Pennsylvania

Staff-child ratios (centers)

Requirements

Annual training

All staff persons must complete an annual minimum of 12 clock hours of child care training (§ 3270.31). Staff must also complete pediatric first aid and pediatric CPR professional development within 90 days of hire and keep the certifications current.

Lead teacher

A group supervisor (lead teacher) needs a bachelor's degree in early childhood education, child development, special education, elementary education or human services; or a bachelor's with 30 credits in those fields plus 1 year of experience with children; or an associate degree in those fields plus 2 years of experience (or with 30 relevant credits plus 3 years).

Director

A director needs, in the same fields, a bachelor's degree plus 1 year of experience with children; a bachelor's with 30 relevant credits plus 2 years; an associate degree plus 3 years; or an associate with 30 relevant credits plus 4 years. The director must be present at the facility at least 30 hours per week.

Worth knowing

Age bands per § 3270.4 definitions; mixed-age groups follow the youngest child's ratio and group size (§ 3270.52). Staff must be 18+ (16-17 permitted only within an approved training curriculum).

Compliance

Background checks

Operators must comply with the Child Protective Services Law and may not hire persons convicted of or awaiting trial for offenses involving children or violence (55 Pa. Code § 3270.32). Under the CPSL, child care employees and volunteers need the PA State Police criminal history clearance, PA Child Abuse History (ChildLine) clearance and FBI fingerprint clearance, plus National Sex Offender Registry verification, renewed every 60 months from the oldest clearance (pa.gov Keep Kids Safe).

Mandated reporting

An employee of a child-care service who has direct contact with children is a mandated reporter under the Child Protective Services Law (23 Pa.C.S.), and must report suspected abuse immediately and directly to ChildLine (1-800-932-0313) or online via CWIS (pa.gov Keep Kids Safe FAQ). Recognition and reporting duties are reinforced through the required clearances and training regime.

First aid & CPR

At least one staff person trained in pediatric first aid and CPR must be present in the facility whenever children are in care (55 Pa. Code § 3270.33(d)), and pediatric first aid/CPR is among the professional development topics required within 90 days of hire (§ 3270.31(f)).

Health & safety training

Within 90 days of hire, staff must complete professional development in ten mandated health-and-safety topics: infectious disease prevention, SIDS prevention, medication administration, food-allergy response, building safety, shaken baby syndrome, emergency preparedness, hazardous materials, child transport safety, and pediatric first aid/CPR (55 Pa. Code § 3270.31(f)). Staff must also complete a minimum of 12 clock hours of approved training annually (§ 3270.31(e)).

Operations

Supervision rule

Children must be supervised at all times; "supervise" means being physically present and able to see, hear, direct and assess the children's activities (55 Pa. Code § 3270.113). At least two facility persons must be present when two or more children are in care and two persons must accompany excursions (§ 3270.54); nap periods allow relaxed ratios (e.g., 1:10 young toddlers, 1:20 preschoolers) with staff present (§ 3270.55).

Record-keeping

Each child's record must contain initial and subsequent health reports, admission/withdrawal dates, signed parental consents for emergency medical care (required before admission), medication/dietary needs, minor first aid and transportation/excursions, incident reports (copies to parents, retained in an accident file and the child's record), and the parent-operator service agreement (55 Pa. Code §§ 3270.181-182). Records are confidential and releasable only with parental consent, and the current certificate of compliance and inspection summaries must be posted for parents (§§ 3270.183-184, 3270.25).

Inspections

The Department conducts at least one annual unannounced on-site inspection of each center (55 Pa. Code §§ 3270.11(g), 3270.24(d)), an announced inspection before initial certification, and its agents have immediate access to the facility, children and records (§ 3270.24). Inspection summaries must be posted in a parent-accessible location until the Department verifies corrections (§ 3270.25(b)).

Worth knowing: Group child care homes (ch. 3280) and family child care homes (ch. 3290) are certified under separate chapters of 55 Pa. Code; those chapters were not fetched for this dataset, so home-specific differences beyond scope are not detailed here. Clearance details come from the current pa.gov Keep Kids Safe pages (the legacy dhs.pa.gov URL redirects there).

Family & home child care

55 Pa. Code Chapter 3290 (Family Child Care Homes) and Chapter 3280 (Group Child Care Homes)

Family Child Care Home (certificate of compliance)

Child care provided at one time to 4, 5, or 6 children unrelated to the operator; care may not exceed 6 unrelated children at any one time. The related children of either the operator (legal entity) or the staff person — but not both — may be excluded from the count (55 Pa. Code §§ 3290.4, 3290.51).No more than 5 infants and toddlers (related plus unrelated) at one time, of whom no more than 2 may be infants (under age 1): 0 infants allows 5 toddlers, 1 infant allows 4 toddlers, 2 infants allow 3 toddlers (55 Pa. Code § 3290.52).

Group Child Care Home (certificate of compliance)

Care at one time for 7-12 children unrelated to the operator (up to 15 if serving only older school-age children), in a residence or other premises. Staff:child ratios by age level: infants 1:4, young toddlers 1:5, older toddlers 1:6, preschool 1:10, young school-age 1:12, older school-age 1:15 — so a second (or third) staff person is required as younger children are enrolled (55 Pa. Code §§ 3280.4, 3280.51, 3280.52).One staff person per 4 infants; maximum infant group size 12 with 3 staff (55 Pa. Code § 3280.52).

Provider training

An annual minimum of 12 clock hours of child care training per staff person, in both family and group homes (55 Pa. Code §§ 3290.31(f), 3280.31(e)).

Worth knowing

Both categories operate under a DHS 'certificate of compliance' (license) issued through OCDEL's Bureau of Certification Services. Homes caring for 1-3 unrelated children fall outside Chapter 3290's applicability.