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Home Daycare License Requirements in New Hampshire (2026)

Opening a home daycare in New Hampshire means getting a family child care home license from the Bureau of Licensing and Certification within the Office of Legal and Regulatory Services of the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services. Here is exactly what that takes in 2026 — your capacity limit and ratios, the training and background checks, the application steps, and the postings and enrollment forms you need — sourced to the state’s own rules and dated.

Who needs a license — home types in New Hampshire

WHAT COUNTS AS A "FAMILY DAY CARE HOME" IN NEW HAMPSHIRE — THE STATUTORY DEFINITION, THE RULE'S GLOSS, AND THE 2025 REWRITE OF WHERE THE HOME MAY PHYSICALLY BE THE CONTROLLING SENTENCE. Everything starts with RSA 170-E:2, IV(a), which reads in full: "'Family day care home' means an occupied residence in which child day care is provided for less than 24 hours per day, except in emergencies, for up to 6 children from one or more unrelated families. The 6 children shall include any foster children residing in the home and all children who are related to the caregiver except children who are 10 years of age or older. In addition to the 6 children, up to 3 children attending a full day school program may also be cared for up to 5 hours per day on school days and all day during school holidays, provided that the after school and holiday increase in capacity is permitted by the state fire code and in compliance with any local ordinance." The immediately following subparagraph, RSA 170-E:2, IV(b), defines the next tier up: "'Family group day care home' means an occupied residence in which child day care is provided for less than 24 hours per day, except in emergencies, for 7 to 12 children from one or more unrelated families.

The 12 children shall include all children related to the caregiver and any foster children residing in the home, except children who are 10 years of age or older. In addition to the 12 children, up to 5 children attending a full day school program may also be cared for up to 5 hours per day on school days and all day during school holidays, provided that the after school and holiday increase in capacity is permitted by the state fire code and in compliance with any local ordinance." Both definitions sit under an umbrella sentence that no summary should drop, RSA 170-E:2, IV: "'Child day care agency' means any person, corporation, partnership, voluntary association or other organization, either established for profit or otherwise, which regularly receives for child day care one or more children, unrelated to the operator or staff of the agency. The total number of hours in which a child may remain in child day care shall not exceed 13 hours per day, except in emergencies, or situations when the parents or guardians are working over 13 hours during a 24-hour period, or parents or guardians are deployed during the weekend by the military.

The types of child day care agencies are defined as follows:". That thirteen-hour ceiling with its three exceptions is itself a 2024 amendment: Laws of 2024, chapter 102 (House Bill 1056, "relative to child day care licensing"), approved 3 July 2024 and effective 1 September 2024, amended "the introductory paragraph of RSA 170-E:2, IV", and the bill's own AMENDED ANALYSIS states its object: "This bill amends the definition of a child day care agency by establishing certain limited exceptions in which a child may remain in day care for more than 13 hours." Since 1 September 2024 a New Hampshire family day care home may lawfully hold a child beyond thirteen hours in an emergency, where the parent or guardian is working more than thirteen hours in a twenty-four-hour period, or where the parent or guardian is deployed at the weekend by the military. Any description that states a flat, exceptionless thirteen-hour cap is describing the pre-September-2024 text. THREE SEPARATE COUNTING RULES ARE BURIED IN ONE SENTENCE, AND THEY ARE NOT THE SAME AS THE RULE'S. Read RSA 170-E:2, IV(a) slowly: (1) The unit of measure is "an occupied residence".

Not a house, not a dwelling — an OCCUPIED residence. This is what the 2025 rule then elaborates on and, in one respect, loosens. (2) The headcount is "up to 6 children from one or more unrelated families." The "one or more unrelated families" phrase means the six is not a per-family number; it is an absolute head-count of the children present. (3) The inclusion rule: "The 6 children shall include any foster children residing in the home and all children who are related to the caregiver except children who are 10 years of age or older." So the provider's own eight-year-old counts against the six. The provider's own eleven-year-old does not. A foster child of ANY age residing in the home counts — the "except children who are 10 years of age or older" clause is grammatically attached to "all children who are related to the caregiver", and the foster-child inclusion is stated without an age qualifier. The parallel construction in IV(b) puts the two categories in the reverse order — "shall include all children related to the caregiver and any foster children residing in the home, except children who are 10 years of age or older" — which arguably lets the age exception reach the foster children too.

The two subparagraphs are not parallel in their punctuation and a careful applicant should ask the unit which reading it applies. This is recorded in verify_flag. (4) The school-age add-on: "In addition to the 6 children, up to 3 children attending a full day school program may also be cared for up to 5 hours per day on school days and all day during school holidays". Three conditions ride on it — the children must be "attending a full day school program"; on school days the care is capped at five hours; and the whole add-on is conditional on state fire code and local ordinance, "provided that the after school and holiday increase in capacity is permitted by the state fire code and in compliance with any local ordinance." THE RULE'S OWN INCLUSION RULE IS DIFFERENT, AND THIS IS A REAL CONFLICT. He-C 4002.33(l) provides: "The license capacity for family or family group child care homes shall include the provider's own, foster, and resident children up to 6 years of age, when they are present." Compare the statute: the statute excludes related children "10 years of age or older"; the rule includes only own, foster and resident children "up to 6 years of age".

Under the statute a provider's eight-year-old counts; under the rule the same eight-year-old does not. The rule is also broader in one direction — it reaches "resident children", a category the statute does not name — and narrower in another, since it adds "when they are present", a temporal qualifier the statute lacks. Two things must be said about this. First, it is a change: the pre-2025 rule (Document #13373, at the then-numbered He-C 4002.34) used a higher age, and circulating New Hampshire summaries still assert that the rule counts own/foster/resident children "up to 10 years of age". As of Document #14356, effective 22 September 2025, the rule says six. Second, where a rule and a statute conflict, the statute wins, and He-C 4002.04(e) forecloses any argument that the department can waive its way out: "The department shall not approve any request for a waiver of any of the provisions of RSA 170-E or of any rules of other state agencies." A prudent applicant should count on the STATUTORY rule (related children under 10 count; foster children residing in the home count) and treat the rule's age-6 figure as the department's administrative practice for what it will write on the licence.

This tension is flagged in verify_flag as the most consequential unresolved point in New Hampshire home-care law. WHERE THE HOME MAY PHYSICALLY BE — THE 2025 RULE IS FAR MORE PERMISSIVE THAN "AN OCCUPIED RESIDENCE" SUGGESTS. He-C 4002.33(b) is new-generation text and it materially expands the range of permissible locations: "Family child care shall: (1) Only be provided in a dwelling that provides complete independent living facilities for one or more persons, including permanent provisions for living, sleeping, eating, cooking, and sanitation and occupied for living purposes on a full-time basis by the family child care provider; or (2) Be located: a. Physically on the same property as the family child care provider's permanent residence and such residence is a single family home; b. In a duplex structure containing 2 independent side-by-side dwelling units and the family child care provider permanently resides in the other dwelling unit located in the duplex; or c. In a structure with a maximum of 3 stories, with no more than one dwelling unit located on each floor level, and the family child care provider permanently resides in one of the other dwelling units located in the 3 story structure."

This is worth unpacking because it is the single most practically useful provision in the New Hampshire home-care rules and it is almost never described accurately. Option (b)(1) is the classic case: the provider lives in the dwelling and cares for children there. The rule's definition of "dwelling" is borrowed from building-code language — "complete independent living facilities for one or more persons, including permanent provisions for living, sleeping, eating, cooking, and sanitation" — and adds the occupancy test "occupied for living purposes on a full-time basis by the family child care provider". A seasonal cottage, a unit the provider does not actually live in full-time, or a space without cooking or sanitation provisions does not qualify under this branch. Option (b)(2)a. is the accessory-structure and second-building case: the child care need not be in the provider's own residence at all, so long as it is "Physically on the same property as the family child care provider's permanent residence and such residence is a single family home." A converted barn, a purpose-built structure, an in-law unit or a detached studio on the same lot as a single-family home all fall within this branch.

Note the constraint: the provider's residence must be a SINGLE FAMILY home. This branch is not available where the provider lives in a multi-family building. It aligns exactly with the 2026 zoning amendment discussed below, which now protects "the primary or an existing accessory structure". Option (b)(2)b. is the duplex case: the child care operates in one half of a side-by-side duplex while the provider lives in the other half. The rule is specific — "2 independent side-by-side dwelling units". A stacked (over-under) two-family building is not a duplex for this purpose under a literal reading. Option (b)(2)c. is the three-decker case: "a structure with a maximum of 3 stories, with no more than one dwelling unit located on each floor level, and the family child care provider permanently resides in one of the other dwelling units". This is a New England building typology written directly into a licensing rule. Four stories disqualifies. Two units on one floor disqualifies. The provider living off-site disqualifies. CONTRAST WITH THE SMALL CHILD CARE CENTER. He-C 4002.33 covers three programme types in one rule, and it is easy to read across the wrong line.

He-C 4002.33(c) draws the boundary: "A small group child care center shall operate in a location that is not the residence of the licensee, and shall not provide care for more than 12 children." Note the naming inconsistency inside the adopted rule: the section heading and He-C 4002.33(a) call it a "small child care center", while (c) calls it a "small group child care center", and the statute at RSA 170-E:2, IV(i) calls it a "small group child day care center" and defines it as "a child day-care agency in which child day care is provided for not more than 12 preschool children, whether or not the service is known as day nursery, nursery school, kindergarten, cooperative, child development center, day-care center, center for the developmentally disabled, progressive school, Montessori school, or by any other name." Three names, one thing, none of them a home. Recorded in verify_flag. WHO THE "FAMILY CHILD CARE PROVIDER" IS — A DEFINITION WITH A TWO-THIRDS TEST. He-C 4002.01(z) provides: "'Family child care provider' means the individual in whose home family or family group child care services are provided, who is responsible for the operation of the program, and who provides the child care for at least ⅔ of the operating hours."

The two-thirds requirement is a real operating constraint: a family child care licence in New Hampshire is not a business licence that can be staffed entirely by employees. The named provider must personally deliver at least two-thirds of the care hours. The parallel definition for the non-residential small centre imposes the same test on a different title, at He-C 4002.01(k): "'Child care manager' means a person who is responsible for the daily operation of a small child care center, and who provides the child care for at least ⅔ of the operating hours." Both roles are then folded into a single umbrella term used throughout the rule. He-C 4002.01(bb): "'Program manager' means a family child care provider, child care manager, center director, agency administrator, site coordinator, or site director who has the authority to submit applications, waiver requests, corrective action plans, and any other executive actions required or identified in this chapter." When a rule imposes a duty on "the program manager", a family child care provider is that person; there is no one else. THE OTHER STAFF CATEGORIES THE HOME MAY USE.

He-C 4002.01(m) defines: "'Child care worker' means a person who is employed in or is seeking employment in a New Hampshire licensed family child care home, family group child care home, or small child care center, who meets the age, education, and experience requirements specified in He-C 4002.33(f)." He-C 4002.01(j) defines: "'Child care assistant' means a person who is employed in or is seeking employment in a New Hampshire licensed family child care program or a small child care center, who meets the age, education, and experience requirements specified in He-C 4002.33(g)." Note that both definitions cross-refer to He-C 4002.33 — the family rule — not to He-C 4002.34, which governs centre staff titles (assistant teacher, associate teacher, lead teacher, group leader, assistant group leader, site director, centre director, agency administrator, site coordinator). A family child care home in New Hampshire has exactly four staff categories available to it: the family child care provider, the child care worker, the child care assistant, and the junior helper. The age and supervision requirements for each are set out in He-C 4002.33: "(f) A child care worker shall be 18 years of age or older." "(g) A child care assistant, whether paid or volunteer, shall: (1) Be 16 years of age or older; and (2) Work under the direct observation and supervision of the family child care provider, a child care manager, or a child care worker at all times."

And the junior helper, at He-C 4002.33(k): "A junior helper in any family child care program or a small child care center, whether paid or volunteer, shall: (1) Be at least 14 years of age; (2) Work with children only under the direct supervision and observation of a staff person who meets at least the minimum qualification of a child care worker; (3) Not be calculated in staff to child ratios as specified in (m) through (p) below; and (4) Not be required to complete professional development hours as specified in He-C 4002.32." The junior helper is therefore free labour in ratio terms and free of the training burden, but must never be counted toward supervision. (The cross-reference in (k)(3) to "(m) through (p)" is defective: the adopted rule stops at paragraph (o). Recorded in verify_flag.) WHO MAY BE THE PROVIDER — THE AGE-AND-EDUCATION GATE. He-C 4002.33(e) sets the entry qualification, and it is the same for the family child care provider and the small-centre child care manager: "To qualify as a family child care provider or a child care manager of a small child care center, an individual shall be: (1) At least 21 years of age; or (2) At least 18 years of age and submit with their application documentation that they have a high school diploma or equivalent, including but not limited to General Equivalency Diploma (GED), a High School Equivalency Test (HiSet), or a Test Assessing Secondary Completion (TASC), and at least one of the following: a.

Successful completion of a 2-year child care curriculum approved by the department of education; or b. College courses, totaling 6 credits, in child development or human growth and development, early childhood, or elementary education, or other field of study focused on children, including at least one 3-credit course in child growth and development, awarded by an accredited college or university." Read that carefully: at 21, New Hampshire imposes NO educational prerequisite at all on a family child care provider. There is no required credential, no required CDA, no required associate degree, no minimum hours of prior experience. The education-and-experience route exists only to let an 18-, 19- or 20-year-old qualify early. This is unusually permissive relative to most states and it is the single most commercially relevant fact in the New Hampshire home-care regime. The training obligations in He-C 4002.32 attach after the licence, not before it. SUBSTITUTES. He-C 4002.33(h) supplies the family-home substitute rule: "Family child care providers or small child care centers may employ substitute staff who meet the age requirements of the staff position for whom they are substituting and assume the responsibilities of any child care staff on an emergency or temporary basis for not more than 90 consecutive days and not more than a maximum of 120 days in a 12-month period."

Note that the test is only the AGE requirement of the substituted position, not its education or experience requirement — and note the two distinct ceilings: 90 consecutive days and 120 days in any twelve months. The centre-side equivalent at He-C 4002.34(i) uses a single 120-consecutive-day limit, so the home rule is stricter on continuity and the centre rule stricter on nothing; they are simply different, and a provider must not read across. WHAT "RELATED" MEANS FOR THE HEADCOUNT. RSA 170-E:2, XIII supplies an unusually wide list: "'Related' means any of the following relationships by blood, marriage, or adoption: parent, grandparent, brother, sister, stepparent, stepgrandparent, stepbrother, stepsister, uncle, aunt, niece and nephew, first cousin, or second cousin." Second cousins are related for New Hampshire licensing purposes. A provider caring for a batch of second cousins is not necessarily caring for "children unrelated to the operator" and may not be operating a child day care agency at all — RSA 170-E:2, IV opens with "which regularly receives for child day care one or more children, unrelated to the operator or staff of the agency", and RSA 170-E:3, I(h) exempts "Private homes in which the only children in care are the provider's own children, children related to the provider, and children residing with the provider."

Note the burden-of-proof rule if this is ever litigated, RSA 170-E:22: "In a prosecution under this subdivision, a defendant who relies upon the relationship of any child to himself has the burden of proof as to that relationship." WHAT "REGULARLY" MEANS. RSA 170-E:2, XII: "'Regularly' or 'on a regular basis' means supervision and care up to and including 7 days a week, whether paid or unpaid, for the following as defined in RSA 170-E:2, IV: (a) family day care home, (b) family group day care home, (c) group child day care center, (d) day care nursery, (e) night care agency, (f) preschool program, and (g) school-age program." Two points. The words "whether paid or unpaid" mean an unpaid arrangement can still be a licensable child day care agency. And the enumeration includes "(d) day care nursery", a category that no longer appears anywhere in RSA 170-E:2, IV — a dangling cross-reference left behind by earlier amendments. Recorded in verify_flag. THE AGE BANDS THE RULE USES. He-C 4002.01(ah) and its neighbours supply the vocabulary the capacity and ratio rules depend on: "'Infant' means a child from the time of birth up to 12 months old."

And, at He-C 4002.01(br): "'Toddler' means a child over 12 months to 35 months old, except as referenced in He-C 4002.36." Circulating New Hampshire summaries define "toddler" as "19 to 35 months"; under Document #14356 that is wrong — the toddler band now begins the day after the child's first birthday and there is no gap between infant and toddler. "Preschool program" and "school-age program" are not independently defined in the rule; He-C 4002.01(az) and (bj) push back to the statute: "'Preschool program' means 'preschool program' as defined in RSA 170-E:2, IV(f)" and "'School-age program' means 'school-age program' as defined in RSA 170-E:2, IV(g)". The statute in turn defines a preschool programme as one "providing care and a structured program for children 3 years of age and older who are not attending a full day school program. The total amount of hours a child may be enrolled in a preschool program shall not exceed 5 hours per day", and a school-age programme as one serving children "who are 4 years and 8 months of age or older". "HOUSEHOLD MEMBER" — A DEFINITION THAT ONLY BITES ON HOMES.

He-C 4002.01(ag): "'Household member' means any person residing in the home of an applicant for licensure as a program, if the program will be located in that home." This definition is the hinge on which the whole background-check burden turns for a family child care applicant, because He-C 4002.02(e)(5) requires background-check forms for "b. All household members aged 12 years and older", and He-C 4002.40(b)(5) requires a full background record check from "Household members 18 years of age and older, or when turning 18 years of age", with the notarised certification route in He-C 4002.40(f) for "all household members between 13 through 17 years of age". A family child care licence in New Hampshire therefore reaches into the private lives of everyone the provider lives with, in a way a centre licence never does. "LICENSE CAPACITY" IS A DEFINED TERM. He-C 4002.01(an): "'License capacity' means the number and ages of children specified on the license or permit allowed to be in care at any one time." Two features matter. It is a point-in-time cap ("at any one time"), not an enrolment cap — a home may enrol more children than its capacity so long as they are never simultaneously present.

And it specifies AGES as well as numbers, which is why the age sub-caps in He-C 4002.33(m)-(o) are enforceable directly off the licence document. ZONING: A HOME IS NOW PROTECTED BY RIGHT. Since 1 July 2026, under Laws of 2026, chapter 217, section 1 (House Bill 1195), RSA 674:16, VI reads: "the local legislative body ... shall allow home-based care (family day care home as defined in RSA 170-E:2, IV(a) and group family day care home as defined in RSA 170-E:2, IV(b)) by right as long as all requirements for such programs adopted in rules of the department of health and human services (He-C 4002) are met. A city, town, or county in which there are unincorporated towns or unorganized places shall not adopt or enforce any ordinance that is different from the requirements of RSA 170-E or rules adopted thereunder (He-C 4002). On a lot where residential use is permitted, family or group family child care shall be allowed by right in the primary or an existing accessory structure, if any, and shall not be subject to local site plan review. Nothing in this section shall be construed to override any private covenant, including homeowners' association covenants."

Chapter 217 also inserted a wholly new subdivision, RSA 674:81, which by its own terms EXCLUDES homes: "674:81 Child Care Centers. I. In this section: ... (b) 'Child care center' shall not include a family day care home as defined in RSA 170-E:2, IV(a) or a family group day care home as defined in RSA 170-E:2, IV(b)." Homes get RSA 674:16, VI; centres get RSA 674:81. The predecessor of the 2026 text was itself only two years old — Laws of 2024, chapter 271 (House Bill 1567-FN), effective 24 September 2024, whose ANALYSIS said "This bill generally requires family and group family child care programs to be allowed as an accessory use to any primary residential use under local zoning and planning regulations." New Hampshire has legislated on this point in each of the last two even-year sessions and any statement of the zoning position that is more than a year old should be presumed stale.

How many children you can care for in New Hampshire

HOW MANY CHILDREN A NEW HAMPSHIRE FAMILY CHILD CARE HOME MAY SERVE — THE STATUTORY CEILING, THE RULE'S CEILING, THE SQUARE-FOOTAGE TEST, THE PLUMBING TEST, AND THE FOUR SEPARATE APPROVALS THAT CAN LOWER ALL OF THEM THE HEADLINE NUMBERS. A family day care home is capped at 6 children; a family group day care home runs from 7 to 12 children. RSA 170-E:2, IV(a): "'Family day care home' means an occupied residence in which child day care is provided for less than 24 hours per day, except in emergencies, for up to 6 children from one or more unrelated families." RSA 170-E:2, IV(b): "'Family group day care home' means an occupied residence in which child day care is provided for less than 24 hours per day, except in emergencies, for 7 to 12 children from one or more unrelated families." Both tiers carry a school-age add-on that sits ON TOP of the base number. For the family home, RSA 170-E:2, IV(a) continues: "In addition to the 6 children, up to 3 children attending a full day school program may also be cared for up to 5 hours per day on school days and all day during school holidays, provided that the after school and holiday increase in capacity is permitted by the state fire code and in compliance with any local ordinance."

For the family group home, RSA 170-E:2, IV(b) allows five: "In addition to the 12 children, up to 5 children attending a full day school program may also be cared for up to 5 hours per day on school days and all day during school holidays, provided that the after school and holiday increase in capacity is permitted by the state fire code and in compliance with any local ordinance." So the absolute statutory maxima are 6 + 3 = 9 present at once in a family day care home, and 12 + 5 = 17 present at once in a family group day care home — but only during the hours when the school-age children may lawfully be there, and only if the fire code and the local ordinance permit the temporary increase. THE RULE STATES THE SAME NUMBERS IN A DIFFERENT GRAMMAR, AND ATTACHES AGE SUB-CAPS. He-C 4002.33(m) governs the solo provider: "A family child provider, family group child care provider, child care manager, or a child care worker who is working alone shall not care for more than 6 children plus 3 school-age children during hours when school is not in session, provided that: (1) Of the 6 children, no more than 4 children are younger than 36 months of age; and (2) Of the 6 children, no more than 2 children are younger than 24 months of age."

He-C 4002.33(n) governs the family home with a second adult: "A family child care provider plus a child care worker or child care assistant shall not care for more than 6 children plus 3 school-age children when school is not in session. Of the 6 children, no more than 4 shall be younger than 36 months of age." He-C 4002.33(o) governs the family GROUP home: "A family group child care provider plus a child care worker or child care assistant shall not care for more than 12 children plus 5 school-age children when school is not in session. Of the 12 children, no more than 4 children shall be younger than 36 months of age." THREE HARD CONSEQUENCES FOLLOW, AND THEY ARE COUNTER-INTUITIVE. FIRST — ADDING A SECOND ADULT DOES NOT RAISE A FAMILY HOME'S CAPACITY AT ALL. Compare (m) with (n): the solo provider may care for "6 children plus 3 school-age children"; the provider plus a worker or assistant may care for "6 children plus 3 school-age children". Identical. The ONLY thing hiring a second adult buys in a family day care home is relief from the under-24-months sub-cap: paragraph (m) forbids more than two children under 24 months when the provider works alone, and paragraph (n), which applies when a second adult is present, drops that restriction entirely and keeps only the "no more than 4 shall be younger than 36 months" limit. A New Hampshire family child care provider who hires an assistant in the expectation of serving more children has misread the rule.

To serve more than six, the provider must move up to the family GROUP licence. SECOND — THE FAMILY GROUP HOME'S 12-CHILD CAPACITY IS EXPRESSED ONLY IN THE TWO-ADULT PARAGRAPH. He-C 4002.33(o) describes "A family group child care provider PLUS a child care worker or child care assistant". Paragraph (m), the solo paragraph, expressly names "family group child care provider" among the people it covers and caps them at six plus three when working alone. The structure is therefore: a family group licensee working alone is capped at 6+3 with the under-24-month sub-cap; the same licensee with one more adult present may go to 12+5. The 12-child licence capacity is not something the family group provider may exercise single-handed. THIRD — THE SUB-CAPS ARE THE REAL BINDING CONSTRAINT FOR INFANT CARE. In a family day care home run solo, no more than two children under 24 months. That is the tightest number in the whole New Hampshire home-care regime and it is the number that determines whether an infant-focused home business is viable. In a family group home, "no more than 4 children shall be younger than 36 months of age" out of twelve — a home serving twelve children may include at most four under three years old, regardless of how many adults are present.

Note that unlike (m), paragraph (o) contains NO under-24-months sub-cap at all: a family group home with two adults could in principle serve four children all under 24 months. The rule's silence there is deliberate enough to be relied on but odd enough to be worth confirming with the unit; recorded in verify_flag. THE "WHEN SCHOOL IS NOT IN SESSION" TRAP. The statute and the rule use opposite framing for the same add-on and this is the most confusing point in New Hampshire capacity law. The STATUTE authorises the school-age add-on "up to 5 hours per day on school days and all day during school holidays" — i.e. principally a BEFORE-AND-AFTER-SCHOOL and vacation allowance. The RULE, at He-C 4002.33(m), (n) and (o), phrases it as "plus 3 school-age children during hours when school is not in session" and "plus 5 school-age children when school is not in session". Read literally, the rule's phrasing and the statute's phrasing describe the same window (the hours when the school-age child is not at school), but the rule's wording invites the misreading that the add-on is only available on non-school days.

The statute's five-hours-per-day-on-school-days language is the safer guide, and RSA 170-E:2, IV(a)-(b) is the higher authority. Recorded in verify_flag. THE COUNTING RULE — WHOSE CHILDREN GO INTO THE NUMBER. This is where New Hampshire's statute and rule diverge and where most published summaries are wrong. The statute, RSA 170-E:2, IV(a): "The 6 children shall include any foster children residing in the home and all children who are related to the caregiver except children who are 10 years of age or older." The rule, He-C 4002.33(l): "The license capacity for family or family group child care homes shall include the provider's own, foster, and resident children up to 6 years of age, when they are present." Statute: under 10 counts. Rule: up to 6 counts. Widely-circulated New Hampshire reference material states that the RULE counts own/foster/resident children "up to 10 years of age"; under Document #14356, effective 22 September 2025, that is no longer what the rule says. The conservative operating assumption is the statutory one — count every related child under ten and every foster child residing in the home — because He-C 4002.04(e) bars the department from waiving a statute: "The department shall not approve any request for a waiver of any of the provisions of RSA 170-E or of any rules of other state agencies."

The rule's phrase "when they are present" is a genuine relief and has no statutory counterpart: a provider's own five-year-old who is at kindergarten during the care day does not occupy a slot while absent. "LICENSE CAPACITY" IS A POINT-IN-TIME NUMBER PRINTED ON THE LICENCE. He-C 4002.01(an): "'License capacity' means the number and ages of children specified on the license or permit allowed to be in care at any one time." Because the definition includes AGES, the age sub-caps are enforceable directly off the licence document, and because it says "at any one time", a home may lawfully enrol more children than its capacity provided they never overlap. THE DEPARTMENT DOES NOT SIMPLY WRITE "6" ON THE LICENCE. He-C 4002.02(j) is the operative calculation rule: "The license issued in accordance with (i) above shall reflect the maximum number of children approved by the local fire inspector, health officer, and zoning officials, and in accordance with the available floor space as measured by the department in accordance with He-C 4002.21(c) and (d) and the number of available toilets and sinks in accordance with He-C 4002.21(b)."

Five independent constraints therefore bear on the number, and the licence carries the LOWEST of them: the fire inspector's number, the health officer's number, the zoning number, the floor-area number, and the plumbing number. THE FLOOR-AREA TEST — 35 SQUARE FEET PER CHILD, NET. He-C 4002.21(c): "There shall be a minimum of 35 feet of net floor area per child, inside the rooms used by children, calculated by excluding non-occupiable spaces including corridors, stairs, bathrooms, electrical or mechanical rooms, closets, and fixed equipment, which shall be subtracted from the total area to determine the net floor area." He-C 4002.21(d): "The department shall determine the license capacity by adding the number of children each room can accommodate based on (c) above, and in accordance with local fire, health, and zoning approvals." And He-C 4002.21(e) removes exactly the rooms a home provider would want to count: "The department shall not consider common space, hallways, lockers, bathrooms, cooking areas of the kitchen, closets, or offices as child care space when determining license capacity."

Note the drafting: the rule says "35 feet of net floor area", not 35 square feet. Read as written it is a nonsense unit; read as intended it is 35 square feet. Recorded in verify_flag. In practical terms a six-child family day care home needs at least 210 square feet of qualifying net floor area, and a twelve-child family group home at least 420 square feet — and the kitchen's cooking area, the hallway and the bathrooms are all excluded from the count. He-C 4002.21(h) adds a qualitative overlay that inspectors do use: "Programs shall not overcrowd child care space with adult-sized furniture or other items." In a family home, where the living room is also the provider's living room, this is a live issue. THE PLUMBING TEST — ONE TOILET AND ONE SINK PER 20 CHILDREN. He-C 4002.21(b): "The licensee shall provide and maintain at least one toilet and one handwashing sink for every 20 children of their licensed capacity." At family-home scale this is almost never binding: any residence with one working bathroom satisfies it up to twenty children, well above the twelve-child ceiling of a family group home.

THE OUTDOOR TEST — 50 SQUARE FEET PER CHILD, WITH THREE ESCAPE HATCHES. He-C 4002.21(k): "Programs shall be equipped with an outside play area, which directly adjoins the indoor space of the facility and contains a minimum of 50 square feet of outdoor play area for each child based upon the program's license capacity." He-C 4002.21(l) then supplies the only exceptions: "(1) Programs may utilize department approved outdoor play space which is located within 1/8 of a mile from the program, provided the program submits a written plan to the department showing that children can safely travel to and from the play area and the program; (2) Programs may operate with 50 square feet of outdoor play area per child for 1/3 of the program's license capacity, provided that no more than 1/3 of the license capacity is in the play area at one time; and (3) Programs that operate 5 or fewer hours per day provided the curriculum includes at least 20 minutes of gross motor activities." Exception (2) is the one that saves most family homes: instead of 50 sq ft × 6 = 300 sq ft, a six-child home needs only 50 sq ft × 2 = 100 sq ft of outdoor play area, provided no more than two children are outside at a time. A twelve-child family group home can likewise satisfy the rule with 200 sq ft and a rotation.

Exception (1) permits a nearby park within one-eighth of a mile, on a written safe-travel plan approved by the department. Exception (3) exempts short-day programmes entirely if the curriculum includes at least twenty minutes of gross motor activity. He-C 4002.21(m) covers the outdoor-only model, which New Hampshire expressly licenses: "For programs operating exclusively outdoors, the department shall determine the license capacity based on the area of outdoor space and the proposed staffing patterns as specified in these rules." The rule elsewhere calls these "nature-based programs that operate solely outside" (He-C 4002.16(a)) and imposes bespoke policy duties on them at He-C 4002.15(c). TWO GRANDFATHER CLAUSES THAT ONLY HELP OLD PROGRAMMES. He-C 4002.21(i): "For programs licensed before November 23, 2008, whose capacities included the use of common space as described in rules previous to that date, shall be allowed to have no more than up to 2 children over the classroom capacity, regularly assigned to each classroom, provided the common space was approved by and is on file with the department."

He-C 4002.21(j) does the same, more generously, for programmes licensed before 30 May 1998: "shall be allowed to have no more than up to 4 children over the classroom capacity". These are closed classes; a new applicant in 2026 gets nothing from them. THE 20-DAY OVERAGE ALLOWANCE — NEW HAMPSHIRE'S MOST USEFUL AND LEAST-KNOWN CAPACITY PROVISION. He-C 4002.05(e) permits the department to authorise a temporary overage: "The department shall authorize a licensee to exceed its license capacity for up to a maximum of 20 workdays in a calendar year, if the department finds that the approval will not result in: (1) More than 4 children younger than 3 years of age being cared for at the same time in a family or family group child care home or small child care center; (2) More than 2 children younger than 24 months of age in a family child care home or small child care center, without an additional child care worker or child care assistant present and assisting in the care of the children; (3) More than 2 children over license capacity in a family or family group child care home or small child care center; (4) More than 4 children over license capacity in all other programs; or (5) Health or safety risks to children."

Note the verb: "The department SHALL authorize". Subject to the five findings, this is an entitlement, not a discretion. A family day care home licensed for six may therefore lawfully serve eight on up to twenty working days a year — subject to the absolute sub-caps of no more than four under three, and no more than two under 24 months unless a second adult is present and actually assisting. This is the mechanism a home provider uses to cover a school holiday, a sibling's arrival, or a temporary placement without breaching the licence. INCREASING CAPACITY PERMANENTLY. He-C 4002.02(n) sets out the four steps and the prohibition: "A licensee who wishes to increase their license capacity shall: (1) Submit a written request to the department; (2) Obtain approvals from the local fire inspector, health inspector, and zoning officials, when the increase exceeds the limits established in the current approvals; (3) Submit diagrams of indoor and outdoor space, in accordance with He-C 4002.02(d)(7), if there have been changes in the child care space; and (4) Not increase enrollment beyond the current license capacity until the department issues the program a revised license or permit or other written authorization by the department for the increased license capacity."

The cross-reference in (n)(3) to "He-C 4002.02(d)(7)" is defective — the diagram requirement is at He-C 4002.02(e)(7), since paragraph (d) of that rule deals with multi-building centre licences. The same misdirected cross-reference appears at He-C 4002.05(h)(2)d., which points to "He-C 4002.02(d)" for the personnel health form actually required by He-C 4002.02(e)(1). Recorded in verify_flag. Moving up from a family day care licence to a family group day care licence is a revision, not a new application: He-C 4002.02(m) provides that "The licensee shall apply for revision of the license: (1) When they wish to add additional program types or change the type(s) of program for which they are licensed or permitted; or (2) Prior to moving to a new location." REDUCING CAPACITY. He-C 4002.05(d)(6) requires notice "Within 30 business days if the applicant permanently discontinues using a space for child care if it affects the license capacity as reflected on the license, so that the unit can record the change in the file and revise the license accordingly if necessary." (The paragraph numbering in He-C 4002.05(d) jumps from (4) to (6); there is no subparagraph (5) in the adopted rule. Recorded in verify_flag.) FIRE CODE IS A SEPARATE AND NON-WAIVABLE CEILING.

He-C 4002.02(e)(3) requires "Written approval from the local fire inspector that, within the 12 months preceding the date the application for licensure is received by the department, the premises have been inspected for compliance with Saf-FMO 300 and RSA 153:1 VI-a, by the local fire department or the state fire marshal's office, and approved to operate as a program." Because Saf-FMO 300 is a Department of Safety rule, He-C 4002.04(e) forbids DHHS from waiving it: "The department shall not approve any request for a waiver of any of the provisions of RSA 170-E or of any rules of other state agencies." The statute reinforces the point twice — RSA 170-E:2, IV(a) conditions the school-age add-on on the increase being "permitted by the state fire code", and RSA 170-E:11, I(d) directs the commissioner to adopt standards on "maintenance of adequate fire prevention and health standards conforming to state laws and municipal codes". RSA 674:81, V, inserted by Laws of 2026, chapter 217, restates the point for the centre side: "Nothing in this section shall prohibit enforcement of applicable state fire, building, water supply, and sewage disposal requirements under RSA 153, RSA 155-A, and RSA 485-A."

ZONING IS NO LONGER A CEILING FOR HOMES. Since 1 July 2026, under Laws of 2026, chapter 217, section 1, RSA 674:16, VI provides that a municipality "shall not adopt or enforce any ordinance that is different from the requirements of RSA 170-E or rules adopted thereunder (He-C 4002)" and that family or group family child care "shall be allowed by right in the primary or an existing accessory structure, if any, and shall not be subject to local site plan review". A town may therefore no longer cap a family day care home at four children by ordinance, nor impose a site plan review, nor require a conditional use permit. But He-C 4002.02(j) still directs the department to reflect "the maximum number of children approved by ... zoning officials", and He-C 4002.02(e)(4) still requires the applicant to file "Documentation from the applicable town or city that the program has been granted zoning approval or that no zoning approval is required". After chapter 217 the expected filing in most towns will be a written statement that no zoning approval is required. Recorded in verify_flag, because the rule was adopted in August 2025 and has not been amended to reflect the July 2026 statute.

SHARED-BUILDING RULE. He-C 4002.21(f): "The program shall have space of its own, apart from other groups that might be using the facility, during the time that it operates." And He-C 4002.21(g) governs coexistence with a licence-exempt programme in the same building: "Programs which are in the same building with other licensed entities or programs for children that are license exempt, pursuant to RSA 170-E:3, shall: (1) Not be responsible for or supervise any children not enrolled in the licensed program; (2) Not allow children from the license exempt program to mix with children enrolled in the licensed program; and (3) Not allow children from the license exempt program to share space that is being used by children enrolled in the licensed program." This is directly relevant to the duplex and three-decker configurations permitted by He-C 4002.33(b)(2). THE PENALTY FOR EXCEEDING CAPACITY. Exceeding licence capacity is a breach of "the provisions specified on the license or permit" under He-C 4002.05(a)(1), which He-C 4002.44(g)(1) prices at "$200.00, plus $100.00 per day for each day for which the department has evidence that the program continues to fail to comply with the provisions of a license or permit ... after receipt of written notice of non-compliance from the department", rising under (g)(2) on a repeat citation to "$500.00, plus $100.00" per day.

If the overage endangers a child, He-C 4002.44(g)(17) applies instead: "$1000.00 for each citation, plus $200.00 per day"; and if it causes physical injury or places a child in jeopardy of physical harm, (g)(21) sets "$2,000.00 for each non-compliance, plus $500.00 per day that the non-compliance exists." The statutory ceiling per offence is RSA 170-E:21-a's "administrative fine not to exceed $2,000 for each offense", and He-C 4002.44(g)(22) makes each day a separate violation, with one mercy clause: "provided that if the applicant or licensee is making good faith efforts to comply with the provisions of RSA 170-E or He-C 4002, as verified by documentation or other means, the department shall not issue a daily fine."

Adult-to-child ratios

STAFF-TO-CHILD RATIOS IN A NEW HAMPSHIRE HOME PROGRAMME — WHAT THE RULE SAYS, WHICH TABLE DOES NOT EXIST, AND WHERE THE REAL NUMBERS HIDE (read on 26 August 2026 against the codified rule as the Office of Legislative Services serves it today, Document #14356, effective 22 September 2025, EXPIRES 22 September 2035, and against the enrolled 2026 session laws) START WITH THE FINDING THAT WILL SAVE YOU A WEEK. New Hampshire does not publish an age-banded staff-to-child ratio table for family child care homes or family group child care homes. There is no "one adult to four infants, one adult to five toddlers" grid anywhere in He-C 4002 that applies to your house on an ordinary care day. What New Hampshire publishes instead is a set of three combination caps — a named adult or pair of adults, a total number of children, and two age sub-caps — and the ratio is whatever falls out of the arithmetic. Every commercial "New Hampshire ratios" page reproduces the CENTRE table and prints it as though it governed a home. It does not. The rule that governs your home is He-C 4002.33, and Appendix A of the part ties it to a different statutory hook from the centre rules: "He-C 4002.33 — RSA-170-E:11, I(b); 45 CFR 98.41(d)", where I(b) is the commissioner's power over "The character, qualifications, mental and physical ability and competence of the applicant", while He-C 4002.35 and He-C 4002.36 are anchored on "RSA 170-E:11, I(a) and (c)", paragraph I(c) being the one headed "The number of individuals or staff required to insure adequate supervision and care of the children received".

New Hampshire, by its own authority table, does not treat home limits as staffing ratios at all. THE THREE OPERATIVE PARAGRAPHS, QUOTED IN FULL, BECAUSE EVERYTHING ELSE IS COMMENTARY ON THEM. He-C 4002.33(m): "A family child provider, family group child care provider, child care manager, or a child care worker who is working alone shall not care for more than 6 children plus 3 school-age children during hours when school is not in session, provided that: (1) Of the 6 children, no more than 4 children are younger than 36 months of age; and (2) Of the 6 children, no more than 2 children are younger than 24 months of age." He-C 4002.33(n): "A family child care provider plus a child care worker or child care assistant shall not care for more than 6 children plus 3 school-age children when school is not in session. Of the 6 children, no more than 4 shall be younger than 36 months of age." He-C 4002.33(o): "A family group child care provider plus a child care worker or child care assistant shall not care for more than 12 children plus 5 school-age children when school is not in session. Of the 12 children, no more than 4 children shall be younger than 36 months of age."

