Utah

Staff-child ratios (centers)

Requirements

Annual training

Caregivers and directors must each complete at least 20 hours of child care training each year (based on the facility's license date), or at least 1.5 hours per month. At least one staff member with current pediatric first aid and CPR certification (with hands-on testing) must be present whenever a child is in care.

Lead teacher

Caregivers must be at least 16 years old, pass background checks, and complete the required preservice training (approximately 2.5 hours) before working with children, plus the 20-hour annual training requirement.

Director

Directors must be at least 21 and hold one of: a valid national credential (e.g., CDA), a National Administrator Credential with at least 60 hours of equivalent training, a bachelor's or higher degree with at least 60 hours of child development coursework, at least 12 college credit hours in child development, or at least an associate degree in early childhood development or a related field; new-director training is required within 60 working days.

Worth knowing

Full single-age table (DLBC guidance, February 2026): infants 0–11 mo 1:4/8; 12–17 mo 1:4/8; 18–23 mo 1:5/10; 2 yr 1:8/16; 3 yr 1:12/24; 4 yr 1:15/30; school-age 5–12 yr 1:20/40. Ratios verified from official DLBC guidance; training and qualifications verified from the R381-100-7 rule text as mirrored by Cornell LII (the adminrules.utah.gov page was not directly accessible).

Compliance

Background checks

Before any covered individual — staff, volunteers, and household members (checks from age 12; fingerprints for ages 16/18+) — becomes involved with child care, the provider must verify an eligible Office of Background Processing determination, submitting an online application and fingerprints where required (R381-100-8). Individuals found not eligible are barred from employment or residence at the facility, and providers must notify OBP within 48 hours of any arrest, charge, conviction, or supported licensing finding.

Mandated reporting

Utah has universal mandatory reporting: under Utah Code § 80-2-602, any person who has reason to believe a child has been abused or neglected must report to the Division of Child and Family Services or law enforcement, so all child care staff are mandated reporters regardless of role.

First aid & CPR

At least one staff member with a current Red Cross, American Heart Association, or equivalent pediatric first aid and CPR certification must be present whenever a child is in care — at the facility, at each offsite activity, and in each vehicle transporting a child — and CPR certification must include hands-on testing (R381-100-7(19)-(20)). The director, director designee, and staff files must document current certification.

Health & safety training

Each caregiver — and other staff such as drivers, cooks, and clerks — must complete the Office of Licensing's 2.5-hour preservice training before becoming involved with child care, and each caregiver, director, and director designee must complete at least 20 hours of child care training per license year (or 1.5 hours per month if hired mid-year), covering the topics in R381-100-7(16) and sections 7-24 of the rule. Training documentation (date, presenter, hours, topic) must be on-site for OL review.

Operations

Supervision rule

Caregivers must maintain active supervision: for children under five, remaining physically present in the room or area; for school-age children, being able to hear them and close enough to intervene; plus interacting in person at least every 15 minutes, knowing their child count, and positioning themselves to supervise the whole group (R381-100-11(1)). Napping children may be watched via camera or mirror only under strict conditions (adjacent room, staff able to see and hear, open door), nothing may block the view into sleeping equipment, staff under 16 may not supervise, and 16-17-year-olds only within tight limits.

Record-keeping

Providers must keep on-site for each child a current immunization record (or catch-up schedule or legal exemption) with an annual immunization report to the Utah Statewide Immunization Information System, plus daily sign-in/sign-out attendance; each incident, accident, or injury requires a signed written report to the parent the day it occurs, and serious or life-threatening injuries require a critical incident report to the Office of Licensing within one business day (R381-100-6, -11, -14). Staff records must show hire date, current first aid/CPR certification, training documentation, and a six-week record of times worked.

Inspections

DLBC verifies compliance through both scheduled and unannounced on-site inspections using a standard center checklist that tracks the last announced and unannounced inspections, and a program's compliance history is publicly searchable through the licensing records portal; fire and health inspections are also required under the rule. The fetched sources do not state a fixed number of inspections per year.

Worth knowing: Utah's rules host (adminrules.utah.gov) is a JavaScript app that blocks automated fetching, so rule content was verified from DLBC's official R381-100 inspection checklist and, for the licensure threshold, Cornell LII's copy of Utah Admin. Code R381-100-3; annual inspection frequency could not be confirmed from fetched official sources.

Family & home child care

Utah Admin. Code R430-50 (Residential Certificate Child Care) and R430-90 (Licensed Family Child Care)

Residential Certificate Child Care

Home-based care with one caregiver for up to 8 children in care (R430-50-10). Two caregivers are required if more than 3 children under age 2 are present and more than 6 children total are in care.At least one caregiver for every 3 children younger than 2 years, and no caregiver may care for more than 2 children younger than 18 months (R430-50-10).

Licensed Family Child Care

Home-based license for up to 16 children: one caregiver for up to 8 children in care, and two caregivers for 9 to 16 children in care (R430-90-10).At least one caregiver for every 3 children younger than 2 years; each caregiver may care for no more than 2 children younger than 18 months; two caregivers are required when more than 3 children under 2 are present with more than 6 total children (R430-90-10).

Provider training

Residential certificate providers: at least 10 hours of child care training each year (or 45 minutes per month) (R430-50-7). Licensed family child care providers: at least 20 hours each year (or 1.5 hours per month if hired mid-year), plus the Office of Licensing's 2.5-hour pre-service training before working with children (R430-90-7).

Worth knowing

How the provider's own children count was not fully confirmed from primary text: the current R430 ratio rules address when children age 4 and older of on-site workers count in group size, and secondary summaries state the provider's own children under age 4 count toward capacity; treat the own-children rule as needing confirmation against the current rule text. Utah also registers exempt providers (e.g., Child Care Registered Residential Provider) outside these two regulated categories.