Alaska child care center license: State and Anchorage rules for 13+ children

State office or Anchorage: who licenses your center

Alaska runs child care licensing through one statute, AS 47.32, which places child care facilities under the Department of Health.⁠² The statute also requires the department to hand child care licensing to any municipality that adopts its own licensing ordinance, within 90 days of the municipality’s written request. A municipality that takes over may add requirements, as long as they meet or exceed State law.⁠²⁠¹

One municipality has done this. Inside the Municipality of Anchorage, “child care licensing and inspections are handled by the Anchorage Health Department.”⁠⁶ Everywhere else, from Fairbanks and the Mat-Su to Juneau and rural hubs, the Division of Public Assistance’s Child Care Program Office (CCPO) licenses you.⁠⁴

Scroll the table sideways to see every column.

The State’s contacts come from its provider page and its provisional licensing packet.⁠⁶⁠⁵ Anchorage lists its jurisdiction and contacts on its licensing page.⁠⁷ Either way, you apply online. The State says providers “begin the licensing process through the Alaska Child Care Information System (AKCCIS),” and Anchorage stopped accepting paper applications for a provisional license on May 5, 2025.⁠⁴⁠⁷

Is your program a child care center?

Under 7 AAC 57.010, a facility that regularly cares for five or more children who are not relatives of the caregiver may not operate without a license unless an exemption applies. Child care here means care between 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m., unless the department has approved nighttime care.⁠¹ The definitions in 7 AAC 57.990 sort licensed facilities by size:⁠¹

• Child care home: up to 8 children. See the Alaska child care home license guide.
• Child care group home: 9 to 12 children, usually in an occupied residence. The State licenses group homes only, not Anchorage.⁠⁴
• Child care center: 13 or more children.

Anchorage draws the line differently. The Health Department’s 2025-2026 code-changes document still shows AMC 16.55.030 defining a child care center as a facility “authorized to care for nine or more children.”⁠⁸ AMC 16.55.020 adopts 7 AAC 57 but replaces every reference to a “child care group home” with the center standard, and AMC 16.55.030 still defines a center at nine or more children in the municipal code as published on 2026-10-12.⁠⁹ A 9-to-12-child program inside the municipality is therefore licensed as a center.

The State exemptions in 7 AAC 57.015 that matter most to center founders:⁠¹

• Care where every child’s parent stays on the premises.
• Facilities on a Department of Defense or Coast Guard installation, and programs approved under the federal Child Care and Development Fund tribal rules.
• Programs that are mainly educational: preschools certified as pre-elementary schools under AS 14.07.020 and 4 AAC 60, and Head Start preschools.
• K-6 school programs of seven hours a day or less. This exemption does not cover before- and after-school care on the school site.
• Day camps for children 5 and up that hold American Camping Association (or equivalent) accreditation, run more than five weeks a year, and operate only during school breaks. Even these camps must run fingerprint background checks or meet the State’s barrier-crime rules.

The department will not issue a voluntary license to several exempt categories, including military-installation programs, recreational programs, therapeutic programs, in-home care and accredited day camps.⁠¹ Anchorage adds its own exemption for enrichment classes, such as sports, art, music and Scouts, for children 3 and up who attend no more than six hours a week and no more than three hours in any 24-hour period.⁠⁸

If you plan to run more than one licensed activity at a site, AS 47.32.020 requires a separate license for each type.⁠²

The administrator

Every center needs a designated administrator, who may also be the owner.⁠¹ Under 7 AAC 57.300, the administrator of a center:⁠¹

• is at least 21 years old;
• shows the management and supervisory skills to select and supervise staff;
• proves education in one of six ways: a SEED career ladder level 7 certificate or higher; at least 12 semester hours of college credit in early childhood development, child development, child psychology or elementary education, with up to 3 of those hours allowed in management; a current CDA credential; a Montessori certificate from a MACTE-accredited program; a school-age child care or child and youth care credential; or another credential the department approves;
• submits four references, at least three from people unrelated to them.

