Arizona child care facility license: how ADHS licenses a center

Five children triggers the license

A.R.S. 36-881 defines a child care facility as “any facility in which child care is regularly provided for compensation for five or more children not related to the proprietor” ⁠¹. “Child care” means care, supervision and guidance on a regular basis, for less than 24 hours a day, somewhere other than the child’s own home. A “child” is anyone through age 14. That extends to under 18 for a child with a developmental disability, or with a listed disability who needs special education ⁠¹. Until you hold the license, you may not receive any child for care ⁠².

The neighboring credential is the child care group home certificate. That covers care in a residence for five to ten children through age 12 ⁠⁸. If you plan to work out of a house and stay within ten children, read the Arizona child care group home certificate guide before you commit to a facility license. Outside a residence, or above ten children, the facility license is the route.

A.R.S. 36-884 exempts several kinds of program ⁠³:

• Care in the homes of parents or blood relatives.
• A religious institution’s nursery run during religious services, or parent-supervised occasional drop-in care.
• Public schools during regular hours for enrolled K-12 students. Child care a public school runs outside regular hours, or for children not enrolled, falls under separate standards in A.R.S. 36-883.04.
• Private schools, except that care beyond regular public school hours, or for children not enrolled in K-12, counts as a child care facility.
• The Arizona state schools for the deaf and the blind.
• Lessons in a single subject (dance, drama, music, self-defense, religion), and tutoring a public school provides to improve school performance.
• Recreational or instructional programs for school-age children who come and go on their own. The program must post a notice that it is not a licensed child care facility.
• A core-subject preschool for children aged 3 to 6. It may teach only math, reading and science, take no state-subsidized tuition, and see each child no more than 2¼ hours a day and three days a week. It must also post a not-licensed notice and fingerprint all personnel.
• A day camp accredited by a nationally recognized organization approved by ADHS. It must run less than ten weeks a year, serve only children 5 and older, post a not-licensed notice on site and on its website, and fingerprint all personnel.

If ADHS believes you are operating without a license, it sends a notice. You then have ten days to stop or prove you are licensed. Continuing after that is a class 1 misdemeanor ⁠¹⁰.

Who can apply

Under R9-5-201, the applicant must be at least 21. An individual applicant must be a U.S. citizen or legal resident alien and an Arizona resident. A corporation, association or LLC must be an Arizona entity or a foreign entity qualified to do business in Arizona. A partnership needs at least one partner who is a citizen or legal resident and lives in Arizona ⁠⁴.

The statute makes ownership transparent. The application lists every controlling person ⁠². That includes anyone who can vote at least 10% of the voting securities or holds 10% of the voting rights in a partnership. It also includes general partners, limited partners with 10% of the voting rights, holders of a beneficial interest in 10% or more of the liabilities, and the president, CEO, incorporator or agent of a corporation, association or LLC ⁠¹. You must affirm that no controlling person has been denied a child care license or group home certificate, in Arizona or anywhere else, or had one revoked for endangering children ⁠². Prior denials or revocations, false information, and a denied fingerprint clearance card are all grounds to deny the license under R9-5-210 ⁠⁴.

Each location needs its own license and its own application. So does each owner at a shared location. Extra buildings at the same address, or inside one unbroken property boundary, under the same ownership can sit on one license ⁠⁴.

The application packet

As of 2026-10-12, ADHS’s provider entry point is its online Child Care Licensing Management System, the licensing portal that also takes online payments ⁠⁵. R9-5-201 spells out the packet ⁠⁴:

1. Application form

   The form names the facility and the service classifications you are requesting. It includes your statement that you have read the statute and R9-5 and will comply with them.

2. Identity and status

   A copy of a U.S. passport, birth certificate, naturalization papers, or proof of legal resident status.

3. Fingerprint clearance card

   A copy of your valid card, front and back, issued by the Department of Public Safety ⁠⁴⁠².

4. Background check document

   A copy of your valid background check document under A.R.S. 46-811(A). That statute lets DES and ADHS run the checks the federal Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 2014 requires beyond the fingerprint card ⁠⁴⁠⁷.

5. Attestation form

   The confidential form required by A.R.S. 36-883.02(C). On it you attest that you are not awaiting trial on, and have not been convicted of, a listed offense. You also attest that you are not the parent of a child adjudicated dependent, and that you have never been denied a child care license or certificate ⁠⁶.

6. Scaled site plan

   Drawn to scale by an architect, draftsman or contractor, it must show property boundaries, every building, driveways, parking lots, outdoor activity areas, each fence and gate (type and height), and any swimming pool ⁠⁴.