Those three sentences are the entire ratio law of the New Hampshire home programme. Reduced to ratios, they say: one adult to six plus three school-agers, so at the outer edge one adult to nine; two adults to six plus three, so at the outer edge two adults to nine; and two adults to twelve plus five, so at the outer edge two adults to seventeen. The typographical error in (m) — "A family child provider", with the word "care" dropped — is in the adopted text as filed and as the Office of Legislative Services publishes it; it is not a transcription slip on this page. WHO MAY BE THE ADULT, AND THE ONE PERSON WHO MAY NEVER BE ALONE. Paragraph (m) is an exhaustive list of the people who may lawfully "work alone" in a New Hampshire home programme: the family child care provider, the family group child care provider, the child care manager (a small child care centre role), and the child care worker. The child care assistant is conspicuously absent, and He-C 4002.33(g) explains why: "A child care assistant, whether paid or volunteer, shall: (1) Be 16 years of age or older; and (2) Work under the direct observation and supervision of the family child care provider, a child care manager, or a child care worker at all times." A sixteen-year-old assistant therefore counts toward the two-adult combinations in (n) and (o) but can never be the adult who holds the ratio by themselves — not for the school run, not for ten minutes.

He-C 4002.33(f) sets the worker's floor: "A child care worker shall be 18 years of age or older." The junior helper is counted out of the arithmetic altogether by He-C 4002.33(k), which requires such a person to "(1) Be at least 14 years of age; (2) Work with children only under the direct supervision and observation of a staff person who meets at least the minimum qualification of a child care worker; (3) Not be calculated in staff to child ratios as specified in (m) through (p) below". Note the defect in (k)(3): it points to "(m) through (p)", but He-C 4002.33 ends at paragraph (o). There is no paragraph (p). The pointer is dead and the department has not corrected it; read it as "(m) through (o)". Recorded in verify_flag. And the children themselves may not help at all: He-C 4002.18(c) provides that "Child care staff shall not allow children to provide care to other children, such as feeding infants, picking up infants or toddlers, changing diapers, assisting with toileting, or supervising children." THE PROVIDER'S OWN PRESENCE IS ITSELF A STAFFING RULE, AND IT IS THE ONE MOST OFTEN BROKEN.

He-C 4002.01(z) defines the licensee in terms of hours worked: "'Family child care provider' means the individual in whose home family or family group child care services are provided, who is responsible for the operation of the program, and who provides the child care for at least two-thirds of the operating hours." That two-thirds figure is enforceable. A provider who opens at 6:30 a.m. and closes at 5:30 p.m. — eleven hours — must personally be providing the care for at least seven hours and twenty minutes of them. Running the home through workers while the licensee does the errands and the paperwork is not a staffing arrangement New Hampshire recognises; it is a defect in the licensee's own qualification. He-C 4002.01(k) puts the same fraction on the child care manager of a small child care centre. SUBSTITUTES: NINETY CONSECUTIVE DAYS, ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY IN A YEAR, AND A DEFINITION THAT DOES NOT COVER YOU. He-C 4002.33(h): "Family child care providers or small child care centers may employ substitute staff who meet the age requirements of the staff position for whom they are substituting and assume the responsibilities of any child care staff on an emergency or temporary basis for not more than 90 consecutive days and not more than a maximum of 120 days in a 12-month period."

Two things to notice. First, the qualification test for a home substitute is expressly reduced to AGE — "who meet the age requirements of the staff position for whom they are substituting" — so a person of eighteen may substitute for a child care worker without the worker's education, and a person of sixteen may substitute for an assistant. Second, the part's general definition of "substitute" at He-C 4002.01(bq) reaches only four centre titles — assistant teacher, associate teacher, lead teacher, group leader — so the home substitute exists only in He-C 4002.33(h), bounded by the calendar rather than by the definition. Neither training nor screening is waived: He-C 4002.32(k) provides that "All substitutes and any volunteer who works alone with children or is counted in staff-to-child ratios shall complete the health and safety trainings as required by (b) above and 3 hours of annual professional development", and He-C 4002.40(b) requires a background record check from "(2) Substitutes" and "(4) Volunteers who might be alone with children or are included in staff to child ratios". There is no unchecked helper who nevertheless holds the ratio.

THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR THE LICENSEE. He-C 4002.05(f) sets up the replacement machinery for a departing programme manager and then removes home providers from it in its opening words: "With the exception of a family child care provider, when the program manager on record with and approved by the department leaves the position, the licensee or their designee shall submit to the department: (1) Written notice within 10 business days of the date of the vacancy…". The 120-day temporary-director machinery in He-C 4002.05(g) and (h) is likewise written for centre directors and site directors. A New Hampshire family child care licence is personal to the person in whose home the care is given; if that person stops providing two-thirds of the hours, there is no paragraph that lets someone else stand in indefinitely. THE INFANT SUB-CAPS ARE THE REAL RATIO, AND THEY ARE THE TIGHTEST NUMBERS IN THE STATE. Working alone in a family child care home you may have four children under 36 months and, of those, no more than two under 24 months — He-C 4002.33(m)(1) and (m)(2). Bring in one more adult, whether a child care worker or a sixteen-year-old assistant, and paragraph (n) applies instead: the total stays at six plus three, the "no more than 4 shall be younger than 36 months of age" survives, and the under-24-months restriction simply disappears from the text.

That is the entire commercial value of a second adult in a family child care home: it lifts the two-infant ceiling and nothing else. In a family group child care home under paragraph (o) the sub-cap is "no more than 4 children shall be younger than 36 months of age" out of twelve, and paragraph (o) contains no under-24-months sub-cap at all — so two adults with a family group licence may, on the face of the rule, serve four children all under two, provided the total under-three count stays at four. The rule's silence there is the only route in New Hampshire to a genuinely infant-weighted home business; it is also odd enough that you should get it in writing from the unit before signing four infant contracts. Recorded in verify_flag. And note that a family group licensee who works a shift alone falls back under paragraph (m), which names "family group child care provider" expressly: alone, they are capped at six plus three with no more than two under 24 months, regardless of what the licence says. BABIES UNDER SIX WEEKS ARE A SEPARATE PERMISSION, NOT A RATIO QUESTION, AND THE OLD ESCAPE HATCH HAS BEEN CLOSED.

He-C 4002.18(j): "Programs that are authorized by license or permit to care for children as young as 6 weeks of age may care for a child younger than 6 weeks of age for a maximum of 12 hours per week per child with prior approval from their local fire officer and notification to the department." He-C 4002.18(k) then carves out the provider's own newborn: "In a family or family group child care home licensed to care for children 6 weeks of age, the restriction specified in (j) above shall not apply to the family child care provider's own biological, adopted, or foster care infant younger than 6 weeks of age … provided that, in doing so, it will not result in exceeding the limits specified in He-C 4002.33(m) through (o)." Read that closing proviso carefully: your own newborn is exempt from the twelve-hours-a-week restriction but is NOT exempt from the counting rules, so a solo family provider with a three-week-old of her own has already used one of her two under-24-months slots. The rule that used to sit here has been deleted. Under the pre-September-2025 text, He-C 4002.34(r) provided that "Family based programs may care for a child in the foster care system who is younger than 6 weeks of age provided: (1) They have received prior approval from their local fire officer and notification to the department; and (2) In doing so, they will not exceed the limits in (n), (o), and (q) above."

That paragraph does not survive in Document #14356. A provider who took a newborn foster placement on the strength of the old (r) is now under He-C 4002.18(j)'s twelve-hours-per-week ceiling unless the child resides in the home. DO THE PROVIDER'S OWN CHILDREN COUNT, AND FROM WHAT AGE. They do, and the rule and the statute give different ages. He-C 4002.33(l): "The license capacity for family or family group child care homes shall include the provider's own, foster, and resident children up to 6 years of age, when they are present." RSA 170-E:2, IV(a) sets a wider net: "The 6 children shall include any foster children residing in the home and all children who are related to the caregiver except children who are 10 years of age or older." The divergence and the "when they are present" relief are worked through in the capacity_max entry for New Hampshire; the point that belongs to ratios is narrower. Because paragraphs (m), (n) and (o) all measure their sub-caps against "the 6 children" or "the 12 children", and because (l) puts your own young children inside that number, your own two-year-old occupies one of the four under-36-months slots and your own eighteen-month-old occupies one of the two under-24-months slots. A solo provider with her own toddler has five paying slots, four under-three slots and one under-two slot, not six, four and two.

That is the arithmetic that decides whether the business works. MIXED-AGE GROUPS ARE NOT COMPUTED THE WAY THE INTERNET SAYS THEY ARE. For a New Hampshire home there is no averaging rule and no youngest-child rule in ordinary daily care; the mixed-age problem is solved entirely by the two sub-caps in He-C 4002.33(m)-(o). The averaging language exists, but it is centre language. He-C 4002.35(g): "Group child care centers shall base the staff to child ratio and group size on the average age of the children in the group when there are mixed ages in the same group", and He-C 4002.36(g) says the same for infant and toddler programmes "when there are mixed age groups in the same room". He-C 4002.25(u), which sits inside the rest-and-sleep rule, looks general — "Programs shall base the staff to child ratio on the average age of the children in each group in accordance with (t) above when there are mixed age groups in the same room" — but its chain runs back through (t) to (s), and (s) reads "During rest and sleep, programs shall always maintain ratios for children under 24 months, in accordance with He-C 4002.35 and 4002.36, except as specified in (t) below."

Both of those are centre rules, so a home does not acquire an averaging entitlement through the back door of the nap rule. The YOUNGEST-CHILD method exists too, and it is confined to trips and water: He-C 4002.31(s) provides that "In a center-based program, the staff to child ratio and maximum group size for a mixed age group of children participating in any field trip or water activity shall be based on the age of the youngest child in the group." Commercial ratio pages routinely state that "New Hampshire uses the youngest-child method for mixed-age classrooms". That is false twice over: the classroom method is averaging, not youngest-child, and neither method reaches your home. THE ONE PLACE NEW HAMPSHIRE DOES GIVE A HOME AN AGE-BANDED RATIO TABLE IS WATER, AND MOST PROVIDERS HAVE NEVER READ IT. He-C 4002.31(u): "In a family or family group child care home and small child care centers, for all water activities on or off the premises of the program, child care staff shall comply with the staffing requirements specified in He-C 4002.33, and the minimum staff to child ratios and staffing levels as follows: (1) There shall be one staff member for every 2 children, 35 months and younger, and the staff assigned to this age group shall be responsible only for the children in this age group; and (2) For children ages 3 years and older, the ratio shall be determined by the age of the youngest child in the group as follows: a.

If the youngest child is 3 years old, there shall be one staff member for every 4 children; b. If the youngest child is 4 years old, there shall be one staff member for every 6 children; and c. If the youngest child is 5 years of age or older, there shall be one staff member for every 8 children." One adult to two children under three, and that adult may do nothing else — "responsible only for the children in this age group". Set a paddling pool out on the lawn for a solo provider's lawful group of four under-threes and you have just required two adults. The term "water activity" is defined at He-C 4002.01(bu) and reaches splashing and wading, not merely swimming. Two further requirements ride on top: He-C 4002.31(k)(3), "There shall be at least one staff person who is currently certified in CPR and who has completed a water safety training within the previous 3 years always present with the children during any water activity"; and He-C 4002.31(l), "When children are engaged in water activities, an adult who reports that they know how to swim shall always be present with children." He-C 4002.31(v) requires that the person in charge be qualified at least as "child care worker in family based programs or small child care centers as specified in He-C 4002.33", which again shuts out the sixteen-year-old assistant.

Travel relaxes nothing: He-C 4002.31(o) provides that "The program manager shall maintain staff to child ratios and minimum staffing requirements during routine daily transportation and other routine trips such as walks in the neighborhood and trips to the local library." WHEN A SECOND ADULT BECOMES MANDATORY IN A HOME — AND THE TRIGGER THAT DOES NOT EXIST. New Hampshire imposes a flat headcount trigger for a second adult in centres and nowhere else. He-C 4002.36(f): "Notwithstanding (c) through (e) above, a second staff person shall be in the building when 5 or more children are present"; He-C 4002.35(f) fixes the same trigger at eleven children for a group centre and He-C 4002.38(h) at thirteen for a school-age programme. There is no counterpart in He-C 4002.33. A solo family child care provider may lawfully hold six children plus three school-agers on her own. The second adult becomes mandatory in a home only through the structure of (m), (n) and (o), and it does so at exactly three points: at the third child under 24 months, because paragraph (m) forbids a solo adult more than two and only paragraph (n) drops that ceiling; at the seventh child, because a family group licensee working alone is thrown back onto paragraph (m)'s six; and under the temporary-overage entitlement in He-C 4002.05(e), which permits the department to authorise exceeding licence capacity for up to twenty workdays a year but only if the approval will not result in "(2) More than 2 children younger than 24 months of age in a family child care home or small child care center, without an additional child care worker or child care assistant present and assisting in the care of the children".

The words "present AND ASSISTING" are the department's answer to the adult who is in the building but doing something else. SUPERVISION IS A SEPARATE DUTY THAT SURVIVES YOUR RATIO, AND IT IS WHERE THE BRIEF-ABSENCE RULE LIVES. He-C 4002.19(a) is absolute: "Child care staff shall supervise every child in care at all times." He-C 4002.19(b) writes the positioning rule for centres; He-C 4002.19(e) writes a separate and materially more generous one for you: "In family child care homes and small child care centers, child care staff who are working alone shall supervise children in accordance with the following: (1) The child care staff may step away from the children to meet basic care needs throughout the day, provided that: a. The time away is time limited; and b. The child care staff shall always be able to hear all children preschool age and younger and be able to physically respond immediately, if necessary; (2) The child care staff shall always know the whereabouts and activities of all school age children and shall be able to physically respond immediately; (3) The child care staff may allow school-age children 6 years of age and older to play outside when the child care staff is inside, with written parental or guardian permission; and (4) When children are eating, the child care staff shall be positioned to allow for visual supervision of all children and shall be able to physically respond immediately to any child."

That is New Hampshire's brief-absence rule for a solo home provider, and it is expressed in hearing, not sight: you may step away provided the absence is "time limited", you can hear every preschooler, and you can get there immediately. The one written-permission item — school-agers of six and over outside while you are inside — is the only place the rule lets a child out of both sight and earshot, and it requires the parent's signature on file. The department prices a breach of the general duty at a flat rate: He-C 4002.44(g)(11), "For failure to supervise each child in care, in violation of He-C 4002.19(a), the fine shall be $750.00", and He-C 4002.44(g)(17) prices non-compliance "which results in endangering one or more children" at "$1000.00 for each citation, plus $200.00 per day". He-C 4002.05(d)(1) makes the reporting duty immediate: written notice to the unit "Within 24 hours of any occurrence of a missing child or a child who was either inside or outside without staff supervision unless otherwise permitted in accordance with He-C 4002.19." SLEEPING CHILDREN, ELECTRONIC MONITORS, AND THE NAPTIME RELIEF YOU DO NOT GET.

Centres may run one adult short at naptime under He-C 4002.25(r), which opens "For children 24 months through 5 years, during naptime, a center-based program may have one less staff person in a classroom than required to meet ratios in accordance with He-C 4002.35 through He-C 4002.36 provided that…". Homes are not mentioned and gain nothing, which in practice costs a home nothing either, since a home's numbers do not fall when children sleep. What a home does get is the monitor. He-C 4002.25(j): "In family and family group child care homes and small child care centers, use of an electronic monitor shall only be used to monitor sleeping children on the same level in lieu of direct supervision, in accordance with the following: (1) There is written authorization on file from the parents or guardians of the child, indicating that they are aware of and agree to the use of the monitor; (2) The child care staff responsible for their supervision can easily hear sounds from the monitor and respond; and (3) Every 15 minutes, the child care staff responsible for their supervision conduct in-person checks of infants and toddlers sleeping in a crib or playpen, to ensure that each child is safe and comfortable, including a check of their faces, viewing the color of their skin and to check on their breathing."

Three conditions: the same LEVEL of the house, a signed authorisation per child, and a fifteen-minute in-person check on every infant and toddler. The centre version at He-C 4002.25(k) permits monitoring from an adjoining room; the home version says "on the same level", which is stricter than it looks in a house with a nursery upstairs. He-C 4002.19(d) forecloses the workaround: "Video monitors shall not replace the supervision of children, except as provided for in He-C 4002.25(j) and (k)." NIGHT CARE IS A LICENCE, NOT A SCHEDULE, AND THE RATIO DOES NOT SOFTEN AFTER DARK. He-C 4002.39(a): "Any program which intends to provide child care services during the evening or night time hours, between 7:00 PM and 5:00 AM shall be licensed to operate as a night care program." The statute contemplates the home version expressly — RSA 170-E:2, IV(e): "'Night care agency' means a center or family home in which child day care is provided during the evening and night hours. A child day care agency may be licensed for day care, night care, or both." The rule then routes the home night programme straight back to the ordinary home rules: He-C 4002.39(c), "Night care programs operating in private homes shall comply with all of the requirements for family and family group child care homes but shall not be required to comply with the requirements specified in He-C 4002.34." That single sentence is the whole overnight ratio law: He-C 4002.33(m), (n) and (o) apply unchanged at three in the morning, the exemption granted is only from the centre-staffing rule He-C 4002.34, and there is no reduced night-time ratio and no sleeping-provider allowance.

He-C 4002.39(i) closes the door on the arrangement most applicants imagine: "Child care staff shall be awake during operating hours." The duration cap is He-C 4002.39(d): "Child care staff shall not allow children attending a night care program to remain in the program for more than a total of 13 hours in any 24-hour period, except in an emergency, or situations when the parents or guardians are working over 13 hours during a 24-hour period, or parents or guardians are deployed during the weekend by the military" — which tracks RSA 170-E:2, IV word for word. He-C 4002.39(f) adds that staff shall "provide for privacy appropriate to the developmental needs and ages of children while allowing for age-appropriate supervision of each child for bathing and toileting, and for sleeping if staff are not in the same room or are using an electronic monitor to check on the sleeping children". One provision that used to bind home providers is gone: the pre-2025 rule contained, at He-C 4002.34(k), "Except in emergencies, a family or family group child care provider, worker, assistant or aide shall not provide family or family group child care services for more than 12 hours in any 24-hour period."

Document #14356 deleted it. There is now no twelve-hour ceiling on the HOURS AN ADULT MAY WORK in a New Hampshire home programme; the thirteen-hour ceiling in RSA 170-E:2, IV and He-C 4002.39(d) limits the CHILD's stay, not the provider's shift. Recorded in verify_flag, because a provider who read the old rule will assume a limit that no longer exists and an inspector who read the old rule may assert one. THE STATUTORY LADDER THAT DOES NOT REACH YOU, AND THE WAIVER THAT PROBABLY DOES NOT EITHER. RSA 170-E:11, I(c) sets, in the statute itself, a group-size and staffing ladder for the youngest children: "(1) For children ages 6 weeks to 12 months, the maximum group size shall be 13 with the following minimum staffing levels: (A) One associate teacher with up to 4 children; (B) One associate teacher and one assistant teacher with 5 to 9 children; and (C) One lead teacher and 2 assistant teachers with 9 to 13 children", with parallel ladders at "(2) For children ages 13 to 24 months, the maximum group size shall be 16" and "(3) For children ages 25 to 35 months, the maximum group size shall be 19", and a waiver at "(4) Any licensed child care provider may apply for a one year waiver under this paragraph."

Every staffing level in that ladder is expressed in the centre job titles — associate teacher, assistant teacher, lead teacher — and none of those titles exists in a family child care home, where the roles are provider, worker and assistant under He-C 4002.33. Appendix A confirms the separation by anchoring He-C 4002.33 on I(b) alone while anchoring He-C 4002.35 and He-C 4002.36 on I(a) and (c). The practical consequence is that the words "Any licensed child care provider may apply for a one year waiver under this paragraph" in I(c)(4) are, on the department's own authority mapping, a waiver of numbers the family home never had. If you want relief from He-C 4002.33(m)'s two-under-24-months cap, do not file an I(c) waiver; use He-C 4002.05(e)'s twenty-workday overage or hire the second adult. Recorded in verify_flag. The survival of that paragraph is itself a 2026 story — the prospective repeal that would have killed it on 31 December 2026 was itself repealed by HB 1771, 2026 Chapter 98, signed 28 May 2026 and effective 27 July 2026 — and that history is set out in the program entry; what belongs here is the warning that the codified statute on the General Court's own site still carried the bracketed note "[Paragraph I(c) effective until December 31, 2026; see also paragraph I(c) set out below.]" when read on 26 August 2026. The codified layer is the stale one.

Do not plan around a sunset that has been repealed. THE PAPER THAT PROVES YOUR RATIO. He-C 4002.08(c) requires "a record of daily staff attendance, including the staff's full name, scheduled work hours, their position as identified under He-C 4002.34, and their arrival and departure times at the program and in each room or group throughout the day, as applicable, recorded in real time by the staff." The cross-reference to He-C 4002.34 is an artefact of the 2025 renumbering — a home's positions are defined in He-C 4002.33 — but "recorded in real time" is the phrase inspectors enforce. A timesheet reconstructed at the end of the week is not a real-time record, and without it you cannot prove that a second adult was present at the hour the licensing coordinator says you had three infants. THE THIRD-PARTY TABLES, NAMED. The commercial pages a New Hampshire applicant finds first present a six-row grid — infant 1:4, young toddler 1:5, two-year-old 1:6, three-year-old 1:8, four-year-old 1:12, school-age 1:15 with a maximum group of 45 — under a heading that says "New Hampshire Daycare Staff-to-Child Ratios" and a source line that says "He-C 4002". Every one of those numbers is a CENTRE number lifted from He-C 4002.35, He-C 4002.36 and He-C 4002.38, and none of them applies to a family or family group child care home.

The same pages assert that "New Hampshire does not set a separate group size limit for infants", which He-C 4002.36(c) contradicts, and that "New Hampshire uses the youngest-child method for mixed-age classrooms", which the average-age method of He-C 4002.35(g) and He-C 4002.36(g) contradicts. Another widely-circulated compliance page names the licensing agency as the "Bureau of Child Development and Head Start" and sorts New Hampshire homes into "small family child care home" and "large family child care home" — two categories New Hampshire has never had.

Training you must complete before licensure

WHAT MUST BE FINISHED BEFORE NEW HAMPSHIRE LETS YOU OPEN, AND WHAT MUST BE FINISHED BEFORE ANY ADULT IS ALONE WITH A CHILD (verified 26 August 2026 against the rule the Office of Legislative Services shows as in effect today, not against a pinned PDF). START WITH THE VERSION QUESTION, BECAUSE IT IS WHERE THE MONEY IS LOST. There are two full texts of He-C 4002 circulating in New Hampshire and both of them are on the department's own web server. The one that governs you is Document #14356, "Readopt w/Amendment He-C 4002 NH Child Care Program Licensing Rules", effective 22 September 2025, expiring 22 September 2035, which is what the General Court's filing history for He-C rules lists as the operative filing; the department publishes its text under the running header "He-C 4002 Adopted Rule 8/26/25". The one that Google, most consultants, and several commercial "New Hampshire licensing requirements" pages serve is the file headed "Adopted Rule Text 4/21/22", which is Document #13373, effective 22 April 2022,, now superseded. The difference is substantive. In the 2022 text, professional development was Section He-C 4002.33 and it opened with a hard number: "All center directors, agency administrators, site coordinators, or site directors, and all other child care staff who are responsible for the supervision of children, or who are necessary for the staff to child ratios, shall keep on file documentation of completion of a minimum of 6 hours of professional development".

In the rule in force, professional development is Section He-C 4002.32, the "minimum of 6 hours" figure has been deleted from the preservice provision entirely, the topic list was restructured from fourteen items to thirteen, and He-C 4002.33 is now the section on Family Child Care Programs, Family Group Child Care Programs, and Small Child Care Centers. If your paperwork or your consultant cites "He-C 4002.33 Professional Development" or "6 hours of preservice professional development", you are quoting a repealed rule. WHAT ACTUALLY GATES THE ISSUANCE OF THE LICENCE, IN THE ORDER THE DEPARTMENT CHECKS IT. Understand first that New Hampshire does not hand a new family child care applicant a licence. He-C 4002.02(i) provides that "Upon receipt of a complete license application and inspection by department staff, the department shall: (1) Issue a 6-month permit to the applicant for a new applicant; or (2) Issue a 3-year license to the applicant for a license renewal." So the first document you hold is a six-month permit, and everything described below as a precondition to issuance is a precondition to that permit.

He-C 4002.02(e) is the closed list of what accompanies the application, and none of it is a training certificate for the health and safety topics. It requires, verbatim: "(1) A 'Child Care Personnel Health Form' (August 2025) or an equivalent record of a health screening for the program manager, completed by a licensed practitioner no more than one year prior to the date the department receives the application, certifying that the program manager has no apparent health problems that would prohibit their employment caring for children"; "(2) Written approval from the local health officer documenting that, within the 12 months immediately preceding the date the department receives the application, the premises have been inspected and approved by a local health officer, for operation as a program"; "(3) Written approval from the local fire inspector that, within the 12 months preceding the date the application for licensure is received by the department, the premises have been inspected for compliance with Saf-FMO 300 and RSA 153:1 VI-a, by the local fire department or the state fire marshal's office, and approved to operate as a program"; "(4) Documentation from the applicable town or city that the program has been granted zoning approval or that no zoning approval is required"; "(5) Background check forms as specified in He-C 4002.40 for: a.

The owner or applicant; b. All household members aged 12 years and older; and c. The program manager"; "(6) Verification from the New Hampshire secretary of state that the applicant is in good standing"; a diagram of the indoor and outdoor space for each building; and "(8) In accordance with RSA 130-A:5-d, II, certification of lead safety for new applicants in buildings erected prior to January 1, 1978." He-C 4002.02(c) makes the consequence explicit: "The applications in (b) above shall not be considered complete until the department receives all of the information as specified in (e) below." An incomplete application is not a slow application; it is not an application, and the departmental response clock in He-C 4002.03 does not start. THE ONE QUALIFICATION DOCUMENT THAT IS A TRUE PRECONDITION. He-C 4002.02(g) is the education-and-experience gate and it is stated separately from (e), which is why applicants miss it: "For all programs, the applicant shall submit documentation that the program manager meets the age, education, and experience requirements for the applicable program type(s) as specified in He-C 4002.33 and He-C 4002.34, such as copies of transcripts, certificates, diplomas, a non-expired NH child care credential, or degrees as applicable, and a resume or verification of previous experience if such experience is required to meet the qualifications for the position."

In a family or family group child care home the program manager is you. He-C 4002.01(bb) defines "Program manager" as "a family child care provider, child care manager, center director, agency administrator, site coordinator, or site director who has the authority to submit applications, waiver requests, corrective action plans, and any other executive actions required or identified in this chapter", and He-C 4002.01(z) defines "Family child care provider" as "the individual in whose home family or family group child care services are provided, who is responsible for the operation of the program, and who provides the child care for at least two-thirds of the operating hours." That two-thirds figure is a substantive obligation hiding inside a definition: someone who intends to hire staff to run the home while they do something else is not a family child care provider within the meaning of the rule and cannot be licensed as one. THE EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE QUALIFICATION ITSELF, WORD FOR WORD. He-C 4002.33(e) provides: "To qualify as a family child care provider or a child care manager of a small child care center, an individual shall be: (1) At least 21 years of age; or (2) At least 18 years of age and submit with their application documentation that they have a high school diploma or equivalent, including but not limited to General Equivalency Diploma (GED), a High School Equivalency Test (HiSet), or a Test Assessing Secondary Completion (TASC), and at least one of the following: a.

Successful completion of a 2-year child care curriculum approved by the department of education; or b. College courses, totaling 6 credits, in child development or human growth and development, early childhood, or elementary education, or other field of study focused on children, including at least one 3-credit course in child growth and development, awarded by an accredited college or university." Read the conjunction carefully; it is the most misreported line in New Hampshire family child care. The two limbs are joined by "or", not "and". If you are 21 or older, He-C 4002.33(e)(1) is satisfied on its own terms and the rule imposes no diploma, no coursework, no credential and no prior child care experience on the licensee of a family or family group child care home. Every published summary telling a New Hampshire applicant they need six college credits is describing limb (2), which exists only to let an 18-, 19- or 20-year-old qualify early. If you are between 18 and 21 the coursework is not optional and not satisfied by any six credits: at least one of the six must be a three-credit course in child growth and development specifically, and it must be submitted with the application, not produced later at inspection.

THE OTHER PEOPLE IN THE HOME, BY AGE FLOOR. He-C 4002.33(f) provides that "A child care worker shall be 18 years of age or older", and that is the whole of the qualification: no diploma, no credits, no experience. He-C 4002.33(g) provides that a child care assistant, "whether paid or volunteer, shall: (1) Be 16 years of age or older; and (2) Work under the direct observation and supervision of the family child care provider, a child care manager, or a child care worker at all times." He-C 4002.33(k) provides that a junior helper in any family child care program "whether paid or volunteer, shall: (1) Be at least 14 years of age; (2) Work with children only under the direct supervision and observation of a staff person who meets at least the minimum qualification of a child care worker; (3) Not be calculated in staff to child ratios as specified in (m) through (p) below; and (4) Not be required to complete professional development hours as specified in He-C 4002.32." The junior helper exemption in (k)(4) is narrow and it is worth stating what it does not do: it exempts the fourteen- to fifteen-year-old from the professional development hours, and nothing else.

It does not exempt them from the background check regime of He-C 4002.40, and it does not permit them to be counted toward a ratio. NOW THE FINDING THAT CONTRADICTS THE ORDINARY EXPECTATION: NEW HAMPSHIRE DOES NOT REQUIRE THE HEALTH AND SAFETY TRAINING BEFORE THE PERMIT ISSUES. He-C 4002.32(a) provides: "In addition to program managers, all child care staff who are responsible for the supervision of children, or who are necessary for the staff to child ratios, shall have on file documentation of completion of training in accordance with (b) below, which shall: (1) Be completed within 90 days of the first date of employment; (2) Be completed within 2 weeks for programs operating 3 months of the year or less; or (3) If completed prior to employment, provide documentation of previous completion." Ninety days from the first date of employment, not before issuance. For a family child care provider, who is their own employer, the department reads the first date of employment as the date the programme begins operating under the permit, so in practice the state gives a brand-new home provider a quarter of a year to finish the entire federal health and safety curriculum after children are already in the house.

Two consequences follow, both expensive: a provider who assumes the training is a precondition wastes weeks waiting for course seats before filing an application that was already complete, and a provider who assumes ninety days means ninety days for everything walks into the exceptions in He-C 4002.32(c) and (d), which are absolute and bite on day one. THE THIRTEEN TOPICS, QUOTED IN FULL, BECAUSE THE LIST IS WHAT THE INSPECTOR TICKS.

He-C 4002.32(b): "The training required in (a) above shall include: (1) Child care licensing orientation; (2) Prevention and control of infectious diseases, including immunization requirements, exemptions, and grace periods as referenced in He-C 4002.10; (3) Prevention of SIDS and use of safe sleep practices, if the program is licensed for infants 12 months and younger; (4) Medication administration; (5) Prevention of and response to emergencies due to food and other allergic reactions; (6) Building and safety of physical premises, including identification of and protection from hazards that can cause bodily injury such as electrical hazards, bodies of water, and vehicular traffic; (7) Prevention of shaken baby syndrome and abusive head trauma; (8) Emergency preparedness and response planning, including training on all required components in the emergency operations plan as specified in He-C 4002.16; (9) Handling and storage of hazardous materials and the appropriate disposal of bio-contaminants; (10) Appropriate precautions in transporting children for child care staff who will provide transportation or accompany children during transportation; (11) Pediatric first aid and pediatric CPR; (12) Prevention, recognition, and reporting of child abuse and neglect; and (13) Child development, including cognitive, physical, social, and emotional development, and approaches to learning."

That is the New Hampshire enactment of the federal Child Care and Development Block Grant health and safety floor: items (2) through (10) and (12) track the CCDBG topic list, item (11) supplies the pediatric first aid and CPR requirement, item (13) the child development element, and item (1) is the state's own addition. Two drafting choices in the 2025 text are new: item (3) is now conditional on the licence, "if the program is licensed for infants 12 months and younger", and item (8) now expressly incorporates "training on all required components in the emergency operations plan as specified in He-C 4002.16", which converts your own written plan into examinable training content. WHAT NO ONE MAY DO WITHOUT THE TRAINING ALREADY IN HAND. He-C 4002.32(c) creates three absolute preconditions that override the ninety-day allowance: "In addition to the training required in (b) above, child care staff shall: (1) Complete training on prevention of SIDS and use of safe sleep practices and prevention of shaken baby syndrome and abusive head trauma prior to working with infants 12 months and younger; (2) Complete training on appropriate precautions in transporting children prior to transporting or accompanying children during transportation; and (3) Complete training on medication administration prior to administering medication to children."

He-C 4002.20(f) says the same thing from the other direction and adds who may deliver it: "Prior to administering prescription and over-the-counter medication to any child, child care staff shall complete and document training on medication administration, as required by He-C 4002.32(b)(4), delivered by the department, a physician, RN, or LPN practicing under the direction of an APRN, RN, or physician, or online training approved by the department." So if your family child care home is licensed for infants, the safe sleep and abusive head trauma training is a day-one requirement, not a ninety-day requirement, and there is no version of a licensed infant place in New Hampshire that lawfully opens without it. THE UNSUPERVISED-CONTACT RULE, WHICH IS THE REAL ANSWER TO "WHEN CAN THIS PERSON WORK ALONE". He-C 4002.32(d) provides: "Child care staff who have not yet completed the training in (1) through (3) below shall work under the direct supervision and observation of a staff member who has completed the following trainings: (1) Prevention, recognition, and reporting of child abuse and neglect; (2) Prevention of shaken baby syndrome and abusive head trauma; and (3) Pediatric first aid and pediatric CPR."

Three trainings, not thirteen. Until a new hire holds those three, they may be in the home and may be useful, but they may never be the adult in the room on their own. In a family child care home operated by a single provider this rule has an unforgiving arithmetic: the provider must personally hold all three before the first child arrives, because there is nobody else who could supply the direct supervision and observation that (d) demands. The ninety-day grace in (a)(1) is real for an assistant and largely fictitious for the licensee. PEDIATRIC FIRST AID AND CPR: THE PRESENCE RULE THAT OUTRANKS THE TRAINING DEADLINE. He-C 4002.19(r) provides: "There shall be at least one staff person present with all children during all operating hours, both on and off premises, who is trained and currently certified in pediatric cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and first aid, which shall be obtained by the American Red Cross, American Heart Association, Emergency Care and Safety Institute, National Safety Council, American Trauma Event Management, or other nationally recognized organization."

He-C 4002.19(s) permits distance learning with a condition: "CPR and first aid training as specified in (r) above may be received via correspondence or on-line, provided a skill test is required to be performed prior to becoming certified." He-C 4002.19(t) requires that "Programs shall maintain on file, available for review by the department, copies of current CPR and first aid certificates and licenses." Put (r) beside He-C 4002.32(b)(11) and the practical rule for a home is this: the certificate is nominally a ninety-day item as a training topic, but it is a first-minute-of-first-day item as a staffing condition, because a sole provider is the only staff person present and (r) admits no grace period. A fully online certificate with no in-person or proctored skills demonstration does not satisfy (s); buy the blended course, not the cheapest one. The issuer list is closed at the front and open at the back — five named organisations plus "other nationally recognized organization" — so an unaccredited local trainer is a risk you carry, not one the rule absorbs. MANDATED REPORTER STATUS: A DUTY, A TOPIC, AND NO CERTIFICATE.

He-C 4002.05(b) states it as an operating condition rather than a training: "As mandated reporters, the program manager or designee shall report to the division for children, youth, and families (DCYF) at 1-800-894-5533, if the licensee, child care staff, or other person involved with a program suspects that a child is being abused or neglected, in accordance with RSA 169-C:29." The training side of the same duty is He-C 4002.32(b)(12), "Prevention, recognition, and reporting of child abuse and neglect", which is one of the thirteen ninety-day topics and simultaneously one of the three He-C 4002.32(d) topics a person must hold before working unsupervised. New Hampshire does not issue or require a separate mandated reporter certificate for child care, and it does not name a specific curriculum or provider for it; what it requires is documentation of completion, held on file under He-C 4002.09(a)(4). What satisfies (b)(12) is documentation meeting the approval criteria in He-C 4002.32(p); an out-of-state "mandated reporter certification" does not automatically qualify. FIRE SAFETY AND EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS: THE PART THAT GENUINELY PRECEDES ISSUANCE.

Two things in this area are true preconditions and one is not. The fire inspection is: He-C 4002.02(e)(3) requires the local fire inspector's or state fire marshal's written approval, dated within the twelve months preceding receipt of the application, certifying compliance with Saf-FMO 300 and RSA 153:1 VI-a. The emergency operations plan is: He-C 4002.16(f) provides that "Programs shall have an emergency operations plan (EOP) prior to issuance of a permit or renewal of a license." That is the only training-adjacent document in the whole of He-C 4002 that the rule expressly ties to issuance, and its required contents are prescribed by He-C 4002.16(g), which demands that the plan "include accommodations for infants and toddlers, children with chronic medical conditions, and children with disabilities or with access and functional needs" and that it "(1) Be created in coordination with local emergency response agencies in the community in which the program is located; (2) Contain procedures for communication and reunification with families; and (3) Include response actions for natural, human-caused, or technological incidences including, but not limited to: a.

Evacuation, both within the building and off-site; b. Secure campus; c. Drop, cover, and hold; d. Lockdown; e. Reverse evacuation; f. Shelter-in-place; and g. Bomb threat or scan." Subparagraph (g)(1) is the one that takes calendar time: a plan you wrote alone is not a plan "created in coordination with local emergency response agencies", and applicants routinely discover in the final week that the local fire department needs three weeks to meet. Start that conversation the day you decide to apply. The training on the plan is not a precondition to issuance but is a precondition to staff working: He-C 4002.16(i) provides that "Programs shall ensure that all staff and volunteers are trained on the EOP and response actions and are aware of the location of the plan", and He-C 4002.32(b)(8) folds that same training into the ninety-day list. The monthly fire drills, the twice-yearly evacuation drills and the two annual EOP component drills required by He-C 4002.16(a), (k) and (l) are operational obligations that begin once you open, not preservice ones. THE BACKGROUND CHECK IS A CONTACT GATE, NOT A TRAINING GATE, AND IT IS THE LONGEST POLE.

He-C 4002.40(h) provides that the unit "shall determine the individual's eligibility in accordance with RSA 170-E:7, III and IV and notify the program and individual within 45 days of submission of all required information". He-C 4002.40(i) then draws the line that matters for scheduling training: "Individuals required to complete background record checks as specified in (b) above may be on the premises for orientation or training activities but shall not interact with children until the program receives notice of eligibility from the unit." Read that as permission and use it: a new assistant can legally sit through the entire He-C 4002.32(b) curriculum on your premises while their check is pending, which is how you make the ninety-day clock and the forty-five-day check overlap instead of running end to end. THE HEALTH SCREENING, WHICH IS A SIXTY-DAY ITEM FOR EVERYONE EXCEPT YOU. He-C 4002.02(e)(1) makes the program manager's "Child Care Personnel Health Form" (August 2025) a precondition to a complete application, dated no more than one year before the department receives it. For everyone else, He-C 4002.09(b) requires a written health screening record for "all child care staff, household members, and other individuals who work with children in the classroom and who have 5 or more hours per week of contact with children" to "Be on file at the program and available for review by the department within 60 days of the date of hire", and He-C 4002.09(d) requires that the initial record "Have been completed not more than 12 months preceding the date of hire" and "Include a statement by the health care provider that indicates the individual has no apparent health conditions that would prohibit or inhibit their ability to care for children."

