What Are the Home Daycare License Requirements in Alabama?

Alabama requires a child care license from the Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR) when a provider cares for one or more children who are not related to the provider, away from the child's home, for more than 4 hours in a 24-hour period.

The state sets no small-home exemption threshold.

DHR's Child Care Services Division licenses family and group day care homes under chapter 660-5-27 of the Alabama Administrative Code and centers under chapter 660-5-26.

The threshold is written around children who are not related to the provider, so ask DHR how your own children and other related children count toward capacity.

Alabama defines two home license types.

A family day care home is a family home that receives not more than 6 children for care during the day.

A group day care home serves 7 to 12 children and needs a separate license; a home caring for more than 12 children is a day care center under the center chapter.

Group day care homes also carry staffing and infant limits: at least two adult caregivers must be present whenever 7 or more children are present, the home may be licensed for no more than 6 infants under 12 months, and there must be one caregiver per 3 infants.

How infant counts apply inside a 6-child family day care home was not extracted in our research; ask DHR.

Alabama family day care home applicants must be at least 18, hold a high school diploma or GED, submit current pediatric CPR and first aid, and complete 24 clock hours of child care training before initial licensing — 4 hours in each of six areas.

Providers also need a medical report with a TB test completed within six months before applying, renewed every two years.

DHR contracts with agencies statewide to provide pre-service and annual training, including help earning the CDA credential and national accreditation.

Federal CCDF rules (45 CFR 98.43) set the floor: every child care staff member of a licensed provider needs a comprehensive background check — an FBI fingerprint check, a National Sex Offender Registry search, and, for the current state and each state lived in during the past 5 years, a state criminal repository check plus state sex offender and child abuse/neglect registry checks.

Checks start before hire and repeat at least once every 5 years.

In a family child care home, any household member age 18 or older counts as a child care staff member who needs the check.

The Alabama rule for child care staff sits in the center chapter (Alabama Administrative Code rule 660-5-26-.07): an FBI fingerprint check, NCIC/National Sex Offender Registry, an in-state fingerprint criminal check, the in-state sex offender registry, interstate checks for anyone who lived in another state in the past five years, plus a State Central Registry child abuse/neglect clearance; the checks and the clearance are each renewed every five years.

Each household member also needs a medical report with a TB test, renewed every four years.

Ask DHR which checks it requires for each adult in your home.

Our research did not extract the inspection requirements in Alabama's home chapter: what DHR looks for on a pre-licensing visit, which fire or health clearances a home needs, or how often DHR re-inspects a licensed home.

The home-chapter requirements our research did confirm include the licensing threshold, the license types, and the provider qualifications, training and health requirements covered above.

DHR has also posted proposed new licensing and performance standards for homes, but those drafts are not adopted law.

Ask DHR's Child Care Services Division what an initial home inspection covers before you apply.

Applications go through DHR's Child Care Services Division, the agency that licenses family and group day care homes.

The pre-license steps our research confirmed, for a family day care home applicant, are concrete: 24 clock hours of child care training, current pediatric CPR and first aid, and a medical report with a TB test within six months before applying.

On cost, Alabama center license application fees were not found on the DHR pages our research read, and home license fees were not confirmed either.

No processing timeline for home licenses was established in our research; the one federal anchor is that states must complete a background check request within 45 days of submission.

Ask DHR's Child Care Services Division for the current application packet, fee and timeline.

Alabama family day care home licensees must have at least one substitute, who must be at least 18 with a high school diploma or GED, must not be another licensed child care provider, and needs at least 6 clock hours of child care training.

The substitute is a requirement of the license, not an optional hire.

In a group day care home, assistant caregivers need 12 clock hours of child care training within 30 days of hire and 12 hours each year after, and at least two adult caregivers must be present whenever 7 or more children are present.

Alabama DHR has posted proposed new Child Care Licensing and Performance Standards — a center draft dated 8-26-21 and a homes draft posted in 2026.

The drafts are not adopted law: the requirements on this page come from the adopted rules in chapters 660-5-26 and 660-5-27 of the Alabama Administrative Code.

If you are preparing an application, check DHR's licensing pages for the proposal's current status before you rely on any requirement.