Every licensed child care center and every family child care home that takes federal child care subsidy money answers to the same background check floor, no matter which state it operates in. That floor comes from the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act, and it is written into federal regulation at 45 CFR 98.43. States can add to it, and most do, but the components, the disqualifying offenses, and the renewal cycle in the federal rule apply everywhere child care is licensed with any CCDF funding attached to it.
Owners and directors who last read the rule when it took effect sometimes assume it only covers lead teachers. It does not. It reaches substitutes, contractors, adults who live in a family child care home, and in many cases the operator themselves. Here is what the federal rule actually requires, who it covers, and where FCRA-governed employer screening fits in alongside it.
The five components of a federal child care background check
Under 45 CFR 98.43(b), a qualifying background check for a child care staff member has to include all of the following, not a subset:
- FBI fingerprint check. Fingerprints are run through the FBI’s Next Generation Identification system, the national fingerprint-based criminal history database.
- National sex offender registry search. A check of the National Crime Information Center’s National Sex Offender Registry, which aggregates registrant data across states. The public-facing version of that same data lives on the Department of Justice’s National Sex Offender Public Website.
- State criminal registry check in the state where the person currently lives, and in every state they lived in during the preceding five years. The check has to be fingerprint-based in the state of current residence; other states may accept a name-based search.
- State sex offender registry check in the current state of residence and any state lived in over the prior five years.
- State child abuse and neglect registry check, again covering the current state and any state of residence in the prior five years.
That last item trips up operators who only think of background checks in criminal terms. A clean criminal record does not satisfy the rule if the person has a substantiated finding on a state child abuse and neglect registry. States maintain those registries separately from courts, and a licensing agency has to query them directly.
Who counts as a child care staff member
The federal definition is broader than “employee.” Under the regulation, a covered child care staff member is anyone who is employed by a child care provider for compensation, including contract workers and self-employed individuals, whose job involves the care or supervision of children or gives them unsupervised access to children. That reaches substitutes, floaters, kitchen and transportation staff who move through classrooms, and owner-operators who work directly with kids.
Family child care homes get one more layer: any individual age 18 or older who resides in the home is treated as a covered person, whether or not they work for the business, because they have ongoing access to the children in care. The regulation carves out one narrow exception, for individuals who are related to every child being served in that setting.
Substitutes and short-term hires are not exempt just because the assignment is brief. If the role involves unsupervised access to children, the check has to be completed before that person starts, the same as any full-time hire.
Disqualifying offenses
Section 98.43(c) sets a list of results that make someone ineligible to work in or around licensed child care, regardless of how the state otherwise weighs criminal history. A person is disqualified if they:
- Refuse to consent to the background check
- Knowingly make a materially false statement in connection with the check
- Are listed on a state or national sex offender registry
- Have a felony conviction for child abuse or neglect, a crime against a child, spousal abuse, a crime involving rape or sexual assault, homicide, kidnapping, or arson
- Have a felony conviction for physical assault, battery, or a drug-related offense committed within the past five years
- Have a violent misdemeanor conviction against a child, including child pornography offenses
States are allowed to define additional disqualifying offenses on top of this list, and most licensing agencies do, particularly around DUI history, elder abuse, and offenses involving vulnerable adults. Operators working across state lines should check the specific state’s licensing standards rather than assuming the federal list is the whole answer.
Timing, portability, and the five-year renewal
A child care staff member’s background check has to be initiated before that person starts working in a role with child contact. States receiving CCDF funds have to complete a check on an existing staff member not less than once every five years, and the components run on that schedule have to include a new set of the same searches described above, not just a records refresh.
The regulation gives licensing agencies up to 45 days to return complete results, which is why many centers build a conditional-hire process around supervised access while fingerprint results are pending, structured to keep the new hire off unsupervised duty until clearance comes back.