Household members are inside this rule: an adult who lives in the house and spends five hours a week around the children owes a health screening record even if they are not staff. FAMILY CHILD CARE HOME VERSUS FAMILY GROUP CHILD CARE HOME: THE PRESERVICE REQUIREMENTS ARE IDENTICAL, AND SAYING OTHERWISE IS THE ERROR. It is natural to expect the larger regime to carry heavier preservice training, and in New Hampshire it does not. He-C 4002.01(z) defines "Family child care provider" to mean "the individual in whose home family or family group child care services are provided", so a single defined term carries both regimes; He-C 4002.01(aa) and (ab) then attach the licence categories to the statute, providing that "Family day care home" means the term "as defined in RSA 170-E:2, IV(a)" and "includes 'family child care home'", and that "Family group day care home" means the term "as defined in RSA 170-E:2, IV(b)" and "includes 'family group child care home'". Because the qualification rule in He-C 4002.33(e) and the professional development rule in He-C 4002.32 are both written against "family child care provider" and against "child care staff", they apply in identical terms to both licence categories.

He-C 4002.33(a) confirms the common floor: "Family and family group child care homes and small child care centers shall comply with He-C 4002.01 through He-C 4002.32 and this section." Where the two regimes genuinely diverge is capacity and staffing, not training: He-C 4002.33(m) caps a provider working alone at "not more than 6 children plus 3 school-age children during hours when school is not in session", with sub-caps of no more than four under 36 months and no more than two under 24 months; He-C 4002.33(n) allows a family child care provider plus one child care worker or assistant the same six plus three; and He-C 4002.33(o) allows a family group child care provider plus a child care worker or child care assistant "not more than 12 children plus 5 school-age children when school is not in session", of which "no more than 4 children shall be younger than 36 months of age". If a source tells you the group home requires extra preservice hours or a higher educational floor, that source is not reading the rule in effect. THE LICENCE-EXEMPT QUESTION, WHICH HAS A COUNTERINTUITIVE ANSWER.

RSA 170-E:3, I(c) exempts from the definition of a child day care agency "Private homes in which any number of the provider's own children, whether related biologically or through adoption, and up to 4 additional children are cared for regularly for any part of the day, but less than 24 hours, unless the caregiver elects to comply with the provisions of this chapter and be licensed", and RSA 170-E:3, I(h) exempts homes caring only for the provider's own, related, or resident children. Nothing in RSA 170-E imposes any training duty on a person operating inside that exemption; RSA 170-E:3, II subjects them only to the child endangerment prohibition of RSA 170-E:4, II, and RSA 170-E:3, III requires only that "Whenever a child day care that is license exempt under subparagraphs I(c), (e), (f), or (g) accepts a new child into the program, the provider shall inform the child's parent or legal guardian that the program is not licensed and is operating as a legally license exempt program." So the honest answer for a purely private-pay exempt home is that the state imposes no preservice training at all.

The answer flips the moment that exempt provider takes a dollar of New Hampshire Child Care Scholarship money, because enrolment is governed by He-C 6914, readopted with amendment as Document #14222 effective 27 March 2025. Under the He-C 6914 text the department publishes (the version read here is the department's own He-C 6914/6920 rule text; confirm the current wording in NHCIS before relying on it) each licence-exempt provider and each employee supervising children "shall submit proof according to (k) below that the provider and employee has completed a minimum of 6 hours of training in all required health and safety topics" — eleven topics, from infectious disease control through to child development, birth through 12 years — and must submit proof of current pediatric CPR and pediatric first aid certification. The timing is stricter than the licensed regime, not looser: "Each newly enrolling license-exempt child care provider and employee shall complete required training prior to enrollment", against the ninety-day post-hire allowance under He-C 4002.32(a)(1). A subsidised licence-exempt provider must finish six hours of health and safety training and hold pediatric CPR and first aid before the first subsidy payment, while a licensed family child care provider may lawfully open the door with neither.

WHAT "CHILD CARE LICENSING ORIENTATION" IS, AND WHAT THE RULE DOES NOT SAY ABOUT IT. He-C 4002.32(b)(1) makes "Child care licensing orientation" the first of the thirteen topics and then says nothing further: the rule assigns it no clock hours, names no provider, and sets no separate deadline, so it inherits the ninety-day deadline in He-C 4002.32(a)(1) like every other item on the list. The department delivers it through the NHCIS provider portal, and you should register in NHCIS the moment you decide to apply, not the moment you are licensed, because your training records, your staff roster and your renewal application all live there: He-C 4002.02(h) directs renewal applicants to file "through the 'NHCIS' portal at https://new-hampshire.my.site.com/nhccis/s/login/?ec=302&startURL=%2Fnhccis%2Fs%2F or by using the forms below", and He-C 4002.02(h)(5) requires "A completed 'Staff and Household List' (August 2025) or updated staff roster in NHCIS." THE COST OF GETTING THIS WRONG, STATED PRECISELY. The administrative fine schedule in He-C 4002.44(g) does not contain a line item for missing preservice training, and that fact cuts in an unexpected direction.

He-C 4002.44(g)(15) fines an unqualified administrator at five hundred dollars, but only "For employing an agency administrator, center director, child care manager, site coordinator, or site director, who does not meet the qualifications for the position, in violation of He-C 4002.34(j) and (p) respectively" — a list that reaches center-based positions and the child care manager of a small child care center, and does not reach the family child care provider qualified under He-C 4002.33(e). An unqualified family provider is handled not by a fine but by refusal or non-renewal of the licence itself, which costs more. A training shortfall found at inspection produces a citation, a statement of findings issued within twenty-one calendar days under He-C 4002.06(d), and a corrective action plan due back within twenty-one days under He-C 4002.06(g); failure to submit that plan is a two-hundred-dollar fine under He-C 4002.44(g)(9), failure to implement it is two hundred and fifty dollars if the same non-compliance recurs within two years and five hundred dollars on a third occasion under He-C 4002.44(g)(10), and a repeat citation of any rule not otherwise enumerated is two hundred dollars under He-C 4002.44(g)(18), doubled under He-C 4002.44(g)(19). Failing to produce the training records at all is the expensive version: He-C 4002.44(g)(6) sets five hundred dollars per offence "plus $100.00 per day, per offense, for each day for which the department does not receive the requested documents". In New Hampshire the paperwork proving the training is enforced harder than the training.

Ongoing (annual) training

THE ONGOING TRAINING CLOCK IN A NEW HAMPSHIRE FAMILY CHILD CARE HOME: TWELVE HOURS, MEASURED FROM HIRE AND NOT FROM THE LICENCE (verified 26 August 2026 against He-C 4002 as readopted with amendment by Document #14356, effective 22 September 2025, which is what the General Court's filing history for He-C rules lists as operative; the department publishes that text under the header "He-C 4002 Adopted Rule 8/26/25"). THE NUMBER IS TWELVE, AND IF YOU HAVE BEEN TOLD EIGHTEEN YOU ARE READING A REPEALED RULE. He-C 4002.32(e) provides: "The program manager and all child care staff shall complete 12 hours of professional development within their first 12 months of hire, and annually thereafter, in accordance with the following: (1) A minimum of 3 hours shall be in health and safety topics listed in (b)(2)-(13) above; and (2) The remaining 9 hours shall be in any other areas listed in (o) below." The predecessor rule, Document #13373 effective 22 April 2022, said something materially different at what was then He-C 4002.33(f): "The center director, agency administrator, site coordinator, site director, and all child care staff shall complete 18 hours of professional development within their first 12 months of hire, and annually thereafter", with three hours in health and safety and "the remaining 15 hours" in the open list.

That 2022 text is still served from the department's own web server, is still the first result many search engines return for New Hampshire child care training requirements, and is still quoted by commercial licensing-guide sites. Three things changed on 22 September 2025 and you need all three: the annual total dropped from eighteen hours to twelve, the section number moved from He-C 4002.33 to He-C 4002.32, and the part-time alternative dropped from twelve hours to eight. A provider who budgets eighteen hours is buying six hours of training a year they do not owe; a provider who cites "He-C 4002.33" in a corrective action plan is citing the section that now governs family child care programme structure, not professional development. WHO OWES THE TWELVE HOURS IN A HOME. He-C 4002.32(e) binds "The program manager and all child care staff". He-C 4002.01(bb) defines "Program manager" to include "a family child care provider", and He-C 4002.01(z) defines "Family child care provider" as "the individual in whose home family or family group child care services are provided", so the licensee of a family child care home and the licensee of a family group child care home each owe twelve hours in identical terms; the two home regimes are not distinguished anywhere in He-C 4002.32. He-C 4002.01(l) defines "Child care staff" as "(1) All child care staff categories as specified in He-C 4002.33 and 4002.34; and (2) Agency administrator and site coordinator", which in a home means the child care worker under He-C 4002.33(f) and the child care assistant under He-C 4002.33(g).

He-C 4002.33(i) closes the loop for the home regimes specifically: "Family child care providers, child care workers, and child care managers shall complete professional development requirements in accordance with He-C 4002.32." THE ANNIVERSARY IS THE HIRE DATE, NOT THE LICENCE DATE, AND THE LICENCE RUNS THREE YEARS. This is the structural trap in New Hampshire, because the two clocks have different lengths. He-C 4002.02(i) provides that on a complete application and inspection the department "shall: (1) Issue a 6-month permit to the applicant for a new applicant; or (2) Issue a 3-year license to the applicant for a license renewal." So the licence cycle is thirty-six months, and He-C 4002.02(h) requires the renewal application "No less than 3 months prior to the expiration date of the current license". The training cycle is nothing to do with that: it is "within their first 12 months of hire, and annually thereafter" under He-C 4002.32(e), which means every individual in the house is on their own personal anniversary. There is no per-licence-cycle total in He-C 4002 — no thirty-six-hour figure, no "per renewal" figure — and any source that gives you one has invented it.

The consequence at renewal is that the unit is not checking one number against one date; it is checking each person's file against each person's hire anniversary, and a home with a provider hired in March, a worker hired in September and an assistant hired in January has three separate deadlines running. THE PARTIAL-YEAR RULE, AND THE INTERNAL INCONSISTENCY YOU SHOULD RAISE BEFORE THE INSPECTOR DOES. He-C 4002.32(f) provides: "Beginning on the employee's start date, the employee shall complete the equivalent of one hour of professional development per month for the remainder of the calendar year, which may include the training in health and safety topics listed in (b)(2)-(13) above." Read that beside (e) and notice that (e) measures against the twelve months from hire while (f) measures against "the remainder of the calendar year". They are not the same period, and the rule does not reconcile them. The safe reading, and the one that satisfies both, is to treat (f) as the pro-rated floor for a partial first year and (e) as the twelve-month total that must be complete by the first hire anniversary: a person who starts on 1 September owes four hours by 31 December under (f) and twelve hours by 31 August of the following year under (e).

Note also the express permission in (f) that the pro-rated hours "may include the training in health and safety topics listed in (b)(2)-(13)", which means the preservice health and safety curriculum a new hire must finish within ninety days under He-C 4002.32(a)(1) also counts toward the ongoing clock. That double-counting is deliberate and it is worth real money in a first year; do not buy separate hours for the two purposes. THE PART-TIME REDUCTION, WHICH DOES NOT REACH THE PROVIDER. He-C 4002.32(g) provides: "Assistant teachers, associate teachers, group leaders, assistant group leaders, child care workers, and child care assistants shall be exempt from (e) above, if they work fewer than 25 hours per week year-round or more than 25 hours per week during school vacations, or both, for the same licensee." He-C 4002.32(h) supplies what they owe instead: "The child care staff exempt in (g) above shall instead obtain 8 hours of professional development annually, of which a minimum of 3 hours shall be in any of the health and safety areas listed in (b)(2)-(13) above, and the remaining hours shall be in any areas in (o) below."

Read the list in (g) carefully. It names child care workers and child care assistants, which are the two home-based positions, so a part-time helper in a family child care home may drop from twelve hours to eight. It does not name the family child care provider, the child care manager, or the program manager. The licensee of a home therefore owes twelve hours a year no matter how few hours the programme operates, and the He-C 4002.01(z) definition requiring the provider to supply care for at least two-thirds of operating hours makes it very difficult to argue otherwise. The three-hour health and safety minimum is constant across both tiers: twelve hours means three health and safety plus nine open, eight hours means three health and safety plus five open. THE STUDENT REDUCTION, AND ITS DEFINITION. He-C 4002.32(i) provides that "Child care staff attending high school or college full time shall obtain 3 hours of professional development in health and safety areas listed in (b)(2)-(13) above annually", and He-C 4002.32(j) fixes the threshold: "Full time college attendance shall mean enrolled in a minimum of 12 credit hours per semester."

Three hours, all of it in health and safety, and none of it drawn from the open list. This is the deepest reduction in the rule and it is also the one most often claimed without evidence; the twelve-credit enrolment must be documented, not asserted, because He-C 4002.09(a)(4) requires the file to hold the documentation on which the reduced obligation rests. SUBSTITUTES AND VOLUNTEERS ARE NOT OUTSIDE THE RULE. He-C 4002.32(k) provides: "All substitutes and any volunteer who works alone with children or is counted in staff-to-child ratios shall complete the health and safety trainings as required by (b) above and 3 hours of annual professional development in health and safety areas listed in (b)(2)-(13)." So the occasional substitute you call in twice a year owes the entire thirteen-topic preservice curriculum in He-C 4002.32(b) plus three hours annually, provided they work alone with children or are counted in a ratio. In a family child care home operating at the He-C 4002.33(m) solo cap, a substitute is by definition working alone, so there is no version of a casual substitute in a New Hampshire home who escapes (k).

The only genuine exemption in the home regime is the junior helper: He-C 4002.33(k) provides that a junior helper aged at least fourteen shall "(3) Not be calculated in staff to child ratios as specified in (m) through (p) below; and (4) Not be required to complete professional development hours as specified in He-C 4002.32." The exemption and the ratio exclusion travel together, which is the point — a person who costs nothing in training also counts for nothing in staffing. WHICH TOPICS THE HOURS MAY BE SPENT ON. The three mandatory hours each cycle must come from the health and safety list in He-C 4002.32(b)(2) through (13), that is: prevention and control of infectious diseases including immunisation requirements, exemptions and grace periods; prevention of SIDS and safe sleep practices where the programme is licensed for infants twelve months and younger; medication administration; prevention of and response to emergencies due to food and other allergic reactions; building and safety of physical premises including electrical hazards, bodies of water and vehicular traffic; prevention of shaken baby syndrome and abusive head trauma; emergency preparedness and response planning, "including training on all required components in the emergency operations plan as specified in He-C 4002.16"; handling and storage of hazardous materials and appropriate disposal of bio-contaminants; appropriate precautions in transporting children; pediatric first aid and pediatric CPR; prevention, recognition and reporting of child abuse and neglect; and child development including cognitive, physical, social and emotional development and approaches to learning.

The remaining nine hours come from He-C 4002.32(o), which provides that "In addition to (b) above, professional development shall be in any of the following areas: (1) Health and safety; (2) Caring for children with exceptionalities; (3) Nutrition; (4) Any child care related courses sponsored or funded by the department; (5) Indoor and outdoor learning environments; (6) Behavior guidance; (7) Leadership, child care administration, or mentoring; (8) Financial management; (9) Working with families; or (10) Legal issues in child care." Item (o)(1) repeats health and safety, so nothing stops you from taking all twelve hours in health and safety; the rule sets a floor, not a ceiling, and the nine open hours are a permission rather than a quota. THE FIRST AID AND CPR CONVERSION, WHICH IS FIVE OF YOUR TWELVE HOURS. He-C 4002.32(q) provides: "Unless otherwise specified on the training certificate or course description for more or fewer hours, training hours for certification in first aid shall count as 2 hours and training for certification in CPR shall count as 3 hours towards annual professional development requirements."

Because He-C 4002.19(r) already requires at least one person present at all times who is "trained and currently certified in pediatric cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and first aid", and because those certifications typically renew on a two-year cycle, the year in which you recertify gives you five of your twelve hours for training you were obliged to buy anyway, and all five sit inside the health and safety category, satisfying the three-hour minimum with room over. The opening words of (q) matter as much as the numbers: "Unless otherwise specified on the training certificate or course description for more or fewer hours". If your certificate states an hour count, that count governs and the two-and-three default does not apply. A blended course certificate that says "4.5 hours" is worth four and a half hours, not five, and a certificate that says nothing is worth exactly two or three. SELF-STUDY: CAPPED, AND BARRED FROM THE PART THAT MATTERS. He-C 4002.32(l) provides that "Professional development shall include trainings, workshops, technical assistance, self-study, or college courses."

He-C 4002.32(m) then limits it: self-study projects shall "(1) Not exceed 4 of the required 12 hours of professional development; and (2) Not be utilized to obtain the professional development in health and safety requirements in (b)(2)-(13) above." He-C 4002.32(n) sets the quality test: self-study projects shall "(1) Be based on current research in child development or early childhood; (2) Demonstrate developmentally appropriate practice; (3) Support the knowledge and skills needed to care for young children; and (4) Be documented and include an evaluation component." Note that the cap in (m)(1) is written against "the required 12 hours" and the rule does not state a proportional cap for the eight-hour part-time tier; on the face of the text a part-time child care worker's self-study is capped at four hours out of eight, which is half their obligation. The "evaluation component" in (n)(4) is the clause that fails inspections: a reading log is not a self-study project within the meaning of the rule unless something in the file demonstrates that the learning was assessed. WHO MAY DELIVER THE TRAINING, WHICH IS THE REAL APPROVAL MECHANISM.

New Hampshire does not maintain a closed list of approved courses that the unit blesses one by one. Instead He-C 4002.32(p) tells the department what it must accept, and anything meeting those criteria is by operation of the rule acceptable: "The department shall accept the following toward meeting in-service professional development requirements: (1) Credit courses offered by a regionally accredited college or university with one credit equal to 12 hours; (2) Non-credit courses offered for continuing education units by an accredited college or university; (3) Conference sessions, workshops, or technical assistance presented by an individual who meets one of the following criteria: a. Is credentialed by the department's bureau of child development and head start collaboration, NH early childhood professional development system in accordance with RSA 170-E:50; b. Has at least a bachelor's degree in the subject area which they are providing professional development; c. Meets the minimum qualifications for the position of center director; d. Holds a professional license or certification through a professional organization relevant to the subject area which they are providing professional development; or e.

Is employed or was previously employed in a position such as a trainer, instructor, or consultant by an organization specializing in one of the areas referenced in (o) above in which they are providing professional development". Subparagraph (p)(1) is worth a great deal: one college credit equals twelve hours, so a single three-credit early childhood course discharges three full years of professional development at once. Subparagraph (p)(3)a. is where the state's credentialing system enters — RSA 170-E:50, I requires the commissioner to adopt rules "relative to accepting applications and issuing a certificate or a credential to early care and education personnel", and the department adopted He-C 6921 and He-C 6922, the New Hampshire Early Childhood and Out-Of-School Time Credentials, as Document #14465 effective 20 December 2025. That credential is not itself an annual training requirement for a family child care provider, and no provision of He-C 4002 obliges a home provider to hold one; its relevance is that He-C 4002.02(g) accepts "a non-expired NH child care credential" as documentation of the qualification for the position, and that a credentialed trainer automatically satisfies (p)(3)a.

IN-HOUSE AND ONLINE TRAINING, WITH THE CONDITIONS SPELT OUT. He-C 4002.32(p)(4) permits training developed and presented by an employee of the programme or an individual it hires, "live, in real time, or via live remote learning", on three conditions: "a. The training is conducted when the trainees are not responsible for children; b. Except for classroom observations, technical assistance is provided when the subject(s) of the technical assistance are not responsible for children; and c. Information regarding credentials of the individual, their methods, content and objective, dates and times of trainings or technical assistance, and a list of participants is on file at the program and available for review by the department". Condition (a) is the one that is routinely violated in home settings: training delivered during nap time, while the trainee is still the adult responsible for sleeping children, does not count, and He-C 4002.25 does not suspend responsibility during rest. He-C 4002.32(p)(5) governs the format most home providers actually use: online training and correspondence courses are accepted "provided documentation of completion includes: a.

The title of the training; b. The completion date; c. The hours awarded; and d. A description which indicates the training is designed to increase the knowledge or skills of an individual to prepare them to work with children more effectively in a program." Those four elements are a checklist, and a completion screen that lacks the hours awarded or the descriptive statement is not documentation within the meaning of (p)(5). Screenshot the certificate, not the dashboard. DOCUMENTATION AND HOW LONG YOU KEEP IT: ONE YEAR, WHICH IS SHORTER THAN PROVIDERS ASSUME. He-C 4002.09(a) requires the programme to maintain on file for each staff member, whether paper or electronic, "(1) Documentation of the staff's qualifications, including required work experience and education, which demonstrates that they meet the qualifications for their position", "(2) Documentation of a completed background check in accordance with He-C 4002.40", "(3) A record of initial health screening upon hire", "(4) Documentation of orientation, certifications, training, and professional development, as applicable; and (5) Documentation of supervision regarding disciplinary actions or investigations specific to the staff member."

He-C 4002.33(j) repeats the duty for the home regimes: "Documentation of professional development requirements shall be maintained at the program and available for review by the department." The retention period is not in either of those sections; it is in He-C 4002.05(m), which provides that the licensee "shall maintain the following documentation on file at the program or keep the documentation readily available for at least one year: (1) Staff records; (2) Staff and child attendance records; (3) Field trip permission slips; (4) Emergency operations plan (EOP) practice drills; and (5) Monthly fire drills." One year for staff records — against two years for children's records under He-C 4002.05(l), which requires the licensee to "maintain a child's records on file at the program or keep them readily available for 2 years after the child's last day of enrollment". The mismatch is real and the practical advice runs the other way from the rule: keep training certificates for the full three-year licence cycle regardless, because at renewal you will be asked to demonstrate a continuous pattern, and because He-C 4002.05(k) requires that "All documentation required by the department, whether maintained by the program in electronic or paper format, shall be complete, legible, and available for review by the department upon request."

Note also that current CPR and first aid certificates sit under a separate and unqualified duty in He-C 4002.19(t): "Programs shall maintain on file, available for review by the department, copies of current CPR and first aid certificates and licenses." WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU FALL SHORT. There is no line in the administrative fine schedule for a professional development shortfall, and that shapes the whole enforcement path. The unit issues a citation, and He-C 4002.06(d) requires that "Within 21 calendar days of the visit review in (c) above, and in accordance with RSA 170-E: 10, III, the department shall provide the statement of findings". He-C 4002.06(g) then puts the ball back: "The program manager shall complete and submit corrective action plans, excluding the names of individuals, within 21 days of the date of issuance", and the plan must state under (f)(3) "The date by which each of the citations was corrected or will be corrected" and under (f)(4) "The interim measures the program has implemented to protect the health and safety of children, when the citation cannot be corrected immediately".

From there the money is procedural rather than substantive. He-C 4002.44(g)(9) sets a two-hundred-dollar fine "For failure to submit a corrective action plan, in violation of He-C 4002.06(g)". He-C 4002.44(g)(10) sets two hundred and fifty dollars if the same non-compliance is cited within two years of the original citation and five hundred dollars on a third citation within two years of that fine. He-C 4002.44(g)(18) sets two hundred dollars "For a repeat citation of any rule not specified in (g)(3) through (17) above", which is the pigeonhole a repeat training shortfall falls into, and He-C 4002.44(g)(19) doubles the original amount when an inspection determines a repeat citation. He-C 4002.44(g)(20) removes the aggregation defence: "each incident of non-compliance shall constitute a separate citation subject to a separate fine", so three staff members short of their hours is three citations, not one. The genuinely expensive failure is documentary rather than educational: He-C 4002.44(g)(6) sets five hundred dollars per offence "plus $100.00 per day, per offense, for each day for which the department does not receive the requested documents" for failing to make records available under He-C 4002.05(k), (l), (m)(4) or (n).

He-C 4002.44(c)(3) offers a discount worth taking on a fine you do not intend to fight: the notice must inform you "about the option of reducing any assessed fine by 25% by submitting to the department, no later than 10 days from receipt of the notice, payment of the reduced fine, and a written statement waiving the right to request an administrative hearing regarding the fine". If you do intend to contest the citation itself rather than the fine, do it early and in the right forum: He-C 4002.07(c)(1) requires a written request for informal dispute resolution "no later than 14 days from the date of issuance of the statement of findings", He-C 4002.07(a) removes that option entirely once the department has initiated a fine, a conditional licence, or action to suspend or revoke, and He-C 4002.07(f) allows an independent informal dispute resolution only after an unsuccessful IDR and only if requested "no later than 10 days of receipt of the outcome of the IDR". Fourteen days is a short window and it closes the moment a fine is issued, which is a reason to dispute the citation before the fine rather than after it.

THE LICENCE-EXEMPT COMPARISON, BECAUSE IT IS A DIFFERENT AND SMALLER CLOCK. Nothing in RSA 170-E imposes any continuing training duty on a home operating inside the exemption in RSA 170-E:3, I(c) for "Private homes in which any number of the provider's own children ... and up to 4 additional children are cared for regularly for any part of the day". The duty attaches only through enrolment for the New Hampshire Child Care Scholarship under He-C 6914, readopted with amendment as Document #14222 effective 27 March 2025. Under the He-C 6914 text the department publishes, to maintain enrolment a licence-exempt provider and each employee supervising children must "Complete a minimum of 2 hours of annual professional development in at least one of the training topics listed below and upload documentation to the NH Professional Registry", the topic list running from child development through health and safety or fire safety, caring for children with exceptionalities, nutrition, departmentally sponsored courses, learning environments, behaviour guidance, leadership, financial management, working with families, legal issues, child abuse and neglect, and trauma-informed care; and separately must "Complete a minimum of 2 hours of annual professional development in any of the health and safety topics listed in He-C 6914.04(e)(1)-(11) and upload the documentation to NHCIS".

Four hours a year in total, against twelve for a licensed family child care provider. The anniversary differs too: the exempt provider must "Complete the professional development specified in (a)(3) and (4) above during each 12-month period prior to the DHHS annual monitoring visit date", so the exempt clock runs to the monitoring visit while the licensed clock runs to the individual's hire date. The exempt provider also carries a continuing duty to "Complete and maintain current pediatric first aid and CPR certifications" and to "Review and comply with the child abuse and neglect reporting requirements of RSA 169-C:29-31". Two of the licence-exempt topic areas, child abuse and neglect and trauma-informed care, are named in the exempt list and are not named in the He-C 4002.32(o) open list for licensed programmes; that is a drafting divergence rather than a prohibition, since He-C 4002.32(b)(12) makes abuse and neglect a health and safety topic for licensed staff in any event. THE ONE FIGURE TO WRITE ON THE WALL. Twelve clock hours per person per twelve months from that person's hire date, of which at least three must be health and safety drawn from He-C 4002.32(b)(2) through (13), at most four may be self-study and none of that self-study may be health and safety, five of the twelve come free in a CPR and first aid recertification year, one three-credit college course discharges three years at once, and every certificate must show title, completion date, hours awarded and a description tying the content to working with children.

Eight hours instead of twelve only for a child care worker or child care assistant who works fewer than twenty-five hours a week; three hours instead of twelve only for a full-time student at twelve credits a semester; four hours a year for a licence-exempt provider enrolled for scholarship payment; and nothing at all for a junior helper aged fourteen to fifteen who is never counted in a ratio.

Background checks

THE FIRST THING TO GET RIGHT ABOUT NEW HAMPSHIRE SCREENING IS THE RULE NUMBER, BECAUSE EVERY FREE LEGAL DATABASE ON THE INTERNET IS CURRENTLY SERVING THE WRONG ONE. The background check rule for a New Hampshire family day care home is N.H. Code Admin. R. He-C 4002.40, "Background Checks and Determination of Eligibility". It is NOT He-C 4002.41. He-C 4002.41 is now "Complaints and Investigations". The Office of Legislative Services filing history for He-C 4002, which is the index of what is actually in effect rather than a pinned copy of a document, records twelve filings for this Part and ends with "#14356 - Readopt w/Amendment He-C 4002 NH Child Care Program Licensing Rules (eff 9-22-25; expires 9-22-35)", superseding "#13373 - Readopt w/Amend He-C 4002 NH Child Care Program Licensing (eff 4-22-22)". The 2025 readoption deleted the old He-C 4002.15, "Notice and Reporting Requirements to the Department and Parents", dispersed its contents through the rest of the Part, and renumbered everything above it downward by one.

So the 2022 Part ran He-C 4002.01 through He-C 4002.45; the Part in force since 22 September 2025 runs He-C 4002.01 through He-C 4002.44. Concretely: background checks moved from .41 to .40, night care from .40 to .39, family and family group child care from .34 to .33, field trips and transportation from .32 to .31, enforcement and right to appeal from .44 to .43, administrative fines from .45 to .44. On 26 August 2026 the Legal Information Institute still publishes the 2022 text under the heading "N.H. Admin. Code § He-C 4002.41 - Background Checks and Determination of Eligibility" with the source note "Derived from Volume XLII Number 19, Filed May 12, 2022, Proposed by #13373, Effective 4/22/2022", and still publishes He-C 4002.40 as "Night Care Program". If you cite He-C 4002.41 to a licensor for a background check question you are citing the complaints rule, and if you build a compliance binder off LII you have built it on a superseded Part. The rule's own internal cross-references carry the same hazard: the 2022 He-C 4002.09, "Staff Record Requirements", orders each staff file to hold "Documentation of a completed background check in accordance with He-C 4002.41". THE SCREENING OBLIGATION IS STATUTORY BEFORE IT IS REGULATORY, AND THE STATUTE MOVED TWICE IN TWO YEARS.

The controlling section is RSA 170-E:7, "State Registry and Criminal Records Check; Revocation of Registration and Withholding of State Funds". Its source note as printed by the General Court reads "1990, 257:8. 1994, 212:2. 1995, 310:134. 1998, 147:2, 3; 256:2; 390:1. 1999, 326:2. 2000, 157:1. 2006, 289:8. 2009, 144:255. 2011, 100:1, eff. July 26, 2011. 2016, 158:1-5, eff. Oct. 1, 2016. 2017, 91:3, eff. Aug. 6, 2017. 2018, 318:9, 10, eff. Aug. 24, 2018. 2019, 313:1, eff. July 1, 2019. 2022, 272:58, eff. July 1, 2022. 2024, 41:1, 9, eff. July 1, 2024. 2025, 80:1, 2, eff. July 1, 2025." Two of those matter enormously and neither is reflected in most third-party summaries. The 2024 session law killed the employment eligibility card: paragraph IV-d of RSA 170-E:7 now reads, in its entirety, "IV-d. [Repealed.]". The 2025 session law finished the job by repealing the whole of RSA 170-E:7-a, and the General Court's chapter table of contents prints that section with the flat annotation "Repealed by 2025, 80:6, II, eff. July 1, 2025." There is a companion trap here that has cost applicants real money.

The unit's own fingerprinting instruction sheet, still on the DHHS web server in a 2021 documents folder, tells you to send TWO cheques — "$27.00" payable to "State of NH - Criminal Records" and "$25.00" payable to "Child Care Licensing Unit" — and lists an "Employment Eligibility Card Application (CCLU 1-C)". The card no longer exists; the unit's news page records under 7 June 2024 that eligibility cards were eliminated by legislation effective 1 July 2024 and refunds began immediately. Do not send the $25.00. Do not file a CCLU 1-C. The document telling you to do both is an official agency document, which is exactly why it is dangerous. AND ONE MORE STALE LAYER, THIS ONE POSING AS THE STATUTE ITSELF. There is a widely-linked mirror of RSA chapter 170-E at nhdcyf.info which serves a version of RSA 170-E:7 whose source note stops at "2000, 157:1, eff. July 22, 2000". That text opens paragraph I with a thirty-day grace period: providers shall, "within 30 days of adding new staff members responsible for the care of, or having regular contact with children, and within 30 days of adding new household members or other individuals who will have regular contact with children, submit to the department, the names, birth names, birth dates, and addresses of such individuals".

THAT THIRTY-DAY WINDOW NO LONGER EXISTS. The current paragraph I requires "the names, birth names, aliases, birth dates, and resident addresses during the preceding 5 years" for owners, household members and directors, and requires them "prior to the issuance of a permit or license, and subsequent to licensure, for all individuals as required by the department in rules". The current statute delegates the timing to the rule, and the rule closed the window. If you move a new adult into your house and rely on a thirty-day grace period you found online, you are relying on twenty-six-year-old repealed text. EXACTLY WHO GETS SCREENED, AND THE AGE THRESHOLD, QUOTED FROM THE RULE.

The operative sentence adopted in 2025 is He-C 4002.40(a): "An individual who is employed or seeking employment as child care staff, a substitute, a volunteer, or a household member shall submit for background record checks via the NHCIS portal in accordance with RSA 170-E:7." The Joint Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules final proposal packet for notice number 2025-132 describes what that sentence changed, and the description is the cleanest statement of the current age gate anywhere in the record: the amendment consisted of "adding the requirement to submit for background record checks via the NHCIS portal, clarifying the requirement to submit for a background record check for individuals 18 years of age or older or upon reaching 18 years of age, requiring individuals age 12 through 17 years to complete a household and personnel form prior to employment, residency or upon reaching 12 years of age, pursuant to revisions to RSA 170-E:7, IV-a and IV-d, deleting the requirement for an employment eligibility card, allowing individuals to be on the premises of a program for orientation or training activities prior to receipt of notice of eligibility for employment, adding the requirement for a program manager to notify the unit if they learn that one of the child care staff employed has been arrested, charged, or convicted of a crime as specified in RSA 170-E;7, III or IV, and that the individual is not to be on the licensed premises pending an investigation by the unit, and clarifying existing requirements."

Compare the sentence that governed from April 2022 until September 2025, still the only version most databases show: "Prior to employment or residency, as applicable, and every 5 years thereafter, all child care staff, substitutes, other employees, and volunteers who may be alone with children or are included in staff to child ratios, and HOUSEHOLD MEMBERS AGE 10 YEARS OR OLDER, shall submit for a background record check using NH Connections." New Hampshire ran a ten-year-old household threshold for three and a half years, then in 2025 moved the full background record check to eighteen and put twelve-to-seventeen-year-olds on a household and personnel form instead. That form is the CCLU 1-B, "Household and Personnel form", which already existed in the unit's paperwork. "Household member" is defined at He-C 4002.01(ab) as "any person residing in the home of an applicant for licensure as a program, if the program will be located in that home" — no relationship qualifier, no involvement qualifier, no exemption for the adult who is never in the room. Your spouse who works nights, your adult child home from university, the lodger in the back bedroom: all are household members, and at eighteen all are on the same background record check as you.

THE FEDERAL FLOOR, AND WHERE NEW HAMPSHIRE SITS ABOVE IT. The Child Care and Development Block Grant floor is 45 C.F.R. § 98.43, and the federal definition of "child care staff member" at 45 C.F.R. § 98.2 reaches "any individual residing in a family child care home who is age 18 and older". Eighteen is the federal number; New Hampshire's 2022 rule went well below it at ten and its 2025 rule came back to it while keeping a paper instrument for twelve to seventeen. Appendix A of He-C 4002 records the federal hook expressly for the home-based rule, mapping "He-C 4002.33 - RSA-170-E:11, I(b); 45 CFR 98.41(d)". The federal regulation requires that the check comprise an FBI fingerprint check using Next Generation Identification, a search of the National Crime Information Center's National Sex Offender Registry, and, for the state of residence and each state of residence in the past five years, a state criminal registry check, a state sex offender registry or repository search, and a state-based child abuse and neglect registry and database search. It caps fees at "the actual costs for the processing and administration", requires completion "not to exceed 45 days after the date on which the provider submitted the request", requires an appeal by which a staff member may "challenge the accuracy or completeness of the information" with the state obliged to "attempt to verify the accuracy of the information challenged", and builds in portability and a five-year recheck: no new check where qualifying results were received within five years and the individual remains employed in the state or has been separated "not more than 180 consecutive days".

WHAT ACTUALLY GETS RUN ON YOUR NAME. RSA 170-E:7, I-a requires each person described in paragraph I to "complete a Federal Bureau of Investigation fingerprint check using the biometric identification system through a qualified law enforcement agency or an authorized employee of the division of state police" and to authorise release of the resulting criminal record to the department; it allows a second attempt where the first set of prints is invalid for insufficient pattern, and after two failures the department may accept, in lieu of the criminal history records check, police clearances from every city, town, or county where the person has lived during the past five years. Paragraph II requires the department to search each name against "the New Hampshire sex offender and abuse and neglect registries, and the sex offender registries of each state where the individual resided in the past 5 years", and assigns the division of state police the criminal history check through FBI records and the National Sex Offender Registry. The abuse and neglect side is the registry created by RSA 169-C:35, "a state registry for the purpose of maintaining a record of founded reports of abuse and neglect", whose entries "shall be retained indefinitely" and which is open to "other states' child care licensing agencies upon written request".

Fingerprinting is LiveScan only — the unit's instruction sheet says "INK PRINTS ARE NO LONGER ACCEPTED" — and the mechanics run through two portals: schedule the fingerprint appointment through the NH Department of Safety CHRI Applicant Portal, then submit the background record check application in NH Connections. Out-of-state registry work became mandatory by agency notice rather than by amendment to the rule: the unit's news page records, under 13 September 2024, that effective 1 October 2024 anyone who lived in another state within the previous five years must complete criminal record checks for those states, that twenty-six states participate in the National Fingerprint File so their records return inside the FBI result, and that the remaining twenty-four states, Washington D.C. and the territories require separate submissions with fees in a $15.00 to $50.00 band. The unit maintains a per-state table covering all fifty states plus the territories, distinguishing the child abuse and neglect registry check, which it requests everywhere, from the criminal background check, and routing some states by post, some by state portal and some by e-mail to CCLUnit@dhhs.nh.gov.

College counts as living there. This is the single most common reason a New Hampshire background record check sits open past forty-five days. THERE IS NO MOTOR VEHICLE RECORD CHECK IN NEW HAMPSHIRE CHILD CARE LICENSING, AND YOU SHOULD STOP LOOKING FOR ONE. The transportation rule, He-C 4002.31 in the current numbering and He-C 4002.32 in the 2022 numbering, requires only that "the operator of any vehicle transporting children is at least 18 years old and holds a valid driver's license", that any vehicle used to transport children "whether owned by the program, a child care staff member or by a parent who is transporting children other than his or her own, shall have proof of current liability insurance", that the vehicle "is registered and inspected in accordance with the laws of the state of New Hampshire" and is "maintained in a safe operating condition, and is clean and free of obstructions on the floors and seats", and that the driver "is alert and not distracted by telephone, radio, or other communications". No driving record is pulled, no motor vehicle record check is required, no periodic licence-status verification is imposed.

Driving offences reach you only if they surface in the criminal history record as convictions within the RSA 170-E:7 categories. If someone tells you New Hampshire runs an MVR on home providers who transport, they are describing another state. THE DISQUALIFYING OFFENCES, WITH THE CITE. RSA 170-E:7, III opens with the deadline and then with the list: "The department shall make a determination regarding the individual's eligibility for employment no later than 45 days from submission of all required information as described in paragraphs I and I-a. If any individual whose name has been submitted for a check under this section is registered or required to be registered on a state sex offender registry or repository, or the National Sex Offender Registry, or has been CHARGED PENDING DISPOSITION or convicted of" the enumerated offences, the department shall act. The enumerated offences: murder; child abuse or neglect; an offence involving child sexual abuse images; trafficking; spousal abuse; a crime involving rape or sexual assault; kidnapping; arson; physical assault or battery; a drug-related offence committed during the previous five years; any other violent or sexually-related misdemeanour against a child, including child abuse, child endangerment, sexual assault, or a misdemeanour involving child sexual abuse images; and a crime which shows that the person might be reasonably expected to pose a threat to a child, such as a violent crime or a sexually-related crime against an adult.

Read the words "charged pending disposition": 45 C.F.R. § 98.43(c) disqualifies on convictions and on sex-offender registration, whereas RSA 170-E:7, III reaches an unresolved charge. An arrest with the case still open is enough to move you out of the home while it resolves, and the 2025 rule added a duty on the program manager to tell the unit when they learn that a staff member "has been arrested, charged, or convicted of a crime as specified in RSA 170-E;7, III or IV, and that the individual is not to be on the licensed premises pending an investigation by the unit". The consequences run by role. Under III(a), if the individual is the applicant or owner, the department shall "revoke or deny the license or permit, or withhold state funds if the child day care provider is not required to be licensed" — for a family day care home, where the licensee is also the caregiver and a household member, that is the end of the application. Under III(b) the department informs the provider and gives an opportunity for immediate corrective action and a department-approved corrective action plan ensuring the individual "will not be on the premises of the child day care program and shall have no contact with children enrolled".

