Indiana

Staff-child ratios (centers)

Requirements

Annual training

12 clock hours of in-service training annually for directors and all persons counted in child/staff ratios (470 IAC 3-4.7-35); lead caregivers who lack the required education must complete 8 additional hours (20 total). First aid and CPR training are also required.

Lead teacher

Lead caregivers need a current CDA, a bachelor's in early childhood/elementary education, or a bachelor's with 15 ECE-related credit hours or an ECE associate degree; otherwise they must enroll in a qualifying program (completing 6+ credit hours per year) and take 8 extra in-service hours annually (470 IAC 3-4.7-25).

Director

Directors must be at least 21 and have a bachelor's in early childhood or elementary education, any bachelor's plus 15 ECE credit hours or a CDA, or an ECE associate degree plus at least 3 years of early childhood program experience (470 IAC 3-4.7-21).

Worth knowing

Full chart (470 IAC 3-4.7-47): 2-year-olds 1:5 (group 10); if all 2s are at least 30 months, 1:7 (group 14); 4-year-olds 1:12 (24); 5-year-olds 1:15 (30). Mixed groups use the youngest child's ratio. Regulation text verified via Cornell LII's copy of the Indiana Administrative Code.

Compliance

Background checks

Employees, contractors, volunteers and anyone with unsupervised access must clear a national (FBI) and Indiana fingerprint-based criminal history check every 3 years (redone after a 180-day employment gap), plus annual Indiana Child Protection Index (abuse/neglect) and Indiana Sex Offender Registry checks, with out-of-state checks as applicable — across licensed centers, licensed homes, registered ministries and CCDF-exempt providers (FSSA background-check requirements; 470 IAC 3-4.7-8 lists disqualifying offenses).

Mandated reporting

All staff must receive documented training in recognizing and reporting child abuse/neglect within the first two weeks of employment, updated annually, and must immediately (within one hour) report suspected abuse — to the DCS hotline (1-800-800-5556) and self-report when it involves center staff (470 IAC 3-4.7-11 to -13). Indiana's reporting statute (IC 31-33-5) imposes a universal duty to report, though that statute was not fetched directly.

First aid & CPR

From day one at least one caregiver with current basic first aid (including rescue breathing and choking) must be on duty at all times; all other ratio staff must certify within 6 months and renew at least every 3 years, and every infant/toddler caregiver must hold current first aid (470 IAC 3-4.7-33). At least one caregiver trained annually in pediatric CPR must be present during all operating hours and on field trips; all infant/toddler caregivers renew infant/pediatric CPR annually, with adult CPR required if children 8+ attend (470 IAC 3-4.7-34).

Health & safety training

Before any direct contact with children, all staff and volunteers receive orientation on the children's needs, confidentiality, discipline policy, food handling, emergency evacuation, general health procedures (hand washing, diapering, medication, infant feeding) and universal precautions, which must be repeated annually (470 IAC 3-4.7-32). Directors and all ratio staff also complete at least 12 clock hours of in-service training annually across required content areas, beyond first aid/CPR/universal precautions (470 IAC 3-4.7-35).

Operations

Supervision rule

All children must be under the direct supervision of a responsible caregiver at all times — defined as having all children in sight, staying alert to problems, and taking an active supervisory role — with ratios maintained during all operating hours and set by the youngest child in mixed groups, including opening and closing (470 IAC 3-4.7-48). A pediatric-CPR-trained caregiver must accompany children on field trips (470 IAC 3-4.7-34).

Record-keeping

Required files include each child's signed admission application (identity, parents' employment/contacts, physician, authorized pick-ups, emergency contacts), signed consent forms, health records including immunizations, injury records and medication records (470 IAC 3-4.7-36 to -40), plus staff/substitute/volunteer records (470 IAC 3-4.7-41). First aid and CPR training records must be kept at the center for at least 3 years.

Inspections

The division may monitor, visit or inspect a center at any time, and centers must give immediate access to premises, personnel, children and records — refusal can mean suspension or revocation (470 IAC 3-4.7-9). Licensing consultants monitor all regulated programs through regular onsite inspections and complaint investigations, and inspection reports are public on Indiana's Child Care Finder portal.

Worth knowing: Center rule text is from FSSA's Centers Interpretive Guide (rule effective 11-01-2018, with FSSA interpretations). A fixed annual inspection frequency is not stated on the fetched pages; the universal mandated-reporter statute cite was not independently fetched.

Family & home child care

IC 12-17.2 (Day Care Regulation); IC 12-7-2-28.6 (child care home definition); 470 IAC 3-1.1 (Class I Child Care Homes); 470 IAC 3-1.3 (Class II Child Care Homes)

Class I Child Care Home (license)

Serves not more than 12 children at any one time, plus 3 additional school-year-only children enrolled in grade 1 or higher; a maximum of 15 children under age 11 may be present, and this count includes the caregiver's own children, related children, unrelated children and part-time children present.Ratio rules: 1 caregiver per 4 children for infants/toddlers (birth-24 months), or 1 per 6 when 2 of the 6 are at least 16 months and walking; in a mixed group birth-6 years, 1 per 10 with no more than 3 under 16 months.

Class II Child Care Home (license)

Serves more than 12 but not more than 16 full-time and part-time children at any one time; must meet all Class I (470 IAC 3-1.1) and infant/toddler (470 IAC 3-1.2) requirements, whose child-staff ratios (at most 12:1 for ages 3-10, lower for younger children) require additional caregivers at these numbers.Same age-based ratios as Class I apply (e.g., 4:1 for infants/toddlers unless 2 of 6 are 16+ months and walking).

Provider training

12 hours of approved continuing education annually is required of providers under Indiana's CCDF provider eligibility standards (IC 12-17.2-3.5), unless the provider is related to every child in care. The home licensing rule itself (470 IAC 3-1.1-33.5) requires orientation, a first aid course every 3 years, and current pediatric CPR on the premises at all times.

Worth knowing

Under IC 12-7-2-28.6 a residence becomes a 'child care home' (license required) when at least 8 children - or at least 4 children under 12 months - receive care there; children related to the provider are excluded from that count. A licensure-specific annual clock-hour training requirement (beyond the CCDF 12-hour rule) was not confirmed in 470 IAC 3-1.1-33.5.