You are handing your child to people you have just met. The reassuring part is that federal law sets a floor for who is allowed to do this work, and it is more thorough than most parents realize.
Daycare staff must pass an FBI fingerprint check, state and federal sex offender registries, a state criminal records check, and the child abuse and neglect registry, under the federal Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 2014. These checks cover every state a person lived in over the past five years, and they repeat at least every five years.
Under the federal Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 2014, child care staff must clear five components: an FBI fingerprint-based criminal check, a state criminal records check, the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) National Sex Offender Registry, the state sex offender registry, and the state child abuse and neglect registry. The checks also cover any other state the person lived in during the past five years.
The law applies to anyone with unsupervised access to children at a licensed or Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF)-funded program — teachers, assistants, directors, and often substitutes and volunteers. The U.S. Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Office of Child Care administers it, and state licensing agencies run the actual checks. The table shows the components and what each one screens for.
| Check | What it screens for (CCDBG Act of 2014) |
|---|---|
| FBI fingerprint check | National criminal history, so a record in another state still shows up. |
| State criminal records | Criminal history within the state where the person works. |
| NCIC National Sex Offender Registry | Federal sex offender registry across all states. |
| State sex offender registry | The sex offender registry for the state. |
| Child abuse and neglect registry | Substantiated findings of child abuse or neglect. |
| Out-of-state checks | Criminal and abuse registries in any state lived in over the past five years. |
Background checks are one layer of how a program keeps children safe, alongside supervision and ratios. Our guide to the signs of a quality daycare covers what else separates a careful program from a careless one.
The Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 2014 permanently bars anyone convicted of crimes against children, violent felonies such as murder, or sexual offenses. Other serious felonies — recent violent or drug convictions, for example — disqualify a person for set periods. Being listed on a sex offender registry or a substantiated child abuse registry is disqualifying. States may add further bars.
A person can also be disqualified for refusing to consent to the checks or knowingly making a false statement on the application. The point of the law is not to punish every past mistake, but to keep people with histories of harming children, or of serious violence, away from the people least able to protect themselves. State licensing publishes its own list of disqualifying offenses, which is worth a look if you want the specifics for where you live.
The Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 2014 requires a complete background check at least once every five years. Many states check more often or run ongoing monitoring that flags new arrests or registry entries between cycles. New hires must clear the required checks before they start, or shortly after, and must be supervised at all times until the results come back.
If you are touring a program, this is a fair thing to ask about directly. Fold it into the broader conversation using our questions to ask on a daycare tour guide.
The honest tradeoff. A clean background check is necessary, but it is not a guarantee. It tells you a person has no disqualifying record — not that they are warm, patient, or good with toddlers, and not that nothing will ever go wrong. Most people who harm children have no prior record, which is why screening works alongside open classrooms, staff who are never alone in unobserved spaces, drop-in access for parents, and a culture where concerns get raised. Treat the check as the floor it is. The programs worth trusting clear it without question and then build real safety on top of it.
Ask the director whether all staff and volunteers complete the federal Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) checks, and whether that includes substitutes, the cook, and anyone else around the children. Then look the program up on your state child care licensing website, which posts license status and inspection reports. A compliant program answers plainly and points you to its license.
Licensing reports are public in every state, and they often note staffing or record-keeping violations. A program that hesitates on this question, or cannot say whether substitutes are screened, is telling you something. Pair this check with our red flags when touring a daycare guide so you know the other warning signs.
Daycare staff background checks are set by the federal Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 2014: fingerprints, state and federal criminal and sex offender checks, the child abuse registry, out-of-state history, and a rerun at least every five years. Ask whether everyone is screened, including substitutes, and verify the license with your state. It is the floor, not the ceiling — but it is a floor worth confirming.
How licensing, health rules, and safety standards fit together.
Read the pillar → Sibling spokeWhat a careful, well-run program looks like in practice.
Read the article → Sibling spokeWhat to ask, room by room, before you enroll.
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