Alabama DHR Minimum Standards for Day Care Centers

The Alabama DHR minimum standards for day care centers are set out in Alabama Administrative Code Chapter 660-5-26, with licensing authority in Alabama Code Title 38, Chapter 7. They govern who can work with children, how many children each adult can supervise, how the building and playground must be laid out, what records you keep, and how the license is issued and renewed. Everything below reflects what DHR inspectors actually check.

Which Facilities the Center Standards Cover

Alabama law prohibits anyone from operating a child care facility without a DHR license or approval.¹ A “day care center” is a facility that receives more than 12 children for daytime care during all or part of a day. Smaller operations fall under different rules: a group day care home serves 7 to 12 children with at least two adults, and a day care home serves no more than 6.² Nighttime centers operate during evening or overnight hours and share Chapter 660-5-26 with day care centers.

A child care facility run as part of a local church ministry or religious nonprofit school can be exempt from licensing, but only if it takes no state or federal funds and does not operate for profit. Even exempt facilities must notify DHR at least 30 days before opening, and DHR can inspect any exempt facility if it has reason to believe children may be at risk.¹

Staff-to-Child Ratios

Ratios must be maintained at all times children are present. For day care centers:³

Birth to 18 months: 1 staff member per 5 children
18 months to 2½ years: 1 per 7
24 months to 36 months: 1 per 8
2½ years 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

“School age” means children who turn five on or before September 1, matching Alabama’s public school kindergarten cutoff.⁴ When children of different ages share a room, the ratio for the youngest child governs the whole group. One infant in a toddler room means 1-to-5 across that room. This is the ratio rule that catches providers off guard most often during inspections.

Personnel Qualifications, Background Checks, and Training

Directors of day care centers must be at least 19 and meet one of several training tracks. One track is 120 clock hours of child care training plus a high school diploma or GED plus at least 12 months of working experience. Directors also need at least 20 hours of training in administration and management and at least 4 hours in quality child care.⁵

Child care workers and teachers must be at least 18 with a high school diploma or GED. Aides and assistant teachers can be as young as 16 with at least an eighth-grade education. Within 30 days of hire, a teacher must complete at least 12 hours of training in child care and development through workshops, video instruction, or one-on-one consultation, unless equivalent training is already documented on file.⁵

Background Checks

Every staff member must clear a comprehensive criminal history check before working with children. For day care centers this includes a national FBI fingerprint check, a National Crime Information Center and sex offender registry search, an in-state fingerprint-based criminal history check, and an in-state sex offender registry check. Anyone who has lived in another state within the previous five years must also clear interstate criminal and sex offender checks.⁶

DHR also checks each prospective employee against the State Central Registry on Child Abuse and Neglect. The clearance form comes from DHR’s website and must confirm whether the individual has a perpetrator record. Both the suitability determination letter and the registry clearance must be dated within the last five years.⁵

Ongoing Training

Annual training minimums are 24 clock hours for directors, 12 for teachers, and 4 for service staff such as cooks, bus drivers, and custodians. Topics should include child development, health and safety procedures, and recognizing and reporting suspected child abuse. Documentation stays on file and must be available for DHR inspection at any time.

Facility, Space, and Fire Safety

Indoor Space

Licensed facilities must provide a minimum amount of indoor activity space per child. For group and family day care homes the standard is at least 32 square feet per child, excluding bathrooms, kitchens, isolation rooms, offices, hallways used as passageways, and storage areas.⁷ Day care centers follow a similar space-per-child standard under Chapter 660-5-26, with the same types of non-activity areas excluded. Floor plans must be submitted to DHR to confirm the layout meets spatial and emergency-exit requirements.

Outdoor Play Areas

Outdoor play space must provide at least 60 square feet per child. For centers with a capacity of 60 or more, that standard applies to at least half the licensed capacity rather than the full number. The area must be enclosed by a fence or wall at least four feet high, free of sharp edges, with secured gates. Children under 2½ need a separate play area, which can be achieved through staggered scheduling rather than a second fenced space. Concrete and asphalt cannot serve as surfacing under playground equipment (wheel toys excepted), the area must drain well, and permanently installed equipment must be anchored so an adult cannot tip it over.

Fire Safety

Before opening, the facility must submit a written fire department inspection report with no violations. Alabama does not require annual fire inspections; they must be updated at least every five years, though DHR can request one at any time. Inspections conducted by volunteer fire departments are not accepted. Each report must be sent to DHR and posted inside the facility.⁷

Health, Medication, and Safe Sleep

On a child’s first day of attendance, the facility must have a valid Alabama Certificate of Immunization on file. This covers every child from two months through school age, plus school-age children not yet enrolled in kindergarten. The only alternatives are a valid Certificate of Medical Exemption or a Certificate of Religious Exemption. Certificates must be updated by their expiration dates.⁸ Facilities must also have written policies for excluding children who show symptoms of communicable illnesses.

No medication, whether prescription or over-the-counter, can be given without a written, signed authorization from the parent or guardian. Blanket authorization forms covering an indefinite period are prohibited. Each form must state the times and dates for administration, dosage, storage, and how the medication is given. Without a physician’s written statement, an authorization is valid for no more than seven days. All medications stay under lock and key, remain in their original containers with pharmacy labels or physician instructions, and are returned to the parent or properly disposed of when no longer needed. Staff document every dose with a signature, date, and time in the child’s file.⁹

Infants must always be placed on their backs on a firm, flat mattress with a tight fitted sheet. Cribs must be free of blankets, pillows, bumper pads, and stuffed animals. Slats should be no more than 2⅜ inches apart. Waterbeds, futons, recliners, and sofas are not acceptable sleep surfaces.¹⁰ Staff must also keep a log of food allergies for each child to prevent accidental exposure at meals or snacks.