An administrator without a bachelor’s degree in one of those fields must earn three semester hours of relevant college credit every two years. The 24 hours of annual training described below can count instead.⁠¹ If the department finds the administrator unqualified, you have 30 days to designate a qualified one, or the license is open to denial or revocation.⁠¹

7 AAC 57.210 limits one administrator to two facilities. The administrator must be on site during daytime hours at least 20 hours a week in a full-day center, or 10 hours a week in a program open five hours a day or less. In a center, the administrator, a designated onsite adult caregiver or the administrator’s designee must be on site whenever children are present. For absences of 30 days or less, the stand-in must be an adult caregiver with at least one year of child care experience. For longer absences, the stand-in must meet the full administrator qualifications.⁠¹

If a board governs the center, the board must appoint and evaluate the administrator each year, approve the annual budget, hold at least three meetings a year with minutes, and train board members every two years.⁠¹ You also may not run another business on the premises during child care hours if its customers would reach the child care space or disrupt supervision.⁠¹

Space, fire approval and the building

Space. Centers need at least 35 square feet of usable indoor space per child. That excludes hallways, bathrooms, storage, office space, furnace and laundry rooms, crib space and any area children cannot use. Outdoors, you need 75 square feet per child for the largest number of children outside at one time.⁠¹ With no outdoor area on site, the department may approve a nearby park, provided you submit a plan for getting children there and using it. A center attached to a home must use space separate from the family’s living areas.⁠¹ The licensing specialist measures care areas inside and out at the pre-licensing inspection to set your capacity.⁠⁵

In Anchorage, AMC 16.55.260 adds that a center’s playground must adjoin the building. A narrow exception exists for State-approved preschools that held approval before August 9, 2016. Infants and toddlers must also be kept apart from older children and hazards, by fencing, yard scheduling or supervision.⁠⁸

Fire and building code. A facility giving less-than-24-hour care to six or more children must meet the life-safety standards in 13 AAC 50 and 13 AAC 55 and obtain any required State or municipal building code approval. It also needs a fire safety inspection report from each responsible State or municipal authority, renewed every two years, and you pay any inspection fees.⁠³ The State packet puts it plainly: centers need approval from “their local or State of Alaska Fire Marshal’s office depending on jurisdiction.”⁠⁵ Where the fire marshal has deferred to a municipality under 13 AAC 50.075(c), that municipality’s stricter standards also apply.⁠³

Evacuation. Your disaster and evacuation plan must show you can get every child out, including children with limited mobility, in 150 seconds. It needs specific procedures for children under 30 months and must cover tsunami, flooding and earthquake emergencies where they apply. Centers serving children under 12 run an evacuation drill every month, with a written record and critique of each one. After a real emergency, you notify the department by the next working day and file a written report within five working days.⁠³ The State provides form CC67 (“Get Out Alive!”) for the plan.⁠⁵

Plumbing. 7 AAC 10.1030 sets center fixtures by the average number of people in the building each day: children plus employees, averaged over six months, with infants left out of the count.⁠³

Centers licensed for infants or toddlers also need a bathtub, a portable tub, or a sink used only for bathing. In municipalities of 2,500 or more people, plumbing must meet the State plumbing code and any municipal code.⁠³

Water, wastewater and food. Drinking water must come from a system that complies with 18 AAC 80.⁠³ A well must be tested for nitrates and coliform by a DEC-approved lab, with results submitted at application and every year after. A septic system needs DEC approval under 18 AAC 72. A center that prepares or serves food may need a DEC food service permit. Your licensing specialist asks the local DEC office to inspect, and DEC tells you about any fees.⁠⁵⁠³ The specialist also checks that hot water runs between 100 and 120°F throughout the building.⁠⁵

Prohibited outright in centers: firearms and ammunition, and smoking.⁠³

Equipment. Most furniture must be child-size. Every infant under 12 months needs an individual crib or play yard that meets the federal crib standards (16 CFR 1219 or 1220), with no soft bedding. Each child needs a cot, mat or bed, and either the cots or the blankets must carry the child’s name. You need at least five age-appropriate books per child and a phone or other way to reach outside the community.⁠¹

