North Carolina

Staff-child ratios (centers)

Requirements

Annual training

North Carolina sets no single annual clock-hour figure at the minimum license level — required in-service hours vary with each person's education, experience and prior training. All direct-care staff need CPR and First Aid certification, ITS-SIDS training for infant rooms (renewed every 3 years), a 16-hour orientation within the first 6 weeks, and health and safety training within the first year, plus an annually reviewed professional development plan.

Lead teacher

Lead teachers must be at least 18 with a high school diploma plus 1 year of experience in a center (or a 2-year high school early childhood program). They must enroll in the North Carolina Early Childhood Credential (NCECC) coursework within 6 months of employment and complete it within 18 months of enrolling.

Director

On-site administrators must be at least 21 with a high school diploma plus an education/experience option (e.g., 2 years of full-time child care experience, a degree with 12 semester hours in child development, a community college early childhood program, or a CDA) plus administration coursework or 1 year of administrative experience. They must complete the NC Early Childhood Administration Credential within 2 years of assuming duties.

Worth knowing

Figures are the minimum-license requirements from DCDEE's July 2026 provider guide; centers earning higher star ratings and NC Pre-K classrooms must meet stricter ratios (NC Pre-K: 1:10, max class 20). Maximum group size never exceeds 25. Small centers in residences use different ratio tables.

Compliance

Background checks

All child care providers as defined in G.S. 110-90.2 must clear a state and national (SBI/FBI) fingerprint criminal record check and hold a Division qualification letter before employment, with pre-service checks and three-year reassessments (10A NCAC 09 .2703, .1101 topics citing G.S. 110-90.2(b)). Applicants who lived out of state in the prior five years must also request each state's criminal registry (with fingerprints), sex offender registry and child abuse/neglect registry checks; provisional providers must be supervised at all times and never left alone with children.

Mandated reporting

Under G.S. 7B-301, any person or institution with cause to suspect abuse, neglect or dependency must report — center staff included — and centers must additionally report per G.S. 110-105.4; recognizing, responding to and reporting child maltreatment under both statutes is a required topic in the first two weeks of new-staff orientation (10A NCAC 09 .1101) and in health-and-safety training (.1102).

First aid & CPR

All staff who provide direct care or accompany children off premises must complete first aid and CPR certification appropriate to the ages of children in care within 90 days of employment, renewed before expiration; distance learning is not permitted (10A NCAC 09 .1102(c),(d)). At least one staff member with current first aid training and one with current CPR training must be present whenever children are in care.

Health & safety training

Each new employee with child contact must receive 16 hours of on-site orientation within six weeks (six hours within the first two weeks), covering abuse/neglect recognition and reporting per G.S. 110-105.4 and G.S. 7B-301, safe sleep, shaken baby prevention, supervision, emergency plans and medication administration (10A NCAC 09 .1101). Administrators and caregiving staff must also complete CCDBG health-and-safety training within one year of employment (infectious disease/immunization, medication, food allergies, premises safety, emergency preparedness, hazardous materials, transport, SIDS/safe sleep, CPR/first aid, abuse reporting) (.1102).

Operations

Supervision rule

Children must be adequately supervised at all times: staff positioned to maximize their ability to see or hear all children and render assistance, interacting while moving about, knowing each child's location and activities, and able to see and hear children from birth to five while they eat (10A NCAC 09 .1801). At nap time for children two and older, one person may remain in the room if all children are visible and required staff are within calling distance; sleeping infants 12 months or younger must be visually checked in person per the center's safe-sleep policy.

Record-keeping

Centers must maintain children's records (enrollment application, medical and immunization records), daily attendance records, staff orientation/training documentation and criminal background check documentation (10A NCAC 09 .0302(d)), plus personnel files with annual evaluations and development plans (.0515 area) and first aid/CPR verification in each staff file. Incident reports must describe how/where the incident occurred and first aid given; infant visual-check documentation is kept at least one month; fire and shelter-in-place drill records are maintained per .0302(d).

Inspections

The Division makes at least one unannounced visit annually to every facility, an unannounced visit whenever it receives a complaint alleging a violation or believes an emergency exists, and an announced visit before initial licensure (10A NCAC 09 .0201). Religious-sponsored centers get an announced pre-opening visit, an unannounced visit within 30 days of opening, and unannounced annual visits thereafter (.2101(c)).

Worth knowing: Field data drawn from the consolidated Chapter 9 rulebook effective July 1, 2025 (DCDEE PDF). The star-rated license system applies to licensed centers/homes; G.S. 110-90.2's registry components were confirmed via rule .2703's out-of-state affidavit language (criminal, sex offender, and abuse/neglect registries).

Family & home child care

10A NCAC 09 (Child Care Rules), Section .1700 (Family Child Care Home Requirements); G.S. 110-86(3) and G.S. 110-91(7)

Family Child Care Home (licensed)

More than 2 but fewer than 11 children in the operator-occupied residence, under one of three options: (1) maximum 8 children with no more than 5 ages birth-5 plus 3 school-age; (2) maximum 3 children birth-24 months plus 3 children ages 2-5 plus 3 school-age (9 total); or (3) maximum 10 children if all are older than 24 months. The operator's own preschool children count; the operator's own school-age children (to 13) do not (G.S. 110-86(3), 110-91(7)).Infant limits are embedded in the capacity options: the 9-child option allows a maximum of 3 children from birth to 24 months; the 10-child option allows no children 24 months or younger (G.S. 110-91(7)).

Provider training

After the first year, annual ongoing training scaled to education: 5 clock hours (4-year degree in a child care field) up to 20 clock hours (no listed credential), with health-and-safety topics cycled every 5 years; CPR/First Aid does not count toward the annual hours (10A NCAC 09 .1700 rules). ITS-SIDS training required to care for infants 12 months and younger.

Worth knowing

North Carolina has no separate large/group home license: home-based programs above FCCH scale are licensed as a 'center located in a residence' (3-12 children with preschoolers, 3-15 school-age only, 10A NCAC 09 .0713(b)). The FCCH maximum was raised from 8 to 10 (statute now 'less than 11'); capacity options above come from current G.S. 110-91(7). The DCDEE rulebook fetched is the August 2020 edition, so rule-level details may lag the statute.