7. Scaled floor plan

   Also drawn to scale, it must show the dimensions of each indoor activity area, the capacity and classification you are requesting for each room, diaper-changing areas, every sink, toilet, urinal and drinking fountain, and the fire alarm system ⁠⁴.

8. Occupancy proof

   One of three: a certificate of occupancy from your city or county; local documentation that the building was approved for occupancy; or, if neither is available, a statement from the local jurisdiction that a certificate of occupancy is not available ⁠⁴. Local building approval therefore has to come before the state application.

9. Agricultural land

   If the site is within a quarter mile of agricultural land, list the owners and lessees of each parcel and attach your signed attestation to comply with A.R.S. 36-882. The statute also calls for the buffer-zone agreement described below ⁠⁴⁠².

10. Business organization form

    Entities list each controlling person and attach their articles or partnership documents. They also attach documentation of good standing issued by the Arizona Corporation Commission, and a signed statement that no controlling person has been denied or had revoked a child care license or group home certificate ⁠⁴.

Public schools, charter schools and government agencies file their own versions of the ownership form. A charter school must attach approval from its sponsoring board ⁠⁴.

The agricultural buffer zone

This step is particular to Arizona. Under A.R.S. 36-882(D), ADHS must deny a license that affects agricultural land regulated under A.R.S. 3-365 (pesticide buffer zones). The one exception is when the landowner agrees in writing to comply with the buffer zone requirements. That agreement must be recorded with the county recorder as a restrictive covenant on the land. It does not apply when a license is reissued for a location that was already licensed ⁠². If your site is near farmland, settle this with the neighbor before you sign a lease.

Before the license: what must exist on day one

Several items must be in place, and some delivered to ADHS, before a license issues:

• A designated facility director. You submit the director’s name in writing before licensure. The director also names a qualified designee in writing to cover any absence ⁠⁴.
• A written statement of child care services. R9-5-302 lists 19 required items. They include classifications, hours, enrollment and fees, discipline methods, transportation and field trips, medication and emergency procedures, and ADHS’s local address and phone. They also include your 48-hour pesticide notice procedure, parents’ right to access their child’s areas, and suspension and expulsion policies. The rule requires you to prepare the statement but does not say when ADHS wants a copy, so ask the Bureau whether to upload it with the application ⁠⁴.
• Insurance. General facility liability insurance of at least $300,000, plus statutory motor vehicle coverage for any vehicle that transports children. Proof goes to ADHS before licensure and again whenever coverage expires, is canceled or changes ⁠⁴.
• Fire and gas inspections. You need a fire inspection by the local fire department. If gas pipes run from a meter to any appliance, you also need a gas inspection by a licensed plumber or someone the local jurisdiction authorizes. Any corrections must be made before the license issues. The gas inspection repeats every 12 months ⁠⁴.
• Written policies and procedures for daily operation ⁠⁴.

Building and outdoor space

Capacity comes from usable floor area. R9-5-602 requires at least 35 square feet of indoor activity space per infant and per 1-year-old. Older children need 25 square feet each. If 1-year-olds share a room with older children, every child in that room needs 35 square feet ⁠⁴. Kitchens, bathrooms, closets, hallways, stairs, entryways, offices, isolation rooms, storage and staff-only rooms do not count. Neither do interior walls or the floor under teacher desks, file and storage cabinets and staff sinks ⁠⁴. For licensing purposes, an infant is a child 12 months or younger, or up to 18 months if not yet walking ⁠⁴.

For large-muscle activity, R9-5-602(C) requires at least 75 square feet of outdoor or indoor activity area per child for at least half of licensed capacity. If every child is in care for less than four consecutive hours, no outdoor space is required ⁠⁴.

If you use indoor space instead of outdoor space, it needs impact-protecting mats or pads in the fall zone of indoor swings, slides and climbing equipment ⁠⁴.

Other physical requirements ⁠⁴:

• Infant rooms. These must be wall-enclosed rooms. A room licensed for more than five infants needs two or more designated exits.
• Toilets and sinks. Children out of diapers need one flush toilet and one hand-washing sink for 10 or fewer children, and two of each for 11 to 25. Above that, add one of each for every additional 20 children.
• Playground. The fence must be at least 4 feet high and secured to the ground, with openings no wider than 4 inches. Gates stay closed while children are outside. Surfacing must be at least 6 inches of resilient material such as fine sand or wood chips, and shade must be available for every child.
• Fire safety. You need a 2A-10-BC fire extinguisher in the kitchen and a smoke detector in each indoor activity area and the kitchen. Exits stay unobstructed and unlocked during hours of operation. Glass within 36 inches of the floor must be safety glass or shielded.
• Pools. A lifeguard with current certification, including a CPR demonstration, must be on the premises during swimming. A staff lifeguard does not count toward ratios.