Required Records

Before receiving a license, every facility must compile two sets of records: one for each child and one for each staff member. Missing or incomplete files are among the most common reasons DHR cites violations.

Child files must contain emergency contact information, medical history including immunization certificates, and signed parental consent forms for emergency medical treatment. Staff files must include an employment application, written verification of education, the results of all required background checks and suitability determinations, and a medical examination report. The medical report must be dated within six months before the employee’s start date and must document the date and results of a tuberculin skin test or chest x-ray, along with a statement from a licensed physician, physician’s assistant, or nurse practitioner confirming the person is physically suitable to care for children and free from infectious disease.⁶

All documentation must be organized and immediately available whenever a DHR representative visits. “Available” means in the building and accessible within minutes, not stored at a separate office or in an email archive.

Getting Licensed, Renewing, and Appeals

Licensing runs through DHR’s Child Care Services Division, which handles day care centers, nighttime centers, and homes.¹¹ Applications can go to the central office or a regional DHR office and require the legal name of the entity, the physical address, proposed hours, maximum building capacity, and the age groups served. Once the paperwork is processed, a DHR representative schedules an on-site inspection. Every room, the outdoor area, and all records are reviewed.

A DHR-issued child care license is valid for two years unless revoked, suspended, or voluntarily surrendered. Renewal applications must reach DHR at least 30 calendar days before the current license expires. If the renewal is on time and complete, the existing license continues in effect while the renewal decision is pending. Miss that 30-day deadline or submit an incomplete application, and the license expires on the date shown. Continue operating past expiration and DHR will report the facility to the District Attorney and the Attorney General for running an unlicensed child care facility.¹² The license itself must be displayed at the facility.¹³

DHR investigates licensing violation complaints and can recommend adverse action when a facility falls short of minimum standards.¹¹ Actions include denial, suspension, or revocation. If your license is denied, suspended, or revoked, you have the right to appeal to DHR for a fair hearing, at which you can appear, present relevant facts, and have legal counsel. DHR’s decision after the hearing is final and binding. Judicial review is available by filing a complaint in the circuit court of the county where the facility is located, or in Montgomery County Circuit Court, within 30 days of the decision. The court can overturn DHR’s decision only if it finds the decision was illegal, arbitrary, or unsupported by the evidence.¹⁴

Transportation Rules for Centers That Drive Children

Facilities that transport children must use a transportation checklist at every stop to account for every child loaded and unloaded. The driver signs the checklist after physically checking each seat to confirm no child is left on the vehicle. This check-every-seat requirement applies at every location, not just at the start and end of the route.¹⁵

For children younger than school age, the driver does not count toward the staff-to-child ratio, so another staff member must ride along. For school-age children, a single driver can transport up to 14. At 15, at least one additional staff member is required; at 30 or more, at least two.¹⁵ Every child must have a stationary seat and an age-appropriate restraint system meeting federal motor vehicle safety standards. No child may ride in the front seat of a vehicle with a passenger-side airbag, no child may sit on the floor, and vehicle doors must be locked whenever the vehicle is moving.

ADA Obligations on Top of State Rules

Federal law sits alongside the state standards. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, child care centers must make reasonable modifications to policies and practices to integrate children, parents, and guardians with disabilities. A center cannot refuse to enroll a child simply because the child has a disability, and it cannot charge higher fees to cover accommodation costs. Those costs are treated as overhead shared among all paying families.¹⁶

The center must conduct an individualized assessment of each child’s needs rather than rely on assumptions about a disability. A child who needs one-on-one support does not have to be excluded if that support can be provided by a personal assistant at no cost to the center, such as through a parent or a government program. The only grounds for exclusion are that a child poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others, or that accommodating the child would fundamentally alter the nature of the program. Both determinations must be based on the specific child’s situation, not generalizations about disabilities.¹⁶ Existing facilities must remove architectural barriers when doing so is readily achievable, and any facility built or substantially renovated after March 15, 2012, must comply fully with the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design.

1
Alabama Legislature. Code of Alabama Section 38-7-3
2
Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code Title 38 Chapter 7 Section 38-7-2
3
Alabama Department of Human Resources. Day Care Center License Requirements
4
Alabama Administrative Code. Alabama Administrative Code Rule 660-5-20-.04 – Child Care Program
5
Alabama Administrative Code. Alabama Administrative Code Rule 660-5-26-.06 – Staff
6
Alabama Administrative Code. Alabama Administrative Code Rule 660-5-20-.06 – Staff
7
Alabama Administrative Code. Alabama Administrative Code Rule 660-5-20-.03 – Facilities
8
Alabama Administrative Code. Alabama Administrative Code Rule 660-5-26-.09 – Nighttime Centers
9
Alabama Department of Human Resources. Minimum Standards for Day Care and Nighttime Homes
10
Alabama Department of Public Health. ABCs of Sleeping Babies
11
Alabama Department of Human Resources. Licensing Overview
12
Alabama Administrative Code. Alabama Administrative Code Rule 660-5-27-.03
13
Cornell Law Institute. Alabama Administrative Code Rule 660-5-37-.07 – Licensing
14
Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code Title 38 Chapter 7 Section 38-7-9
15
Cornell Law Institute. Alabama Administrative Code Rule 660-5-26-.05 – Transportation
16
ADA.gov. Commonly Asked Questions about Child Care Centers and the Americans with Disabilities Act