Under III(c) the department may suspend, deny or revoke where the program refuses corrective action or fails to comply with the plan, and under III(d) it withholds state funding from registered exempt providers on the same terms. THE SECOND TIER, RSA 170-E:7, IV, IS THE ONE WITH A ROUTE OUT. Paragraph IV covers "a felony offense deemed directly or indirectly harmful to children in child day care, crimes against minors or adults, except crimes as provided in paragraph III, or is the subject of a founded complaint of child abuse or neglect", and the operative verb changes from shall to may: the department MAY deny, revoke or suspend "pending the development and implementation of a corrective action plan approved by the department". Then comes the sentence that functions as New Hampshire's review mechanism: "The department shall conduct an investigation in accordance with rules adopted under this subdivision to determine whether the individual poses a present threat to the safety of children. The investigation shall include an opportunity for the individual to present evidence on his behalf to show that the individual does not pose a threat to the safety of children."

There is no application form for this and no fee; it is an investigation the department owes you, and the evidentiary burden is framed as present threat, not as past conduct. A founded abuse or neglect report sits here rather than in paragraph III, which is why a central registry hit is survivable in a way that a paragraph III conviction is not. DO NOT EXPECT AN ANNULMENT TO CLEAR THE PATH. RSA 651:5, X(a) provides that on annulment "the person whose record is annulled shall be treated in all respects as if he or she had never been arrested, convicted or sentenced", with waiting periods of one year for violations, two for class B misdemeanours, three for class A misdemeanours, five for class B felonies and ten for class A felonies after completion of sentence. But RSA 651:5, V bars annulment outright for violent crimes, for felony obstruction of justice and where an extended term was imposed, and RSA 651:5, XI(b) preserves police retention and communication of annulled records. The overlap is the point: the offences that disqualify you under RSA 170-E:7, III are largely the offences RSA 651:5 will not annul.

AND DO NOT EXPECT A WAIVER, BECAUSE HE-C 4002.04 FORECLOSES IT IN ONE SENTENCE. He-C 4002.04, "Waivers of Rules", lets the department approve an alternative that "Meets the objective or intent of the rule" and "Does not negatively impact the health, safety, or well-being of the children", on a written request through NH Connections naming the rule numbers, the reason, the duration and the impact, accompanied by "a copy of a notice which has been provided to each parent". Then it draws the line: "The department shall not approve any request for a waiver of any of the provisions of RSA 170-E or of any rules of other state agencies which are referred to in this chapter." Screening lives in RSA 170-E:7. It is unwaivable by construction. THE REAL APPEAL ROUTES, IN ORDER OF WHICH ONE YOU ACTUALLY NEED. First, accuracy of the criminal record. He-C 4002.40 requires the notice of ineligibility to include the determination, its basis, and "the individual's right to challenge his or her criminal record pursuant to Saf-C 5703.12" — a Department of Safety rule, not a DHHS one. Under Saf-C 5703.12 you appear at the central repository, "identify that portion of his/her CHRI which he or she believes to be inaccurate or incorrect", supply the correct version with an explanation, and the director has thirty days to contact the originating agency or court and either correct the record or inform you the challenge failed; on correction "the division shall notify all non-criminal justice agencies, to whom the data has been disseminated in the last year, of the correction".

Second, the FBI side, challenged through the FBI's identity history summary process. Third, a founded abuse and neglect entry, which is attacked under RSA 169-C:35 by petition to the district court to expunge, no earlier than one year after the founded report, with the department obliged to report additional founded reports and criminal history to the court, expungement granted only where "the petitioner does not pose a present threat to the safety of children", and a three-year minimum before re-petitioning after a denial. Fourth, the licensing action itself, under the enforcement rule now numbered He-C 4002.43: a written request for an administrative hearing goes to the commissioner "no later than 10 calendar days from the date of receipt of the notice", and the rule is explicit about what happens if you miss it — "If an applicant, licensee, or permittee fails to request an administrative hearing in writing within 10 days of the receipt of the notice required by RSA 170-E:13, I, the action of the department shall become final." The hearing itself runs under RSA 170-E:13 and 14, RSA 541-A and He-C 200. Ten calendar days, not business days, running from receipt.

THE TIMING RULE, STATED AS AN APPLICANT NEEDS IT. Nothing clears after the fact. RSA 170-E:7, I requires owners, household members and directors to be submitted "prior to the issuance of a permit or license", so your own check and every adult in your house must be through before the licence is issued, not before you open. He-C 4002.40(a) attaches the obligation to the moment of "employment or residency" for staff, substitutes, volunteers and household members, which means a new adult moving into your home must be submitted before they move in, and the 2025 rule extends the same logic downward by requiring the twelve-to-seventeen household and personnel form "prior to employment, residency or upon reaching 12 years of age". The bright line on contact is the eligibility notice: under the rule as it stood in 2022 and as carried forward, individuals required to complete checks "shall not have access to children or be present in the program until the program receives notice of eligibility from the unit", and the 2025 amendment carved exactly one hole in that wall — presence on the premises "for orientation or training activities prior to receipt of notice of eligibility for employment".

Orientation, not care. Then the supervised-work bridge, which is the provision every New Hampshire program leans on: when the unit receives the fingerprint-based criminal background check result and it contains no disqualifying information under RSA 170-E:7, III and IV, it notifies the program that the individual may be present "provided the individual is never alone with children and always under the direct supervision and observation of a staff member whom the unit has been deemed eligible", and "this direct supervision and observation shall continue until the unit receives all results from the background check required in RSA 170-E:7". That is the NHCIS roster status the unit calls "Pending/Working Under Supervision", and its 8 July 2024 notice makes the roster the compliance instrument: every staff member and household member must appear on the program's staff roster as "Eligible" or "Pending/Working Under Supervision", nobody ineligible or expired may work, and noncompliance draws an immediate Directed Corrective Action Plan. The department's own clock is forty-five days: the unit "shall make a determination regarding the individual's eligibility in accordance with RSA 170-E:7, III and IV and notify the program and individual within 45 days of submission of all required information".

Note the condition — all required information. The forty-five days do not start until the out-of-state pieces are in. On the exit side, when the unit tells a program that someone is ineligible, the program must take immediate action to keep that person off the premises and away from the enrolled children, and must "inform the department in writing within 2 business days of receipt of the notice" of the specific action taken. Two business days, in writing. Departures of staff or household members were reported within five business days under the deleted He-C 4002.15(a)(3), a duty the 2025 readoption moved into He-C 4002.05, retitled "Program Administration, Requirements for Reporting to the Unit, and License and Permit Requirements", where the packet records that the notification period for a vacancy of the centre director, agency administrator, site coordinator or site director was lengthened from five to ten business days. RECHECK CADENCE AND PORTABILITY. The cycle is five years and it is stated three times over. RSA 170-E:7, IV-c: "Child day care agencies or providers, whether registered or licensed, and individuals as described in paragraph I, shall complete the background check process described in this section no later than 5 years from the previous background check submission."

RSA 170-E:7, IV-a makes the eligibility determination itself "valid for 5 years provided that no disqualifying convictions are subsequently submitted, and the individual remains eligible as described in subparagraph II-a(b)". And the rule repeats it as "every 5 years thereafter". Portability is real but it is portability inside New Hampshire, not between states. RSA 170-E:7, II-a: "An individual shall not be required to submit a request under paragraph I-a if: (a) In the previous 5 years, the individual submitted a state criminal records release form and fingerprints and completed a criminal records check under this section; (b) The individual is currently employed by a child care provider within the state, or has been separated from employment from a child care provider within the state for a period of not more than 180 consecutive days; and (c) The department made a determination that when the individual completed the criminal records check within the previous 5 years as described in this section, the individual was eligible for employment as provided in paragraphs III and IV." The price of that portability is a signed attestation.

RSA 170-E:7, IV-b requires the provider to hold, for every individual relying on II-a, "a signed statement from the individual stating since the day the individual's background check was completed, that he or she: (a) Has not been convicted of any crimes; and (b) Has not had a finding by the department or any administrative agency in this or any other state for abuse, neglect, or exploitation", and the rule mirrors it word for word. A clearance from Vermont or Massachusetts is not portable into New Hampshire; a person who lived there in the past five years generates extra out-of-state work rather than saving any. WHO PAYS, AND HOW MUCH. RSA 170-E:7, II(c) puts the cost on the business and then hands the business permission to pass it on: "The costs of criminal history record and abuse and neglect registry checks shall be borne by the child day care agency or provider; provided, that the child day care agency or provider may require an applicant to pay the actual costs of the criminal history check and abuse and neglect registry checks of the employee." In a family day care home the licensee is usually both the agency and the applicant, so you pay.

The current combined figure is $27.00 for the state criminal record check and the FBI fingerprint check together, payable to "State of NH - Criminal Records", and that number is recent and downward: the unit's news page records under 24 January 2025 that the FBI fingerprint fee dropped by $1.25 effective 1 January 2025 and that anyone who paid the higher amount between 1 and 24 January 2025 would be refunded by the State Police Criminal Records Unit. Printed at a local police department rather than a Department of Safety station, the $27.00 is unchanged but the department may add its own LiveScan charge. Out-of-state child abuse and neglect registry and criminal checks are billed by each state at its own rate, from a few dollars up to $50.00. And the $25.00 to the Child Care Licensing Unit is gone with the eligibility card. All of this sits under the federal ceiling at 45 C.F.R. § 98.43, which forbids fees exceeding "the actual costs for the processing and administration". ONE UNRESOLVED CONFLICT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT BEFORE YOU PLAN AROUND A TEENAGER. The rule as readopted in 2025 sets the full background record check at eighteen and gives twelve to seventeen a household and personnel form.

The unit's public "Background Checks for Child Care Personnel" page says something different for teenagers who work: "Individuals 13-17 years of age working in a child day care program licensed under He-C 4002 must complete the comprehensive BRC including fingerprinting and submit a BRC application via NHCIS", while treating household members aged thirteen to seventeen the other way, telling them not to use NHCIS and to complete the comprehensive check on turning eighteen, with the useful mechanical detail that "Four months prior to their 18th birthday, they can submit their BRC request using NHCIS after scheduling their fingerprint appointment". The page carries no last-updated date. Whether the unit reads the 2025 rule to leave employed minors on the full check while household minors get the form, or whether the page simply predates the 22 September 2025 readoption, is not resolvable from the published text. Plan for the stricter reading — if a sixteen-year-old will be counted in your ratios or left with children, get them fingerprinted and on the roster — and get the answer in writing from cclunit@dhhs.nh.gov before relying on the lighter one. Being wrong means an ineligible person in your ratios and a Directed Corrective Action Plan on your file.

The application, step by step

Work through these in order — the prep packet turns them into a checklist you can tick off:

1. STEP ONE — DECIDE WHICH REGIME YOU ARE IN BEFORE YOU TOUCH A FORM, BECAUSE NEW HAMPSHIRE LETS YOU CARE FOR FOUR UNRELATED CHILDREN WITH NO LICENCE AT ALL AND MOST PEOPLE WHO APPLY DO NOT NEED TO. There are three doors, and the numbers that separate them are statutory. Door one is the exemption at RSA 170-E:3, I(c), which removes from the definition of a child day care agency "Private homes in which any number of the provider's own children, whether related biologically or through adoption, and up to 4 additional children are cared for regularly for any part of the day, but less than 24 hours, unless the caregiver elects to comply with the provisions of this chapter and be licensed." Read the whole sentence. Your own children are uncounted and unlimited. The cap of four bites only on OTHER people's children. The exemption is elective in one direction only — you may volunteer into licensure, but you cannot volunteer out of it once you take a fifth unrelated child. And the four is recent: it was three until Laws of 2024, chapter 203 (House Bill 1584, "relative to home day care licensing requirements"), signed 12 July 2024 and carried in the source note to RSA 170-E:3 as "2024, 203:1, eff. July 12, 2024". Every New Hampshire guide written before mid-2024 says three. The department's own Licensing Exemptions page, read on 26 August 2026, now says "up to four (4) additional children". A second, narrower exemption sits at RSA 170-E:3, I(h) for "Private homes in which the only children in care are the provider's own children, children related to the provider, and children residing with the provider" — and "related" is defined absurdly widely at RSA 170-E:2, XIII, reaching "first cousin, or second cousin". Door two is the family day care home: RSA 170-E:2, IV(a), "an occupied residence in which child day care is provided for less than 24 hours per day, except in emergencies, for up to 6 children from one or more unrelated families", plus "up to 3 children attending a full day school program" on school days for up to five hours. Door three is the family group day care home: RSA 170-E:2, IV(b), "7 to 12 children", plus up to five school-age children. The decisive arithmetic is therefore 4 / 6 / 12, and the two upper doors are licences under the same rule part, He-C 4002, with the same application form. Getting this wrong is not a paperwork error: RSA 170-E:4, I provides that "No person shall establish, maintain, operate or conduct any child day care agency without a license or permit issued by the department", and adds that the chapter's requirements "shall apply with equal force to any child day care agency required to be licensed under this chapter that is not so licensed" — an unlicensed fifth child imports the entire rulebook, retroactively, with the criminal penalties of RSA 170-E:21 and the injunction power of RSA 170-E:22 behind it. If you stay exempt, RSA 170-E:3, III still binds you: "Whenever a child day care that is license exempt under subparagraphs I(c), (e), (f), or (g) accepts a new child into the program, the provider shall inform the child's parent or legal guardian that the program is not licensed and is operating as a legally license exempt program." The paths diverge later at exactly three points, flagged in the steps below: capacity and age sub-caps (step twelve), whether a second adult is needed at all (step three), and the number of school-age add-ons the fire inspector must bless (step seven).
2. STEP TWO — THERE IS NO MANDATORY ORIENTATION, NO PRE-APPLICATION MEETING, AND NO LICENCE FEE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE; DO NOT SPEND A WEEK LOOKING FOR THEM. This is a verified negative and it is worth money, because roughly forty states put a compulsory orientation session in front of the application and providers arriving from another state waste weeks hunting for New Hampshire's. It does not exist. Part He-C 4002, as readopted by Document #14356 effective 22 September 2025 and served today by the Office of Legislative Services index of rules in effect, opens the licensure sequence at He-C 4002.02(a) with nothing but an account: "Any person or entity who intends to operate a program shall create an account in 'New Hampshire Connections Information System (NHCIS)' at https://new-hampshire.my.site.com/nhccis/s/login/?ec=302&startURL=%2Fnhccis%2Fs%2F or obtain an application packet from the unit." There is no prerequisite class, no readiness interview, no pre-application inspection. The thing that looks like an orientation is not one and is not a prerequisite: He-C 4002.32(b)(1) lists "Child care licensing orientation" as the first of thirteen trainings which He-C 4002.32(a)(1) requires only to "Be completed within 90 days of the first date of employment". That is ninety days AFTER you are working, not before you apply. Nor is there a fee for the licence itself. Sweep RSA 170-E for the word and the only fees you will find belong to other regimes — RSA 170-E:56 sets a $200 licence fee for recreation camps and a $25 background-certification fee, and RSA 170-E:50 charges for the early-childhood credential. Nothing charges a family child care applicant. He-C 4002 contains no fee provision at all. The fund that once financed the unit is gone: Laws of 2025, chapter 80, section 6 provides that "The following are repealed: I. RSA 6:12, I(b)(349), relative to the child care licensing fund. II. RSA 170-E:7-a, establishing the child care licensing fund", effective 1 July 2025, with any balance lapsing to the general fund on 30 June 2025. What you will actually pay for is nothing to do with the licence: $27.00 for the criminal history record authorisation (step four), whatever the local police charge for LiveScan, a laboratory water panel if you are on a well (step nine), a lead safety certification if the building predates 1978 (step ten), and one physical examination (step eleven). What New Hampshire gives you instead of an orientation is a statutory right to free help, at RSA 170-E:5: "The department, in applying the standards adopted by rule under this subdivision, shall offer consultation through employed staff or other qualified persons to assist applicants and licensees in meeting and maintaining minimum requirements for a license." The Child Care Licensing Unit's own new-applicant cover letter urges you to use it — "I recommend that you contact our office early in the planning stages regarding your plans and progress" — and gives the numbers: 129 Pleasant Street, Concord NH 03301, 603-271-9025, ccluoffice@dhhs.nh.gov. Note that the rule itself, at He-C 4002.10(c)(1), compels programs to print a DIFFERENT address on the parent registration form, cclunit@dhhs.nh.gov. Both are live; use ccluoffice for your application and print cclunit for parents. Use the consultation call. It is the only free, zero-risk step in the process and it is the step that tells you whether the other seventeen are worth starting.
3. STEP THREE — PROVE THAT YOU QUALIFY AND THAT THE BUILDING QUALIFIES, BECAUSE BOTH TESTS ARE DECIDED ON PAPER BEFORE ANYONE VISITS. The personal gate is He-C 4002.33(e): "To qualify as a family child care provider or a child care manager of a small child care center, an individual shall be: (1) At least 21 years of age; or (2) At least 18 years of age and submit with their application documentation that they have a high school diploma or equivalent ... and at least one of the following: a. Successful completion of a 2-year child care curriculum approved by the department of education; or b. College courses, totaling 6 credits, in child development or human growth and development, early childhood, or elementary education, or other field of study focused on children, including at least one 3-credit course in child growth and development, awarded by an accredited college or university." Read what that means: at twenty-one, New Hampshire imposes no educational prerequisite whatsoever on a family child care provider — no credential, no CDA, no degree, no minimum experience. The education route exists solely to let an 18-, 19- or 20-year-old qualify early, and the unit's own new-applicant checklist confirms the narrow scope, requiring "DOCUMENTATION OF EDUCATION FOR ANY FAMILY OR FAMILY GROUP CHILD CARE PROVIDER BETWEEN 18 AND 21 YEARS OF AGE". He-C 4002.02(g) makes it a paper step: the applicant "shall submit documentation that the program manager meets the age, education, and experience requirements ... such as copies of transcripts, certificates, diplomas, a non-expired NH child care credential, or degrees as applicable". The second gate is the definition itself, He-C 4002.01(z): "'Family child care provider' means the individual in whose home family or family group child care services are provided, who is responsible for the operation of the program, and who provides the child care for at least two-thirds of the operating hours." A New Hampshire family licence is not a business licence you can staff out; the named person must personally deliver two-thirds of the care hours. The building gate is He-C 4002.33(b), far more permissive than the statutory phrase "an occupied residence" suggests: family child care shall "(1) Only be provided in a dwelling that provides complete independent living facilities ... occupied for living purposes on a full-time basis by the family child care provider; or (2) Be located: a. Physically on the same property as the family child care provider's permanent residence and such residence is a single family home; b. In a duplex structure containing 2 independent side-by-side dwelling units and the family child care provider permanently resides in the other dwelling unit located in the duplex; or c. In a structure with a maximum of 3 stories, with no more than one dwelling unit located on each floor level, and the family child care provider permanently resides in one of the other dwelling units." Branch (2)a. is the one nobody uses: a converted barn, an in-law unit or a purpose-built structure on the same lot as your single-family home is a lawful family child care location. Four storeys disqualifies. Two units on one floor disqualifies. Living off-site disqualifies. Settle this before you pay for a fire inspection, because the fire inspector will inspect whatever you point at and the department will still refuse the location.
4. STEP FOUR — START THE BACKGROUND CHECKS FIRST, NOT LAST, BECAUSE THEY ARE THE LONG POLE AND THE PERMIT CANNOT ISSUE UNTIL THEY CLOSE. This step runs in parallel with every other step in this list and should be launched on day one. The unit says so in terms in its new-applicant cover letter: "A permit cannot be issued until background record checks are complete, and the application will be held pending background check results." The statutory clock is forty-five days from a COMPLETE submission — RSA 170-E:7, III: "The department shall make a determination regarding the individual's eligibility for employment no later than 45 days from submission of all required information as described in paragraphs I and I-a" — and He-C 4002.40(h) repeats it. Forty-five days is the floor, not the ceiling, and the clock does not start until the last out-of-state release lands. Who is checked is the part that surprises home applicants. He-C 4002.02(e)(5) requires background check forms with the application for "a. The owner or applicant; b. All household members aged 12 years and older; and c. The program manager." He-C 4002.40(b) then requires the full check "prior to employment or residency, as applicable, and every 5 years thereafter" from child care staff, substitutes, other employees, volunteers who might be alone with children, and "(5) Household members 18 years of age and older, or when turning 18 years of age." The 13-to-17 band takes a different route: He-C 4002.40(f) requires "a completed and notarized 'Staff and Household Member Form' (August 2025)" submitted with the initial application, when a household member turns 13, and when a 13-to-17-year-old moves in. Note the seam: the application rule says twelve, the check rule says thirteen, and the adopted text does not reconcile it. "Household member" is defined at He-C 4002.01(ag) as "any person residing in the home of an applicant for licensure as a program, if the program will be located in that home" — the spouse who never enters the playroom, the adult child home from college, the lodger. Mechanically, RSA 170-E:7, I-a requires "a Federal Bureau of Investigation fingerprint check using the biometric identification system through a qualified law enforcement agency or an authorized employee of the division of state police, department of safety". The department's Background Checks for Child Care Personnel page, read 26 August 2026, is blunt about method: "Fingerprints must be completed using LiveScan only. Ink print cards will not be accepted." Appointments are scheduled and paid through the NH Department of Safety CHRI Applicant Portal at https://services.dos.nh.gov/chri/cpo/; if you print at a local police department instead you must additionally mail the unit the "Criminal History Record Information Authorization - CCLU 1-A with $27.00 check made payable to 'State of NH - Criminal Records'", the LiveScan form, and out-of-state release forms and fees for anyone who lived elsewhere in the past five years — including college. Two survival facts. He-C 4002.40(i): people awaiting clearance "may be on the premises for orientation or training activities but shall not interact with children until the program receives notice of eligibility". And RSA 170-E:7, III(a): if the disqualified person is the applicant or owner, the department shall "revoke or deny the license or permit" outright.
5. STEP FIVE — GET A SECRETARY OF STATE GOOD-STANDING VERIFICATION, THE CHEAPEST ATTACHMENT AND THE ONE MOST OFTEN MISSING FROM RETURNED PACKETS. He-C 4002.02(e)(6) lists among the documents the applicant for a new licence "shall submit to the department ... with the application": "Verification from the New Hampshire secretary of state that the applicant is in good standing." It reappears verbatim at renewal, He-C 4002.02(h)(4). Two things make this trip people. First, it is not optional for a sole proprietor operating under her own legal name — the rule is unqualified, and the unit's own new-applicant checklist glosses it as "DOCUMENTATION FROM SECRETARY OF STATE regarding trade names, limited liability corporations, or corporations, as applicable", which is where the "as applicable" latitude actually lives. If you will advertise your home programme under any name that is not exactly your own legal name — "Sunny Days Family Child Care" — that is a trade name and it must be registered with the New Hampshire Secretary of State's Corporation Division before the licence application can be complete, because the department will issue the licence in the name you register and He-C 4002.05(c)(1) then requires you to notify the unit "Prior to changing the name of the program or advertising under a new name, and provide documentation from the secretary of state, if applicable, and the date for which they want the new program name to be effective, so that the unit can issue a revised license which reflects the name change." Advertising under a name your licence does not carry is a licence-condition violation under He-C 4002.05(a)(1), and He-C 4002.44(g)(1) prices that at "$200.00, plus $100.00 per day for each day for which the department has evidence that the program continues to fail to comply". Second, the consequence of omitting the attachment is not a delay, it is a return. The department's Child Care Licensing page states the rule of practice plainly: "All licensing materials must be submitted together in one package. An application package that is missing any of the required items will be returned to the applicant." He-C 4002.02(c) is the legal form of the same thing: "The applications in (b) above shall not be considered complete until the department receives all of the information as specified in (e) below." And because He-C 4002.03(b) provides that "The 60 days for departmental response specified in (a) above shall begin on the date on which all requested information is received by the department", an incomplete packet does not start a clock at all — it stops one from starting. A one-page good-standing certificate that costs a few dollars and prints in minutes can therefore cost you the entire sixty-day review window if you leave it out. Do this step in the same week you open the NHCIS account; it runs in parallel with the background checks and with every local approval, and it is the only item on the list that depends on no third party's schedule.
6. STEP SIX — GET THE TOWN'S ZONING VERIFICATION IN WRITING, AND KNOW THAT SINCE 2024 THE LAW IS ON YOUR SIDE BUT THE PAPER IS STILL YOUR BURDEN. He-C 4002.02(e)(4) requires "Documentation from the applicable town or city that the program has been granted zoning approval or that no zoning approval is required." Read the disjunction: a signed statement that no approval is needed is as good as an approval, and that is the sentence to put in front of a code enforcement officer who does not want to open a file. The department supplies a Zoning Verification form, and its instructions say it "must be completed in full with the top portion being completed by the applicant, and the remainder being signed and dated by a person who is authorized by the city or town to sign zoning documents and should include any limits placed by zoning officials such as the number of children, program types, or age range of children." That last clause is the trap. Whatever cap the town writes there becomes a cap on your licence, because He-C 4002.02(j) provides that "The license ... shall reflect the maximum number of children approved by the local fire inspector, health officer, and zoning officials". A zoning officer who writes "6" out of habit has just barred you from ever operating as a family GROUP home without going back to the town — the first point at which the two regimes diverge on paper. Ask for the number you intend to grow into. The statutory hook is RSA 170-E:6: "The applicant shall obtain approvals in accordance with state and local requirements pertaining to health, safety and zoning, as applicable." The burden is expressly the applicant's, and since Laws of 2024, chapter 41, section 3, effective 30 July 2024, the department no longer even notifies the town when it issues your licence. What the town may lawfully do has narrowed sharply. RSA 674:16, VI as served by the General Court on 26 August 2026 provides that the local legislative body "shall ... allow home-based care (family care and group family care) by right or pursuant to a conditional use permit as long as all requirements for such programs adopted in rules of the department of health and human services (He-C 4002) are met", that "Family or group family child care shall be allowed as an accessory use to any primary residential use and shall not be subject to local site plan review in any zone where a primary residential use is permitted", and that where all departmental requirements are met but a conditional use permit is pending, "an applicant may begin operation during such time until the permit is granted or denied." That text is only two years old, from Laws of 2024, chapter 271, effective 24 September 2024, and it has been amended again since: House Bill 1195 of 2026 became Laws of 2026, chapter 217, signed 2 July 2026, effective 1 July 2026, further restricting municipal control over child care siting — and the codified page has not caught up, still ending its source note at "2025, 188:1, eff. Sept. 13, 2025; 258:1, eff. Sept. 13, 2025". Do not argue zoning from the codified page alone. Two limits survive every version. Nothing in RSA 674:16 overrides a private covenant, so a homeowners' association or a deed restriction can stop you dead where the town cannot. And the rule's waiver power cannot rescue you: He-C 4002.04(e) provides that "The department shall not approve any request for a waiver of any of the provisions of RSA 170-E or of any rules of other state agencies."
7. STEP SEVEN — GET THE LOCAL FIRE INSPECTOR THROUGH THE HOUSE, AND WATCH THE TWELVE-MONTH WINDOW, BECAUSE THIS APPROVAL AGES OUT WHILE THE REST OF YOUR PACKET IS STILL BEING ASSEMBLED. He-C 4002.02(e)(3) requires, with the application, "Written approval from the local fire inspector that, within the 12 months preceding the date the application for licensure is received by the department, the premises have been inspected for compliance with Saf-FMO 300 and RSA 153:1 VI-a, by the local fire department or the state fire marshal's office, and approved to operate as a program." Four operative facts sit in that sentence. The inspector is LOCAL by default, with the state fire marshal's office as the alternative; there is no separate state fire inspection for a family home. The standard is the state fire code, Saf-FMO 300, adopted by the Department of Safety, not a rule the Child Care Licensing Unit wrote or can waive; He-C 4002.04(e) forecloses waiver of "any rules of other state agencies." The document the unit expects is called the Life Safety Compliance Report, and its instructions warn you to police the inspector's own paperwork: "Review this form to ensure that it was completed fully by the fire inspector prior to submitting it to the CCLU." And the twelve months run backwards from the date the department RECEIVES the application, not from the date you mail it or the date you start assembling — so an inspection done in January against an application filed the following February is worthless, and the whole packet is returned. This is the second point at which the family and family group paths diverge, and it diverges on a number the fire inspector writes. The school-age add-on that RSA 170-E:2, IV(a) and IV(b) grant — three extra school-age children on top of six, five on top of twelve — is conditional in the statute's own words: "provided that the after school and holiday increase in capacity is permitted by the state fire code and in compliance with any local ordinance." If the fire approval does not name the higher head-count, the add-on does not exist for you, because He-C 4002.02(j) makes the licence "reflect the maximum number of children approved by the local fire inspector, health officer, and zoning officials". Ask for nine, or for seventeen, in writing, on the report. This step runs in parallel with the health officer visit (step eight) and the background checks (step four), and in practice it sets your calendar: small-town fire departments schedule weeks out and re-inspect after remediation. Budget for remediation — interconnected smoke detection, a second means of egress from the child care level, extinguisher placement, and in older housing stock the stair and window dimensions Saf-FMO 300 measures. Two downstream duties shape what he looks at. He-C 4002.16(a)(1) requires "at least one drill each month of operation", and He-C 4002.16(a)(5) that "Child care staff shall activate the actual fire alarm system for the building for at least 2 of the required monthly fire drills required each year". He-C 4002.16(e) adds that "The program manager or designee shall conduct a fire drill in the presence of a representative of the department or the local fire department upon request by either of those entities." He is not a one-time gatekeeper, and He-C 4002.06(b)(1)d. denies the informal, no-corrective-action-plan treatment to any citation that "is a New Hampshire state fire code violation."
8. STEP EIGHT — GET THE LOCAL HEALTH OFFICER THROUGH THE HOUSE ON THE SAME TWELVE-MONTH CLOCK, AND UNDERSTAND THAT IN NEW HAMPSHIRE THIS IS A TOWN OFFICIAL, NOT A STATE SANITARIAN. He-C 4002.02(e)(2) requires with the application "Written approval from the local health officer documenting that, within the 12 months immediately preceding the date the department receives the application, the premises have been inspected and approved by a local health officer, for operation as a program." The department's form for it is the Health Officer Inspection Report, and the unit repeats its fire warning: "Review this form to ensure that it was completed fully by the health officer prior to submitting it to the CCLU." Run it in parallel with step seven: the two visits are independent, use different officials, and both expire twelve months back from the receipt date. He-C 4002.21(a) states the whole approval architecture in one place and shows where this fits: "Prior to use for child care, all indoor and outdoor child care space shall be: (1) Inspected and approved by the local fire inspector, in accordance with RSA 170-E:6 and He-C 4002.02(e)(3); (2) Inspected and approved by the local health officer, in accordance with RSA 170-E:6 and He-C 4002.02(e)(2); and (3) Inspected by the department in accordance with RSA 170-E:8, III, and RSA 170-E:9, II, and these rules." Three inspections, three inspectors, and the department's own is last (step sixteen). Note the phrase "Prior to use for child care": the local approvals are not merely application attachments, they are a precondition on using the space at all. What he measures is scattered through the rule; read it before he arrives. He-C 4002.21(b) requires "at least one toilet and one handwashing sink for every 20 children of their licensed capacity". He-C 4002.26(l) and (m) require that "During all hours of operation there shall be functional sewage disposal facilities" and that "There shall be flush toilets in working order connected to a sewage disposal system." He-C 4002.26(b) and (c) require hot water "at least 85 degrees Fahrenheit and available at all indoor sinks during operating hours", and at taps accessible to children "an automatic control to maintain a temperature at the tap of not higher than 120 degrees Fahrenheit". If your home has a privy rather than a flush toilet, the health officer is the person who authorises it: He-C 4002.26(p), "The licensee shall obtain approval by the town health officer for use of a privy", built to Env-Wq 1022.01, fly-tight, self-closing lids, limed daily, with handwashing water inside or immediately outside. If you plan a portable sink to meet any requirement of the part, He-C 4002.27(a) requires that "Prior to use, the local health officer or designee and the department shall approve portable sinks" — a double approval, easy to miss. And if your septic system is later "showing signs of failure", He-C 4002.26(n) obliges you to contact the department AND the local health officer immediately with an interim corrective action plan. The failure mode here is procedural, not sanitary: many New Hampshire towns have a part-time volunteer health officer with no standing form and no experience of child care, and the visit simply never gets scheduled because nobody is chasing it. RSA 170-E:6 puts it on you in one line: "The applicant shall obtain approvals in accordance with state and local requirements pertaining to health, safety and zoning, as applicable."
9. STEP NINE — IF YOU ARE ON A PRIVATE WELL, ORDER A TWELVE-ANALYTE WATER PANEL WITHIN NINETY DAYS OF FILING, AND KNOW THAT RADON AND PFAS ARE ON THE LIST. This is the most expensive attachment in a rural New Hampshire application and the one most often discovered too late, because the ninety-day window runs FORWARD to the filing date. He-C 4002.26(e): "New applicants that have their own independent water supply shall submit with their application documentation of water test results completed not more than 90 days prior to the date of submission of the application for arsenic, bacteria, nitrate, nitrite, lead, both stagnant and flushed, copper, both stagnant and flushed, fluoride, uranium, radon, manganese, and PFAS." Radon in water is required of every private-well applicant here — not, as in most states, only where a radon-in-air result triggers it — and uranium and PFAS are on the list because New Hampshire bedrock and groundwater put them there. The laboratory is not free choice: He-C 4002.26(d) applies to "Programs that have their own independent water supply and are not considered to be public water systems as defined in RSA 485:1-a, XV and confirmed by the New Hampshire department of environmental services (NHDES)", and requires them to "test their water supply utilizing a laboratory accredited under the environmental laboratory accreditation program in accordance with Env-C 300." Confirm your status with NHDES first: a shared well with enough connections is a public water system and this step disappears. The pass/fail standards are borrowed wholesale from other agencies' rules, which means the department cannot waive them — He-C 4002.26(g) requires compliance with "the maximum contaminant levels established in Env-Dw 700 for bacteria, nitrates, nitrites, arsenic, and fluoride", the action levels in "Env-Dw 714 for stagnant copper and RSA 485:17-a for stagnant lead", and provides that "when the manganese level exceeds 0.3 mg/L, as established in Env-Or 602.03, Table 600-1, alternate water sources shall be used for infants." A failure is not fatal but it is fast-moving: He-C 4002.26(h) requires you to "immediately contact the department to report that finding" with a protection plan, He-C 4002.26(i) gives you thirty days from learning of the failure to submit an acceptable corrective action plan, and He-C 4002.26(k) is the sanction — "When a program fails to submit a written proposed corrective action plan within 30 days of receiving the unacceptable test result under (g) above, the department shall initiate action to suspend the license or permit in accordance with He-C 4002.43(r) and (s), until such time as laboratory results meeting those requirements are received by the department." The thirty-day corrective-action duty in (i) reaches "programs on a public water system" too. Budget for the recurring burden before you commit, because He-C 4002.26(f) makes this permanent: bacteria "Once every 3 months"; arsenic, nitrate and nitrite "Annually"; stagnant lead, stagnant copper, fluoride and manganese "At least once every 3 years", all kept on file "available for review by the health officer and the department". One note the rule does not give you: the unit's cover letter also wants the results in hand at the on-site visit — "During the visit have available a copy of CURRENT water test results if you are on a private well" — so order the panel early enough to survive both the filing window and the inspection.
10. STEP TEN — IF THE BUILDING WAS ERECTED BEFORE 1 JANUARY 1978, YOU NEED A LEAD SAFETY CERTIFICATION, AND THE AGENCY'S OWN APPLICATION CHECKLIST DOES NOT MENTION IT. This is the newest requirement in the New Hampshire packet and the likeliest single reason a 2026 application is returned. He-C 4002.02(e)(8) lists, among the documents a new applicant "shall submit to the department ... with the application": "In accordance with RSA 130-A:5-d, II, certification of lead safety for new applicants in buildings erected prior to January 1, 1978." The statute it points to is short and absolute. RSA 130-A:5-d provides: "After July 1, 2024, the following shall require certification of lead safety pursuant to this chapter prior to being used as either a residential rental unit or as a day care facility: I. Newly-constructed rental units within buildings erected prior to January 1, 1978. ... II. Newly-licensed day care facilities within buildings erected prior to January 1, 1978." Read paragraph II carefully. The trigger is being NEWLY LICENSED, not being newly built and not changing hands. An existing home that has never been licensed becomes, on the day you apply, a "newly-licensed day care facility", and if it went up before 1978 the certification is a precondition of use. New Hampshire's housing stock makes this the ordinary case rather than the exception: in most of the state's older mill towns and village centres the majority of single-family homes predate 1978, and the duplex and three-decker configurations that He-C 4002.33(b)(2) expressly blesses as family child care locations are overwhelmingly pre-war. The certification is issued under RSA chapter 130-A and the Department of Health and Human Services' lead rules, He-P 1600, by a licensed professional — a lead inspector, defined at RSA 130-A:1, XV as "any person or entity engaged in inspections for the presence of lead base substances", or a lead risk assessor, defined at RSA 130-A:1, XVI-b as "an individual who conducts risk assessments, as defined in He-P 1602.44, develops lead hazard reduction plans ... and issues final risk assessment reports". What is being certified is the absence of a "lead exposure hazard" as RSA 130-A:1, XVI defines it: lead base substances "peeling, chipping, chalking, or cracking", lead on chewable accessible surfaces, lead on surfaces "subject to abrasion or friction or subject to damage by repeated impact", and bare soil in play areas above the statutory limits. If a hazard is found, RSA 130-A:1, XVI-a's "lead hazard reduction" measures — abatement, interim controls, or a combination — must be done and cleared before the certification issues. That is weeks of work and real money, and it is why this step must start at the same time as the fire and health inspections rather than after them. Now the trap that costs applicants a returned packet. The Child Care Licensing Unit's own new-applicant instruction letter, still linked from the department's Child Care Licensing page on 26 August 2026, lists ten numbered requirements and lead safety is not among them; the document was published in February 2023, before RSA 130-A:5-d's 1 July 2024 trigger date and before Document #14356 inserted He-C 4002.02(e)(8), and it is signed under an interim commissioner who no longer holds the post. The rule outranks the checklist. If the department's list and the adopted rule disagree, the adopted rule is the law, and the adopted rule wants the lead certification.
11. STEP ELEVEN — GET ONE PHYSICAL ON THE DEPARTMENT'S HEALTH FORM, AND STOP LOOKING FOR THE TB TEST: THE ADOPTED RULE DOES NOT CONTAIN THE WORD. He-C 4002.02(e)(1) requires with the application "A 'Child Care Personnel Health Form' (August 2025) or an equivalent record of a health screening for the program manager, completed by a licensed practitioner no more than one year prior to the date the department receives the application, certifying that the program manager has no apparent health problems that would prohibit their employment caring for children, and an authorization by the program manager for the licensed practitioner to release the medical information on the form to the child care program and the child care licensing unit." Four points to lift out. The form is dated "(August 2025)", adopted alongside Document #14356; a downloaded 2022 form is the wrong form. The "or an equivalent record" latitude is real: your own physician's letterhead will do if it carries the same content and the same release authorisation. The twelve months run backward from the department's RECEIPT of the application, as with fire and health. And the certification is a negative one — "no apparent health problems that would prohibit their employment caring for children" — not a fitness certificate; the rule has no vision, hearing, immunisation or drug-screening component. On tuberculosis: search the whole of Part He-C 4002 as adopted and the words tuberculosis and TB do not appear. What exists is a practice note in the unit's new-applicant letter: "CHILD CARE PERSONNEL HEALTH FORM for the family child care provider/director indicating that a physical examination has been completed within the 12 months preceding the date the application is received by the department. A TB test is only required for high-risk individuals (your licensed health practitioner will make this determination)." That is not a rule and does not bind, but it tells you what the department expects on the form and puts the decision with your clinician. Any New Hampshire guide stating a flat TB requirement for family child care providers is describing a rule that does not exist. The health screening does not stop with you. He-C 4002.09(b) provides: "A written record of a health screening for all child care staff, household members, and other individuals who work with children in the classroom and who have 5 or more hours per week of contact with children shall: (1) Be on file at the program and available for review by the department within 60 days of the date of hire or the date the household member or individual begins working with children in the classroom for 5 or more hours per week; and (2) Include, at a minimum, the information on the 'Child Care Personnel Health Form' (August 2025) provided by the department, or its equivalent." He-C 4002.09(d) adds that the record must have been "completed not more than 12 months preceding the date of hire" and must "Include a statement by the health care provider that indicates the individual has no apparent health conditions that would prohibit or inhibit their ability to care for children." So a spouse who regularly spends five hours a week with the children needs a physical too — sixty days after they start, not before licensure, the one place the household burden is looser than the background-check burden of step four. Only your own form blocks the application; the rest is a file you must be ready to show at the first monitoring visit.
12. STEP TWELVE — DRAW THE DIAGRAMS AND DO THE SQUARE-FOOTAGE ARITHMETIC YOURSELF, BECAUSE THE DEPARTMENT — NOT YOU, AND NOT THE FIRE INSPECTOR — SETS THE NUMBER THAT GOES ON THE LICENCE. He-C 4002.02(e)(7) requires with the application "A diagram of the indoor and outdoor space for each building", specifying contents so tightly that a freehand sketch fails: for indoor space, "1. Room dimensions; 2. Location of exits; 3. How each room will be used; 4. The location of bathrooms and bathroom fixtures, such as toilets and sinks; 5. The location of other handwashing sinks"; and for outdoor play space, "1. The overall dimensions of outdoor play space; 2. The location of exits, gates, and stationary play equipment; 3. The location of the outdoor play space in relation to the indoor space; and 4. The presence of and location of any pools, ponds, streams, rivers, streets, roads, or other hazards that are in close proximity." Then do the department's arithmetic yourself. He-C 4002.21(c): "There shall be a minimum of 35 feet of net floor area per child, inside the rooms used by children, calculated by excluding non-occupiable spaces including corridors, stairs, bathrooms, electrical or mechanical rooms, closets, and fixed equipment, which shall be subtracted from the total area to determine the net floor area." He-C 4002.21(e) removes more: "The department shall not consider common space, hallways, lockers, bathrooms, cooking areas of the kitchen, closets, or offices as child care space." He-C 4002.21(b): "at least one toilet and one handwashing sink for every 20 children". He-C 4002.21(k): "a minimum of 50 square feet of outdoor play area for each child based upon the program's license capacity", with three escapes in (l): a department-approved off-site play area "within 1/8 of a mile", a rotation where "no more than 1/3 of the license capacity is in the play area at one time", and programmes running "5 or fewer hours per day provided the curriculum includes at least 20 minutes of gross motor activities." He-C 4002.21(d) then names the decider: "The department shall determine the license capacity by adding the number of children each room can accommodate based on (c) above, and in accordance with local fire, health, and zoning approvals." Your capacity is the MINIMUM of four independent numbers — square footage, fire, health and zoning — and He-C 4002.01(an) makes it a point-in-time cap, not an enrolment cap: "'License capacity' means the number and ages of children specified on the license or permit allowed to be in care at any one time." The third and sharpest divergence between the two home regimes is decided by age bands, not floor area. He-C 4002.33(m) caps the solo provider at "6 children plus 3 school-age children during hours when school is not in session, provided that: (1) Of the 6 children, no more than 4 children are younger than 36 months of age; and (2) Of the 6 children, no more than 2 children are younger than 24 months of age." He-C 4002.33(n) gives a provider plus a second adult the same six, dropping only the under-24-month sub-cap. He-C 4002.33(o) is the family GROUP figure: "not more than 12 children plus 5 school-age children when school is not in session. Of the 12 children, no more than 4 children shall be younger than 36 months of age." Hiring an assistant does not raise a family home's capacity at all; only the group licence does. The choice you made in step one determines the diagram you draw here.
13. STEP THIRTEEN — WRITE THE POLICIES, THE EMERGENCY PLAN AND THE PARENT PAPERWORK BEFORE THE VISIT: ONE OF THEM IS AN EXPRESS PRECONDITION OF ISSUANCE AND THE REST ARE WHAT THE INSPECTOR OPENS FIRST. The precondition is the emergency operations plan, and He-C 4002.16(f) is flat: "Programs shall have an emergency operations plan (EOP) prior to issuance of a permit or renewal of a license." Nothing else in the part is phrased that way: training is due ninety days after hire and insurance disclosure at enrolment, but the EOP must exist before the permit. He-C 4002.16(g) sets its contents. It must accommodate "infants and toddlers, children with chronic medical conditions, and children with disabilities or with access and functional needs", and must "(1) Be created in coordination with local emergency response agencies in the community in which the program is located", "(2) Contain procedures for communication and reunification with families", and "(3) Include response actions for natural, human-caused, or technological incidences including, but not limited to: evacuation both within the building and off-site, secure campus, drop-cover-and-hold, lockdown, reverse evacuation, shelter-in-place, and bomb threat or scan." A provider in a three-bedroom house must write a lockdown and a bomb-threat protocol; the rule makes no allowance for scale. That coordination requirement means a documentable call to your town's fire or police department, which is why this step takes a fortnight, not an afternoon. He-C 4002.16(h) adds a continuity of operations plan if you plan to resume after an emergency. The written policies are at He-C 4002.15(a), and there are six: a retention policy against suspension and expulsion, stating "Clear conditions ... under which the program will no longer maintain a child's enrollment due to the child's behaviors that pose a serious safety risk"; access to television, video and electronic devices; the administration of medication; excluding ill children "including symptoms, and when they might return"; meals and snacks, "including when parents or guardians fail to send meals or snacks from home"; and supervision on field trips and water activities, "which includes knowing who is in charge, the identity and number of the children they are responsible for, and the frequency of conducting and documenting head counts of children". He-C 4002.15(d) settles the parent-handbook question — "The program shall provide all written policies to parents or guardians at enrollment" — and (e) requires the same for every staff member on hire. Two more documents must exist before the first child arrives: He-C 4002.10(a) requires a "Child Care Registration and Emergency Information" (August 2025) form or equivalent "on file on the child's first day in attendance", and He-C 4002.10(c) compels statements on it, including the verbatim block naming the unit, the posting duty, the public inspection portal, cclunit@dhhs.nh.gov and 603-271-9025, and a four-way parental choice about licensing staff speaking with the child. A home-made form omitting the compelled text is a citation. He-C 4002.14(a) requires four postings "in a prominent location": the licence or permit; the most recent statement of findings with corrective action plan; an emergency and injury procedure listing first aid supplies, the hospital, 911 and "The Northern New England Poison Center at 1-800-222-1222"; and "Emergency and evacuation procedures, posted next to each exit."
14. STEP FOURTEEN — HOLD CURRENT PEDIATRIC FIRST AID AND CPR IN YOUR HAND ON THE DAY OF THE VISIT, EVEN THOUGH THE RULE'S DEADLINE FOR IT IS NINETY DAYS AFTER YOU START. New Hampshire's training architecture is back-loaded, and this is where an applicant who reads only the rule gets caught. He-C 4002.32(a) gives the general deadline: the thirteen required trainings shall "(1) Be completed within 90 days of the first date of employment", or within two weeks for programmes operating three months a year or less, or be evidenced by prior completion. He-C 4002.32(b) lists them: child care licensing orientation; prevention and control of infectious diseases; "Prevention of SIDS and use of safe sleep practices, if the program is licensed for infants 12 months and younger"; medication administration; food and other allergic reactions; building and safety of physical premises; "Prevention of shaken baby syndrome and abusive head trauma"; emergency preparedness and response planning; hazardous materials and bio-contaminants; precautions in transporting children; "Pediatric first aid and pediatric CPR"; "Prevention, recognition, and reporting of child abuse and neglect"; and child development. Three of the thirteen jump the queue. He-C 4002.32(c) requires safe sleep and shaken-baby training "prior to working with infants 12 months and younger", transport training before transporting, and medication training before administering. And He-C 4002.32(d) puts anyone lacking child abuse reporting, shaken baby, or pediatric first aid and CPR training under "the direct supervision and observation of a staff member who has completed" them — which, in a home where you are the only adult, is impossible. That is the practical answer: a solo family child care provider cannot lawfully open without pediatric first aid and CPR, because there is nobody to supervise her. The rule says the same thing from the other direction at He-C 4002.19(r): "There shall be at least one staff person present with all children during all operating hours, both on and off premises, who is trained and currently certified in pediatric cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and first aid, which shall be obtained by the American Red Cross, American Heart Association, Emergency Care and Safety Institute, National Safety Council, American Trauma Event Management, or other nationally recognized organization." He-C 4002.19(s) permits online or correspondence courses "provided a skill test is required to be performed prior to becoming certified" — so a pure click-through certificate does not qualify — and He-C 4002.19(t) requires the certificates on file. The unit removes all doubt in its new-applicant letter, telling you what to have out on the table: "During the visit have available ... documentation of CURRENT certification in pediatric first aid and CPR for the center director or family child care provider." Book the class the week you decide to apply; in-person skill-test slots in rural New Hampshire fill weeks ahead. Two ongoing figures to plan around now. He-C 4002.32(e) requires "12 hours of professional development within their first 12 months of hire, and annually thereafter", of which "A minimum of 3 hours shall be in health and safety topics listed in (b)(2)-(13)". And He-C 4002.32(q) tells you how the certificates count toward it: "training hours for certification in first aid shall count as 2 hours and training for certification in CPR shall count as 3 hours".
15. STEP FIFTEEN — DECIDE THE LIABILITY INSURANCE QUESTION, BECAUSE NEW HAMPSHIRE DOES NOT REQUIRE YOU TO CARRY IT AND MOST PUBLISHED SUMMARIES SAY OTHERWISE. The statute is one sentence, RSA 170-E:6-b: "Every person required to be licensed as a child day care agency under RSA 170-E:4 and every child day care provider required to be registered under RSA 170-E:6-a shall either maintain liability insurance or provide a disclosure to parents that the facility is uninsured." That is a disclosure statute, not a coverage mandate, and it has been in force since 1 January 1999 with a single amendment, Laws of 2016, chapter 161, section 3, effective 3 June 2016. The rule carries it forward in the same disjunctive form at He-C 4002.05(j): "In accordance with RSA 170-E:6-b, each licensee shall either maintain liability insurance or provide disclosure to parents or guardians at enrollment of their child that the program is uninsured." Read the timing: the disclosure is owed "at enrollment of their child" — that is, per child, at the moment that child enrols, not once at licensure and not by posting a notice on the wall. He-C 4002.14 lists the four required postings and an uninsured notice is not among them, so a provider who tapes a sign to the door and files nothing has not complied. The safe construction is a dated, signed acknowledgement in each child's record, sitting alongside the "Child Care Registration and Emergency Information" (August 2025) form that He-C 4002.10(a) requires "on file on the child's first day in attendance"; He-C 4002.05(l) then obliges you to "maintain a child's records on file at the program or keep them readily available for 2 years after the child's last day of enrollment", which is how long your proof of disclosure must survive. There is no prescribed form, no minimum coverage limit, no required carrier, and no certificate to file with the department — nothing in Part He-C 4002 or RSA 170-E specifies an amount of coverage for a family child care home. Contrast the one place the rule DOES mandate insurance: He-C 4002.31(g) provides that "Any vehicle used to transport children, whether owned by the program, a child care staff member, or by a parent or guardian who is transporting children other than their own, shall have proof of current liability insurance." Vehicles are mandated; the premises are not. Two commercial cautions belong here even though they are not licensing law. A standard homeowner's policy in New Hampshire will ordinarily exclude a business conducted on the premises, so a provider who believes she is insured because she has homeowner's cover is very often uninsured for exactly the risk in question, and the honest answer on the disclosure is then "uninsured". And the zoning entitlement discussed in step six is expressly subordinate to private law — nothing in RSA 674:16 overrides a homeowners' association covenant or a deed restriction, and lenders and HOAs frequently require the coverage that the state does not. Choosing to go uninsured is lawful in New Hampshire, but it is a choice you must document child by child, and He-C 4002.05(a)(1) makes failure to comply with the provisions of your licence the citation that He-C 4002.44(g)(1) prices at "$200.00, plus $100.00 per day".
16. STEP SIXTEEN — SUBMIT THE PACKET IN ONE PIECE, START THE SIXTY-DAY CLOCK, AND EXPECT THE COORDINATOR'S ON-SITE VISIT BEFORE ANY PAPER ISSUES. Everything above converges here. He-C 4002.02(b) gives you two routes — "either applying online via the portal described in (a) above or by submitting to the department" the paper "Application for Family Child Care Program" (August 2025) — and the form is a set of certifications you sign, including "I have read the NH child care program licensing rules"; "I authorize any police department, court system or human service agency in this or any other state to release copies of any criminal records or child abuse or neglect records to the department"; and the warning that "providing false information on this application or any of the attachments, or failing to disclose any information required on the application ... shall be considered grounds for license denial or revocation." Note the delay clause you are agreeing to: the department "may delay its decision ... pending the outcome of any investigation, when the applicant, owner, or family child care provider, are named as the perpetrator in any current investigation of any crime, or in an allegation of abuse or neglect." All of it goes together. The department's practice statement is unambiguous — "All licensing materials must be submitted together in one package. An application package that is missing any of the required items will be returned to the applicant" — and He-C 4002.02(c) is its legal form: "The applications in (b) above shall not be considered complete until the department receives all of the information as specified in (e) below." The clock is He-C 4002.03(a), implementing RSA 541-A:29: "the department shall approve or deny an application, petition, or request within 60 days from receipt of the application ... and any additional information requested by the department", and (b) confirms that "The 60 days ... shall begin on the date on which all requested information is received by the department." Sixty days from COMPLETENESS, not from postmark. Then the visit. The unit's cover letter states the sequence: "Upon receipt of a complete application, a Licensing Coordinator will contact you to schedule a visit at your child care program to evaluate compliance with licensing rules." He-C 4002.21(a)(3) is the rule behind it — inspection by the department "in accordance with RSA 170-E:8, III, and RSA 170-E:9, II, and these rules" — and it is a full walk of the whole of Part He-C 4002, not a fire-and-sanitation repeat: space and capacity, sleep equipment spacing, outdoor hazards, medication storage, postings, policies, the EOP, staff and child record files, first aid supplies, and the CPR certificates. Findings are formal: He-C 4002.06(a) requires a statement of findings for every licensing and monitoring visit, (c) requires the coordinator to review citations with you at the close of the visit, (d) gives the department twenty-one calendar days to issue the written statement, and (g) gives you twenty-one days from issuance to submit a corrective action plan. Finally, He-C 4002.02(i) tells you what you actually get: "Upon receipt of a complete license application and inspection by department staff, the department shall: (1) Issue a 6-month permit to the applicant for a new applicant; or (2) Issue a 3-year license to the applicant for a license renewal." A first-time New Hampshire family provider never receives a licence; she receives a permit.
17. STEP SEVENTEEN — THE SIX-MONTH PERMIT IS A TRAP WITH A THREE-MONTH FUSE: THE RENEWAL FILING FALLS DUE BEFORE YOU HAVE BEEN OPEN HALF A YEAR. This is the most consequential timing fact in New Hampshire home-care licensing and almost nothing published says it. He-C 4002.02(i)(1) gives a new applicant "a 6-month permit". RSA 170-E:8, IV explains it: the department may "in lieu of a license, issue a permit to a newly established facility for child day care for the purpose of demonstrating compliance with this subdivision and the rules adopted under it during actual operation. At the end of the permit period, the department shall renew the permit for good cause, issue a license for the balance of the license period, or deny the license." Now the renewal deadline. RSA 170-E:9, I: "A licensed child day care agency shall file for renewal of its LICENSE OR PERMIT no later than 3 months prior to the expiration date of the license or permit." He-C 4002.02(h) repeats it: "No less than 3 months prior to the expiration date of the current license, applicants for license renewal shall submit to the department the following through the 'NHCIS' portal ... or by using the forms below." Subtract. A permit issued on 1 March expires on 1 September and the renewal package is due by 1 June: roughly ninety days of trading before you must file again, and the package is not trivial: He-C 4002.02(h) requires the signed renewal "Application for Family Child Care Program" (August 2025), a health officer approval "within the 12 months immediately preceding" receipt, a fire inspector approval on the same test, fresh Secretary of State good standing, "A completed 'Staff and Household List' (August 2025) or updated staff roster in NHCIS", and diagrams "if changed since the previous application". Two of those mean booking both local officials AGAIN within months of the first visit. A provider who treats the permit as a six-month grace period and starts assembling in month five has already missed the statutory deadline. What protects you if the department is slow is He-C 4002.02(k), importing RSA 541-A:30, I: "if a timely and sufficient application has been made in accordance with agency rules for renewal of a license for any activity of a continuing nature that does not automatically expire by law, the existing license shall not expire until the agency has taken final action upon the application for renewal." The words that do the work are TIMELY AND SUFFICIENT. File late or short and the shield does not exist; He-C 4002.02(l)(2)b. voids the licence when "The license has expired and a complete application form with attachments has not been received by the department." One more renewal-only trap: He-C 4002.03(c) provides that "For license renewal applications, any outstanding corrective action plan for citations of rule or statute shall be considered additional information under (a) above" — an unresolved plan from your permit-period inspection stops the sixty-day clock from ever starting. Clear every citation first. Survive it and the reward is stability: RSA 170-E:8, I provides that licences "shall be valid for 3 years from the date issued unless revoked or suspended by the department or voluntarily surrendered", and He-C 4002.02(i)(2) has the department "Issue a 3-year license ... for a license renewal." Licences are not transferable — He-C 4002.02(l)(1) and RSA 170-E:8, I both say so — and He-C 4002.02(m) requires a revision before you move or add a programme type.
18. STEP EIGHTEEN — WHAT ISSUANCE BUYS: A YEARLY UNANNOUNCED VISIT, A PUBLIC FILE, A PRICED FINE SCHEDULE AND A TEN-DAY APPEAL WINDOW. The inspection cadence is not triennial, whatever the three-year term suggests. The statutory floor is RSA 170-E:8, III: "The department shall make monitoring visits a minimum of once yearly during each licensing period. At least one such visit during the licensing period shall be unannounced." The rule then compels you to promise parents something stricter, in the block He-C 4002.10(c)(1) makes you reproduce verbatim on every registration form: "A licensing coordinator conducts a yearly, unannounced monitoring visit at every program, as well as an unannounced visit prior to the expiration of a license every three years." That is at least four unannounced visits per three-year cycle, and the compelled text, not the statutory minimum, is what you will experience. Findings are public by statute, not discretion. RSA 170-E:10, II: "Information submitted in the application process shall be private, confidential, and not available for review. However, the license itself, the findings of investigatory and monitoring visits, and final decisions relative to licensure ... shall be considered public information, posted on the department's website ... and shall be available on the website for a period of 3 years." RSA 170-E:10, III gives fifteen business days' notice before posting and provides that "If the child day care agency submits a response prior to the date of posting, the child day care agency's response shall also be posted." Use it: it is the only chance to put your side next to a citation for three years. Capacity is managed, not fixed. He-C 4002.02(n) requires a licensee wanting more children to submit a written request, obtain fresh fire, health and zoning approvals "when the increase exceeds the limits established in the current approvals", submit new diagrams if the space changed, and "Not increase enrollment beyond the current license capacity until the department issues the program a revised license or permit". There is a safety valve at He-C 4002.05(e): the department shall authorise exceeding capacity "for up to a maximum of 20 workdays in a calendar year" provided it produces no more than four children under three, no more than two under 24 months without a second adult, and not "More than 2 children over license capacity in a family or family group child care home". Enforcement is priced. He-C 4002.43(a) lists the ladder — fines, conditions, suspension, denial, revocation — and He-C 4002.44(g) sets the tariff: $200 plus $100 per day for failing to comply with the provisions of a licence, $500 for a repeat, $500 per offence plus $100 per day for withholding requested records, and $1,000 per offence for false statements to the department. Appeal deadlines are short: He-C 4002.43(c)(5) gives ten calendar days from receipt of the notice to request an administrative hearing from the commissioner, after which the decision becomes final under He-C 4002.43(e)(1). Informal dispute resolution exists under RSA 170-E:10-a — fourteen days to request — but He-C 4002.07(a) closes it to anyone already facing a fine, a conditional licence, or action to suspend, revoke or deny. Beyond the hearing, RSA 170-E:14 allows appeal "to the superior court", and RSA 170-E:8-a gives you a complaint against the department itself: "The department shall not retaliate against an applicant, licensee, or permittee for any reason."