Service classifications

Your license lists each service classification you may offer, and you may not operate outside them ⁠⁴. The statute requires ADHS to set separate classifications at least for infant care, specific educational programs, and evening and nighttime care ⁠¹⁵. R9-5-204 has nine: full-day, part-day, evening and nighttime, infant, one-year-old, two-year-old, three-to-five-year-old, school-age out-of-school time, and weekend care ⁠⁴. The license also states the maximum number and ages of children ⁠². Request every classification you expect to offer in the first application. Adding one later needs an application and ADHS approval, requested at least 30 days ahead ⁠⁴.

Director and staff qualifications

The facility director must be at least 21 and meet one of four combinations under R9-5-401 ⁠⁴:

The director’s designee must also be 21 or older. Their paths are lighter: for example, 12 months of experience plus a diploma and 3 credit hours or 30 workshop hours. A child educator (the former teacher-caregiver) must be 18 or older and have either six months of experience (three months for school-age children) plus a high school diploma or 12 credit hours, or an associate or bachelor’s degree in the field, or an N.A.C., C.D.A. or C.C.P. credential. Assistant child educators and child educator aides must be at least 16, and volunteers at least 15 ⁠⁴. The director supervises, or assigns a child educator to supervise, any staff member who does not meet child educator qualifications ⁠⁴.

Notify ADHS of a director change at least 10 days in advance. If you learn of it later, notify within 72 hours of learning ⁠⁴. A director change can also trigger a provisional license of up to six months ⁠².

Ratios and who must be in the building

The youngest child in a group sets the ratio. Only someone qualified as a director, child educator or assistant child educator counts toward ratio, so aides and student-aides do not. A staff lifeguard is not counted either ⁠⁴.

With six or more children present, the director or a qualified designee plus one other staff member must be in the building. Infants may not then be grouped with older children. With five or fewer children, the director or designee must be present, and a second staff member must be on call and able to arrive within 15 minutes. Administration, cooking and maintenance require staff beyond the ratio count ⁠⁴.

Background checks, health screening and training

Arizona layers two checks on every staff member and volunteer ⁠⁴⁠⁶⁠⁷:

• Fingerprint clearance card before the first day of work. If someone already holds a card, you must confirm with DPS that it is valid and document that you did. A copy of the card is due each time it is issued or renewed ⁠⁴.
• Background check document under A.R.S. 46-811(A), due before the start date and renewed every five years ⁠⁴.
• Attestation form under A.R.S. 36-883.02(C) before the start date. Where A.R.S. 8-804 applies, there is also a Department of Child Safety central registry form.
• Reference checks. You must make documented, good-faith efforts to contact each new hire’s previous employers ⁠⁶.
• Turning 18. A staff member or volunteer who turns 18 has 30 days to hand in both a fingerprint clearance card and a background check document ⁠⁴.

On or before the start date, each staff member also submits a completed tuberculosis self-screening form in ADHS’s format and follows any recommendation for further testing ⁠⁴.

Training under R9-5-403 ⁠⁴:

• Orientation within 10 calendar days of starting. It covers 20 topics, including child abuse detection and reporting, sun safety, outdoor safety, safe sleep and shaken baby prevention, and infant formula and breast milk handling for infant staff.
• 24 hours every 12 months for each staff member who provides child care, in at least two listed topic areas. Staff with less than a year of experience need 12 of those hours in child growth and development during their first year; others need 6 a year. Infant staff need 6 hours a year in infant growth and development. The director needs 6 hours a year in program administration. A child educator for school-age children needs 6 of the 24 hours within the first three months.
• Adult and pediatric first aid and CPR, with a demonstration of the ability to perform CPR. Someone with current training must be on the premises at all times, on field trips and in vehicles transporting children.

Fees, as published

R9-5-206 sets the licensure fee by licensed capacity. The rules effective August 3, 2025 (Supp. 25-2) call it an annual fee, and the same amounts apply to a new applicant and to a licensee ⁠⁴. A.R.S. 36-882(H) says ADHS collects annual fees “pursuant to available funding” ⁠².

Under R9-5-205 you submit the fee form and fee each year, no more than 60 days before the license anniversary date. You may pay half with the form and the rest within 120 days after the anniversary date ⁠⁴. The statute allows installment payments, and ADHS may discount the fee based on available funding or for a department-approved program ⁠²⁠⁴. If you increase capacity, you pay the difference between the two fee tiers, prorated over the months left before your anniversary date ⁠⁴. If the fee is not paid, the license is no longer valid and you are operating unlicensed ⁠⁴. Earlier versions of R9-5 listed higher amounts on a multi-year cycle, so confirm the amount with the Bureau before you budget.

