Maine

Staff-child ratios (centers)

Requirements

Annual training

In facilities serving 13+ children: 30 hours of annual training for staff working more than 20 hours/week (18 hours if under 20 hours/week); small facilities require 12 hours. First aid/CPR certification hours count, annual training must include health and safety topics, and all staff register with Maine's Professional Development Network (Section 8).

Lead teacher

Lead teachers (programs with 13+ children) must be at least 18 and have a current CDA or Maine-approved credential, or 12 months of direct child care experience, or 30 college credit hours including a child-related course plus 6 months of experience (Section 7(F)(7)).

Director

Director requirements scale with licensed capacity: at least 21 years old, with options from high school plus 12 months of experience and 12 hours of training (13-20 children) up to a bachelor's in early childhood education or equivalent credential/experience combinations for facilities licensed for 50+ children (Section 7(F)(4)-(6)).

Worth knowing

Center table (Section 7(C), facilities with 13+ children) offers alternatives: 1-2.5 years may be 1:5 (group 10) or 1:4 (group 12); 3-under 5 may be 1:10 (group 20) or 1:8 (group 24); 2.5-3.5 years 1:7 (group 21); school-age 1:13 with no stated group max. Small facilities (3-12 children) and nursery schools (1:12, group 30) have separate tables.

Compliance

Background checks

Child care staff members over 18 must complete the comprehensive background check under 10-148 CMR Ch. 34, and license applicants must authorize review of criminal history and driving records, court records, Maine and national sex offender registries, and Child Protective/Out-of-Home Investigations records; disqualifying findings or refusal to consent bar licensure (Ch. 32 §2). Staff files must document completed checks and Department-issued eligibility per 45 CFR §98.43.

Mandated reporting

All child care staff members are mandated reporters who must immediately contact Maine's Child Protective Intake hotline (800-452-1999) on suspicion of abuse or neglect; the director must inform staff of their mandated-reporter status at orientation, provide written reporting instructions, post the hotline, and ensure Department-approved mandated reporter training with retraining at least every 4 years per 22 MRS §4011-A(9) (Ch. 32 §§8, 11).

First aid & CPR

Within 90 days of starting, all child care staff must complete adult AND pediatric first aid and adult and pediatric CPR, each with hands-on skills demonstration (Ch. 32 §8(B)); designated roles (e.g., certain qualified staff and wading-pool attendants) must hold current adult-and-pediatric first aid/CPR certification, and certification hours count toward annual training for the year taken.

Health & safety training

All staff receive fire/emergency and disaster procedure training within their first week and, within 90 days, orientation training covering the licensing rule, program policies, SIDS/SUID and safe sleep, medication administration, food-allergy emergencies, premises safety, communicable disease and universal precautions, hazardous materials, transportation (if applicable), first aid/CPR and mandated-reporter training (Ch. 32 §8). Staff register with Maine's Professional Development Network and complete annual training hours by program size and schedule (12 hours in programs under 13 children; 30 hours full-time / 18 hours part-time in larger programs).

Operations

Supervision rule

Children must be supervised at all times: in programs serving 3–12 children staff must be able to see or hear all children, while programs with 13+ require staff able to see AND hear all children with prompt intervention; napping children need direct supervision by awake staff within ratio, and audio/video monitors for adjacent nap spaces still require in-person checks at least every 30 minutes (Ch. 32 §7(D)). Staff must be physically present outdoors with children under 8, and a staff member may leave a group at most 5 minutes while remaining available for emergencies.

Record-keeping

Facilities keep a separate file for each child and each staff member, retained at least 3 years after the child leaves care or the staff member leaves employment, plus attendance records (dates and daily start/end times) and staff hours-worked records kept on site 3 years, fire drill records for 3 years, immunization records for every child, background-check eligibility documentation per 45 CFR §98.43, and proof of all orientation and training (Ch. 32 §5).

Inspections

The Department generally conducts unannounced site inspections — upon application, annually after initial licensure, on capacity/premises/administrator changes, to investigate complaints or suspected abuse/neglect, and for routine monitoring including Plan of Action compliance — and may inspect more often at its discretion (Ch. 32 §4). Violations are documented on an inspection report with a Plan of Action or Directed Plan of Action, and the Department posts inspection reports to a public website for a running three-year period.

Worth knowing: Text is the rule effective September 27, 2021 (filings 2021-188/189), published by the Maine Secretary of State. Component-level detail of the Ch. 34 background-check rule was not fetched separately.

Family & home child care

10-148 C.M.R. Chapter 33 (Family Child Care Provider Licensing Rule); 22 M.R.S. Section 8301-A

Family Child Care Provider (license)

Day care in the provider's home for up to 12 children under 13 who are not the provider's own children or children residing in the home. Staffing ratios cap the mix: 1 provider per 4 children ages 6 weeks-2 years, per 8 children ages 2-5, or per 12 children over 5. The provider's own children under 4 count toward the ratios; household children over 4 do not.No more than 4 children ages 6 weeks to 2 years per provider (1:4 ratio); 8 with two providers.

Provider training

12 hours of ongoing training annually, including a review of health and safety topics; providers and staff must register with Maine's professional development network (registry).

Worth knowing

Maine has a single family child care license category; 13 or more children means licensing as a child care center. The statute exempts care of up to 3 unrelated children (or 4 when at least 2 are siblings, with no more than 3 children under age 2); the licensing rule states no person may care for more than 2 non-household children without a license - the statute reflects the more recent amendment.