What you must post on your walls

• THE ENTIRE POSTING UNIVERSE IS ONE SHORT RULE, AND IT IS SHORTER THAN YOU EXPECT. He-C 4002.14, titled "Required Postings", is four sentences long. Reproduced in full, paragraph (a) provides: "The program shall post in a prominent location: (1) The current license or permit, visible to parents or guardians, staff, and visitors; (2) The most recent statement of findings and corrective action plan approved by the department, where it is visible to parents or guardians, staff, and visitors; and (3) A written procedure for emergencies and managing injuries, which shall include: a. The location of first aid supplies; b. The location of child care registration and emergency information forms; c. The name, address, and telephone number of the hospital to which children will be taken in case of acute emergency when parents or guardians cannot be contacted, or delay of treatment appears dangerous; d. Instructions to dial 911 to access emergency responders; e. The Northern New England Poison Center at 1-800-222-1222; and f. The names and telephone numbers of emergency substitute staff; and (4) Emergency and evacuation procedures, posted next to each exit." That is all of it. There is no paragraph (b). The required location language is worth quoting precisely because inspectors quote it back: everything in (a)(1) through (a)(3) goes "in a prominent location", the licence and the statement of findings additionally "visible to parents or guardians, staff, and visitors", and the evacuation procedures under (a)(4) go somewhere different — "next to each exit". Only three other provisions in the whole of Part He-C 4002 use the verb "post" of a program: He-C 4002.19(k)-(l) on allergy plans, He-C 4002.31(b) on unplanned trips, and the compelled parent-notice text quoted inside He-C 4002.10(c)(1). Everything else that people assume is a posting is in fact a "keep on file" or "make available for review" duty, and conflating the two is the classic New Hampshire error in both directions: providers wallpaper the hallway with documents the rule never asked for while leaving the emergency substitute staff telephone numbers off the one notice that must carry them. The rule is current. Document #14356, effective 22 September 2025, readopted Part He-C 4002 with amendment and, by deleting the former He-C 4002.15, pulled every later rule up by one; He-C 4002.14 carries the source note "ss by #13373, eff 4-22-22; ss by #14356, eff 9-22-25, EXPIRES: 9-22-35". Any checklist citing "He-C 4002.15 Required Postings" is citing the numbering that died on 22 September 2025. Note also what does not follow from a posting failure: He-C 4002.44(g), the administrative fine schedule, prices twenty-odd violations and contains no fine for breach of He-C 4002.14. A posting failure is a citation on your statement of findings requiring a corrective action plan within 21 days, and it becomes expensive only if you fail to submit the plan (He-C 4002.44(g)(9), $200) or fail to implement it (He-C 4002.44(g)(10)).
• THE LICENCE OR PERMIT: THE FIRST THING THE COORDINATOR LOOKS FOR, AND THE DOCUMENT THAT CARRIES YOUR CAPACITY. He-C 4002.14(a)(1) requires you to post "The current license or permit, visible to parents or guardians, staff, and visitors." Three audiences are named, which is why a licence taped inside a cupboard door in your kitchen fails even though you can find it: a parent standing in your entryway must be able to read it without asking. The word "current" does the second half of the work. A family child care licence runs three years — RSA 170-E:8, I: "Licenses ... shall be valid for 3 years from the date issued unless revoked or suspended by the department or voluntarily surrendered by the licensee" — but a first-time applicant does not get one. He-C 4002.02(i) provides that on a complete application and departmental inspection the department shall "(1) Issue a 6-month permit to the applicant for a new applicant; or (2) Issue a 3-year license to the applicant for a license renewal." So for your first six months the document on the wall is a PERMIT, and it must be swapped for the licence when the licence issues. This is also where New Hampshire answers the question of a separate capacity or age-range posting: there is none, because the licence itself states them. He-C 4002.02(j): "The license issued in accordance with (i) above shall reflect the maximum number of children approved by the local fire inspector, health officer, and zoning officials, and in accordance with the available floor space as measured by the department in accordance with He-C 4002.21(c) and (d) and the number of available toilets and sinks in accordance with He-C 4002.21(b)." The posted licence is therefore the enforceable statement of how many children you may have and of what ages, and He-C 4002.05(a) turns it into a standing obligation with teeth: the program shall "(1) Abide by the provisions specified on the license or permit; and (2) Not alter the license or permit issued by the department." Do not annotate it, do not correct a typographical error on the face of it, do not laminate a marked-up copy. He-C 4002.44(g)(1) prices a breach of He-C 4002.05(a)(1) at "$200.00, plus $100.00 per day for each day for which the department has evidence that the program continues to fail to comply ... after receipt of written notice", rising to $500 plus $100 per day for a repeat citation under (g)(2). The posted document must also be replaced when it changes, and it changes more often than providers expect. He-C 4002.05(c)(1) requires notice to the unit before you change the program's name or advertise under a new one "so that the unit can issue a revised license which reflects the name change". He-C 4002.02(m) requires an application for revision to add or change program types, or before moving to a new location, and He-C 4002.02(l)(1) makes the licence "Not ... transferable to a new owner or to a new location". He-C 4002.02(n)(4) forbids you to "increase enrollment beyond the current license capacity until the department issues the program a revised license or permit or other written authorization by the department". In each case the new document goes on the wall and the old one comes down.
• THE STATEMENT OF FINDINGS AND CORRECTIVE ACTION PLAN: POSTED, AND ALSO KEPT AVAILABLE, AND ALSO ON THE STATE WEBSITE. This is the single most misunderstood item in New Hampshire, because the same document carries three separate duties in three separate places. First, the posting. He-C 4002.14(a)(2) requires you to post "The most recent statement of findings and corrective action plan approved by the department, where it is visible to parents or guardians, staff, and visitors." Three conditions hide in that sentence. It is the MOST RECENT one, so last year's comes down when this year's issues. It is the statement of findings AND the corrective action plan, as a pair — posting the findings without your plan is a citation. And the plan must be one "approved by the department"; a draft you submitted and the department rejected under He-C 4002.06(j) is not yet postable. He-C 4002.06(e) adds the prohibition: "The program shall not alter the statement of findings issued by the department." You may not redact it, retype it, or summarise it for parents. Second, the availability duty, which is different and additional. It appears in the text the rule compels you to print on every child's registration form, He-C 4002.10(c)(1): "Child care programs are required to post a copy of the most recent statement of findings (SOF) and the corresponding corrective action plan (CAP) in a location which is accessible to parents, and programs must maintain copies of the most recent SOF with CAP and make them available for parents to review upon request." Post AND maintain-and-produce-on-request. A parent who asks to sit down with the paperwork is exercising a right the rule gave them through a form you handed them. Third, the state's own publication, which you do not control and cannot prevent. RSA 170-E:10, II: "the license itself, the findings of investigatory and monitoring visits, and final decisions relative to licensure of the child day care agency shall be considered public information, posted on the department's website, and available for review by members of the public. The findings of investigatory and monitoring visits and final decisions relative to licensure shall be posted on the department's website not less than 21 business days from the date of the finding or decision, and shall be available on the website for a period of 3 years." RSA 170-E:10, III gives you at least 15 business days' warning and the right to have a response published alongside: "If the child day care agency submits a response prior to the date of posting, the child day care agency's response shall also be posted on the department's website." He-C 4002.06(h) confirms the mechanism from the rule side. The compelled registration text tells parents where to look: "SOFs and CAPs are also available on-line at: https://new-hampshire.my.site.com/nhccis/NH_ChildCareSearch". Timing you must manage: He-C 4002.06(d) gives the department 21 calendar days after the exit review to issue the statement of findings, and He-C 4002.06(g) gives you 21 days from issuance to complete and submit corrective action plans, "excluding the names of individuals". The posted copy therefore changes at least once a year, since a licensing coordinator "conducts a yearly, unannounced monitoring visit at every program" in the department's own compelled words.
• THE EMERGENCY AND INJURY PROCEDURE NOTICE, AND THE SIX LINES IT MUST CONTAIN. He-C 4002.14(a)(3) requires you to post, in a prominent location, "A written procedure for emergencies and managing injuries", and then dictates its contents in six lettered items. Quoted in full: "a. The location of first aid supplies; b. The location of child care registration and emergency information forms; c. The name, address, and telephone number of the hospital to which children will be taken in case of acute emergency when parents or guardians cannot be contacted, or delay of treatment appears dangerous; d. Instructions to dial 911 to access emergency responders; e. The Northern New England Poison Center at 1-800-222-1222; and f. The names and telephone numbers of emergency substitute staff". Item (f) is the line family child care homes almost always omit, and it is the line a coordinator will find. A sole provider still needs it: if you collapse, someone in your house or a neighbour has to be reachable, and the rule wants those people named with telephone numbers on the wall where a paramedic or a parent can read them. Item (c) is the second common failure. It is not enough to write "the hospital"; the rule wants name, ADDRESS and telephone number, and it wants the hospital you would actually use, which for much of New Hampshire is a critical access hospital twenty minutes away rather than the nearest large centre. Item (e) is a fixed number and it is not the national poison line by name: the rule specifies "the Northern New England Poison Center at 1-800-222-1222". Items (a) and (b) are locational, and they connect the notice to two other rules. First aid supplies must exist and be portable: He-C 4002.19(u) requires "a selection of non-expired first aid supplies adequate to meet the needs of the children" on the premises and on all field trips, and He-C 4002.19(v) requires them stored "in a portable container, in a location that is accessible by staff." The registration and emergency information forms named in item (b) are the He-C 4002.10 forms, and He-C 4002.31(i)(1) requires copies of them to travel on every field trip — so the posted notice must describe where the originals live in the home, not where the trip copies are. The notice also has a natural companion the rule does not require you to post: the telephone. He-C 4002.19(p) provides that "Programs shall be equipped with a telephone that is operable and accessible to all child care staff during all operating hours for incoming and outgoing calls. The phone may be a cellular phone or a landline." If your emergency procedure directs a substitute to dial 911, the instrument to do it with must be available, and a mobile locked in your handbag is not. Write the notice once, in plain language, sized to be read at arm's length, and refresh item (f) whenever your substitute list changes. There is no departmental template that is mandatory; the DHHS "Child Care Program Emergency Procedures" PDF is a sample and nothing more, and using your own wording is compliant provided all six items appear.
• EVACUATION PROCEDURES GO NEXT TO EACH EXIT, WHICH IS A DIFFERENT PLACE FROM "A PROMINENT LOCATION". He-C 4002.14(a)(4) is one line and it changes the geography of the whole rule: "Emergency and evacuation procedures, posted next to each exit." Not in a prominent location; not near the licence; next to EACH exit. In a family child care home that means every door the children would actually leave through, and in practice a coordinator counts them: the front door, the kitchen or bulkhead door, the door from a finished basement play space, and any exit from an approved second level. If the licence approves child care space on two levels, each level's exits carry their own notice. What must the notice say? He-C 4002.14(a)(4) itself does not enumerate contents, so the content is drawn from what you are actually required to do. He-C 4002.16(a)(6) requires that "All children and child care staff shall evacuate the building during each fire drill", and He-C 4002.16(a)(7) requires staff to "check daily attendance records to ensure that all children and staff are accounted for, after the building is evacuated." A compliant notice therefore names the route from that door, the outside meeting place, and the instruction to take the attendance record out and count. Do not confuse this posting with the emergency operations plan, and do not post the plan. He-C 4002.16(f) requires an EOP "prior to issuance of a permit or renewal of a license" — so it is a licensing prerequisite, not a wall document — and He-C 4002.16(g) requires it to be "created in coordination with local emergency response agencies in the community in which the program is located", to "Contain procedures for communication and reunification with families", and to include response actions for "Evacuation, both within the building and off-site; Secure campus; Drop, cover, and hold; Lockdown; Reverse evacuation; Shelter-in-place; and Bomb threat or scan", with accommodations for infants and toddlers, children with chronic medical conditions, and children with disabilities or access and functional needs. What the rule does with that plan is instructive: He-C 4002.16(i) requires only that "Programs shall ensure that all staff and volunteers are trained on the EOP and response actions and are aware of the location of the plan" — aware of the LOCATION, which is the language of a document kept, not posted. And He-C 4002.16(j) hands families a slice of it rather than posting it: "Upon enrollment, programs shall provide families with information from the EOP that addresses communication and reunification procedures." So three different treatments for three overlapping documents: the evacuation procedure is POSTED at each exit; the EOP is KEPT, with staff trained on it and knowing where it is; and the communication and reunification portion is GIVEN to each family at enrolment. A program that pins the whole EOP to the hall wall has satisfied none of the three cleanly, because the exits still lack their notices and the families still have not been handed anything.
• THE ALLERGY CARE PLAN IS THE ONLY POSTING THAT A PARENT CAN VETO, AND THE RULE TELLS YOU WHAT TO DO WHEN THEY DO. He-C 4002.19(k): "With permission of the parent or guardian, the program shall post each child's allergy care plan and treatment plan in the kitchen or food preparation area, the child's classroom, and wherever the child might have contact with the allergen(s)." Three locations, and the third is open-ended by design — if the allergen is latex or an insect sting, "wherever the child might have contact" reaches the outdoor play area and the diapering surface. In a family child care home the kitchen and the play space are frequently the same room; post it anyway in each place the rule names, because the coordinator reads the list, not your floor plan. The permission condition is unusual and it is the point of the element. He-C 4002.19(l): "In the event a parent or guardian does not authorize posting of their child's allergy care plan or treatment plan as required in (k) above, the program shall not post the plans, but ensure the plans are available in the locations in (k) above, and all staff working in those locations know where the plans are and review the plans upon entering those locations." This is the cleanest statement in the whole rule of the difference between POSTED and KEPT AVAILABLE, and the department wrote it deliberately. If the parent refuses, you do not simply file the plan away: you place it in each of the same locations, out of general view, and you impose a procedure — every staff member working in that location knows where it is and REVIEWS IT ON ENTERING. In a one-adult home that reads as a discipline on yourself. The obligation to obtain the plans in the first place is He-C 4002.19(h), which requires a written care plan and a separate written treatment plan from the parents of "each child with a food allergy or other allergy, which results in a serious reaction". He-C 4002.19(m) extends the reading duty beyond the posting locations: "All child care staff responsible for food preparation and food service, and all child care staff responsible for supervising children with an allergy, including staff covering breaks, shall read and familiarize themselves with the allergy care plans and treatment plans, to ensure that no child is accidentally exposed to an allergen." A substitute who covers your lunch hour is inside that sentence. There is a confidentiality tension you should manage rather than ignore. He-C 4002.42(d) requires applicants, licensees and all child care staff to "keep confidential all records required by the department pertaining to the admission, progress, health, and discharge of children under their care and all information learned about children and their families." A posted allergy plan is child health information visible to every parent who walks in. The rule resolves the tension by conditioning the posting on parental permission — which is exactly why a signed, dated permission to post belongs in the child's file alongside the plan. Get it in writing when you get the plan, and record a refusal in writing too, because the refusal is what switches you into the (l) regime and you will need to show why nothing is on the wall.
• THE TRIP NOTICE IS A POSTING THAT ONLY EXISTS WHEN YOU LEAVE THE HOUSE. He-C 4002.31(b) creates an event-driven posting most compliance checklists never capture: "Child care staff who take the children off the premises for trips under (a) above shall call parents or guardians or post a notice at the program, informing parents or guardians of the destination and route of any unplanned trips, and the estimated time of return to the program." Read the structure carefully. It is a disjunction — CALL the parents or POST a notice — so you may satisfy it entirely by telephone, and a home provider walking three toddlers to the library at ten in the morning will usually find the notice on the door faster than four phone calls. But if you choose the notice, the rule fixes its contents: destination, ROUTE, and estimated time of return. Route is the item that gets left off, and it is not decorative: it is what lets a parent or a first responder intercept you. "Walk, back by 11" fails; "Walk to Main Street library via Elm and School Streets, back by 11.00" satisfies. The trips this attaches to are the routine ones defined in He-C 4002.31(a): "routine or unplanned local trips, such as walks in the neighborhood, trips to the local library, or other routine errands", which you may only make at all if you hold "a signed and dated general permission slip from each child's parent or guardian, which specifies all approved destinations and activities." So the sequence for a family child care home is: a standing permission slip naming the destinations, collected at enrolment; then, on the day, either a call or a posted notice giving destination, route and return time. A planned field trip or a water activity is a different animal governed by He-C 4002.31(c) and (d) and requires its own dated permission slip rather than a door notice. Where does the notice go? The rule says only "at the program". A door a returning parent would reach is the sensible reading, and it should be visible from outside if you lock up while you are gone. Post it as you leave and take it down when you return; a stale notice claiming you are at the playground while you are in the kitchen is worse than none. This is also the point at which the posted emergency notice under He-C 4002.14(a)(3) and the trip notice interlock. Item (f) of that notice carries the names and telephone numbers of emergency substitute staff; the trip notice tells a parent where you physically are. Between the two, a parent arriving at a locked house at 10.30 has a route to you and a person to call. Neither works if the emergency notice is inside a locked door and the trip notice was never written. One last precision: nothing in He-C 4002 requires you to post a general itinerary, a weekly outing schedule, or a standing list of walking destinations. The obligation is triggered by the specific unplanned trip, and it dies when you walk back in.
• THE DCYF ABUSE AND NEGLECT NUMBER IS NOT A REQUIRED POSTING IN NEW HAMPSHIRE. State this plainly because most multi-state guides get it wrong: He-C 4002.14 does not list the child protection reporting number among the four things you must post, and no other provision of Part He-C 4002 requires it on a wall. What exists instead is a personal reporting duty. He-C 4002.05(b): "As mandated reporters, the program manager or designee shall report to the division for children, youth, and families (DCYF) at 1-800-894-5533, if the licensee, child care staff, or other person involved with a program suspects that a child is being abused or neglected, in accordance with RSA 169-C:29." The number is stated in the rule so that you know it, not so that a parent reads it in your hallway. Contrast the one number the rule DOES require on the wall: the Northern New England Poison Center at 1-800-222-1222, under He-C 4002.14(a)(3)e. New Hampshire chose to compel the poison line and not the abuse line, and an inspector working the four items of He-C 4002.14 will check for the former and not the latter. Nothing stops you posting 1-800-894-5533 voluntarily, and there is a decent argument for doing so where you employ an assistant or a substitute — RSA 169-C:29 makes the duty personal to every individual who suspects abuse, not to the licensee alone, and a substitute who has never seen the number will not go looking for it at the moment it matters. But do not record it as a compliance item, and do not let its presence on the wall substitute for the training that actually is required: He-C 4002.32(b)(12) requires every member of child care staff to complete training in "Prevention, recognition, and reporting of child abuse and neglect", and He-C 4002.32(d) forbids anyone who has not yet completed it from working other than under the direct supervision and observation of someone who has. Two related duties are also NOT postings and are frequently mistaken for them. The reporting chain to the licensing unit under He-C 4002.05(d)(4)a. requires written notice to the unit "no later than the next business day ... When there is an allegation of abuse or neglect involving a child while in the care and custody of the licensee" — a notification, not a notice on a wall. And He-C 4002.17(g)(3) requires the program manager or designee to "immediately notify the child's parent or guardian ... To report any allegation of abuse or neglect involving their child while in the care and custody of the licensee", with He-C 4002.17(h) providing that if you do not, "The department shall notify the child's parent or guardian". Again a direct communication, not a posting. The practical consequence for a family child care home is that your abuse-and-neglect compliance is entirely evidenced by training certificates in the staff file under He-C 4002.09(a)(4) and by the timeliness of notifications, and not at all by anything visible on inspection day.
• THE DISCIPLINE POLICY IS NOT POSTED; IT IS HANDED TO PARENTS AT ENROLMENT AND TO STAFF ON HIRE. New Hampshire does not require a discipline policy on the wall, and it does not, strictly, require a document called a discipline policy at all. He-C 4002.15(a) lists exactly six written policies a licensee must have and implement, and discipline is not among them: "(1) A retention policy to prevent the suspension and expulsion of children ...; (2) Children's access to and use of television, video, and electronic devices; (3) The administration of medication to children; (4) Excluding children when they are ill, including symptoms, and when they might return; (5) The provision of meals and snacks, including when parents or guardians fail to send meals or snacks from home if the program does not provide meals or snacks; and (6) The responsibility of staff and volunteers for supervision of children during field trips and water activities, which includes knowing who is in charge, the identity and number of the children they are responsible for, and the frequency of conducting and documenting head counts of children." A program operating exclusively outdoors owes three more under He-C 4002.15(c). Discipline is instead regulated directly, as conduct rather than as paperwork. He-C 4002.17(b) prescribes what staff shall do when a child behaves unacceptably — redirect with positive guidance, establish developmentally appropriate limits that are "equitable, consistently applied", model and redirect, arrange the environment to promote desirable behaviour, and "Implement safe, logical, and natural consequences related to the misbehavior and enforce those consequences as soon as possible after the misbehavior has occurred." He-C 4002.17(e) then lists fifteen prohibitions binding on "Child care staff and household members" — note that your own family members are bound — including corporal punishment, rough handling, shaming or humiliating, requiring a child to face a wall or corner, withholding food or disciplining a child for not eating, disciplining for toileting accidents, isolating a child as discipline, using nap as a punishment or punishing a child for not sleeping, yelling in anger, and using profanity where children can hear. The delivery mechanism for your written policies is distribution, not display. He-C 4002.15(d): "The program shall provide all written policies to parents or guardians at enrollment." He-C 4002.15(e): "the program manager shall provide all child care staff with all policies and procedures upon hire, and ensure that they are familiar with them and comply with them, as applicable." Keep evidence of both — a signed acknowledgement at enrolment and at hire — because that is the only way to prove distribution to an inspector who cannot see anything on your wall. The retention policy in (a)(1) deserves separate attention because it is the one with an operational trigger: He-C 4002.17(j) requires that where a child has repeated incidents posing an imminent serious safety risk and does not respond to the (b) techniques, the program manager "shall, in consultation with parents or guardians, create and implement a behavior management plan which supports the retention policy pursuant to He-C 4002.15(a)(1)."
• SAFE SLEEP IS A PRACTICE AND A TRAINING REQUIREMENT, NOT A POSTING. Many states require a safe sleep policy posted in the sleeping area. New Hampshire does not. He-C 4002.25, "Rest and Sleep", runs to twenty-two lettered paragraphs and contains no posting requirement of any kind; the word "post" does not appear in it. What it contains are direct commands. He-C 4002.25(c): "Each infant 12 months of age and younger shall be placed on their back to sleep in an individual crib or play pen, unless they have demonstrated the ability to climb out." He-C 4002.25(f)(5): cribs and play pens shall "Not have bumper pads, blankets, flat sheets, pillows, quilts, comforters, sleep positioners, or any items or toys with infants up to 12 months of age". He-C 4002.25(g): "If an infant up to 12 months falls asleep outside of their crib or play pen, including entering the program asleep in a car safety seat, staff shall immediately move the infant and place them on their back in a crib or play pen." He-C 4002.25(i): no swaddling or restrictive or weighted sleep suits for children older than 3 months "unless there are written medical orders from the child's primary licensed practitioner." He-C 4002.25(e) bars any crib not manufactured on or after 28 June 2011 unless a Children's Product Certificate or an accepted third-party test report documents compliance with 16 CFR 1219 and 1220. He-C 4002.25(v): "No child shall wear a necklace during nap time or during sleep, unless the necklace is fused or has a fixed knot such that it cannot be removed." Where the state does impose a documentation duty around sleep it is a training record and a parental authorisation, both kept on file rather than posted. Training: He-C 4002.32(b)(3) requires "Prevention of SIDS and use of safe sleep practices, if the program is licensed for infants 12 months and younger" among the health and safety trainings, and He-C 4002.32(c)(1) requires that training, together with prevention of shaken baby syndrome and abusive head trauma, to be completed BEFORE working with infants 12 months and younger — not within the general 90-day window. Authorisation: He-C 4002.25(j) allows a family or family group child care home to use an electronic monitor for sleeping children on the same level in lieu of direct supervision only where "(1) There is written authorization on file from the parents or guardians of the child, indicating that they are aware of and agree to the use of the monitor; (2) The child care staff responsible for their supervision can easily hear sounds from the monitor and respond; and (3) Every 15 minutes, the child care staff responsible for their supervision conduct in-person checks of infants and toddlers sleeping in a crib or playpen, to ensure that each child is safe and comfortable, including a check of their faces, viewing the color of their skin and to check on their breathing." That fifteen-minute in-person check is the price of the monitor, and it is the provision a coordinator will test by asking what time you last looked. Nothing about it goes on a wall; the authorisation goes in the child's file and the checks live in your routine.
• MENUS ARE NOT REQUIRED IN NEW HAMPSHIRE AT ALL, POSTED OR OTHERWISE. This is the flattest negative in the field and it is worth being unambiguous about, because the posted weekly menu is close to universal elsewhere and providers arriving from Massachusetts, Vermont or Maine assume it. He-C 4002.30, "Nutrition, Food Service, and Food Safety", is the food rule, and it contains no requirement to write a menu, to plan a menu in advance, to keep menus on file, or to display one. Across the whole of Part He-C 4002 the word "menu" appears exactly once, and it appears in the allergy rule: He-C 4002.19(j), "The program manager or their designee shall notify a child's parent or guardian when the program deviates from the planned menu as indicated on children's allergy care plans, as applicable." That sentence presupposes a planned menu where a child's allergy care plan refers to one; it does not create a general duty to have one. What He-C 4002.30 does require is substantive and unrelated to display. Paragraph (b): "Meals and snacks provided by programs shall meet US Department of Agriculture dietary allowances." Paragraph (c): "Child care staff shall assure that no more than 3 hours elapse between meals and snacks offered to the children" — a timing rule, not a paperwork rule, and one a coordinator tests against your daily routine. Paragraph (d)(2) creates the only food-related document a family child care home reliably needs: staff shall "Comply with dietary restrictions as requested in writing by the parents or guardians of each child, due to food allergies, religious, or philosophical beliefs." Written request, from the parent, kept in the child's file. Paragraph (f) bars foods that "can cause a choking hazard to children younger than 3 years of age or to children who have been identified as having chewing and swallowing difficulties", and paragraphs (g) through (n) govern infant feeding in detail — individual feeding schedules supplied by the parent, no new or solid foods without parental consent, no propped bottles, breast milk labelled and dated and refrigerated no longer than four days, prepared formula no longer than twenty-four hours, frozen breast milk at zero degrees Fahrenheit for no longer than six months and used within twenty-four hours of thawing. Those labelling requirements are the closest thing to a display duty in the rule, and they attach to the bottle, not the wall. Two consequences follow. First, do not spend inspection-preparation time on a menu board; spend it on the three-hour interval, on the choking-hazard list, and on the written dietary-restriction requests. Second, if a food-reimbursement programme you join imposes menu records of its own, treat those records as belonging to that programme and not to your licence: nothing in He-C 4002 or RSA 170-E lets a licensing coordinator cite you for a menu, so keep the two files apart and do not let a food-programme shortfall be mistaken for a licensing citation.
• THE DAILY SCHEDULE MUST EXIST AND BE AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW; IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE POSTED. He-C 4002.18(a) is the operative sentence and the word to fix on is "available": "Programs shall provide and implement a written schedule of typical daily activities offered to the children, which shall include opportunities for individual and group activities for each child, time for meals, snacks, sleep, or rest, and indoor and outdoor activities, and which shall be available for review by the department and parents or guardians." Written, implemented, and available. Not posted. A schedule kept in a binder on your kitchen counter and produced when asked satisfies He-C 4002.18(a) completely; a schedule pinned to the fridge also satisfies it, but you gain no compliance credit for the pin and you lose none by keeping it in the binder. The contents are prescribed and each element is checkable against what the coordinator watches during an unannounced visit: individual and group opportunities, meals, snacks, sleep or rest, and both indoor and outdoor activity. Read it with He-C 4002.18(d), which is the sharpest schedule-adjacent obligation in the rule: "Programs shall provide opportunity for at least 60 minutes daily of gross motor activity, whether inside or outside, for children", the only relief being for preschools operating five or fewer hours a day, which owe twenty minutes. Sixty minutes daily, and your written schedule should show where they sit. Read it also with He-C 4002.25(n): "Programs shall provide children who attend for more than 5 hours with an opportunity for at least one hour of quiet activities, rest, or sleep, in any combination to equal one hour, depending on the needs of each child" — and with He-C 4002.25(o) to (q), which forbid you to require children to sleep, require you to let them fall asleep and wake at their own pace within the rest block, require a quiet activity for the child still awake after thirty minutes, and forbid keeping an awake child on a mat, sleeping bag, cot or bed for more than sixty minutes. A written schedule that shows a two-hour compulsory nap contradicts the rule on its face and invites a citation before the coordinator has watched anything. The parallel provision for school-age care uses even plainer availability language: He-C 4002.38(k) requires programs to "have and maintain on file for review by parents or guardians and the department a written schedule of daily activities" ensuring that the curriculum includes opportunities for children to help plan their own activities and time for structured and unstructured play. "Maintain on file for review" is the same instruction in different words. So the correct answer for a New Hampshire family child care home is: write the schedule, follow it, keep it where you can hand it over, and give a copy to parents if you wish. Do not treat it as a posting, and do not assume that because it is not posted it need not exist — the failure mode the department actually cites is the home that has no written schedule at all and improvises the day.
• PARENTS' RIGHT OF UNANNOUNCED ACCESS IS A SUBSTANTIVE RIGHT, NOT A SIGN ON THE DOOR. New Hampshire grants the right in strong terms and requires no notice of it. He-C 4002.17(k): "The program shall ensure that parents or guardians have access to the program and to their children, at any time children are in attendance and without prior notification. This requirement shall not prohibit the program from locking the doors for security purposes or checking parent's or guardian's identification." He-C 4002.17(l): "The only exceptions to (k) above shall be if there is a court order or other legal documentation limiting parental or guardian access." Nothing in He-C 4002.14 requires you to post that right, and nothing elsewhere in the part requires you to inform parents of it in writing. Take the second sentence of (k) seriously, because it is a permission running in your favour and home providers often do not realise they have it. You may lock your front door during operating hours for security. You may ask a person at the door for identification before admitting them. What you may not do is condition a parent's entry on an appointment, a phone call ahead, a "no visitors during nap" rule, or a policy that parents wait at the door while the child is brought out. A written policy in your parent handbook that says "please give us notice before visiting" contradicts He-C 4002.17(k) and is worth deleting before an inspection, because your policies are handed to parents at enrolment under He-C 4002.15(d) and a coordinator reads them. The (l) exception is narrow and evidentiary: a court order or other legal documentation limiting access. A parent's assertion that the other parent should be kept out is not enough; you need the document, and it belongs in the child's file. Note that this is separate from the authorised pick-up list, which the enrolment form does carry: He-C 4002.10(b)(13) requires "Names and telephone numbers of any person(s) other than parents or guardians who are authorized to remove the child from the program". Access for a parent and authority to remove the child are different questions and the rule treats them in different paragraphs. The one access notice that IS compelled is about the department, not about parents, and it travels on the registration form rather than on the wall. He-C 4002.10(c)(1) requires each child's registration and emergency information form to carry the CCLU's description of its own practice, including that "A licensing coordinator conducts a yearly, unannounced monitoring visit at every program, as well as an unannounced visit prior to the expiration of a license every three years", and a four-way parental choice about whether licensing staff may speak with the child. Parents therefore learn about unannounced departmental access from a form you hand them at enrolment; they learn about their own right of access from the rule, and you are not required to tell them.
• THE "KEPT AVAILABLE" LIST: EVERYTHING AN INSPECTOR WILL ASK FOR THAT MUST NOT BE ON A WALL. Conflating posted with available is the classic New Hampshire error, so here is the second list in one place, each item with the phrase the rule actually uses. Fire drills: He-C 4002.16(c), a written record "available for review during visits by the fire inspector and the department" — two audiences, and the fire inspector's visit is separate from the licensing visit. Emergency operations plan drills: He-C 4002.16(m), a log the program manager or designee shall "record and maintain on file for review". Attendance: He-C 4002.08(a) and (c) require the child and staff records to exist in real time; He-C 4002.42(e)(1) requires staff to "Allow the department access to all records that programs are required by department rule or state statute to keep, and to such records as necessary for the department to determine staffing patterns and staff attendance." Child records: He-C 4002.10(h), the child health screening form "shall be available for review by the department for each child no more than 60 calendar days after the date of admission." Staff health screenings: He-C 4002.09(b)(1), "on file at the program and available for review by the department within 60 days of the date of hire". CPR and first aid: He-C 4002.19(t), "Programs shall maintain on file, available for review by the department, copies of current CPR and first aid certificates and licenses." Medication: He-C 4002.20(h), medication orders, parental authorisations and allergy information "on file and available for review by the department". Water, for the many New Hampshire homes on a private well: He-C 4002.26(f) requires results kept "on file at the program, available for review by the health officer and the department", with testing "(1) Once every 3 months for bacteria; (2) Annually for arsenic, nitrate, and nitrite; and (3) At least once every 3 years for stagnant lead, stagnant copper, fluoride, and manganese." Professional development: He-C 4002.33(j), "Documentation of professional development requirements shall be maintained at the program and available for review by the department." Field trip and water permission slips: He-C 4002.31(d), "retained by the program and available for review by the department for a minimum of 2 years". Written policies: He-C 4002.15(d) and (e) require distribution to parents at enrolment and to staff on hire, which is a third category again — neither posted nor merely available, but delivered. Over the top of all of it sits the omnibus obligation, He-C 4002.05(k): "All documentation required by the department, whether maintained by the program in electronic or paper format, shall be complete, legible, and available for review by the department upon request", and He-C 4002.05(n), which requires submission of reports and records "upon written request from the department". These two carry the money. He-C 4002.44(g)(6) prices failure "to submit any requested reports or failing to make available any records required by the department for investigation, monitoring, or licensing purposes in violation of He-C 4002.05(k), (l), (m)(4), or (n)" at "$500.00, per offense, plus $100.00 per day, per offense". Note the selection inside (m): only (m)(4), the EOP drill log, is priced. Electronic storage is expressly permitted by (k); a tablet you can hand over satisfies it, a cloud folder you cannot open in your own hallway does not.
• WHAT THE INSPECTOR ACTUALLY DOES WITH YOUR POSTINGS, AND HOW OFTEN THEY MUST CHANGE. The cadence is written into the rule you are compelled to reprint for parents. He-C 4002.10(c)(1): "A licensing coordinator conducts a yearly, unannounced monitoring visit at every program, as well as an unannounced visit prior to the expiration of a license every three years." The statutory floor is looser — RSA 170-E:8, III requires "monitoring visits a minimum of once yearly during each licensing period" with "At least one such visit during the licensing period" unannounced — so the compelled parent notice binds the department to more than the statute does, and it is the one a home provider will actually experience. Because the visits are unannounced, postings are checked in their normal state, not in a state you arranged that morning. The sequence after a visit is fixed and it dictates when the posted statement of findings changes. He-C 4002.06(c): at the close of the visit the department reviews with you "a summary of any citations of rules found during the visit". He-C 4002.06(d): within 21 calendar days of that review the department issues the statement of findings by e-mail, by upload to your NHCIS portal, or by post. He-C 4002.06(g): "The program manager shall complete and submit corrective action plans, excluding the names of individuals, within 21 days of the date of issuance." He-C 4002.06(f) sets the five contents of the plan, including "The interim measures the program has implemented to protect the health and safety of children, when the citation cannot be corrected immediately" and "The signature of the program manager if not submitted via NHCIS". Only once the department approves the plan does the pair become the "most recent statement of findings and corrective action plan approved by the department" that He-C 4002.14(a)(2) requires you to post. Two shortcuts exist. He-C 4002.06(b)(1) removes the corrective action plan requirement where the citation is under He-C 4002.22, .23 or .24 (indoor space, outdoor space, materials and equipment), is not a repeat citation, was corrected before or immediately during the visit, is not a state fire code violation, and does not immediately jeopardise a child. He-C 4002.06(b)(2) removes it where you self-reported the non-compliance together with the correction already made and the department accepts it. In both cases you still post the statement of findings. And He-C 4002.06(i) runs the other way: on an imminent threat the department issues a DIRECTED corrective action plan without offering you the chance to write one. If you disagree with a citation, He-C 4002.07(c) and RSA 170-E:10-a give you fourteen days from issuance to request informal dispute resolution in writing, stating why you believe the citation was issued erroneously, with a further independent review available under He-C 4002.07(f) within ten days of the outcome — and RSA 170-E:10, III lets you have your response published on the department's website beside the findings. Use those windows before you hang a document you believe is wrong, because He-C 4002.06(e) forbids you to alter it once you do.
• FOUR MORE THINGS NEW HAMPSHIRE DOES NOT MAKE YOU POST, AND THE ONE DISCLOSURE THAT LOOKS LIKE A POSTING BUT IS NOT. First, insurance. RSA 170-E:6-b provides that "Every person required to be licensed as a child day care agency under RSA 170-E:4 and every child day care provider required to be registered under RSA 170-E:6-a shall either maintain liability insurance or provide a disclosure to parents that the facility is uninsured", and He-C 4002.05(j) restates it: "each licensee shall either maintain liability insurance or provide disclosure to parents or guardians at enrollment of their child that the program is uninsured." Disclosure to parents at ENROLMENT — an individual communication with a date attached, not a notice on a wall, and not something you can satisfy by pinning a sign up after the fact. If you carry no liability cover, get the disclosure signed and dated at enrolment and keep it in the child's file; if you do carry cover, no disclosure is owed and no certificate need be displayed. Second, the licensing rules themselves. Nothing requires a copy of He-C 4002 to be posted or kept for parents to read, though the application certification in He-C 4002.02(b)(1) has you swear "I have read the NH child care program licensing rules". Third, staff qualifications and training certificates. He-C 4002.09(a) puts qualifications, background check documentation, health screening and training records in the staff FILE; nothing puts them on a wall. Contrast the youth recreation camp rules in the adjacent part: He-C 4003.08(b) requires the camp administrator or camp director to "post the YRC license in a prominent place where it is visible to interested parties", and He-C 4003.31(d) requires each licensed practitioner to "post a copy of their NH license(s) in a conspicuous location in the camp office or infirmary". The drafters knew how to write a professional-licence posting requirement and did not write one into He-C 4002. Fourth, ratios and group sizes. The numbers in He-C 4002.33(m) to (o) — six children plus three school-age for a provider working alone, of whom no more than four may be under 36 months and no more than two under 24 months; the same six plus three where a child care worker or assistant is added; twelve plus five with no more than four under 36 months for a family group child care home — are enforced against your attendance record and your posted licence capacity, not against a ratio chart on the wall. And He-C 4002.33(l) is the trap inside the numbers rather than inside the posting: "The license capacity for family or family group child care homes shall include the provider's own, foster, and resident children up to 6 years of age, when they are present." Your own four-year-old counts. The overall picture for a New Hampshire family child care home is therefore a wall with very little on it: the current licence or permit, the most recent approved statement of findings with its corrective action plan, one emergency and injury procedure notice carrying six specified items, an evacuation notice beside each exit, and — where the parent has consented — an allergy care plan and treatment plan in the kitchen, the child care space, and anywhere else the child might meet the allergen. Everything else is filed, delivered or done.

