Rhode Island

Staff-child ratios (centers)

Requirements

Annual training

All program leadership and classroom staff must complete 20 hours of training annually aligned with Rhode Island's Workforce Knowledge and Competencies relevant to their role; 10 of those hours must be approved through a Department-determined process.

Lead teacher

Teachers must meet one of five pathways — for example, a high school diploma with a vocational concentration in child care plus 2 years of supervised experience, or an associate degree or higher in a field related to early childhood education, child development, human services or recreation.

Director

A child care administrator can qualify at minimum with a high school diploma plus 1 year of administration/business management experience and 1 year working in a licensed or approved early childhood program — when the center also employs a full-time education coordinator; higher-education pathways are also accepted.

Worth knowing

Rhode Island splits infants into younger (6 weeks-12 months) and older (12-18 months), both 1:4 with max group 8. All school-age bands (kindergarten through grade 7+, under 16) are 1:13 with max group 26. No ratio exceptions are allowed for infants; nap-time relief applies to toddler/preschool groups only.

Compliance

Background checks

All staff and adult volunteers must clear comprehensive background checks — state and national (fingerprint) criminal checks, state and national sex offender registries, and child abuse/neglect clearances per R.I. Gen. Laws ch. 40-13.2 — with out-of-state checks for anyone who lived outside RI in the prior five years, renewed every five years (218-RICR-70-00-1). Volunteers under 18 are cleared through the child abuse/neglect central registry only, and in family child care homes all household members 18+ must also be checked (218-RICR-70-00-2).

Mandated reporting

Under R.I. Gen. Laws § 40-11-3, any person with reasonable cause to know or suspect abuse or neglect must report to DCYF within 24 hours; the licensing regulations require programs to report suspected cases to the DCYF CPS hotline (1-800-RI-CHILD) within 24 hours, and staff orientation must cover the reporting law and procedures.

First aid & CPR

Every staff member must be trained under current American Heart Association guidelines in pediatric CPR (online not accepted for initial certification) and pediatric first aid (online accepted), with new hires trained within 90 days of employment (218-RICR-70-00-1). Renewals are due within 90 days of expiration and may be completed in person or online.

Health & safety training

Orientation in the first week must cover the state child abuse/neglect law and reporting procedures, and all new staff must complete DHS-approved health-and-safety preservice training modules within 90 days of hire (218-RICR-70-00-1). Required annual professional development hours must address the CCDBG topics: infectious disease/immunization, safe sleep/SIDS, medication administration, food allergies, premises safety, shaken baby/maltreatment prevention, emergency preparedness, hazardous materials, safe transportation, pediatric first aid/CPR, and abuse recognition/reporting.

Operations

Supervision rule

Classroom staff must provide sight AND sound supervision during all program aspects — indoor and outdoor play, bathroom use, rest or sleep, meals and transitions — with furniture arranged so it never blocks visual supervision, and no cell phones or other distractions while counted in ratio (218-RICR-70-00-1). Infants/toddlers may never be left where a fall is possible, sleep-room lighting must allow staff to see skin color and check breathing, and stricter precautionary ratios apply on field trips.

Record-keeping

Children's files — enrollment application, annual health exam, immunization record, emergency treatment authorization, injury/illness reports, IEP/IFSP and developmental information, field-trip permissions and authorized-release lists — must be updated annually, with additional feeding/sleeping/temperament detail for infants and toddlers (218-RICR-70-00-1). Each classroom keeps a live attendance sheet reflecting who is present at any time, staff files run through the RISES workforce registry (background checks, health, professional development), and program logs (sign-in/out, injury/medication, drills, inspections) are retained at least three years.

Inspections

Child care centers receive unannounced monitoring visits at least twice per year, and DHS holds the right of entry, full file access and the right to investigate complaints (218-RICR-70-00-1). Initial licensure requires building, State Fire Marshal, lead (pre-1978 buildings), asbestos, radon and applicable water/food/pool/playground inspections, with renewals including annual fire, biennial lead and triennial radon inspections.

Worth knowing: Center licensing moved from DCYF to DHS; DCYF retains child protective services (hotline). A specific preservice hour count beyond the 90-day module requirement is not stated in the fetched regulation text, and amendments incorporating the RISES system have been proposed.

Family & home child care

218-RICR-70-00-2 (Family Child Care Home Regulations for Licensure); R.I. Gen. Laws § 42-12.5

Family Child Care Home (licensed)

A licensed residence where the resident may care for up to 6 children, or up to 12 children with one or more approved assistants. Resident children (including foster children) not yet attending kindergarten count toward maximum capacity (218-RICR-70-00-2).Without an assistant: no more than 2 children under 18 months. With one assistant: no more than 4 children under 18 months. A 4:1 ratio must be maintained for all children under age 3 (218-RICR-70-00-2).

Group Family Child Care Home

A family child care home, compliant with local zoning, where the resident provides care for 8 to 12 children with one or more approved assistants (definition in 218-RICR-70-00-2).

Provider training

12 hours of professional development training per calendar year for providers and full-time assistants; 6 hours for part-time assistants working under 20 hours/week (218-RICR-70-00-2).

Worth knowing

The separate Group Family Child Care Home rule (218-RICR-70-00-7) was repealed effective August 9, 2026, and its content consolidated into the Family Child Care Home regulations (218-RICR-70-00-2); the group category now lives inside Part 2. Group-home-specific infant limits beyond the FCCH under-18-month/assistant rules were not separately confirmed — null.