How long ADHS takes

R9-5-202 starts the administrative completeness review when ADHS receives your packet. The packet is not complete until you give ADHS the date the facility is ready for its onsite licensing inspection ⁠⁴. So apply when construction is finished, not before. Table 2.1 in R9-5-202 gives 30 calendar days for the administrative completeness review, 90 days for the substantive review and 120 days overall for an initial license ⁠⁴. Ask the Bureau how it counts those days when your inspection date is not yet set. If ADHS sends a deficiency notice, you have 180 calendar days to supply the missing items or the application is treated as withdrawn ⁠⁴. In the substantive review, the inspection may take more than one visit. After a written request for corrections, you have 120 calendar days to respond, or ADHS denies the application ⁠⁴. ADHS issues the license once it finds substantial compliance and accepts your plan to fix any remaining deficiencies ⁠²⁠⁴.

After you open

Inspections. ADHS may inspect at any time during operating hours, and must make at least one unannounced visit a year ⁠⁹. ADHS publishes a license history search for child care facilities, branded AZ Care Check ⁠⁵. Keep current inspection reports on site, and post a notice of where parents can see them ⁠².

Required postings. Post the license, the director’s and designee’s names, your fee schedule and refund policy, and weekly menus. Post the licensed capacity in each indoor activity area. Post a pesticide notice 48 hours before any application ⁠⁴⁠².

Ongoing duties. These include monthly unannounced practice drills at varying times of day (evacuation, relocation, shelter-in-place and lockdown), notice to ADHS within 24 hours of a child’s death at the facility, and notice by the next business day of a business closure ⁠⁴.

Changes. Give ADHS 30 days’ notice of a name change. Changes to classification, space use or capacity need written approval, requested at least 30 days ahead ⁠⁴. A new owner needs a new license before taking over, and so does a new location; the license does not transfer ⁠⁴⁠². ADHS will not approve an ownership change unless all control actually passes to the buyer. It will not act on a buyer’s application while enforcement action against the seller is pending ⁠¹³. Report changes in controlling persons within 30 days ⁠⁴.

Enforcement. Penalties run up to $100 per violation per day. A penalty also puts the license on provisional status for up to six months ⁠¹¹. If children’s health or safety is endangered, ADHS can freeze admissions, end specific services or cut capacity until you are in substantial compliance ⁠¹². Before denying, suspending or revoking a license, ADHS must mail you notice of your right to a hearing at least 30 days ahead ⁠¹⁶.

Subsidy and related licenses

Arizona’s child care subsidy runs through DES. DES may sign financial agreements with providers but relies on ADHS for compliance monitoring ⁠¹⁴. A licensed center does not need a separate DES inspection to meet health and safety standards. The DES background check document in R9-5-203 comes from the federal block grant requirements that fund the subsidy program ⁠⁷⁠⁴.

If your plans include services for adults, Arizona licenses those separately through ADHS. See the guides to the assisted living facility license and the adult day health care facility license. For an overview of every Arizona care license, see the Arizona state page.

Sources

1. 1
   Arizona State Legislature, A.R.S. 36-881, Definitions (child care facilities) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
2. 2
   Arizona State Legislature, A.R.S. 36-882, License; posting; transfer prohibited; fees; provisional license Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
3. 3
   Arizona State Legislature, A.R.S. 36-884, Exemptions Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
4. 4
   Arizona Secretary of State, Arizona Administrative Code, Title 9, Chapter 5, Child Care Facilities (R9-5-101 to R9-5-605) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
5. 5
   Arizona Department of Health Services, Bureau of Child Care Licensing, Child Care Facilities Licensing Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
6. 6
   Arizona State Legislature, A.R.S. 36-883.02, Child care personnel; fingerprints Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
7. 7
   Arizona State Legislature, A.R.S. 46-811, Child care providers; background check requirements Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
8. 8
   Arizona State Legislature, A.R.S. 36-897, Definitions (child care group homes) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
9. 9
   Arizona State Legislature, A.R.S. 36-885, Inspection of child care facilities Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
10. 10
    Arizona State Legislature, A.R.S. 36-886, Operation without a license Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
11. 11
    Arizona State Legislature, A.R.S. 36-891, Civil penalty Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
12. 12
    Arizona State Legislature, A.R.S. 36-891.01, Intermediate sanctions Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
13. 13
    Arizona State Legislature, A.R.S. 36-893, Legal action or sale; effect on licensure Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
14. 14
    Arizona State Legislature, A.R.S. 36-895, Licensing and monitoring of child care facilities; financial agreements Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
15. 15
    Arizona State Legislature, A.R.S. 36-883, Standards of care; rules; classifications Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
16. 16
    Arizona State Legislature, A.R.S. 36-888, Denial, revocation or suspension of license Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑

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