There is a portability provision for staff who move between employers within the same state. If a person already passed a qualifying check within the last five years while working for another child care provider in that state, and either stayed continuously employed or had a gap under the state’s threshold (up to 180 consecutive days), the new employer may be able to rely on the prior result instead of running a fresh one. That provision does not apply across state lines. A staff member moving from a center in one state to a center in another starts the check over under that state’s process.
| Check component | Scope | Renewal frequency |
|---|---|---|
| FBI fingerprint check | National, via NGI | Not less than every 5 years |
| National sex offender registry | National, via NCIC | Not less than every 5 years |
| State criminal registry | Current state plus every state of residence in the prior 5 years | Not less than every 5 years |
| State sex offender registry | Current state plus every state of residence in the prior 5 years | Not less than every 5 years |
| State child abuse and neglect registry | Current state plus every state of residence in the prior 5 years | Not less than every 5 years |
Where state law adds to the federal floor
The federal rule sets a minimum, and it is genuinely a minimum. Individual states run their own licensing statutes, and those often widen the pool of covered roles, shorten the renewal cycle, add fee structures, or require checks for people the federal rule does not clearly reach, like unpaid volunteers who work alone with children. The Office of Child Care within the Administration for Children and Families administers the CCDF program and publishes state-by-state implementation guidance, and family-facing information on how licensing and background checks work is available through Childcare.gov. Because the details vary this much by state, our companion guide on childcare background check requirements by state breaks out the specific rules operators are working under state by state.
Centers that also serve school-age children in before- and after-school programs, or that partner with school districts, often end up screening against the standards used in education background checks as well, since those programs can carry their own district-level or state education agency screening rules layered on top of the CCDBG minimum.
How FCRA applies when a center screens beyond the mandate
The CCDF background check run through a state licensing agency is a regulatory function, not a consumer report ordered by an employer. But plenty of child care employers go further than the federal minimum on their own, ordering supplemental checks through a consumer reporting agency to cover employment verification, education verification, additional criminal record searches, or civil litigation history that the CCDBG check does not touch.
Any time an employer orders that kind of supplemental report from a third-party screening company, the check is governed by the Fair Credit Reporting Act. That means a standalone disclosure, written authorization from the applicant, and, if the results lead to a decision not to hire, an adverse action process that gives the applicant notice and a chance to respond before the decision becomes final. Operators layering a fingerprint-based criminal search on top of their state-mandated check, through a service like a fingerprint background check, still need to run that additional check through FCRA-compliant consent and disclosure steps even though the CCDF-mandated portion of screening operates under a separate state process. Confusing the two, treating the state-run check as if it satisfies FCRA obligations for a separately ordered employer report, is one of the more common compliance gaps in child care hiring.
Frequently asked questions
Does every daycare employee need an FBI fingerprint check?
Anyone who meets the federal definition of a child care staff member does. That includes paid employees, contract workers, and self-employed providers whose work involves caring for or supervising children or gives them unsupervised access to children. In a family child care home, anyone 18 or older living in the home is also covered, with an exception for people related to every child in care.
How often does a daycare background check need to be renewed?
Federal regulation requires a full check, covering all five required components again, not less than once every five years for existing staff members, in addition to the check required before a new staff member starts.
What disqualifies someone from working in child care?
Federal rule disqualifies anyone who refuses to consent to the check, makes a knowingly false statement during it, is listed on a sex offender registry, or has a felony conviction for offenses including child abuse or neglect, crimes against children, spousal abuse, rape or sexual assault, homicide, kidnapping, arson, or a drug-related felony within the past five years, along with certain violent misdemeanor convictions against children. States can add offenses beyond this federal list.
Do daycare background checks cover states where the worker used to live?
Yes. The check has to include criminal, sex offender, and child abuse and neglect registry searches in the person’s current state of residence and in every state they lived in during the preceding five years, in addition to the national FBI fingerprint and national sex offender registry searches.
Does the FCRA apply to daycare background checks?
The state-run check mandated under the CCDBG rule operates as a regulatory function rather than a consumer report. When a child care employer separately orders additional screening through a consumer reporting agency, such as employment or education verification or extra criminal searches, that report is governed by the FCRA, requiring standalone disclosure, written authorization, and an adverse action process if it leads to a hiring decision.
This article is general information, not legal advice. Child care licensing and background check requirements vary by state and change over time, so operators should confirm current rules with their state licensing agency before making hiring decisions.
