How to Start a Daycare in Alabama: Licensing Steps, Costs and Staffing

Alabama child care centers are licensed by the Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR) Child Care Services Division.

The center rules sit in Ala.

Admin.

Code chapter 660-5-26, and the family and group day care home rules sit in chapter 660-5-27 — one agency administers both the home path and the center path.

DHR has also posted proposed new licensing and performance standards for centers and homes, but those are drafts, not adopted rules; the adopted 660-5-26 and 660-5-27 chapters are what govern today.

Confirm current requirements with DHR's Child Care Services Division before you apply.

Alabama requires a license once a provider cares for one or more unrelated children, away from the child's home, for more than 4 hours in a 24-hour period — the state's rules set no small-home exemption threshold.

A family day care home is a family home caring for no more than 6 children during the day.

Running one means meeting the applicant rules: at least 18 years old, a high school diploma or GED, current pediatric CPR and first aid, and 24 clock hours of child care training before initial licensing.

A group day care home serves 7 to 12 children and needs its own separate license, and a facility receiving more than 12 children for daytime care is a day care center — a definition that reaches programs called preschools, nursery schools, pre-K and play groups.

One route sits outside the license: church-ministry preschools and religious nonprofit school programs can be license-exempt, but they must notify DHR at least 30 days before operating, pass annual fire and health inspections, submit staff criminal history, carry $1 million/$2 million liability insurance, and post that they are not licensed by DHR.

DHR's Performance Standards Training is aimed at prospective operators: the agency provides it for individuals interested in opening a day care center and for new providers, scheduled through the Office of Training & Development at 334-353-7807.

The adopted center rules set the application markers: a separate application is needed for each proposed center, and care may not be provided or advertised before DHR issues a license, a six-month permit, or an approval.

Center licenses are then valid for two years.

Our research did not confirm the inspection steps DHR requires between application and license — ask the Child Care Services Division what your site and license type will need.

An Alabama center director must be at least 19 with at least 20 clock hours of administration and management training plus 4 hours in quality child care, and meet one of four routes: 120 clock hours of child care training plus a high school diploma or GED and 12 months' experience; a CDA or NCCA Certified Childcare Professional credential with that diploma or GED and 12 months' experience; an associate degree in child development or ECE plus 9 months; or a bachelor's in either field plus 6 months.

Teachers must be at least 18 with a high school diploma or GED and 12 hours of child care training within 30 days of hire; no CDA or college credits are required.

All staff complete at least 1 hour of outside pre-service training in each of 11 health and safety topics, then at least 1 hour per topic each year, and clear FBI and in-state fingerprint checks, national and in-state sex-offender registries and a State Central Registry child abuse/neglect clearance — plus interstate checks for anyone who lived in another state in the past five years — all renewed every five years.

Alabama's center ratios run by age band under Ala.

Admin.

Code r. 660-5-26-.04: children from birth to 18 months are staffed at 1:5 — the tightest band in the state's center ratio table — 4 years to school age at 1:18, and the oldest bands at 1:21 (school age to 8) and 1:22 (ages 8 and older), with bands in between.

Only staff who meet child care worker qualifications — at least 18 with a high school diploma or GED, giving full attention to supervising children — count in ratio; aides do not.

Group day care homes staff differently: at least two adult caregivers whenever 7 or more children are present, a license cap of 6 infants under 12 months, and one caregiver per 3 infants.

Our research did not confirm an Alabama center license application fee, so we can't state an amount — ask DHR's Child Care Services Division about current fees before you budget.

Our research did not confirm dollar figures for startup costs either; the licensing agency is the source for what your site and license type will require.

The timeline markers the adopted rules do give: center licenses are valid for two years, no care or advertising may start before a license, six-month permit or approval is issued, and a separate application goes in for each proposed center.

DHR's Performance Standards Training for people considering opening a center is scheduled through the Office of Training & Development.

Performance Standards Training is the state's own resource for prospective operators — DHR provides it for individuals interested in opening a day care center and for new providers, scheduled through the Office of Training & Development at 334-353-7807.

DHR also contracts with agencies statewide to provide pre-service and annual training, including help earning the CDA credential and national accreditation — a staffing resource once you hire.

Alabama Quality STARS, the state's quality rating and improvement system and a partnership between DHR and the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education, has five STAR levels, with STAR 1 meaning a program meets DHR licensing standards; a licensed program must have been licensed at least one year before it can apply for STAR 2 or above.

Our research did not confirm startup grant programs in Alabama — ask DHR what funding is currently available.

DHR has posted proposed new Child Care Licensing and Performance Standards for centers (dated 8-26-21) and for family and group day care homes (posted 2026).

Those drafts are proposals, not adopted law, and this page describes the adopted 660-5-26 and 660-5-27 chapters instead.

Rulemaking can move, so check DHR's licensing pages for the current status of any proposed change before you plan around it.