required forms, one application per facility location. You must document financial resources sufficient to maintain the premises and provide for children’s personal care, medical services, and other essentials. A Licensing Application Attachment is completed for each applicant, owner, and center director, covering education, child care training history, employment history, and at least three non-family references.
With the application, submit completed State Central Registry clearance requests for every staff member, director, and volunteer, along with documentation of qualifications, training certificates, and background check results. A DHR representative then schedules a mandatory on-site inspection that reviews the physical environment, equipment, furnishings, program plans, personnel records, and financial accounts. The license itself specifies your approved capacity.
If DHR concludes the facility and the people responsible for children meet all prescribed minimum standards, it issues a license valid for two years. When a facility shows potential but falls short of full standards, DHR may issue a six-month permit to allow time to become eligible.2Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code Title 38 Chapter 7 Section 38-7-3 – License to Operate or Conduct Child-Care Facility
Keeping the License and Renewing It
DHR representatives conduct unannounced monitoring visits at any reasonable time and as often as necessary. You get no advance notice, and refusing to admit an inspector is itself grounds for revocation.2Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code Title 38 Chapter 7 Section 38-7-3 – License to Operate or Conduct Child-Care Facility Between visits, keep every worker current on the 12 annual training hours, maintain the required ratios whenever children are present, and keep fire and health inspections updated. The fire inspection has to be refreshed at least every five years.3Alabama Administrative Code. Alabama Administrative Code Rule 660-5-20-.03 – Facilities
Because the license expires every two years, file your renewal application well before the expiration date. DHR renews only if it is satisfied the facility continues to meet all minimum standards.
What Can Cost You the License
DHR can revoke a license or refuse renewal for:
- Violating license provisions, such as operating above approved capacity.
- Providing false or misleading information or reports to DHR.
- Refusing to produce requested records within 10 days of a written demand.
- Refusing to let authorized DHR representatives investigate or inspect.
- Failing to keep the premises safe and sanitary.
- Refusing to display the license.
- Failing to maintain the financial ability to care for children properly.
The 10-day records rule is worth flagging: DHR cannot revoke immediately over a records request, but ignoring the written demand moves revocation forward quickly.6Justia. Alabama Code Title 38 Chapter 7 Section 38-7-8 – License to Operate or Conduct Child-Care Facility – Revocation
Operating Without a License
Running a child care facility in Alabama without a license, six-month permit, or approval is a misdemeanor. A conviction carries a fine of $100 to $1,000, up to one year in county jail, or both. The same penalty applies to other violations of the Child Care Act of 1971.7Cornell Law Institute. Alabama Administrative Code Rule 660-5-39-.18 – Penalty for Unlicensed Facilities
Legal Obligations Beyond DHR
Licensing is one layer. Several federal and state rules apply alongside it.
Americans with Disabilities Act
Under the ADA, a child care center cannot exclude a child with a disability unless the child’s presence would pose a direct threat to health or safety or require a fundamental change to the program. You must make an individualized assessment of whether you can meet the child’s needs rather than relying on a diagnosis. Centers have to make reasonable modifications to policies and practices, provide auxiliary aids for effective communication unless doing so is an undue burden relative to resources, and remove architectural barriers in existing facilities when readily achievable. New construction and renovated portions must be fully accessible.8ADA.gov. Commonly Asked Questions About Child Care Centers and the Americans with Disabilities Act Centers operated directly by religious entities such as churches may be exempt from the ADA. A privately run center that only rents space from a church generally is not.
Workers’ Compensation
Alabama requires workers’ compensation coverage for any business with five or more employees, including part-time workers and corporate officers. Most centers reach that threshold immediately.9Alabama Department of Labor. Workers Compensation FAQ General liability insurance is not legally required but is standard practice given the exposure of a single injury claim.
Tax Identification for Parents
Parents claiming the federal Child and Dependent Care Credit need your facility’s name, address, and taxpayer identification number, either a Social Security number or an Employer Identification Number. Tax-exempt organizations only have to provide name and address. Parents may use IRS Form W-10 to request the information, so be ready to supply it on request.10Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 602, Child and Dependent Care Credit If you have employees, you need an EIN anyway for payroll tax reporting.