Ratios, group size and staff ages

7 AAC 57.505(c) sets center ratios and maximum group sizes for all hours of operation.⁠¹

When infants, toddlers and preschoolers share a group, the youngest child’s ratio applies. When kindergartners and school-age children mix, the ratio follows the age of the majority. Children 13 and older count as school-age.⁠¹ Group size can never exceed twice the per-caregiver number. The group-size limits are lifted during naps, lunch, outdoor play, field trips and special occasions, but the ratios still apply.⁠¹ Each child must have one or two assigned primary caregivers and a home-base room.⁠¹

Anchorage used to set tighter infant ratios under AMC 16.55.170. That section was repealed effective July 15, 2025, which brought Anchorage’s ratios for every age group into line with 7 AAC 57.505.⁠⁷⁠⁸

Nap rooms. A caregiver must be in the nap room, and the ratio may double once every child is asleep. The alternative: a caregiver checks the room at least every 15 minutes, every child is visible through a door or windowed partition, and staff next door can hear through a sound monitor.⁠¹

Staff ages. Caregivers counted toward ratio must be 18 or older. A center, unlike a home, may count 16- and 17-year-olds if they have completed a child care course or shown competency, work under adult supervision within sight or sound of an adult caregiver, and make up no more than one-fourth of the caregivers on duty.⁠¹ Staff counted in ratio must be awake, except in nighttime care of five or fewer children.⁠¹

Background checks and training

Everyone 16 or older who is associated with the center needs a valid criminal history check through the Alaska Background Check Program before they have contact with children. You need a myAlaska account to apply.⁠⁵⁠¹ Barrier crimes and conditions under 7 AAC 10.905 bar a person from working at the facility, or living anywhere on the premises.⁠¹ The owner submits the signed release for every person who needs a check.⁠¹ You must collect a written employment application and references from each prospective employee before they have contact with children.⁠¹

Training requirements in 7 AAC 57.350:⁠¹

• Orientation within three months of hire, covering your policies, emergency procedures and an overview of eleven health and safety topics from a department-approved training program. The topics include safe sleep and SIDS prevention, medication administration, food allergies, shaken baby syndrome and abusive head trauma, emergency preparedness (evacuation, shelter-in-place and lockdown), hazardous materials, transporting children and abuse reporting.
• Pediatric first aid and CPR certification for every caregiver. In communities without a course, caregivers may learn through department-approved distance materials, then must pass the first certification course offered within 60 miles by road.
• 24 clock hours of annual training for the administrator and each caregiver, with at least one hour on a health and safety topic. Part-time caregivers working 15 hours a week or less need 12 hours. Up to six hours of the pre-service orientation count toward the first year.

Anchorage used to require that 75% of annual training be in person. That rule was removed effective June 24, 2026, and the State rule now governs.⁠⁷

Policies the State reviews before licensing

Your application must include a plan of operation: an organizational chart, a staffing chart, and your policies, program descriptions, schedules and forms. You also need a staffing plan that shows caregiver schedules against expected attendance.⁠¹⁠⁵ The State packet lists the pieces it expects:⁠⁵

1. Policies and procedures manual

   7 AAC 57.220 requires one, available to staff and the department.⁠¹

2. Parent policies

   The written notice parents get at enrollment must cover 18 items, including fees, hours, a summary of the supervision plan, a cold-weather outdoor play policy, screen-time rules and a suspension and expulsion policy.⁠¹

3. Plan of supervision

   Covers indoor, outdoor and high-risk areas, ratios and field trips.⁠¹

4. Personnel policies

   Job descriptions, qualifications and annual evaluations; form CC60 is the State checklist.⁠⁵⁠¹

5. Staffing plan

   (form CC71) and the evacuation plan (CC67). Form CC73 covers shared use of a building, if that applies.⁠⁵