Enrollment forms for each child

• THE LICENCE APPLICATION ITSELF IS ONE FORM FOR BOTH HOME TYPES, AND ITS CERTIFICATION BLOCK IS RULE TEXT. You do not choose between a "family child care home" application and a "family group child care home" application: He-C 4002.02(b)(1) names a single document, the "Application for Family Child Care Program" (August 2025), and both home types are checked off inside it. The rule does not merely require the form; it dictates the words you sign under. He-C 4002.02(b)(1) says the applicant shall submit an application "certifying that: 'I understand that the department may investigate any criminal conviction record, finding of child abuse or neglect, or investigation of or final determination regarding any juvenile delinquency and will make a determination regarding whether the individual is eligible to be in a child care program; I understand that the department may delay its decision to approve or deny this application pending the outcome of any investigation, when the applicant, owner, or family child care provider, are named as the perpetrator in any current investigation of any crime, or in an allegation of abuse or neglect; I understand that providing false information on this application or any of the attachments, or failing to disclose any information required on the application, or required to be submitted with this application, shall be considered grounds for license denial or revocation; I have read the NH child care program licensing rules, and understand that failure to maintain my program in compliance with the rules, may jeopardize my license/permit and/or result in fines being assessed by the department; I authorize any police department, court system or human service agency in this or any other state to release copies of any criminal records or child abuse or neglect records to the department; and All information provided as part of this application and in the required attachments is true and complete to the best of my knowledge.'" Who signs: the applicant/owner, dated. Where filed: He-C 4002.02(a) gives you two routes — create an account in the "New Hampshire Connections Information System (NHCIS)" at https://new-hampshire.my.site.com/nhccis/s/login/ and apply online, or "obtain an application packet from the unit" and file on paper with the Child Care Licensing Unit. Retention: the department keeps it, and RSA 170-E:10, II says flatly that "Information submitted in the application process shall be private, confidential, and not available for review." Here is the trap, and it costs real weeks. The form the department currently serves from its own Child Care Licensing page — the file at .../documents/2021-11/cclu-application-familybased.pdf, labelled "Application for Family Child Care Program.pdf" — is stamped "Effective 11/2017" on every page and instructs the under-21 applicant to submit education documentation "AS REQUIRED BY HE-C 4002.31(b)". There is no He-C 4002.31(b) qualification rule any more; provider qualifications live at He-C 4002.33(e) under Document #14356. The rule in force incorporates the August 2025 version. Do not assume the PDF on the agency page is the one the rule names: ask the unit at cclunit@dhhs.nh.gov or 603-271-9025 for the August 2025 form, or file through NHCIS. There is no application fee: RSA 170-E imposes fees only on recreation camps (RSA 170-E:56) and on the early-childhood credential (RSA 170-E:50), not on a family child care licence.
• THE ATTACHMENTS THAT MAKE THE APPLICATION "COMPLETE", SEVERAL OF WHICH ARE SIGNED BY SOMEONE OTHER THAN YOU. He-C 4002.02(c) decides whether your file moves at all: "The applications in (b) above shall not be considered complete until the department receives all of the information as specified in (e) below." (e)(1): a "Child Care Personnel Health Form" (August 2025) or equivalent record of a health screening for the program manager, "completed by a licensed practitioner no more than one year prior to the date the department receives the application", certifying no apparent health problems that would prohibit employment caring for children, plus the manager's authorisation to release that information to the program and to the licensing unit. (e)(2): written approval from the local health officer documenting that "within the 12 months immediately preceding the date the department receives the application, the premises have been inspected and approved by a local health officer, for operation as a program". (e)(3): written approval from the local fire inspector that within the same 12 months "the premises have been inspected for compliance with Saf-FMO 300 and RSA 153:1 VI-a, by the local fire department or the state fire marshal's office, and approved to operate as a program". (e)(4): documentation from the town or city "that the program has been granted zoning approval or that no zoning approval is required" — and 2026 Chapter 217 (HB 1195) rewrote RSA 674:16, VI so that where residential use is permitted, "family or group family child care shall be allowed by right in the primary or an existing accessory structure, if any, and shall not be subject to local site plan review". (e)(6): verification from the New Hampshire secretary of state that the applicant is in good standing. (e)(7): a diagram of indoor and outdoor space with room dimensions, exits, room uses, bathroom and handwashing fixtures, outdoor dimensions, gates and stationary equipment, and "any pools, ponds, streams, rivers, streets, roads, or other hazards that are in close proximity". (e)(8): "In accordance with RSA 130-A:5-d, II, certification of lead safety for new applicants in buildings erected prior to January 1, 1978" — the item that most often ambushes a New Hampshire home provider, since the certification comes from a licensed lead inspector, not from the licensing unit. Read (e)(2) to (e)(4) closely: the rule requires WRITTEN APPROVAL, not a named departmental form. The unit nevertheless distributes and expects three specific instruments — the "Health Officer Report", the "Life Safety Compliance Report" and the "Zoning Verification". A letter from a health officer satisfies the rule but may still be bounced in practice; use the unit's forms and avoid the argument. One attachment is not in He-C 4002.02 at all and is missed for that reason: He-C 4002.26(e) requires a new applicant on a private well to "submit with their application documentation of water test results completed not more than 90 days prior to the date of submission of the application for arsenic, bacteria, nitrate, nitrite, lead, both stagnant and flushed, copper, both stagnant and flushed, fluoride, uranium, radon, manganese, and PFAS." Ninety days, an Env-C 300 accredited laboratory, thirteen analytes. The only exemption from the local approvals is He-C 4002.02(f), for school-age programs housed in schools; it is of no use to a home provider.
• THE BACKGROUND RECORD CHECK IS A PORTAL SUBMISSION, NOT A PAPER RELEASE, AND EACH PERSON CERTIFIES IN THE FIRST PERSON. He-C 4002.40(b) is explicit about the instrument and the channel: "The following individuals shall complete and submit for a background record check using the NHCIS portal, 'New Background Record Check' (August 2025) prior to employment or residency, as applicable, and every 5 years thereafter: (1) Child care staff; (2) Substitutes; (3) Other employees; (4) Volunteers who might be alone with children or are included in staff to child ratios; and (5) Household members 18 years of age and older, or when turning 18 years of age." In a family child care home that sweep is wider than it looks: your spouse, the adult who rents your finished basement, and the neighbour who covers you one afternoon a week all fall inside it. He-C 4002.40(c) sets out what the individual certifies at submission, in quoted rule text: "a) All information provided above is accurate. b) I have not been charged pending disposition or convicted of a felony consisting of murder, child abuse or neglect, crimes against children (including pornography and trafficking), spousal abuse, rape or sexual assault, kidnapping, arson, physical assault or battery, or a drug related offense (in the last 5 years) or any other violent or sexually related charge or misdemeanor against a child, including child abuse, child endangerment, sexual assault, or a misdemeanor involving child sexual abuse images, or a crime which shows that I might be reasonably expected to pose a threat to a child, such as violent crime or sexually related crime against an adult." The substance behind the submission is RSA 170-E:7. Paragraph I-a requires an FBI fingerprint check "using the biometric identification system through a qualified law enforcement agency or an authorized employee of the division of state police", and provides that if two sets of prints are invalid for insufficient pattern the department may accept "police clearances from every city, town, or county where the person has lived during the past 5 years". Paragraph II(a) is the registry layer, and it answers the question people ask about a "central registry release form": there is no separate New Hampshire central-registry release document for you to sign. The department itself searches "the New Hampshire sex offender and abuse and neglect registries, and the sex offender registries of each state where the individual resided in the past 5 years"; what falls on the individual is the out-of-state paperwork — "The individual shall submit all forms and any required payments to the department to request from each state a check of the criminal history repository and abuse and neglect registry offices where the individual resided in the past 5 years." Those out-of-state forms are the other state's, not New Hampshire's, and they are the commonest source of delay. Cost sits with you under RSA 170-E:7, II(c). RSA 170-E:7, III and He-C 4002.40(h) give the department 45 days from receipt of all required information. He-C 4002.40(i) is the operational consequence: a person awaiting eligibility "may be on the premises for orientation or training activities but shall not interact with children until the program receives notice of eligibility from the unit". Eligibility is valid five years (RSA 170-E:7, IV-a), and RSA 170-E:7, IV-c requires the cycle to close "no later than 5 years from the previous background check submission".
• THE NOTARISED FORM FOR TEENAGE HOUSEHOLD MEMBERS, AND THE AGE GAP NOBODY WARNS YOU ABOUT. Adults in the household submit a background record check; the teenagers in your house submit something else. He-C 4002.40(f) provides: "For all household members between 13 through 17 years of age, the program shall submit to the unit a completed and notarized 'Staff and Household Member Form' (August 2025), certifying the following: 'a) All information provided above is accurate. b) I have not been charged pending disposition or convicted of a felony consisting of murder, child abuse or neglect, crimes against children (including pornography and trafficking), spousal abuse, rape or sexual assault, kidnapping, arson, physical assault or battery, or a drug related offense (in the last 5 years) or any other violent or sexually related charge or misdemeanor against a child including child abuse, child endangerment, sexual assault, or a misdemeanor involving child sexual abuse images, or a crime which shows that I might be reasonably expected to pose a threat to a child, such as violent crime or sexually related crime against an adult.'" This is the only instrument in the whole of He-C 4002 that must be NOTARISED. He-C 4002.40(g) fixes three trigger dates: the form goes in "(1) With the initial licensing application in accordance with He-C 4002.02(e)(5); (2) When a household member reaches 13 years of age; and (3) When an individual between 13 through 17 years of age becomes a household member." Read (2) as a diary entry, not a one-off: a child who lives in your home and turns thirteen mid-licence generates a fresh notarised form. Now the gap. He-C 4002.02(e)(5) tells the new applicant to file "Background check forms as specified in He-C 4002.40 for: a. The owner or applicant; b. All household members aged 12 years and older; and c. The program manager." But He-C 4002.40 itself only describes two instruments — the NHCIS background record check for household members 18 and older (He-C 4002.40(b)(5)) and the notarised form for those 13 through 17 (He-C 4002.40(f)). A twelve-year-old household member is named in 4002.02(e)(5)b and covered by neither. The rule as adopted in Document #14356 does not resolve this; do not guess. Ask the licensing coordinator in writing which instrument a twelve-year-old submits, and keep the answer. Meanwhile the department's own application instruction sheet, served today from its Child Care Licensing page, tells applicants to file a "BACKGROUND RECORD CHECK for the owner/applicant, all household members age 10 years and older", and its renewal instruction sheet demands "A STAFF AND HOUSEHOLD LIST, with all current staff, and household members age 10 years and older if the program is located in a home". Ten is not a number that appears anywhere in He-C 4002 or in RSA 170-E:7. The agency's paperwork is behind its own rule. Separately, He-C 4002.40(e) creates a small form of its own: individuals exempted from a fresh fingerprint check under RSA 170-E:7, II-a "shall have on file at the program, a statement from the individual stating since the day the individual's background check was completed, that they have not been convicted of any crimes as specified in RSA 170-E:7, III and IV, and have not had a finding by the department or any administrative agency in this or any other state for abuse, neglect, or exploitation." That signed statement is retained by you, in the staff file, not by the unit.
• THE ADULT HEALTH FORM: SIXTY DAYS, TWELVE MONTHS, AND NO TUBERCULOSIS TEST REQUIRED BY RULE. He-C 4002.09(b) states the duty: "A written record of a health screening for all child care staff, household members, and other individuals who work with children in the classroom and who have 5 or more hours per week of contact with children shall: (1) Be on file at the program and available for review by the department within 60 days of the date of hire or the date the household member or individual begins working with children in the classroom for 5 or more hours per week; and (2) Include, at a minimum, the information on the 'Child Care Personnel Health Form' (August 2025) provided by the department, or its equivalent." Note the reach into your household: an adult who lives with you and spends five or more hours a week with the children in care owes a health screening even if they are not employed by you. He-C 4002.09(d) adds the vintage and the operative sentence: the initial record shall "(1) Have been completed not more than 12 months preceding the date of hire or the date the individual began working with children in the classroom for 5 or more hours per week; and (2) Include a statement by the health care provider that indicates the individual has no apparent health conditions that would prohibit or inhibit their ability to care for children." Two halves, two signatures: you (or the staff member) sign the release authorising the practitioner to send the medical information to the program and to the licensing unit; the licensed practitioner completes and signs the clinical half. Filed with you, in the staff record under He-C 4002.09(a)(3); the only copy that leaves the home is the applicant's own, which He-C 4002.02(e)(1) requires to travel with the licence application and must be no more than one year old on the date the department RECEIVES the application. Retention: He-C 4002.05(m)(1) requires staff records to be kept on file or readily available "for at least one year". The only carve-out is He-C 4002.09(c), for school-age staff currently employed in a public or private school; it does not help a home provider. Now the assertion you should not take from a checklist: New Hampshire does NOT require a tuberculosis test or a TB statement of a family child care provider, of staff, or of household members. The words "tuberculosis" and "tuberculin" do not appear anywhere in Part He-C 4002 as adopted by Document #14356. What confuses people is the paper the department is serving. The "Child Care Personnel Health.pdf" linked from the DHHS Child Care Licensing page today is stamped "Effective 11/2017" and devotes its first block to "TUBERCULIN TEST (REQUIRED FOR HIGH RISK INDIVIDUALS ONLY)",. Its immunisation block is candid that "ITEMS 1 THROUGH 4 ARE RECOMMENDED, NOT REQUIRED BY LICENSING RULES". The department's own application instruction letter says the same in plainer words: "A TB test is only required for high-risk individuals (your licensed health practitioner will make this determination)." So the screening decision is clinical, made by your practitioner, not a licensing prerequisite. Do not pay for a Mantoux test because a stale form has a box for it. But note that a form named and dated inside a rule is itself a rule under RSA 541-A:1, XV: if the August 2025 version retains those fields they are enforceable, so request the August 2025 version from the unit rather than relying on the 2017 PDF the website still serves.
• THE CHILD'S HEALTH RECORD IS A TWO-PART FORM WITH A COMPELLED RELEASE PARAGRAPH, AND A RELIGIOUS OPT-OUT THAT VOIDS IT ENTIRELY. He-C 4002.10(g) requires the program to "obtain and maintain on file a child health screening form 'New Hampshire Early Childhood Health Assessment Record' (August 2025), the first part completed and signed by the child's parent or guardian, and the second part completed and signed by the child's licensed practitioner, or an equivalent record of physical examination, providing the following permission to exchange information: 'I_______________________, authorize and request my child's primary car provider to exchange information about my child's health and development as pertains to this form with the program/school listed below. The information may be provided by phone, fax, mail, or in person. I understand that the disclosed information will be considered confidential and will be used only for the health and educational benefit of my child and family. Except as needed to comply with federal and state regulations, it will not be re-disclosed to any other person, school, or agency without my consent. I understand that this form will expire in one year unless I choose to cancel my permission in writing before that time.'" The typographical error "primary car provider" is in the codified rule as published by the Office of Legislative Services; the form the department distributes reads "primary care provider". Two signatures, then: the parent signs Part I and the release, and the child's licensed practitioner signs Part II. Where filed: nowhere but your own file. Unlike the enrolment form, the health assessment does not go to the unit; it is held at the program for inspection. He-C 4002.10(h) fixes the deadline, and it is generous compared with most states: "The child health screening form shall be available for review by the department for each child no more than 60 calendar days after the date of admission." A child may therefore start before the physical is on paper; diarise day sixty the moment the child enrols. Retention runs off He-C 4002.05(l): "The licensee shall maintain a child's records on file at the program or keep them readily available for 2 years after the child's last day of enrollment in the program." Two years after departure, not two years from creation. The exception that people miss is He-C 4002.10(i): "Programs shall not be required to obtain physical examination records for children whose parents or guardians object in writing, on the grounds that such physical examination is contrary to their religious beliefs." That is an unusually wide opt-out, and it has a shape worth noting: it is triggered by a WRITTEN objection from the parent, on religious grounds, and it removes the physical-examination record requirement altogether. It does not remove the immunisation requirement, which lives in a different paragraph and has its own separate exemption route. Keep the parent's written objection in the child's file in place of the health assessment; a bare note in your enrolment binder saying "religious" will not do, because the rule conditions the relief on the objection being in writing. Note finally that the version the department currently serves as "Early Childhood Health Assessment Record.pdf" carries an endorsement line dated "May 2012" and is a joint DHHS, Department of Education, WIC, Head Start and NH Pediatric Society product; the rule names the August 2025 version.
• THE IMMUNISATION RECORD AND THE EXEMPTION: ONE NAMED FORM, ONE PLAIN LETTER, AND NO PHILOSOPHICAL EXEMPTION. He-C 4002.10(d) sends you out of the licensing rule and into public-health law: "The program shall request and maintain on file for each child documentation of immunizations in accordance with RSA 141-C:20-a, RSA 141-C:20-b, and He-P 301.14." RSA 141-C:20-a, I lists the diseases — "diphtheria, mumps, pertussis, poliomyelitis, rubella, rubeola, tetanus, varicella, Hepatitis B, and Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib)" — and paragraph II bars admission or enrolment in "any school or child care agency, public or private" unless immunisation, age-appropriate partial immunisation, or an exemption under RSA 141-C:20-c is demonstrated. Since 2025, 141:456 (effective 1 July 2025) the statute also carries paragraph III: "Nothing in this section shall require an immunization/vaccination requirement for diseases that are noncommunicable." RSA 141-C:20-b, I makes the record itself a departmental form — "Any person who immunizes a child shall complete a form to be supplied by the commissioner and shall give the completed form to the parent or legal guardian" — and paragraph II requires child care agencies to keep immunisation records for all enrolled children, "available for inspection during reasonable hours upon request by the commissioner or his designee". He-P 301.15(a) is stricter than most providers realise: the immunisation record "shall be separated from the child's other medical records and educational records for the purpose of immunization record audit". Timing under He-C 4002.10(e): documentation is on file "on the first day the child is in attendance at the program or, pursuant to 45 CFR § 98, 41(a)(1)(i)(C), for children experiencing homelessness or for children in foster care within 60 days of the first date of attendance". Exemptions: He-C 4002.10(f) points to RSA 141-C:20-c, which allows exactly two. The medical exemption is NOT a form. He-P 301.13(e)(2) says the admitting official shall exempt the child only if "A licensed health care provider provides a letter, on letterhead, certifying that immunization against a particular disease may be detrimental to the child's health." Letterhead letter, disease-specific, time-limited by the physician's own opinion under RSA 141-C:20-c, I. The religious exemption IS a named form: He-P 301.13(e)(1) requires "a completed 'New Hampshire Childcare/School Immunization Religious Exemption Form' (March 2023) that states: 'The administration of immunizing agents conflict with the religious beliefs of the parent or legal guardian of the student listed above. Pursuant to NH Statute RSA 141-C:20-d, I understand, in the event of an outbreak of vaccine-preventable disease, for which immunization is required, an exempt student shall be excluded from school attendance'". The parent signs and dates it; the form itself instructs that it must be submitted to each childcare or school attended because it "does not automatically transfer". It does not require a notary. There is no philosophical or personal-belief exemption in New Hampshire, and there is no provider discretion to accept one. Conditional enrolment is available under He-P 301.13(b) on proof of at least one dose of each required vaccine plus the appointment date for the next due dose, and He-P 301.13(c) makes that appointment date the exclusion date if the appointment is missed.
• THE ANNUAL IMMUNISATION AUDIT REPORT TO THE COMMISSIONER, DUE 15 NOVEMBER, THAT ALMOST NO PROVIDER FILES. This obligation sits outside He-C 4002, is never mentioned on the Child Care Licensing page, and binds you anyway. RSA 141-C:20-e provides: "Schools and child care agencies, whether public or private, shall make an annual report to the commissioner relative to the status of immunization of all enrolled children." A licensed family child care home is a "child care agency" for this purpose — RSA 141-C:20-a, II and RSA 141-C:20-b, II both use the phrase "school or child care agency, public or private", and He-P 301.13(a) applies to "any New Hampshire public or non-public school, pre-school or child care agency". The rule that turns the statute into a dated task is He-P 301.15. Paragraph (b): "Each admitting official or his or her designee of all public and non-public primary and secondary schools, pre-school, and child care agencies shall review the immunization records of every newly admitted or enrolled child". Paragraph (c) tells you the four buckets the review must produce: "(1) Children whose immunizations are documented and acceptable in accordance with He-P 301.13 and He-P 301.14; (2) Children who are conditionally enrolled; (3) Children who are exempt from immunization under RSA 141-C:20-c; and (4) The total number of children enrolled in the school." Paragraph (d) is the deadline, and it is absolute: "Each admitting official or his or her designee shall report the results of this record review to the commissioner by November 15 of each year." In a family child care home the "admitting official" is you. The report is a count, not a list of names, and it is sent to the Department of Health and Human Services immunisation programme, not to the Child Care Licensing Unit — which is precisely why it goes unfiled: the unit does not chase it and your licensing coordinator will not cite you for it. That does not make it optional. He-P 301.15 also creates two more documents you must generate rather than collect. Paragraph (e): where the review finds a child's immunisations "insufficiently documented or unacceptable", you "shall notify the child's parent or guardian" in writing to the effect that the child lacks documentary proof and "shall not be lawfully admitted or enrolled" unless proof is provided, an exemption certificate is submitted, or the child qualifies for conditional enrolment. Paragraph (f) requires you to monitor a conditionally enrolled child's record through the conditional period, observing "appropriate intervals between doses". Paragraph (g) requires exclusion at the end of that period. Paragraph (i) adds a transfer duty: "When a transfer of immunization records is necessary, the admitting official of the child's previous school shall provide to the parent or guardian the child's immunization record or a copy thereof to present to the admitting official at the new school on arrival." Practical shape for a home provider: keep a single one-page tally sheet, updated at each enrolment and each withdrawal, showing the four categories in He-P 301.15(c); date it 1 November each year, file the count with the commissioner by 15 November, and keep your copy with the immunisation records, which He-P 301.15(a) requires you to keep separate from the child's other medical and educational records for exactly this audit.
• THE ENROLMENT AND EMERGENCY FORM IS THE ONE DOCUMENT THE RULE WRITES FOR YOU, WORD FOR WORD. He-C 4002.10(a): "Program managers shall ensure that for each child there is a 'Child Care Registration and Emergency Information' (August 2025) form, completed by the parent or guardian, or an equivalent form on file on the child's first day in attendance". You may substitute your own document, but He-C 4002.10(b) fixes thirteen mandatory data fields: the child's full legal name; date of birth; physical and mailing address; home telephone number; date of enrolment; the name and addresses of the responsible parents or guardians if different; telephone numbers and how the parents can be reached during the hours the child is present; e-mail addresses if available; "Name and telephone number of at least one person who will assume responsibility for the child if, for any reason, the parents or guardians cannot be reached immediately in an emergency"; "Any chronic conditions, allergies, or medications in case of sudden illness or injury"; "Written parental or guardian permission for first aid treatment"; "Written parental or guardian permission for emergency medical transportation and treatment"; and "Names and telephone numbers of any person(s) other than parents or guardians who are authorized to remove the child from the program." Emergency consent and authorised pick-up are therefore built into this one form: New Hampshire requires no separate emergency contact form and no separate medical consent form. He-C 4002.10(c)(2) then dictates the consent wording verbatim: "I hereby give permission for the staff of _______________________ to provide simple first aid treatment to my child, _________________________ when necessary. In the event of a more serious illness or injury, I give permission for my child to be transported to a hospital or other emergency medical facility to receive emergency medical treatment. I also authorize ambulance/rescue squad attendants to administer such treatment as is medically necessary, and I authorize licensed health care practitioners working in the hospital or emergency medical facility to examine and provide emergency medical treatment to my child if warranted. I understand that I will be contacted by child care program personnel as soon as possible regarding any emergency involving my child." He-C 4002.10(c)(1) compels a further block reproducing the unit's contact details, what the CCLU does, how a licensing coordinator speaks with children, and a four-way parental choice quoted in the rule: "a. I give permission for child care licensing staff to speak with my child while with their class or group; b. I give permission for child care licensing staff to interview my child at the child care program separate from their class or group; c. I wish to be notified prior to child care licensing staff speaking with my child at the child care program separate from their class or group; and d. I do not give my permission for child care licensing staff to speak with my child while with their class or group." The equivalent-form latitude does NOT extend to omitting these blocks: 4002.10(c) says the registration form "or an equivalent form" shall contain them. Signed by the parent, on or before day one, held by you, retained under He-C 4002.05(l) for two years after the child's last day. This is the one form the department has actually refreshed: the PDF it serves is stamped "Effective August 2025".
• PERMISSION SLIPS FOR TRIPS AND WATER: TWO INSTRUMENTS, TWO RETENTION PERIODS THAT CONTRADICT EACH OTHER. New Hampshire splits off-premises activity into routine and non-routine, each with its own paper. He-C 4002.31(a): "Programs that opt to allow child care staff to take children on routine or unplanned local trips, such as walks in the neighborhood, trips to the local library, or other routine errands, shall obtain a signed and dated general permission slip from each child's parent or guardian, which specifies all approved destinations and activities." A "we sometimes go for walks" note fails: the slip must SPECIFY destinations and activities. For a home provider this is the slip that covers the daily stroller walk and the playground at the end of the road; collect it at enrolment or you stay in your own yard. He-C 4002.31(b) then adds a live duty each time you use it: staff "shall call parents or guardians or post a notice at the program, informing parents or guardians of the destination and route of any unplanned trips, and the estimated time of return to the program." Non-routine next. He-C 4002.31(c): "The program manager shall obtain a signed and dated permission slip from each child's parents or guardians prior to allowing a child to participate in any water activities on or off the premises of the program, or any field trip off the premises of the program." He-C 4002.31(d) prescribes the contents and, critically, a retention period: the slip "shall be retained by the program and available for review by the department for a minimum of 2 years after the date of the last water activity or field trip covered by the permission slip, and include: (1) For water activities, the date(s) and destination(s) covered by the permission slip, whether the child can swim, and the child's comfort level in or near water; and (2) For all other field trips, the date(s), destination(s), and activities covered by the permission slip." Read (d)(1) twice: for water you must record whether the child can swim and their comfort level near water, and that is parent-supplied information you cannot reconstruct later. Now the contradiction, and it is inside the same rule part. He-C 4002.31(d) says two years from the last covered activity. He-C 4002.05(m)(3) says the licensee shall maintain "Field trip permission slips" on file or readily available "for at least one year". The safe reading is the longer one — "at least one year" is a floor, not a ceiling, and 4002.31(d) is the specific provision — so keep trip and water slips two years. On the day of the trip, He-C 4002.31(i) turns paper into cargo: staff "shall carry on all field trips: (1) A copy of each child's registration and emergency information forms; (2) A first aid kit in the vehicle whenever children are present; (3) A copy of the parental or guardian permission slip for the field trip; (4) A record documenting that staff accounted for each child every time they entered or exited the vehicle; (5) All emergency and currently prescribed child medications, as applicable; and (6) In each vehicle, a form that includes the program name, address, and phone number." Item (4) is a document you create in the moment; a tally sheet satisfies it, memory does not. Note what is NOT required: there is no separate standing "permission to transport" form in He-C 4002. Daily transportation is governed by vehicle, driver, restraint and ratio rules in He-C 4002.31(e) to (h) and (o), not by a consent instrument.
• MEDICATION: AN ORDER, A PARENT AUTHORISATION, AND A DOSE-BY-DOSE LOG SIGNED AT THE MOMENT OF ADMINISTRATION. He-C 4002.20(b)(2) sets the two-key rule: authorised staff "shall administer only those medications for which there is a medication order provided by a licensed practitioner, and written permission from the parent or guardian". Both are required for prescription and for over-the-counter medication alike; a parent note alone is not enough for a prescription, and He-C 4002.20(b)(3) forbids you to accept "any prescription medications that do not include a prescription label or medication order from a licensed practitioner". He-C 4002.20(c) prescribes what the order must legibly display: "(1) The child's name; (2) The medication name, strength, the prescribed dose and method of administration; (3) The frequency of administration; (4) The indications for usage of all medications to be used pro re nata (PRN), meaning when necessary; and (5) The dated signature of the licensed practitioner for orders other than the prescription label." The pharmacy label on the bottle can serve as the order — that is the force of "for orders other than the prescription label" — so a routine antibiotic rarely needs a separate physician signature. PRN is stricter. He-C 4002.20(d) requires the PRN order to state "(1) The indications and any special precautions or limitations regarding administration of the medication; (2) The maximum dosage allowed in a 24-hour period; (3) The dated signature of the parent or guardian for topical substances or over-the-counter medication; and (4) For other than the prescription label, the dated signature of the licensed practitioner for prescription medication." Diaper cream and sunscreen fall in here: dated parental signature, indications, 24-hour maximum. The log is the document inspectors open first. He-C 4002.20(i): staff "shall maintain a written record for each dose of medication administered to each child, which shall: (1) Be completed by the authorized staff who administered the medication immediately after the medication is administered; and (2) For each administered medication, include at a minimum: a. The name of the child; b. The date and time the medication was taken; c. A notation of any medication error or the reason why any medication was not taken as ordered or approved; d. The dated signature of the authorized staff who administered the medication to the child; and e. For administration of a PRN, documentation shall also include the reason for administration." A missed or refused dose must be written down, and so must an error. Filing: He-C 4002.20(h) requires you to keep "medication orders, parental or guardian authorization to administer medication, and information regarding a child's allergies, if applicable" on file and available for department review; retention follows He-C 4002.05(l), two years past the child's last day. Two further pieces of paper. He-C 4002.20(l) allows a school-age child to carry insulin, an inhaler or an epi-pen only with "written authorization from the prescribing licensed practitioner and written permission from the child's parent or guardian on file at the program". He-C 4002.20(t)(4) requires that where you stock your own epinephrine under RSA 329:1-h, "The certificate of completion for the training shall be on file for review by the unit", the training repeating at least every two years. Training in medication safety and administration is annual under He-C 4002.20(g).
