NYC Health Daily Attendance Record Form: Fields, Absences, Storage

The NYC Health daily attendance record form is a one-page log that every licensed child care center in New York City must complete each day under Health Code Article 47, Section 47.27(a).¹ You can download it as a printable PDF directly from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.² It captures each child’s name, a staff health-check initial, arrival and departure times, and signatures from the adult dropping off or picking up.

Where to Download the Form

The official PDF lives on nyc.gov and can be printed as often as you need.² You can also reach it through the DOHMH permits and licenses page for child care providers.³ Each sheet has room for 20 children, so a larger classroom will need more than one page per day. Print a generous stack and keep it near the sign-in area.

Section 47.27(a) requires the record to be “in a form provided or approved by the Department,” so a homemade spreadsheet is risky even if it captures the same columns.¹ One quick note on where not to look: NYC Child Care Connect is a parent-facing search tool for finding regulated programs, not a document portal for providers.⁴

How to Fill Out Each Field

Use a fresh form for each classroom every day. Three classrooms on Tuesday means three forms dated Tuesday. Never combine classrooms on one sheet.

Classroom and Date

Before any children arrive, write the classroom name or number on the “Classroom” line and the date in month/day/year format on the “Date” line at the top of the page.² An undated sheet in a binder throws off the whole sequence during an audit.

Child’s Name

List every enrolled child’s name down the leftmost column. Section 47.27(a) requires at minimum the child’s name and arrival and departure times.¹ Many providers pre-write all enrolled names at the start of the day so an empty arrival field immediately flags who hasn’t come in.

Health Check Initial

The second column is labeled “Health Check” and asks for a staff initial. When a child arrives, a staff member does a brief visual screening for obvious signs of illness or injury and initials the box to confirm it happened. If a child shows symptoms that warrant exclusion, the health check is where that decision is documented.

Arrival Time and Signature

The arrival section has two sub-columns: time in and a signature line for the parent, guardian, or escort.² Record the actual clock time the child enters the room, not a rounded estimate. The signature line is marked “if applicable,” but collecting it creates a reliable handoff record. Fill both fields in as the child walks through the door; backfilling at the end of the morning defeats the purpose and tends to show.

Departure Time and Signature

Departure mirrors arrival: time out and a signature from the parent, guardian, or escort. Note the exact pickup time and have the adult sign on the spot. If someone other than the usual parent is picking up, verify their identity against your authorized pickup list before releasing the child. The attendance form itself has no field for pickup-person identification, so that verification runs through your enrollment records and internal policies, while the form documents when the child left and who acknowledged it.

How to Mark Absences

The most useful attendance logs clearly distinguish an absent child from a row the staff forgot to fill in.¹ Mark absent children with an “A” or draw a line through the arrival and departure fields. During a communicable disease investigation, the Department of Health may need to know exactly who was in the room on a given day, and a blank row next to a name leaves that question unanswered.

Common Mistakes That Trigger Violations

Most citations tied to the attendance form come from habit problems, not confusion about the rules.

Backfilling times at the end of the day from memory. Inspectors can often tell: every time rounds to the nearest quarter-hour and the handwriting looks uniform across the entire sheet.
Leaving the classroom name or date blank at the top of the page.
Leaving a row completely empty for an absent child instead of marking it.
Skipping the health-check initial on busy mornings.
Using a homemade log instead of the DOHMH-provided form.¹

Storing Completed Forms

Keep completed forms organized in a binder by date, with the most recent day on top. When a DOHMH inspector arrives, attendance is among the first things they ask to see, and a staff member digging through drawers sets the tone for the rest of the visit.

Store the binder on-site at the facility where the children are cared for, not at a central administrative office. The forms must be producible immediately. Keep them in a secure location that protects children’s personal information, and make sure at least two staff members know where the binder lives so one person’s absence doesn’t become a retrieval problem.

Retention

Article 47 does not spell out a specific retention period in its public text. A common practice among NYC providers is to keep daily attendance logs for at least the current licensing period plus one additional year. If you are unsure, keep records longer rather than shorter; destroying a log you later need for a complaint investigation or renewal audit is the worse outcome.

Secure Disposal

Attendance forms carry children’s names, daily patterns, and parent signatures, so dispose of them in a way that prevents reconstruction. Cross-cut shredding is the standard for paper. If you also keep scans, delete the digital files securely instead of dragging them to the trash.

Using the Binder During Evacuations

The attendance form doubles as your headcount tool during fire drills and real emergencies. Assign one staff member per classroom to grab the binder on the way out, and write that assignment into your evacuation plan rather than leaving it to the moment. Once outside, use the sheet to call roll: a child with an arrival time and no departure time should be with you. Some providers clip a laminated card with emergency contacts and critical allergy or medical information to the binder, since the attendance form itself does not capture that detail.

Sharing Records With Parents

Parents sometimes ask to see attendance records to verify hours for a subsidy, to document a custody matter, or out of general interest. Head Start programs operate under a federal rule requiring parents to be allowed to inspect their child’s records within 45 days of a request, and the program must ensure the parent sees only information about their own child.⁵ Even outside federally funded programs, honoring reasonable requests is consistent with parents’ general right to information about their child’s care. Before sharing a page that lists multiple children, redact or cover the other names, times, and signatures.

1
American Legal Publishing. 47.27 Health – Daily Requirements – Reports of Absences
2
NYC Health. Daily Attendance Record Form
3
NYC Health. Regulations and Permits for Child Care Providers
4
NYC Health. NYC Child Care Connect
5
HeadStart.gov. Parental Rights