The rules shape the program itself. A center must post a written daily schedule. It must provide 20 minutes of vigorous activity for every three hours open between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., limit screen time to 90 minutes in 24 hours, and give school-age children separate space and equipment.⁠¹ Meals must meet the federal Child and Adult Care Food Program meal pattern (7 CFR 226.20), and center menus must be planned ahead and posted.⁠¹ Corporal punishment is banned, and so are locked rooms and removing a young child from the group for more than 10 minutes.⁠¹

Some activities need separate approval. Care between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. requires a nighttime care specialization, which in turn needs fire marshal approval.⁠¹⁠⁵ Regular moderate-risk activities, such as swimming, gymnastics, camping, wilderness walks or horseback riding, need a specialized program activity approval. Its written plan must address hazards like weather, bears and other wild animals, cliffs, mine shafts and polluted water.⁠¹ The rules ban mobile infant walkers, trampolines, ATV or snowmobile rides, and boating without a flotation device.⁠¹

Applying, step by step

1. Confirm your jurisdiction

   If the site is inside the Municipality of Anchorage, you work with the Anchorage Health Department. Otherwise you work with the CCPO.⁠⁶

2. Line up local approvals

   Check with your city’s planning or zoning office. The State makes this your responsibility, and you submit copies of any permits.⁠⁵ Get building code approval and the fire marshal inspection report, and get DEC sign-off on well water or septic if you have them.⁠³⁠⁵ In Anchorage, the Health Department asks the fire, food service, building, land use and environmental health agencies to certify compliance before it issues a license.⁠⁸

3. Get a State business license

   under AS 43.70. The application requires a copy.⁠¹⁠⁵

4. Apply in AKCCIS

   in the name of the individual or entity that will operate the center. Include the administrator’s qualifications and references, owner and property-owner details, ages and number of children, hours, the plan of operation, the staffing plan, training evidence and the fire and environmental inspection reports.⁠⁴⁠¹ The department checks the packet for completeness and tells you what is missing within 10 days.⁠¹

5. Run background checks

   for everyone 16 and older once the CCPO sends instructions.⁠⁵

6. Complete orientation and the pre-licensing inspection

   7 AAC 57.030 requires the applicant to complete orientation and pre-service training if a program is available within 60 miles by road; otherwise processing stops.⁠¹ For centers, the State packet says the licensing specialist runs the orientation at the facility during the on-site inspection. Plan three to five hours for both.⁠⁵ The department must inspect within 90 days of a complete application.⁠¹ The specialist walks the whole premises and examines any vehicles used to transport children.⁠⁵

7. Receive the provisional license

   The State packet says it takes effect on the first day of the following month and runs one year, with announced and unannounced inspections during that time.⁠⁵ AS 47.32.050 allows one extension of up to another year.⁠²

No State license fee for child care facilities appears in 7 AAC 57 or AS 47.32 as published on 2026-10-12. AS 47.32.040 requires only “any fee established by regulation.” The Anchorage code section that listed “all applicable fees” for applications (AMC 16.55.060) was repealed in July 2025, and neither the State packet nor the Anchorage page states a license fee.⁠²⁠⁵⁠⁷⁠⁸ You do pay the fire inspection fees charged by the fire authority, and DEC says whether any fees apply to your food permit.⁠³⁠⁵ Ask the CCPO or the Anchorage Child Care Licensing office, before you file, whether any license fee applies and what the Alaska Background Check Program charges.

After opening: inspections, the biennial license and renewal

Before the provisional license expires, the department inspects again, no earlier than 90 days before expiry. If you are in compliance, it issues a biennial license.⁠¹⁠² During each licensing period, you can expect an annual inspection within 60 days of the license anniversary, an unannounced health and safety inspection every year, and complaint investigations as they arise.⁠¹ In Anchorage, inspection results for every licensed facility are posted on the AKCCIS map.⁠⁷

File your renewal at least 90 days before the biennial license expires. If the department has not finished reviewing a timely application, the license is automatically extended for up to six months.⁠² Missing the deadline is itself a ground for nonrenewal.⁠¹ Renewal also requires staying in compliance with the State fire code (13 AAC 50.025 and 13 AAC 55) and keeping fire inspection reports current every two years.⁠¹⁠³