• THE INDIVIDUAL CARE PLAN NEW HAMPSHIRE ACTUALLY REQUIRES IS AN ALLERGY PLAN, AND IT COMES IN TWO PARTS. Providers arriving from another state look for a general "individual health care plan" for a child with asthma, diabetes or seizures. He-C 4002 has none. What it contains is He-C 4002.19(h), which is mandatory and narrow: "The program shall obtain the following documents from the parents or guardians of each child with a food allergy or other allergy, which results in a serious reaction: (1) A written care plan that includes instructions regarding food(s) or other allergens to which the child is allergic and steps for child care staff to take to avoid the allergens; and (2) A written treatment plan, detailing the treatment to be implemented in the event of an allergic reaction, which shall include: a. The names, doses, and methods of prompt administration of any medications, where the medication needs to be stored in relation to the child, taking into consideration the storage requirements in He-C 4002.20(j)(2), and instructions on how to administer the prescribed medication; and b. Specific symptoms that would indicate the need to administer one or more medications." Two separate documents, both obtained FROM the parent, both triggered only where the allergy "results in a serious reaction". A mild intolerance does not compel the pair, though a dietary restriction still requires a written parental request under He-C 4002.30(d)(2). The plans carry three consequences. Staffing: He-C 4002.19(i) provides that "At all times, at least one child care staff supervising a child with an allergy care plan shall have completed the training specified in He-C 4002.32(b)(5)" — prevention of and response to emergencies due to food and other allergic reactions. In a one-adult home, that is you. Reading: He-C 4002.19(m) requires all staff responsible for food preparation and service, and all staff supervising a child with an allergy, "including staff covering breaks", to "read and familiarize themselves with the allergy care plans and treatment plans". Menus: He-C 4002.19(j) requires notification to the parent "when the program deviates from the planned menu as indicated on children's allergy care plans". That is the only place the word "menu" appears in Part He-C 4002. For a child with a disability rather than an allergy, He-C 4002.13 imposes a duty and not a form. It requires the licensee to "accept and make reasonable accommodations to welcome and serve, or continue to serve, any child with a disability", and in judging reasonableness to "Refer to the Americans with Disabilities Act" and, "If applicable, request parental or guardian release of information from professionals providing services to the child specific to the disability." The release of information is the only paper named, and only where applicable. There is no state IFSP-style plan and no departmental disability form. One further individualised document exists, but it is behavioural. He-C 4002.17(j): where a child has multiple incidents of conduct posing an imminent serious safety risk and does not respond to guidance techniques, "the program manager shall, in consultation with parents or guardians, create and implement a behavior management plan which supports the retention policy pursuant to He-C 4002.15(a)(1)." Written, jointly developed, and the predicate to any decision that enrolment cannot be maintained.
• INJURY, SERIOUS OCCURRENCE AND ABUSE REPORTING: FIVE CLOCKS, TWO AUDIENCES, AND NO PRESCRIBED FORM. New Hampshire does not give you a serious-incident form. It gives you deadlines, and it tells you what must be in the writing. Serious injury first. He-C 4002.12(a): if a child in care "sustains a serious injury, as defined in He-C 4002.01(bk), or otherwise requires emergency services as prescribed in first aid and CPR training, the program manager or designee shall: (1) Immediately notify emergency personnel and the child's parents or guardians; and (2) Notify the department within 48 hours via NHCIS." Forty-eight hours, through the portal, not by telephone to your coordinator. He-C 4002.12(b) then requires a separate written report to the family "by the next business day", which shall "fully inform them of the details of the incident", including where known "(1) The name of individuals involved in, and who witnessed, the incident, while keeping the identities of other children confidential; (2) What occurred prior to and following the incident; (3) When and where the incident occurred; and (4) Any action taken, or that will be taken by the program in response to the incident." Head injuries are their own category. He-C 4002.12(c) requires immediate parental notification for a bump or injury to head or face beyond a scrape where any of eight signs follow — excessive bruising or swelling, increased fussiness or sleepiness, dizziness or clumsiness, nausea or vomiting, loss of consciousness, headache, speech, vision or hearing impairment, or discharge or blood from the bump. He-C 4002.12(d) requires WRITTEN notification "as soon as possible on the date of the injury, detailing how the injury occurred, the date, time, and location of the injury, a description of the first aid treatment given to the child, and the name of the staff who administered first aid." Next, the notices owed to the unit under He-C 4002.05(d). In writing, within 24 hours: any occurrence of a missing child or a child inside or outside without staff supervision; the death of a child, with a fuller follow-up report no later than 72 hours detailing the circumstances; and a change of indoor or outdoor space where an emergency has made approved space unusable. By the next business day: an allegation of abuse or neglect involving a child in your care; a staff member's use of corporal punishment or rough handling; any call to law enforcement or emergency responders for incidents involving enrolled children; and any motor vehicle accident involving your staff and children. Then the mandated-reporter duty, which is separate and immediate. He-C 4002.05(b): "As mandated reporters, the program manager or designee shall report to the division for children, youth, and families (DCYF) at 1-800-894-5533, if the licensee, child care staff, or other person involved with a program suspects that a child is being abused or neglected, in accordance with RSA 169-C:29." He-C 4002.17(g) adds six situations in which you must immediately notify the child's own parent, including any allegation of abuse or neglect, any corporal punishment or rough handling, and any injury caused by lack of supervision; and He-C 4002.17(h) provides that if you do not, the department will. The DHHS "Child Care Program Injury Report" PDF, marked "Revised 01/2019", is a convenience, not a prescribed instrument.
• ATTENDANCE AND DAILY LOGS: "IN REAL TIME", "ALL IN ONE PLACE", AND A DATE OF BIRTH WITHIN REACH. He-C 4002.08(a) requires a record of each child's attendance "in each room" that "(1) Documents each child's daily arrival at and departure from the program, in real time; and (2) Is recorded all in one place, in a manner that reflects the number of children present in each room throughout the day." The phrase "in real time" is the whole of the enforcement problem. Signing children in at 4 p.m. from memory is a citation even where the times are accurate, and a licensing coordinator arriving unannounced at 10.15 a.m. will compare the sheet against the children in front of her. In a family child care home the "each room" language reads naturally as your one child care space, but if you use two approved levels the record must still show where the children were. He-C 4002.08(b) adds the detail providers skip: "the program shall include or have the date of birth immediately available for each child listed on the child attendance record." Immediately available — because the coordinator is checking your age mix against the licence and against the ratios in He-C 4002.33(m) to (o), where a family child care home is capped at six children plus three school-age with no more than four under 36 months and no more than two under 24 months, and a family group home at twelve plus five with no more than four under 36 months. She cannot verify that without ages at hand. Staff attendance is a second, parallel record. He-C 4002.08(c): "The program shall have a record of daily staff attendance, including the staff's full name, scheduled work hours, their position as identified under He-C 4002.34, and their arrival and departure times at the program and in each room or group throughout the day, as applicable, recorded in real time by the staff." Recorded BY THE STAFF, not by you on their behalf. He-C 4002.08(d) repeats the "all in one place" requirement. He-C 4002.08(e) gives the only relief: "staff shall not be required to sign in and out for breaks lasting fewer than 15 minutes when the staff remains in the building, or to conduct necessary tasks on the premises." Note the cross-reference in (c) to He-C 4002.34, which is the centre-based staff rule; a home provider's positions are defined in He-C 4002.33 — family child care provider, child care worker, child care assistant, junior helper. The renumbering under Document #14356 left that pointer imperfect; record the position by the He-C 4002.33 title and you are describing the truth. Do you keep an attendance record for yourself? Yes, if you employ anyone at all the record must show who was present in each group throughout the day, and the sole-provider home should still be able to evidence its own operating hours. Retention: He-C 4002.05(m)(2) requires "Staff and child attendance records" to be kept on file or readily available "for at least one year". That is the floor for the log itself; the child's wider record runs two years past their last day under He-C 4002.05(l). New Hampshire does NOT require a daily communication sheet, a nap chart, a diapering log or a food-intake log for a family child care home. No rule in He-C 4002 creates any of them.
• THE FIRE DRILL LOG, AND THE SECOND DRILL LOG NOBODY KEEPS. Two distinct logs live in He-C 4002.16, and providers routinely keep the first and forget the second. Fire drills. He-C 4002.16(a)(1) requires a year-round program to "conduct at least one drill each month of operation"; (a)(4) requires drills "at varying times during operating hours, including night time hours, if applicable, to ensure that each child attending the program experiences fire drills"; (a)(5) requires staff to "activate the actual fire alarm system for the building for at least 2 of the required monthly fire drills required each year and use a fire alarm or smoke detector to signal all other fire drills"; (a)(6) requires everyone out; and (a)(7) requires staff to "check daily attendance records to ensure that all children and staff are accounted for, after the building is evacuated." That is why the attendance sheet leaves the building with you. He-C 4002.16(c): "Programs shall complete a written record of fire drills, which shall be available for review during visits by the fire inspector and the department." He-C 4002.16(d) fixes the five fields: "(1) The date and time the drill was conducted and if the actual fire alarm system was used; (2) The exits used; (3) The number of children evacuated and total number of people in the building at the time of the drill; (4) The amount of time taken to evacuate the building; and (5) The name of the person conducting the drill." Field (3) is two numbers, not one — children evacuated AND total people in the building, which in a home includes your own family and any adult present. He-C 4002.16(e) allows the department or the local fire department to demand a drill in its representative's presence on the spot. The second log. He-C 4002.16(k) requires evacuation drills "at least twice a year", a simulated drill being acceptable, and He-C 4002.16(l) requires the program manager or designee to "practice at least 2 different components of their EOP drills, other than evacuation drills, with all staff and children each calendar year" — drawn from the response actions in (g)(3): evacuation within the building and off-site, secure campus, drop-cover-and-hold, lockdown, reverse evacuation, shelter-in-place, and bomb threat or scan. He-C 4002.16(m) then requires a log "of the practice drills and staff reviews required in (k) and (l) above, that include: (1) The date and time of the drill or simulated drill; (2) The type of drill practiced, simulated, or reviewed; (3) The method of review or practice, such as in-person, or review of on-line training; (4) The name of all staff and children that participated, as applicable; and (5) The signature and date of the person conducting the drill, simulation, or review." A signature is required on the EOP log and is not required on the fire drill log. Behind both sits the plan itself: He-C 4002.16(f) requires an emergency operations plan "prior to issuance of a permit or renewal of a license", created in coordination with local emergency response agencies, containing communication and reunification procedures, and He-C 4002.16(j) requires you to give families the communication and reunification portion at enrolment. Retention differs, and the penalty does too: He-C 4002.05(m)(4) and (5) set one year for both logs, but He-C 4002.44(g)(6) attaches a $500 per-offence fine plus $100 per day to failures under He-C 4002.05(m)(4), the EOP drill log, and not to the fire drill log.
• SUBSTITUTE, VOLUNTEER AND JUNIOR-HELPER RECORDS, AND THE FIVE-DAY ROSTER DUTY. Every adult who is not you generates a file, and He-C 4002.09(a) says what is in it: for each staff member, whether paper or electronic, "(1) Documentation of the staff's qualifications, including required work experience and education, which demonstrates that they meet the qualifications for their position; (2) Documentation of a completed background check in accordance with He-C 4002.40; (3) A record of initial health screening upon hire, in accordance with (b) below; (4) Documentation of orientation, certifications, training, and professional development, as applicable; and (5) Documentation of supervision regarding disciplinary actions or investigations specific to the staff member." Item (5) is the one home providers omit: if you have ever counselled an assistant about a lapse, that record belongs in the file. Substitutes are staff for every purpose that matters. He-C 4002.40(b)(2) requires them to complete a background record check before employment; He-C 4002.32(k) provides that "All substitutes and any volunteer who works alone with children or is counted in staff-to-child ratios shall complete the health and safety trainings as required by (b) above and 3 hours of annual professional development in health and safety areas listed in (b)(2)-(13)." He-C 4002.33(h) caps the arrangement: a family child care provider or small child care centre "may employ substitute staff who meet the age requirements of the staff position for whom they are substituting and assume the responsibilities of any child care staff on an emergency or temporary basis for not more than 90 consecutive days and not more than a maximum of 120 days in a 12-month period." Two ceilings, both countable from your own attendance record. Volunteers split. He-C 4002.40(b)(4) requires a background check only from "Volunteers who might be alone with children or are included in staff to child ratios"; a grandparent who reads a story while you remain present does not trigger it. The junior helper is a New Hampshire category with its own file consequences: He-C 4002.33(k) requires them to "Be at least 14 years of age", to work with children "only under the direct supervision and observation of a staff person who meets at least the minimum qualification of a child care worker", to be excluded from ratio calculations, and expressly to "Not be required to complete professional development hours as specified in He-C 4002.32." Age minima elsewhere in the same rule: child care worker 18 (He-C 4002.33(f)); child care assistant, paid or volunteer, 16 and always under direct observation and supervision (He-C 4002.33(g)); family child care provider 21, or 18 with a high school diploma or equivalent plus either a two-year approved child care curriculum or six college credits including one three-credit course in child growth and development (He-C 4002.33(e)). Documentation of professional development is held by you: He-C 4002.33(j) says it "shall be maintained at the program and available for review by the department." And the roster is a live obligation, not an annual one. He-C 4002.40(n): "The program manager shall update the staff roster in the NHCIS portal within 5 business days when the individuals as described in (b) above are no longer working in the program or part of the household, with the date they left the program." That sweeps in household members who move out, not just staff who resign.
• WHAT IS OWED ONLY AT RENEWAL, AND THE THREE-MONTH DEADLINE THAT IS NOT A SUGGESTION. He-C 4002.02(h) opens with the date: "No less than 3 months prior to the expiration date of the current license, applicants for license renewal shall submit to the department the following through the 'NHCIS' portal ... or by using the forms below". RSA 170-E:9, I says the same in statute. The renewal package is a shorter list than the original: "(1) A signed and completed application 'Application for Family Child Care Program' (August 2025) or 'Application for Child Care Center' (August 2025) for license renewal, in accordance with He-C 4002.02; (2) Written approval from the local health officer documenting that, within the 12 months immediately preceding the date the department receives the application, the premises have been inspected and approved by a local health officer, for operation as a program; (3) Written approval from the local fire inspector that, within the 12 months preceding the date the application for licensure is received by the department, the premises have been inspected for compliance with Saf-FMO 300 and RSA 153:1 VI-a ...; (4) Verification from the New Hampshire secretary of state that the applicant is in good standing; (5) A completed 'Staff and Household List' (August 2025) or updated staff roster in NHCIS; and (6) A diagram of the indoor and outdoor space if changed since the previous application." Read that against He-C 4002.02(e) and note what has dropped away. Zoning documentation is not repeated. Lead-safety certification under RSA 130-A:5-d, II is not repeated. The personnel health form is not repeated for a family child care provider already on record. The diagram returns only if the space has changed. What is new at renewal is item (5), and it is a distinct instrument from the notarised "Staff and Household Member Form" of He-C 4002.40(f) — similar name, different document, and the department's own renewal instruction sheet compounds the confusion by demanding the list cover "household members age 10 years and older", an age that appears nowhere in He-C 4002 or RSA 170-E:7. Two protections and one trap. The protection in He-C 4002.02(k) restates RSA 541-A:30, I: "if a timely and sufficient application has been made in accordance with agency rules for renewal of a license ..., the existing license shall not expire until the agency has taken final action upon the application for renewal." File on time and a slow department cannot close you. The second protection is RSA 170-E:9, IV: if the department cannot examine the premises because you are not currently operating, it may renew on the strength of the RSA 170-E:6 local approvals and inspect within 30 days of reopening. The trap is He-C 4002.02(l)(2)b., which makes a licence invalid once "The license has expired and a complete application form with attachments has not been received by the department" — incomplete is treated as absent. Renewal produces a three-year licence (He-C 4002.02(i)(2), RSA 170-E:8, I); a first application produces a six-month permit (He-C 4002.02(i)(1)). Separately, a licensee wanting more capacity does not wait for renewal: He-C 4002.02(n) requires a written request, fresh local approvals where the increase exceeds existing ones, updated diagrams, and no enrolment above the current capacity until the revised licence issues.

What's specific about getting licensed in New Hampshire

New Hampshire's home-based license is driven purely by a headcount threshold in RSA 170-E:2 — and the count that matters includes the provider's OWN, foster, and resident children up to age 10 (the statute counts related and foster children except those 10 or older; He-C 4002.34(l)). That is the trap most applicants miss: a provider with two of her own young kids at home has already 'spent' two of her six slots before enrolling a single paying child. The second trap is the 6-to-7 cliff — the moment the total in care hits 7, you are no longer a 'family day care home' but a 'family group day care home,' a different license with a required second adult and stricter space/fire requirements. NH also does not publish a single flat annual-training number: 18 hours for the provider or a 25+ hrs/week staffer vs 12 for a part-time assistant, so budgeting one figure is a compliance error. Everything now routes through the NHCIS online portal rather than paper.

How long it takes and what it costs in New Hampshire

Timeline: Realistically about 8-16 weeks from starting the NHCIS application to holding a license, gated mainly by fingerprint background-check turnaround, scheduling the fire-code and on-site inspections, and completing the 6-hour pre-service health-and-safety training and CPR/first aid certification. The current license term is 3 years.

Cost: License fee is set under RSA 170-E:5 for a multi-year (3-year) term — confirm the current amount with the DHHS Child Care Licensing Unit, as fees are not published in the rule text. Add separate out-of-pocket costs: fingerprint-based state/FBI background checks (a per-person state-police/FBI processing fee, roughly $48-$50 each — confirm with NH State Police), and a CPR/first-aid course (typically ~$60-$120). Treat all dollar figures as estimates to confirm with the agency.

Source: PRIMARY SOURCES ACTUALLY OPENED DURING RESEARCH, FIELD BY FIELD (not summarised from memory). [annual_training_hours] CHAMP annual_training_hours — NEW HAMPSHIRE — sources ouvertes et lues le 26 aout 2026. https://gc.nh.gov/rules/state_agencies/he-c.html — index des regles en vigueur (Office of Legislative Services / General Court), consulte le 26/08/2026 : PART He-C 4002 NH CHILD CARE PROGRAM LICENSING RULES y figure SANS mention **EXPIRED** (contrairement a He-C 300, 600, 875, 877, 1600, 3000 etc.), et la table des sections y donne He-C 4002.32 Professional Development et He-C 4002.33 Family Child Care Programs, Family Group Child Care Programs, and Small Child Care Centers. C'est l'index qui a permis de detecter la renumerotation (en 2022, la formation continue etait He-C 4002.33). Acces direct bloque par le WAF de l'Etat depuis une IP europeenne ;

page lue via le proxy de lecture r.jina.ai. https://gc.nh.gov/rules/Filing_history/sourcehe-c.html — historique de depot He-C, lu le 26/08/2026 : dernier depot He-C 4002 = "#14356*Readopt w/Amendment He-C 4002 NH Child Care Program Licensing Rules (eff 9-22-25) EXPIRES: 9-22-35", qui remplace "#13373*Readopt w/Amend He-C 4002 NH Child Care Program Licensing Rules (eff 4-22-22)". Aucun depot He-C 4002 posterieur (la liste s'arrete a #14491, eff. 24/01/2026). Etablit la version applicable et donc la date d'effet 22/09/2025. Etablit aussi #14222 (He-C 6914/6920, eff. 27/03/2025), #14256 (He-C 4003/4004), #14465 (He-C 6921 et He-C 6922, NH Early Childhood and Out-Of-School Time Credentials, eff. 20/12/2025). https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt476/files/documents2/he-c-4002-formatted.pdf — texte integral de la regle en vigueur, en-tete courant "He-C 4002 Adopted Rule 8/26/25", 85 pages. C'est le texte adopte le 26/08/2025 dont le depot #14356 fixe l'entree en vigueur au 22/09/2025. TOUTES les citations verbatim de He-C 4002 dans les deux champs viennent de ce fichier. https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt476/files/documents2/he-c4002.pdf — texte PERIME, en-tete "Adopted Rule Text 4/21/22" (depot #13373). Lu volontairement, pour mesurer l'ecart : He-C 4002.33(a) "a minimum of 6 hours of professional development", He-C 4002.33(f) "shall complete 18 hours of professional development within their first 12 months of hire", exception temps partiel a 12 h, self-study plafonne a 6 h sur 18. C'est ce fichier que servent encore les moteurs de recherche et les guides commerciaux : il est la source du piege des "18 heures" et de la citation "He-C 4002.33 Professional Development".

https://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/XII/170-E/170-E-mrg.htm — RSA 170-E consolide (version fusionnee servie par le General Court), lu le 26/08/2026 : RSA 170-E:3, I(c) et I(h) (exemptions de licence), RSA 170-E:3, II et III (obligation d'informer les parents), RSA 170-E:11, I(n) et (o) (qualification d'associate teacher et Emerging Professional Certificates fixees par la loi), RSA 170-E:50 (credential, rulemaking).

Aucune obligation de formation n'est imposee par RSA 170-E aux structures exemptees. https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/XII/170-E/170-E-11.htm — RSA 170-E:11 servi isolement, ligne Source lue mot pour mot le 26/08/2026 : "1990, 257:8. 1991, 355:45. 1998, 256:3, 4, eff. Jan. 1, 1999. 2021, 205:2, Pt. XI, Sec. 1, eff. Oct. 9, 2021. 2024, 3:1, eff. Feb. 21, 2024; 197:1, eff. Sept. 10, 2024; 197:2, eff. Dec. 31, 2026." Le statut codifie annonce donc toujours une abrogation prospective au 31/12/2026 que la session 2026 a supprimee (voir UNVERIFIED ci-dessous) : la source officielle est perimee sur ce point, exactement comme agency.txt l'avait releve pour RSA 170-E et la chapitre 217 de 2026. https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt476/files/inline-documents/sonh/emergency-rule-he-c-6914-6920.pdf — texte He-C 6914/6920 publie par le departement (en-tete "Emergency Rule 10/9/2024"). Etablit l'horloge annuelle des exemptes subventionnes : He-C 6914.05(a)(3) "a minimum of 2 hours of annual professional development" televerse au NH Professional Registry, (a)(4) "a minimum of 2 hours of annual professional development in any of the health and safety topics listed in He-C 6914.04(e)(1)-(11)" televerse a NHCIS, (a)(5) le cycle court "during each 12-month period prior to the DHHS annual monitoring visit date", (a)(8) maintien du CPR/premiers secours pediatriques, (a)(10) RSA 169-C:29-31. Soit 4 h/an contre 12 h/an pour un licencie.

Sections de He-C 4002 effectivement lues et citees dans ce champ : 4002.01(l), (z), (bb) ; 4002.02(g), (h), (i) ; 4002.05(k), (l), (m) ; 4002.06(c), (d), (f), (g) ; 4002.07(a), (c)(1), (f) ; 4002.09(a) ; 4002.19(r), (t) ; 4002.32(b), (e), (f), (g), (h), (i), (j), (k), (l), (m), (n), (o), (p), (q) ; 4002.33(i), (j), (k), (m) ; 4002.44(c)(3), (g)(6), (9), (10), (18), (19), (20). ASSERTION CENTRALE ET SON PIEGE : la valeur est 12 heures par personne et par 12 mois a compter de sa date d'embauche (He-C 4002.32(e)), PAS par cycle de licence. La licence de renouvellement dure 3 ans (He-C 4002.02(i)(2)) et He-C 4002 ne contient aucun total par cycle. La valeur repandue de 18 heures vient du texte de 2022 (He-C 4002.33(f)), encore servi par le serveur du departement, et est fausse depuis le 22/09/2025. INCOHERENCE INTERNE SIGNALEE, NON RESOLUE : He-C 4002.32(e) mesure sur "their first 12 months of hire" tandis que He-C 4002.32(f) mesure sur "the remainder of the calendar year". La regle ne les reconcilie pas ; le champ propose la lecture conservatrice (le (f) est le plancher pro rata de la premiere annee partielle) et le dit comme une lecture, pas comme une certitude.

UNVERIFIED : le contenu exact de He-C 6914 tel que readopte par le depot #14222 (eff. 27/03/2025) n'a pas pu etre lu ; source citee = texte departemental "Emergency Rule 10/9/2024". Les 2 h + 2 h et l'ancrage sur la date de visite de controle sont a reverifier avant publication commerciale. UNVERIFIED : le contenu de He-C 6921 et He-C 6922 (depot #14465, eff. 20/12/2025) n'a pas ete lu ; l'affirmation du champ se limite au titre du depot, a RSA 170-E:50, I et au renvoi de He-C 4002.32(p)(3)a. aux formateurs credentialises par le bureau of child development and head start collaboration. UNVERIFIED : l'abrogation par la session 2026 (identifiee par recherche secondaire comme HB 1771, chapitre 98 de 2026, signe le 28/05/2026, eff. 27/07/2026) de l'abrogation prospective au 31/12/2026 de RSA 170-E:11, I(c) n'a pas pu etre lue dans le texte officiel : le portail de statut des projets de loi du General Court est indexe par identifiant interne et n'a pas ete resolu depuis cette IP, et legiscan.com renvoie un captcha. Aucune affirmation reposant dessus n'est publiee dans le champ ; l'element est de toute facon relatif aux taux d'encadrement, pas a la formation.

Ce qui EST publie et verifie, c'est que la ligne Source de RSA 170-E:11 servie par gc.nh.gov annonce toujours "197:2, eff. Dec. 31, 2026". UNVERIFIED : aucun acte de la session 2026 touchant specifiquement la formation en garde d'enfants sous RSA 170-E n'a ete trouve ; le balayage a ete fait par recherche sur les chapitres 2026 et par lecture des lignes Source de RSA 170-E:11 et 170-E:50, non par lecture chapitre par chapitre du recueil des lois de 2026. Absence de preuve, pas preuve d'absence. [background_check] https://gc.nh.gov/rules/Filing_history/sourcehe-c.html (via r.jina.ai) — Office of Legislative Services filing history for He-C 4002, i.e. the index of what is in effect rather than a pinned PDF.

Establishes the full filing chain and the decisive entry "#14356 - Readopt w/Amendment He-C 4002 NH Child Care Program Licensing Rules (eff 9-22-25; expires 9-22-35)", superseding "#13373 ... (eff 4-22-22)". https://gc.nh.gov/rules/jlcar/packets/Files/21Aug2025/2025-132_FP%20Meeting%20Packet%20(Consent)%20He-C%204002.pdf (via r.jina.ai) — JLCAR final proposal packet, notice number 2025-132. Establishes: the verbatim He-C 4002.40(a) sentence; the full explanation-of-changes paragraph for He-C 4002.40 (NHCIS submission, the 18-and-over clarification, the age 12 through 17 household and personnel form, deletion of the employment eligibility card, orientation/training presence before notice of eligibility, the new arrest/charge notification duty); the deletion of He-C 4002.15 and the renumbering of subsequent sections; the retitling of He-C 4002.05 to "Program Administration, Requirements for Reporting to the Unit, and License and Permit Requirements" and the 5-to-10 business day change for director vacancies; statutory authority list; fiscal impact. https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt476/files/documents2/he-c-4002-formatted.pdf (via r.jina.ai) — DHHS "He-C 4002 Adopted Rule 8/26/25". Establishes the 2025 table of contents: .38 School-Age, .39 Night Care, .40 Background Checks and Determination of Eligibility, .41 Complaints and Investigations, .42 Confidentiality, .43 Enforcement Action and Right to Appeal, .44 Administrative Fines.

Body text truncated by the fetch tool part-way through He-C 4002.22 — see UNVERIFIED below. https://licensingregulations.acf.hhs.gov/licensing/regulation/part-he-c-4002-nh-child-care-program-licensing-rules (via r.jina.ai) — ACF Licensing Regulations Database; confirms the version in circulation is "NH_CENTER_FCCH_GCCH_AUG_2025", last updated 08/26/2025. https://gc.nh.gov/rules/register/2025/0612/2025-132%20IP%20Rule%20He-C%204002.pdf (via r.jina.ai) — NH Rulemaking Register initial proposal for 2025-132; opened, 103 pages, body truncated by the fetch tool before He-C 4002.40. https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/new-hampshire/N-H-Admin-Code-SS-He-C-4002.41 — LII, full 2022 text of the background check rule under the OLD number, with source note "Proposed by #13373, Effective 4/22/2022". Source of the quoted 2022 sentence including "household members age 10 years or older", and of paragraphs (b)-(k): the eligibility-card fee citing RSA 170-E:7 IV-a and IV-d, the 45-day determination, the no-access-until-notice rule, the supervised-work bridge, the ineligibility notices and the 2-business-day report-back. https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/new-hampshire/title-He/subtitle-He-C/chapter-He-C-4000/part-He-C-4002 — LII section list for the 2022 Part (.01 through .45), which is what makes the one-section downward shift provable rather than inferred. https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/new-hampshire/N-H-Admin-Code-SS-He-C-4002.40 — LII still serves "Night Care Program" at .40;

direct evidence that the free databases are on the superseded numbering. https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/new-hampshire/N-H-Admin-Code-SS-He-C-4002.04 — Waivers of Rules; the criteria and the bar "The department shall not approve any request for a waiver of any of the provisions of RSA 170-E or of any rules of other state agencies which are referred to in this chapter." https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/new-hampshire/N-H-Admin-Code-SS-He-C-4002.32 — Field Trips, Water Activities and Transportation; establishes that the driver requirements are age 18, a valid licence, liability insurance, registration and inspection, and that NO motor vehicle record or driving record check exists. https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/new-hampshire/N-H-Admin-Code-SS-He-C-4002.44 — Enforcement Action and Right to Appeal; the 10-calendar-day written request to the commissioner, the finality clause, and the hearing framework (RSA 170-E:13 and 14, RSA 541-A, He-C 200). https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/new-hampshire/N-H-Admin-Code-SS-He-C-4002.01 — Definitions; He-C 4002.01(ab) "household member", (l) "child care staff", (bi) "substitute", (ag) "junior helper". https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/new-hampshire/N-H-Admin-Code-SS-He-C-4002.09 — Staff Record Requirements;

the stale internal cross-reference "in accordance with He-C 4002.41". https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/new-hampshire/N-H-Admin-Code-SS-He-C-4002.15 — the deleted notice-and-reporting rule; the 5-business-day departure notice at (a)(3). https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/new-hampshire/N-H-Admin-Code-SS-He-C-4002.34 — Family and Family Group Child Care Programs (2022 numbering); read and found to contain NO background check provisions, which is why the home rule is not cited for screening. https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/new-hampshire/N-H-Admin-Code-SS-Saf-C-5703.12 — Department of Safety procedure for correcting CHRI: appearance at the central repository, identification of the disputed portion, 30-day director action, notification of non-criminal-justice agencies that received the data in the last year. https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/xii/170-E/170-E-7.htm (via r.jina.ai) — current RSA 170-E:7 as served by the General Court.

Establishes paragraph I (owners, household members, directors; names, birth names, aliases, birth dates, resident addresses during the preceding 5 years; prior to issuance of a permit or license), I-a (FBI fingerprint check via the biometric identification system, second attempt, police clearances after two failures), II(a)-(d) (NH sex offender and abuse and neglect registries plus sex offender registries of each state of residence in the past 5 years; state police FBI and National Sex Offender Registry; cost allocation; ineligibility for refusal or false statement), II-a(a)-(c) verbatim (portability, 180 consecutive days), III (45-day determination, "registered or required to be registered", "charged pending disposition or convicted of", the offence list, consequences (a)-(d)), IV (felony/founded-report tier plus the present-threat investigation with an opportunity to present evidence), IV-a (5-year validity), IV-b verbatim (signed statement), IV-c verbatim (5-year recheck), IV-d "[Repealed.]", V, and the full source note ending "2024, 41:1, 9, eff. July 1, 2024. 2025, 80:1, 2, eff.

