New Hampshire

Staff-child ratios (centers)

Requirements

Annual training

18 hours of professional development within the first 12 months of hire and annually thereafter for the center director, administrators, and all child care staff (12 hours for certain reduced-hour staff) (He-C 4002.33).

Lead teacher

Lead teachers must be at least 18 with a high school diploma and meet one of several options, e.g., 18 credits of related coursework (including at least 3 credits in child or human growth and development) plus 1,000 hours of experience, or a CDA credential (He-C 4002.35).

Director

Center directors must be at least 21 with a high school diploma, have 3 college credits in management or supervision, at least 1,500 hours of experience working with children in licensed child care or elementary school, and a qualifying education option such as a related associate degree or current early childhood certification (He-C 4002.35).

Worth knowing

Ratios are expressed as staffing tiers per group (e.g., 1 staff up to 4 infants; 3 staff for 9-12). Other bands: 25-35 months 1:6 (group 18); 48-59 months 1:12 (group 24); school-age programs (56+ months) 1:15 with max group 45. Mixed-age rooms use the average age. CAUTION: He-C 4002 was readopted effective Aug. 26, 2025; figures above are from the codification published by Cornell LII (sections marked effective April 22, 2022). The DHHS adopted-rule PDF could not be fetched (HTTP 403), so verify these values against the 2025 rule text at dhhs.nh.gov before relying on them.

Compliance

Background checks

He-C 4002.40 requires child care staff, substitutes, other employees, volunteers who might be alone with children or count in ratios, and household members 18+ to complete a background record check through the NHCIS portal prior to employment or residency and every 5 years, completed per RSA 170-E:7 (fingerprint-based criminal check plus abuse/neglect and registry components); individuals may attend orientation but cannot interact with children until the unit issues an eligibility notice, and may work only under direct supervision after a clean fingerprint result until all results return.

Mandated reporting

Yes — the rules designate program staff as mandated reporters: the program manager or designee must report to the Division for Children, Youth, and Families whenever the licensee, child care staff, or anyone involved with the program suspects abuse or neglect, in accordance with RSA 169-C:29, and staff training must cover prevention, recognition, and reporting of abuse (He-C 4002.32).

First aid & CPR

At least one staff person trained and currently certified in pediatric CPR and first aid (Red Cross, AHA, or another nationally recognized organization) must be present with all children during all operating hours, on and off premises; online courses count only with an in-person skills test, and current certificates must be on file for department review (He-C 4002.19(r)-(t)).

Health & safety training

He-C 4002.32 requires all child care staff responsible for supervision or counted in ratios to complete, within 90 days of hire, training in child care licensing orientation, infectious disease prevention, safe sleep/SIDS (if licensed for infants), medication administration, allergy response, premises safety, shaken baby/abusive head trauma, emergency preparedness, hazardous materials, transportation precautions, pediatric first aid/CPR, abuse recognition and reporting, and child development — with SIDS/SBS, transportation, and medication topics required before performing those duties; thereafter staff complete 12 hours of professional development annually, at least 3 in health and safety topics.

Operations

Supervision rule

Children must be under staff supervision, with a missing or unsupervised child reportable to the department within 24 hours (He-C 4002.05(d)); a child separated from the group must remain within hearing and vision of staff, electronic monitors may substitute for direct supervision of sleeping children only on the same building level with required in-person checks of infants and toddlers in cribs (He-C 4002.25), and field trips require signed permission slips, a first aid kit, emergency information, and CPR/water-safety-trained staff for water activities (He-C 4002.31).

Record-keeping

Programs must keep daily staff and child attendance records including scheduled hours and positions (He-C 4002.08), staff records with background-check documentation and professional development (He-C 4002.09), and child records including enrollment, health/immunization documentation with permitted exemptions and grace periods, parental first-aid permissions, and field trip/water activity permission slips retained 2 years after the last covered activity (He-C 4002.10, .31).

Inspections

The Child Care Licensing Unit conducts a yearly unannounced monitoring visit at every program plus an unannounced visit before each license expiration (licenses run three years), investigates alleged non-compliance and complaints (He-C 4002.41), and statements of findings with corrective action plans must be posted for parents and are published online through the NH Child Care Search.

Worth knowing: NH DHHS PDFs (dhhs.nh.gov) return 403 to automated access as expected; all rule text was taken from the NH General Court rulemaking compilation (gc.nh.gov he-c4000.html), which contains He-C 4002 as readopted by Document #14356 effective 9-22-2025 — newer than the 2022 version most secondary sources describe.

Family & home child care

N.H. Admin. Rules He-C 4002 (Child Care Program Licensing Rules); RSA 170-E

Family child care home (statutory name: family day care home)

One provider may care for up to 6 preschool children plus 3 school-age children who are enrolled in and attending a full-day school program (school-age slots used outside school hours). License capacity includes the provider's own, foster, and resident children up to age 10 when present; vacant preschool slots may be filled with school-age children up to the maximum capacity (He-C 4002.34).Of the 6 preschool children: no more than 4 may be younger than 36 months and no more than 2 younger than 24 months when the provider works alone; with a second worker or assistant, no more than 4 under 36 months (He-C 4002.34).

Family group child care home (statutory name: family group day care home)

A family group child care provider plus a family child care worker or assistant may care for up to 12 preschool children plus 5 school-age children enrolled in a full-day school program; whenever only one provider is working, the single-provider family-home limits apply (He-C 4002.34).Of the 12 preschool children, no more than 4 may be younger than 36 months (He-C 4002.34).

Provider training

18 hours of professional development within the first 12 months and annually thereafter, with at least 3 hours in health-and-safety topics; staff working under 25 hours/week: 12 hours annually (He-C 4002.33 as adopted 2025) — see verification note.

Worth knowing

NH DHHS's PDF of the adopted He-C 4002 (8/26/2025) blocked automated access (HTTP 403), as in a prior research round. Figures were verified from the NH General Court rulemaking file (2025 initial-proposal redline) and Cornell LII's copy of He-C 4002.34, which match each other — verify against the adopted rules at dhhs.nh.gov before relying on them, especially the 18-hour professional development figure.