Ongoing duties:

• Post the license in a conspicuous place. It cannot be transferred without department approval.⁠²
• Give 30 days’ notice before planned changes to the operator, the facility name, the administrator, the ages served, licensed capacity or hours.⁠¹
• Report immediately any child’s death, any serious injury needing outside medical care, any fire, and any suspension or expulsion of a child for behavior.⁠¹
• Keep records for three years, and update children’s emergency information at least twice a year.⁠¹
• Give parents a summary of the regulations and the department’s number for reporting concerns.⁠¹

Enforcement can include license conditions, fines, revocation or nonrenewal.⁠⁵ You have 15 days from receiving a notice of enforcement action to appeal it.⁠¹ Intentional or criminally negligent violation of a health and safety rule is a class B misdemeanor.⁠²

Anchorage’s 2025 and 2026 code changes

The Anchorage Assembly amended AMC 16.55 twice in two years, generally replacing municipal add-ons with the State rules:⁠⁷⁠⁸

• Effective July 15, 2025 (AO 2025-070): municipal ratio and group-size sections were repealed, so ratios match 7 AAC 57.505. The municipal liability insurance mandate (AMC 16.55.115) was repealed. In its place, your parent information must say whether you carry insurance and for how much, and you must give a parent a copy of the policy on request.
• Effective June 24, 2026 (passed June 23): the Assembly removed the municipal orientation and training section, the requirement for physical exams for children in centers, the municipal nutrition section, and the never-used rules for centers serving sick children. The Health Department says State regulations (7 AAC 57.350, 57.550 and 57.560) now cover those areas.

Getting paid: CCAP and the Child Care Grant

Licensed centers may enroll in Alaska’s Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP), which pays for care for eligible families. For licensed providers, enrollment is a paper application filed with your local Child Care Assistance office.⁠⁴ Centers that are licensed (by the State or Anchorage) and enrolled in CCAP can also apply for the Child Care Grant. The grant provides monthly funding that may go toward staff wages and benefits, substitutes, health and safety items, children’s supplies and training. You apply on form CC30 through your local Child Care Assistance office.⁠⁴ Those two programs sit outside licensing: the State page describes CCAP enrollment and the grant as optional steps after you hold a license, not conditions of the license.⁠⁴

Questions to settle with the agency

The published rules leave a few points for you to confirm directly. Ask the CCPO (or Anchorage Child Care Licensing) whether any license fee applies. The State’s licensing packet is dated Rev. 08/2022 and describes paper forms (CC52, CC60, CC67, CC71, CC73), while the State now directs applicants to AKCCIS, so ask whether the same forms are used there. Ask also how the 60-mile orientation rule in 7 AAC 57.030(a) applies to a center whose orientation the packet says happens on site at the inspection.⁠¹⁠⁴⁠⁵

Sources

1. 1
   Alaska Administrative Code (Alaska State Legislature), 7 AAC 57, Child Care Facilities Licensing Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
2. 2
   Alaska Statutes (Alaska State Legislature), AS 47.32, Centralized Licensing and Related Administrative Procedures Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
3. 3
   Alaska Administrative Code (Alaska State Legislature), 7 AAC 10.1000-10.1095, Environmental Health and Safety Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
4. 4
   Alaska Department of Health, Become a Child Care Provider Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
5. 5
   Alaska Department of Health, Division of Public Assistance, Child Care Program Office, Introduction to the Provisional Child Care Licensing Process (Rev. 08/2022) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
6. 6
   Alaska Department of Health, Welcome Child Care Providers Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
7. 7
   Municipality of Anchorage, Anchorage Health Department, Child Care Licensing Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
8. 8
   Municipality of Anchorage, Anchorage Health Department, AMC 16.55, Code changes in 2025 and 2026 Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
9. 9
   Municipality of Anchorage (eCode360), Anchorage Child Care Licensing Code (AMC 16.55) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑

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