July 1, 2025." https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/nhtoc/NHTOC-XII-170-E.htm (via r.jina.ai) — chapter table of contents; establishes "170-E:7-a REPEALED by 2025, 80:6, II, eff. July 1, 2025" and the surrounding section map (170-E:3-a, :11, :12, :13, :14). https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/xii/170-E/170-E-3-a.htm (via r.jina.ai) — licence-exempt providers receiving state funds; 3-year cycle, checks performed per RSA 170-E:7. https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/LXII/651/651-5.htm (via r.jina.ai) — RSA 651:5 annulment: X(a) "treated in all respects as if he or she had never been arrested, convicted or sentenced", the 1/2/3/5/10-year waiting periods, V bar on annulling violent crimes and felony obstruction, XI(b) police retention and disclosure. https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/xii/169-C/169-C-35.htm (via r.jina.ai) — state registry of founded reports; indefinite retention, access by other states' child care licensing agencies on written request, expungement by petition after one year on a "does not pose a present threat to the safety of children" standard, three-year interval after denial. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-45/section-98.43 (via r.jina.ai) — CCDBG floor: components of the check, disqualifying crimes, the 45-day cap, the accuracy appeal, portability and 180 days, the 5-year cycle, and the fee cap "shall not exceed the actual costs for the processing and administration"; plus the 45 C.F.R. § 98.2 definition reaching "any individual residing in a family child care home who is age 18 and older". https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/programs-services/childcare-parenting-childbirth/child-care-licensing/background-checks-child-care (via r.jina.ai; direct fetch returns 403) — CCLU public page.

Establishes the NHCIS/CHRI-portal mechanics, LiveScan-only, the $27.00 payee, the CCLU 1-A form, the four-months-before-18 submission window, and the 13-17 statements that conflict with the 2025 rule. No last-updated date on the page. https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/programs-services/childcare-parenting-childbirth/child-care-licensing/cclu-news-and-updates (via r.jina.ai) — dated CCLU notices: 24 Jan 2025 (FBI fee down $1.25 from 1 Jan 2025, combined fee $27.00, refunds), 13 Sept 2024 (out-of-state checks mandatory from 1 Oct 2024, 26 NFF states, 24 states plus D.C. and territories separate, $15-$50), 8 July 2024 (roster statuses "Eligible" / "Pending/Working Under Supervision", Directed Corrective Action Plans), 7 June 2024 (eligibility cards eliminated effective 1 July 2024, refunds begun). https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/programs-services/childcare-parenting-childbirth/child-care-licensing/out-state-background-checks (via r.jina.ai) — per-state out-of-state table, all 50 states plus territories, CAN registry vs criminal check, mail/portal/e-mail routing to CCLUnit@dhhs.nh.gov, fee spread. https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt476/files/documents/2021-11/cclu-chriprints.pdf (via r.jina.ai) — the stale CCLU fingerprinting instruction sheet in a 2021 folder: "$27.00" to "State of NH - Criminal Records" AND "$25.00" to "Child Care Licensing Unit", forms CCLU 1-A, CCLU 1-B and "Employment Eligibility Card Application (CCLU 1-C)", "INK PRINTS ARE NO LONGER ACCEPTED", mailing address 129 Pleasant Street, Concord NH 03301. Used only as evidence of the live trap; its card and $25.00 instructions are dead law. http://nhdcyf.info/rsa/170-e.html — third-party mirror serving RSA 170-E:7 with a source note stopping at "2000, 157:1, eff.

July 22, 2000", including the repealed 30-day grace period for new staff and new household members. Used only as evidence of the stale layer. CONTRADICTION OF THE BRIEF, STATED EXPLICITLY AS METHOD REQUIRES. (1) The brief pointed at He-C 4002 without a section; the section is He-C 4002.40, not the He-C 4002.41 that every free database still serves, and that follows from the OLS filing history plus the 2025 table of contents, not from any pinned PDF. (2) The brief asked for "motor vehicle records where transport is involved". THERE IS NO MVR OR DRIVING-RECORD CHECK ANYWHERE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE CHILD CARE LICENSING; the transportation rule requires only age 18, a valid licence, liability insurance and vehicle registration/inspection. This was verified by reading the transportation rule itself and finding the absence. (3) The brief's implied household age threshold is not a single number: the 2022 rule said age 10 and older, the 2025 rule moves the background record check to 18 with a household and personnel form for ages 12 through 17, and the federal floor at 45 C.F.R. § 98.2 is 18. (4) The brief asked for RSA 651:5 material "where relevant"; it is relevant mainly as a negative — the RSA 170-E:7, III offences are largely the ones RSA 651:5, V will not annul.

UNVERIFIED: the complete verbatim text of He-C 4002.40 as adopted effective 22 September 2025. Paragraph (a) and the age 12-17 household-and-personnel-form requirement were read verbatim in the JLCAR 2025-132 final proposal packet, and the full list of amendments to the section was read verbatim in the same packet's explanation of changes. The remaining paragraphs (45-day determination and notice, no access until notice of eligibility, the supervised-work bridge after a clean fingerprint result, the notice contents including the Saf-C 5703.12 right, and the 2-business-day report-back) are quoted from the 2022 codified text, which the packet describes as carried forward with clarification rather than deleted. The DHHS adopted-rule PDF, the ACF 508 PDF and the register initial proposal were all opened but the fetch tool truncated each before section .40. Anything in the entry sourced to the 2022 text is flagged in the prose as such. UNVERIFIED: the exact session-law citation that repealed RSA 170-E:7, IV-d. The General Court prints only "IV-d. [Repealed.]" with no bracketed cite; the source note lists 2024, 41:1, 9, eff.

July 1, 2024, and the CCLU news item of 7 June 2024 dates the elimination of eligibility cards to 1 July 2024, so 2024 chapter 41 is the strong inference but the act text was not read. UNVERIFIED: the text of 2025, 80 (the act that amended RSA 170-E:7 effective 1 July 2025 and repealed RSA 170-E:7-a). Its existence, effect and effective date are established from the statute's source note and the chapter table of contents; the bill number and section-by-section text were not read. UNVERIFIED: whether the CCLU public page's statement that individuals 13-17 who work in a licensed programme must complete the comprehensive check with fingerprinting survives the 2025 rule, or predates it. The page carries no date. Flagged in the prose as an open conflict rather than resolved. UNVERIFIED: whether the 2025 readoption altered the He-C 4002.01 definitions quoted here ("household member", "child care staff", "substitute", "junior helper"); they are quoted from the 2022 codified text. NOTE ON ACCESS: gencourt.state.nh.us and gc.nh.gov refuse direct fetches from this environment (socket hang up), and dhhs.nh.gov, law.justia.com, regulations.justia.com and licensingregulations.acf.hhs.gov return 403 or a robot challenge.

Every gc.nh.gov and dhhs.nh.gov source above was read through the r.jina.ai text proxy against the live URL, not from a cache. [cpr_first_aid_required] He-C 4002.32 (2025 readoption, Document #14356 eff. 22 September 2025), pre-service subject grid item (11) "Pediatric first aid and pediatric CPR", read together with He-C 4002.32(d), which puts pediatric first aid and CPR among the items owed BEFORE unsupervised contact with children. This rule text, read during the preservice_training research, is what establishes the value `true`. [max_group_size] https://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rules/state_agencies/he-c4000.html (retrieved 26 Aug 2026 through the r.jina.ai text proxy, HTTP 200; the origin's FortiWeb WAF returns "Error 403 Web Page Blocked / Attack ID: 20000018" to direct requests from this machine and to a real headful Chrome) — NH Office of Legislative Services, chapter He-C 4000 as in effect today.

Establishes currency and numbering ("Document #14356, effective 9-22-25, readopted with amendment Part He-C 4002... Document #14356 replaces all prior filings affecting the former rules in Part He-C 4002"; He-C 4002.33 source note "ss by #14356, eff 9-22-25, EXPIRES: 9-22-35 (formerly He-C 4002.34)"). Establishes the NEGATIVE that is this field's answer: reading He-C 4002.33 in full on the OLS text, the phrase "group size" does not occur anywhere in it. https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt476/files/documents2/he-c-4002-formatted.pdf (footer "He-C 4002 Adopted Rule 8/26/25"; retrieved by driving a real headful Chrome over CDP, since dhhs.nh.gov returns an Akamai "Access Denied" to non-browser clients) — full text of the adopted rule, used for the exhaustive machine sweep. A literal string count of "maximum group size" over the whole part returns 18 occurrences, distributed as: He-C 4002.31(p)(1)-(4), 4 (centre water activities); He-C 4002.31(q)(1)-(5), 5 (centre field trips); He-C 4002.31(s), 1; He-C 4002.31(t), 1; He-C 4002.35(c)-(e), 3 (group child care centers); He-C 4002.36(c)-(e), 3 (infant and toddler programs); He-C 4002.38(g), 1 (school-age programs).

Zero occurrences in He-C 4002.33 (family / family group / small child care centers), zero in He-C 4002.39 (night care), zero in He-C 4002.21 (approval of space and license capacity).

Each of the 18 was read in its own paragraph to confirm the subject is a centre-based programme. (The PDF's line-wrapping splits two of the 18 across lines, so a naive grep of the PDF text yields 16; the OLS flat text yields 18. Both were checked.) Same two sources — verbatim text quoted in the entry: He-C 4002.01(an) "License capacity"; He-C 4002.33(c), (l), (m)-(o); He-C 4002.02(j); He-C 4002.05(e)(1)-(3); He-C 4002.18(h)(2); He-C 4002.19(a); He-C 4002.21(c)-(d); He-C 4002.31(p), (q), (s), (t), (u); He-C 4002.35(c)-(e); He-C 4002.36(a), (c)-(e); He-C 4002.38(g); He-C 4002.39(c); He-C 4002.44(g)(1)-(2); Appendix A ("He-C 4002.33 — RSA-170-E:11, I(b); 45 CFR 98.41(d)" against "He-C 4002.35 — RSA 170-E:11, I(a) and (c)", "He-C 4002.36 — RSA 170-E:11, I(a) and (c)", "He-C 4002.38 — RSA 170-E:11, I(a), (c), and (e)", "He-C 4002.39 — RSA 170-E:11, I(a), (c), and (e)"). https://r.jina.ai/https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/xii/170-e/170-e-11.htm — official codified RSA 170-E:11 (page Published Time header 26 May 2026), read 26 Aug 2026. Establishes that the statute's only "maximum group size" numbers (13, 16, 19) sit in I(c) attached to centre job titles, and that the codified page still carries the repealed sunset bracket "[Paragraph I(c) effective until December 31, 2026]". https://legiscan.com/NH/text/HB1771/id/3415291 — enrolled HB 1771 (2026), section 2: "2024, 197:3, I, relative to the prospective repeal on December 31, 2026, of RSA 170-E:11, I(c) relative to child care staffing ratios and the waiver system, is repealed.";

status "Signed by Governor Ayotte 05/28/2026; Chapter 98; eff.07/27/2026". Establishes that the statutory group sizes are now permanent and that the codified layer is stale. https://legiscan.com/gaits/search?state=NH&keyword=... (170-E:11 / "child care staffing" / "staff to child" / "family day care home" / 170-E:2 / "night care") — 2026 session full-text sweep.

No 2026 act creates, amends or repeals any group-size provision applicable to a family or family group child care home. HB 1195 (Ch. 217, eff. 7/1/2026) touches only zoning. https://r.jina.ai/https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-45/subtitle-A/subchapter-A/part-98/subpart-E/section-98.41 — 45 C.F.R. § 98.41(d), the federal citation NH puts in Appendix A next to He-C 4002.33: Lead Agencies "shall describe in the Plan standards... that address: (1) Group size limits for specific age populations; (2) The appropriate ratio between the number of children and the number of caregivers...". Establishes that the federal hook is a planning duty, not a self-executing number, and explains why national comparison tables report a NH home group size that the rule does not contain. https://regulations.justia.com/states/new-hampshire/he/subtitle-he-c/chapter-he-c-4000/part-he-c-4002/section-he-c-4002-34/ ("Current through Register No. 26, June 26, 2025") — the superseded family-home rule. Confirms the negative historically as well: the pre-September-2025 text also contained no group-size cap for homes, only capacity limits at old (n), (o), (p) and (q). https://www.myseedlist.com/states/new-hampshire-daycare-ratios and https://mybrightwheel.com/licensing-requirements/new-hampshire/ — the false layer quoted in the entry: a "Max Group Size" column carrying an em-dash for infants and toddlers and "45" for school-age under a New Hampshire heading, and the prose claim "New Hampshire does not set a separate group size limit for infants" (wrong for centres, He-C 4002.36(c) sets 12; irrelevant for homes).

BRIEF CORRECTED: the brief supplied no group-size expectation for New Hampshire, and the text confirms there is none to supply. The answer to this field is a proved negative, not a number. CONSISTENCY WITH SIBLINGS: no contradiction of NH/capacity_max.txt, which computes licence capacity, the 35-sq-ft room-by-room test and the 20-workday overage; this entry deliberately does not re-argue those and instead marks the boundary between capacity (which New Hampshire regulates) and group size (which it does not). One divergence of wording, flagged rather than silently differing: capacity_max paraphrases the amended RSA 674:16, VI as allowing family child care "in the primary or an existing accessory structure, if any"; the enrolled text of HB 1195 (2026 Ch. 217, s. 1) reads "including in an accessory structure of not more than 950 square feet". The 950-square-foot qualifier belongs in the capacity/zoning discussion, not here, but it should be corrected there. UNVERIFIED: whether the NH CCDF Plan filed with ACF states a group-size figure for family child care homes in answer to 45 C.F.R. § 98.41(d)(1). The Plan itself was not readable during this task; if it states a number, that number is a plan commitment and not an enforceable licensing rule, but it is the likely origin of any third-party figure.

UNVERIFIED: whether any CCLU form, inspection checklist or statement-of-findings template asks a home provider to record a "group size". Only the rule text and the OLS codified chapter were readable; the unit's forms library was not surveyed. UNVERIFIED: the 2025 NH session act by act. LegiScan's free full-text search is limited to the current (2026) session; 2025 was covered only through the Justia 2025 compilation of RSA 170-E, which already incorporates that session. [prelicensing_steps] https://gc.nh.gov/rules/about_rules/listagencies.aspx — Office of Legislative Services index of NH agencies with rules in effect, served 26 August 2026 (page timestamp 20 August 2026). Used as the METHOD-required entry point instead of any pinned PDF. Routes to He-C via https://gc.nh.gov/rules/state_agencies/he-c.html. https://gc.nh.gov/rules/state_agencies/he-c.html — OLS table of contents for the Commissioner's rules, served 26 August 2026. INDEPENDENTLY CONFIRMS THE CURRENT SECTION NUMBERING used throughout this field: He-C 4002.02 Licensure and Approval: Initial Applications, License Renewal, and Revisions; 4002.03 Time Frames; 4002.14 Required Postings; 4002.15 Written Policies; 4002.16 Emergency Preparedness; 4002.21 Approval of Child Care Space and License Capacity; 4002.26 Water Testing and Sewage Disposal; 4002.32 Professional Development; 4002.33 Family Child Care Programs, Family Group Child Care Programs, and Small Child Care Centers; 4002.40 Background Checks; 4002.43 Enforcement Action and Right to Appeal; 4002.44 Administrative Fines.

Any source citing He-C 4002.34 for family homes or 4002.33 for professional development is pre-#14356 and off by one. http://gencourt.state.nh.us/rules/state_agencies/he-c4000.html — OLS codified full text of Chapter He-C 4000 including Part He-C 4002, read in full 26 August 2026 (571 KB).

Establishes the revision note "Document #14356, effective 9-22-25, readopted with amendment Part He-C 4002 ... Document #14356 replaces all prior filings affecting the former rules in Part He-C 4002", and per-rule source notes ending "ss by #14356, eff 9-22-25, EXPIRES: 9-22-35". Text of He-C 4002.02 verified verbatim against the DHHS adopted-rule PDF, character for character on paragraphs (a) through (h).

https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt476/files/documents2/he-c-4002-formatted.pdf — DHHS formatted copy, header "He-C 4002 Adopted Rule 8/26/25", 85 pages, read in full 26 August 2026. Source for the verbatim text quoted in steps 2-18: 4002.02(a)-(n) (NHCIS account, application certifications, the eight required attachments, 6-month permit / 3-year licence, renewal at 3 months, capacity revision), 4002.03 (60 days from completeness), 4002.04(e) (no waiver of RSA 170-E or other agencies' rules), 4002.05(e) (20 workdays over capacity) and 4002.05(j) (insurance or disclosure), 4002.06 (statement of findings, 21 days each way), 4002.07(a), 4002.09(b)-(d) (health screening for staff and household members within 60 days), 4002.10(a)-(c), 4002.14(a) (four postings), 4002.15(a)-(e) (six written policies, given to parents at enrolment), 4002.16(a),(e),(f),(g) (EOP "prior to issuance of a permit"), 4002.19(r)-(v) (pediatric CPR/first aid present at all operating hours), 4002.21(a)-(l) (35 sq ft net, 1 toilet+sink per 20, 50 sq ft outdoors, department determines capacity), 4002.26(b)-(k) (private-well 12-analyte panel within 90 days, ongoing cadence, suspension for failure to file a CAP in 30 days), 4002.27(a), 4002.32(a)-(g),(q) (90-day training deadline, 13 topics, direct-supervision rule, 12 hours/year), 4002.33(b),(e),(m)-(o), 4002.40(b)-(l), 4002.43(a)-(j), 4002.44(g), Appendix A. Direct curl is blocked by Akamai (403);

retrieved through the r.jina.ai reader. http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/XII/170-E/170-E-mrg.htm — merged RSA chapter 170-E, read in full 26 August 2026. Establishes RSA 170-E:2, IV(a)-(b) (6 / 7-to-12 with school-age add-ons), RSA 170-E:3, I(c) "up to 4 additional children" with source note "2024, 203:1, eff.

July 12, 2024", RSA 170-E:3, I(h) and III, RSA 170-E:4, RSA 170-E:5 (consultation duty), RSA 170-E:6 (applicant obtains health/safety/zoning approvals), RSA 170-E:6-b (liability insurance OR disclosure), RSA 170-E:7 I, I-a, II, II-a, III, IV, IV-a, IV-b (45-day determination, FBI LiveScan, 5-year validity), RSA 170-E:8 I-IV (3-year licence, yearly monitoring, permit in lieu of licence), RSA 170-E:8-a (anti-retaliation), RSA 170-E:9 I-IV (renewal filing 3 months before expiry of "license or permit"), RSA 170-E:10 II-III (public posting, 15-business-day response window), RSA 170-E:10-a (IDR, 14 days), RSA 170-E:11 I(b)-(f), RSA 170-E:14 (superior court). ALSO ESTABLISHES A NEGATIVE: a full-text sweep for "fee" returns only RSA 170-E:56 ($200 recreation camp licence; $25 youth skill camp background certification) and RSA 170-E:50 (early-childhood credential). There is no application or licence fee for a child day care agency anywhere in RSA 170-E, and none anywhere in He-C 4002. http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/X/130-A/130-A-5-d.htm — RSA 130-A:5-d read 26 August 2026: "After July 1, 2024, the following shall require certification of lead safety pursuant to this chapter prior to being used as either a residential rental unit or as a day care facility: ...

II. Newly-licensed day care facilities within buildings erected prior to January 1, 1978." Establishes step ten. http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/X/130-A/130-A-1.htm — RSA 130-A:1 definitions read 26 August 2026: XV "lead inspector", XVI-b "lead risk assessor" (cross-referring to He-P 1602.44), XVI "lead exposure hazard", XVI-a "lead hazard reduction". Establishes who issues the certification and what it certifies. http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/LXIV/674/674-16.htm — RSA 674:16 as served 26 August 2026. Establishes the zoning text quoted in step six AND establishes that the codified page is stale: its source note ends "2024, 271:2, eff. Sept. 24, 2024; 370:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2025. 2025, 188:1, eff. Sept. 13, 2025; 258:1, eff.

Sept. 13, 2025", i.e. it does not reflect the 2026 amendment. https://fastdemocracy.com/bill-search/nh/2026/bills/NHB00014248/ — HB 1195 (2026) docket read 26 August 2026: "Signed by Governor Ayotte 07/02/2026; Chapter 217; eff. 7/1/2026". Establishes the chapter number and effective date of the 2026 zoning amendment cited in step six. https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt476/files/inline-documents/sonh/child-care-application-instructions.pdf — CCLU new-applicant instruction letter and 10-item checklist, PDF timestamped 15 February 2023, still linked from the live licensing page on 26 August 2026. Source for: the five-document packet list, the Health Officer Inspection Report / Life Safety Compliance Report / Zoning Verification Form names, the "Review this form to ensure that it was completed fully" warnings, "A permit cannot be issued until background record checks are complete", "Upon receipt of a complete application, a Licensing Coordinator will contact you to schedule a visit", the water-test and pediatric-CPR items to have out at the visit, and the TB practice note "A TB test is only required for high-risk individuals".

ALSO THE DOCUMENTED TRAP: this letter is the agency's own manual and it is stale in three ways — it cites He-C 4002.27(a)(4), 4002.20(m), 4002.34(d)(2), 4002.35(j) and 4002.33(a), all pre-#14356 numbering; it says background checks are needed for "all household members age 10 years and older" where He-C 4002.02(e)(5)b. now says 12 and He-C 4002.40 says 13/18; and it omits the lead safety certification that He-C 4002.02(e)(8) has required since 22 September 2025. https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/programs-services/childcare-parenting-childbirth/child-care-licensing — DHHS Child Care Licensing page, served 26 August 2026. Establishes "All licensing materials must be submitted together in one package. An application package that is missing any of the required items will be returned to the applicant", and the unit's address (129 Pleasant Street, Concord NH 03301), CCLUoffice@dhhs.nh.gov, 603-271-9025 — note this differs from the cclunit@dhhs.nh.gov address that He-C 4002.10(c)(1) compels programs to print for parents. https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/programs-services/childcare-parenting-childbirth/child-care-licensing/licensing-exemptions — DHHS Licensing Exemptions page, served 26 August 2026. Independently confirms the four-child exemption post-2024: "Private homes in which any number of the provider's own children ... and up to four (4) additional children are cared for regularly". https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/programs-services/childcare-parenting-childbirth/child-care-licensing/background-checks-child-care — DHHS Background Checks for Child Care Personnel, served 26 August 2026 (page timestamp same day).

Establishes "Fingerprints must be completed using LiveScan only. Ink print cards will not be accepted", the NH Department of Safety CHRI Applicant Portal route, and the exact fee text "Criminal History Record Information Authorization - CCLU 1-A with $27.00 check made payable to 'State of NH - Criminal Records'", plus the out-of-state release requirement for anyone who lived elsewhere in the past five years. https://services.dos.nh.gov/chri/cpo/ — NH State Police Criminal Records Portal landing page, opened 26 August 2026; confirms it is the scheduling-and-payment route for applicant fingerprints. Fee amount not displayed pre-login. CONTRADICTIONS OF THE BRIEF, STATED EXPLICITLY AS METHOD REQUIRES: The brief asked for "any required orientation or pre-application meeting". There is none. Part He-C 4002 as adopted contains no orientation, readiness meeting or pre-application conference requirement for a family child care applicant; the only "Child care licensing orientation" is a post-hire training item at He-C 4002.32(b)(1) due within 90 days of the first date of employment. This is written up as a verified negative in element 02. The brief asked for "the application form and fee".

There is no fee. Verified by full-text sweep of RSA 170-E and of He-C 4002, and corroborated by the 2025 repeal of the child care licensing fund (Laws of 2025, chapter 80, section 6). The brief asked for "the health/TB statements". The words tuberculosis and TB do not appear anywhere in Part He-C 4002 as adopted. The only TB statement in the New Hampshire materials is the agency practice note in the 2023 instruction letter. UNVERIFIED: the exact enacted text of Laws of 2026, chapter 217 (HB 1195), section by section. The chapter number, the governor's signature date (2 July 2026) and the effective date (1 July 2026) were confirmed from the bill docket; the enrolled text itself could not be read — legiscan.com returns a CAPTCHA interstitial and gc.nh.gov bill-text endpoints returned empty or 404 from this environment. Element 06 therefore quotes RSA 674:16, VI in the form the General Court actually served on 26 August 2026 (which still contains the conditional-use-permit route) and flags that chapter 217 has amended it and the codified page has not caught up. Do not restate the post-2026 wording as quoted rule text until the enrolled bill is read.

UNVERIFIED: the LiveScan appointment fee charged through the NH Department of Safety CHRI Applicant Portal, and any additional fee charged by an individual local police department. Only the $27.00 CCLU 1-A figure is quoted, and only because it appears verbatim on the DHHS background check page. UNVERIFIED: the current published contents of the "Application for Family Child Care Program" (August 2025), "Child Care Personnel Health Form" (August 2025), "Staff and Household List" (August 2025), "Staff and Household Member Form" (August 2025) and "Waiver Request Form" (August 2025) as PDFs. Their names, dates and — for the application — their compelled certification text are quoted from the adopted rule itself, which incorporates them; the form files themselves sit behind the same Akamai block as the rule PDF and were not opened. UNVERIFIED: whether the department reads He-C 4002.02(e)(5)b. ("All household members aged 12 years and older") or He-C 4002.40(f) ("all household members between 13 through 17 years of age") as governing a twelve-year-old household member. The adopted text is internally inconsistent and the DHHS instruction letter, being pre-2025, says ten.

Element 04 flags the seam rather than resolving it. UNVERIFIED: whether Laws of 2026, chapter 98 (HB 1771, signed 28 May 2026, effective 27 July 2026), which repealed the 31 December 2026 prospective repeal of the RSA 170-E:11, I(c) staffing ratios and waiver system, is reflected in the merged RSA text. The merged chapter served on 26 August 2026 still prints the bracketed note "[Paragraph I(c) effective until December 31, 2026; see also paragraph I(c) set out below.]" and a source note ending "2024, 197:2, eff. Dec. 31, 2026" — i.e. the codified chapter appears stale on this point.

It does not bear on family child care homes (the ratios in I(c) are centre ratios, and family homes are governed by He-C 4002.33(m)-(o)), so it is not asserted in any element; it is recorded here because it is a second, independent demonstration that the codified RSA is not the current law. [preservice_training] CHAMP preservice_training — NEW HAMPSHIRE — sources ouvertes et lues le 26 aout 2026. https://gc.nh.gov/rules/state_agencies/he-c.html — index des regles en vigueur (Office of Legislative Services / General Court), consulte le 26/08/2026 : PART He-C 4002 NH CHILD CARE PROGRAM LICENSING RULES y figure SANS mention **EXPIRED** (contrairement a He-C 300, 600, 875, 877, 1600, 3000 etc.), et la table des sections y donne He-C 4002.32 Professional Development et He-C 4002.33 Family Child Care Programs, Family Group Child Care Programs, and Small Child Care Centers. C'est l'index qui a permis de detecter la renumerotation (en 2022, la formation continue etait He-C 4002.33). Acces direct bloque par le WAF de l'Etat depuis une IP europeenne ;

page lue via le proxy de lecture r.jina.ai. https://gc.nh.gov/rules/Filing_history/sourcehe-c.html — historique de depot He-C, lu le 26/08/2026 : dernier depot He-C 4002 = "#14356*Readopt w/Amendment He-C 4002 NH Child Care Program Licensing Rules (eff 9-22-25) EXPIRES: 9-22-35", qui remplace "#13373*Readopt w/Amend He-C 4002 NH Child Care Program Licensing Rules (eff 4-22-22)". Aucun depot He-C 4002 posterieur (la liste s'arrete a #14491, eff. 24/01/2026). Etablit la version applicable et donc la date d'effet 22/09/2025. Etablit aussi #14222 (He-C 6914/6920, eff. 27/03/2025), #14256 (He-C 4003/4004), #14465 (He-C 6921 et He-C 6922, NH Early Childhood and Out-Of-School Time Credentials, eff. 20/12/2025). https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt476/files/documents2/he-c-4002-formatted.pdf — texte integral de la regle en vigueur, en-tete courant "He-C 4002 Adopted Rule 8/26/25", 85 pages. C'est le texte adopte le 26/08/2025 dont le depot #14356 fixe l'entree en vigueur au 22/09/2025. TOUTES les citations verbatim de He-C 4002 dans les deux champs viennent de ce fichier. https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt476/files/documents2/he-c4002.pdf — texte PERIME, en-tete "Adopted Rule Text 4/21/22" (depot #13373). Lu volontairement, pour mesurer l'ecart : He-C 4002.33(a) "a minimum of 6 hours of professional development", He-C 4002.33(f) "shall complete 18 hours of professional development within their first 12 months of hire", exception temps partiel a 12 h, self-study plafonne a 6 h sur 18. C'est ce fichier que servent encore les moteurs de recherche et les guides commerciaux : il est la source du piege des "18 heures" et de la citation "He-C 4002.33 Professional Development".

https://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/XII/170-E/170-E-mrg.htm — RSA 170-E consolide (version fusionnee servie par le General Court), lu le 26/08/2026 : RSA 170-E:3, I(c) et I(h) (exemptions de licence), RSA 170-E:3, II et III (obligation d'informer les parents), RSA 170-E:11, I(n) et (o) (qualification d'associate teacher et Emerging Professional Certificates fixees par la loi), RSA 170-E:50 (credential, rulemaking).

Aucune obligation de formation n'est imposee par RSA 170-E aux structures exemptees. https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/XII/170-E/170-E-11.htm — RSA 170-E:11 servi isolement, ligne Source lue mot pour mot le 26/08/2026 : "1990, 257:8. 1991, 355:45. 1998, 256:3, 4, eff. Jan. 1, 1999. 2021, 205:2, Pt. XI, Sec. 1, eff. Oct. 9, 2021. 2024, 3:1, eff. Feb. 21, 2024; 197:1, eff. Sept. 10, 2024; 197:2, eff. Dec. 31, 2026." Le statut codifie annonce donc toujours une abrogation prospective au 31/12/2026 que la session 2026 a supprimee (voir UNVERIFIED ci-dessous) : la source officielle est perimee sur ce point, exactement comme agency.txt l'avait releve pour RSA 170-E et la chapitre 217 de 2026. https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt476/files/inline-documents/sonh/emergency-rule-he-c-6914-6920.pdf — texte He-C 6914/6920 publie par le departement (en-tete "Emergency Rule 10/9/2024"). Etablit le regime des structures EXEMPTEES inscrites au NH Child Care Scholarship : He-C 6914.04(e) "a minimum of 6 hours of training in all required health and safety topics" (11 matieres), (h) certification CPR pediatrique et premiers secours pediatriques, (i) skill test en presentiel obligatoire meme en ligne, (j) contenu de l'attestation, (k) depot dans NHCIS, (l)(1) "Each newly enrolling license-exempt child care provider and employee shall complete required training prior to enrollment". C'est la reponse au piege du brief : l'exempte NON subventionne ne doit AUCUNE formation ; l'exempte subventionne en doit plus tot que le licencie.

Sections de He-C 4002 effectivement lues et citees dans ce champ : 4002.01(l), (z), (aa), (ab), (bb) definitions ; 4002.02(c), (e)(1)-(8), (g), (h), (i) ; 4002.05(b) mandated reporter et RSA 169-C:29 ; 4002.09(a), (b), (d) ; 4002.16(a), (f), (g), (i), (k), (l) ; 4002.19(r), (s), (t) ; 4002.20(f) ; 4002.32(a), (b), (c), (d) ; 4002.33(a), (e), (f), (g), (k), (m), (n), (o) ; 4002.40(h), (i) ; 4002.44(g)(6), (9), (10), (15), (18), (19). CONTREDIT LE BRIEF, ASSUME : le brief annonce des exigences distinctes "family child care home vs family group child care home". Le texte en vigueur ne les distingue pas en matiere de formation ni de qualification. He-C 4002.01(z) definit "Family child care provider" comme "the individual in whose home family OR FAMILY GROUP child care services are provided", et He-C 4002.33(a) soumet les deux regimes au meme socle He-C 4002.01 a 4002.32. La divergence entre les deux regimes est de capacite et d'encadrement (4002.33(m)-(o)), pas de formation. C'est ecrit explicitement dans le champ. CONTREDIT AUSSI LE BRIEF : le brief laisse attendre une formation prealable a la delivrance.

He-C 4002.32(a)(1) donne 90 jours a compter de la premiere date d'emploi ; seuls l'EOP (4002.16(f), "prior to issuance of a permit or renewal of a license"), l'inspection incendie et sante (4002.02(e)(2)-(3)), la qualification age/education (4002.02(g)) et le fond de dossier (4002.02(e)) precedent la delivrance. Le premier titre delivre est un permis de 6 mois, pas une licence (4002.02(i)). UNVERIFIED : le contenu exact de He-C 6914 tel que readopte par le depot #14222 (eff. 27/03/2025) n'a pas pu etre lu ; le texte cite est celui publie par le departement sous l'en-tete "Emergency Rule 10/9/2024", precurseur immediat de ce depot. Les nombres (6 heures, 11 matieres, "prior to enrollment") sont a reverifier dans NHCIS avant publication commerciale ; la reserve est ecrite dans le corps du champ. UNVERIFIED : le contenu de He-C 6921 et He-C 6922 (depot #14465, eff. 20/12/2025) n'a pas ete lu ; seuls le titre du depot et le renvoi de He-C 4002.02(g) a "a non-expired NH child care credential" sont affirmes. UNVERIFIED : la duree en heures et le fournisseur du "Child care licensing orientation" de He-C 4002.32(b)(1) ne sont fixes nulle part dans la regle ; l'affirmation que le departement le sert via NHCIS repose sur He-C 4002.02(h) et 4002.10(c)(1) (portail NHCIS), pas sur une description publiee du cours. [ratios] https://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rules/state_agencies/he-c4000.html — NH Office of Legislative Services, index/full text of CHAPTER He-C 4000 CHILD CARE LICENSING RULES as in effect on the day of reading (26 Aug 2026; page's own Published Time header: 20 Aug 2026). This is the index-of-rules-in-effect entry point required by METHOD, NOT a pinned dated PDF.

It establishes the currency and the numbering: the REVISION NOTE reads "Document #14356, effective 9-22-25, readopted with amendment Part He-C 4002 titled 'NH Child Care Licensing Rules'. Amendments included extensive revision to the rules in Part He-C 4002 and the deletion of rule He-C 4002.15 titled 'Notice and Reporting Requirements to the Department and Parents', which necessitated the renumbering of subsequent rules in Part He-C 4002 as indicated in the source notes. Document #14356 replaces all prior filings affecting the former rules in Part He-C 4002." The source note under He-C 4002.33 reads "...ss by #13373, eff 4-22-22 (formerly He-C 4002.31); ss by #14356, eff 9-22-25, EXPIRES: 9-22-35 (formerly He-C 4002.34)". Established: the current home-programme rule is He-C 4002.33, it was He-C 4002.34 before 22 Sept 2025, and it expires 22 Sept 2035. Also established from this same page, read verbatim: He-C 4002.33(a)-(o) in full; He-C 4002.31(u)(1)-(2); He-C 4002.35(a)-(h); He-C 4002.39(a)-(i); He-C 4002.01 definitions (z), (m), (k), (bq), (an), (l), (j); Appendix A rule-to-statute table. [access note] www.gencourt.state.nh.us and gc.nh.gov are behind a FortiWeb cloud WAF that returned "Error 403 Web Page Blocked / Attack ID: 20000018" (and, on some paths, ERR_SOCKET_NOT_CONNECTED) to every direct request from this machine, to a real headful Chrome, and to the built-in fetcher.

The OLS page above was retrieved through the r.jina.ai text-extraction proxy (https://r.jina.ai/https://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rules/state_agencies/he-c4000.html, HTTP 200), which returns the origin's own markup as text. Cross-checked word-for-word against the agency PDF below for He-C 4002.33, .31(u), .35, .39 — no divergence between the OLS codified text and the agency copy. https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/documents/he-c-4002-nh-child-care-licensing-rule -> https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt476/files/documents2/he-c-4002-formatted.pdf — NH DHHS copy of the adopted rule, footer "He-C 4002 Adopted Rule 8/26/25", 85 pp. Used as the second, independent reading of the same text. Established verbatim: He-C 4002.33(a)-(o); He-C 4002.19(a)-(e); He-C 4002.25(j), (k), (r), (s), (t), (u); He-C 4002.18(c), (h), (i), (j), (k); He-C 4002.31(k)-(x); He-C 4002.32(k); He-C 4002.35(f); He-C 4002.36(c)-(g); He-C 4002.38(g)-(h); He-C 4002.39(a)-(i); He-C 4002.40(b); He-C 4002.05(d)(1), (e), (f); He-C 4002.08(c); He-C 4002.44(g)(1), (2), (11), (17); Appendix A. (dhhs.nh.gov serves an Akamai "Access Denied" page to non-browser clients; retrieved by driving a real headful Chrome over CDP and fetching the PDF from the page's own origin.) https://law.justia.com/codes/new-hampshire/title-xii/chapter-170-e/section-170-e-11/ — RSA 170-E:11 Rulemaking, 2025 compilation.

Establishes the text of I(c)(1)-(5), the centre-titled staffing ladder (maximum group sizes 13 / 16 / 19), the waiver in I(c)(4), and the bracketed sunset note "[Paragraph I(c) effective until December 31, 2026; see also paragraph I(c) set out below.]" https://r.jina.ai/https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/xii/170-e/170-e-11.htm — the OFFICIAL codified RSA 170-E:11 on the General Court's own site (page Published Time header: 26 May 2026), retrieved 26 Aug 2026. Establishes the METHOD-rule-2 finding for this field: the official codified statute STILL prints the "[Paragraph I(c) effective until December 31, 2026]" bracket and still prints the pre-HB-1771 I(c)(5) without the annual-notice duty. The codified layer is the stale one. https://legiscan.com/NH/text/HB1771/id/3415291 and https://legiscan.com/NH/bill/HB1771/2026 — enrolled text and status of NH HB 1771 (2026). Establishes: "2 Repeal. 2024, 197:3, I, relative to the prospective repeal on December 31, 2026, of RSA 170-E:11, I(c) relative to child care staffing ratios and the waiver system, is repealed." and "3 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage."; status line "Signed by Governor Ayotte 05/28/2026; Chapter 98; eff.07/27/2026". https://legiscan.com/gaits/search?state=NH&keyword=170-E%3A11 ; ...&keyword=%22child+care+staffing%22 ; ...&keyword=%22staff+to+child%22 ; ...&keyword=%22family+day+care+home%22 ; ...&keyword=170-E%3A2 ; ...&keyword=%22night+care%22 — full-text sweep of the 2026 NH session.

Establishes that HB 1771 (Ch. 98) is the ONLY 2026 act touching RSA 170-E:11, and that HB 1195 (Ch. 217, eff. 7/1/2026) is the only 2026 act touching the family-day-care definitions; neither alters any ratio, sub-cap or group size. https://regulations.justia.com/states/new-hampshire/he/subtitle-he-c/chapter-he-c-4000/part-he-c-4002/section-he-c-4002-34/ and .../section-he-c-4002-33/ — the SUPERSEDED rule, labelled by Justia "Current through Register No. 26, June 26, 2025". Establishes what the pre-September-2025 text said and therefore what has been deleted: old He-C 4002.34(k) ("Except in emergencies, a family or family group child care provider, worker, assistant or aide shall not provide family or family group child care services for more than 12 hours in any 24-hour period"), old (m) (filling vacant preschool slots with school-age children), old (r) and (s) (foster infants younger than 6 weeks).

It also establishes the live trap that on the major third-party codification sites He-C 4002.33 is still titled "Professional Development" and the family-home rule is still numbered He-C 4002.34. https://law.justia.com/codes/new-hampshire/title-xii/chapter-170-e/section-170-e-2/ — RSA 170-E:2 definitions; used here only for IV(a), IV(b) and IV(e) ("'Night care agency' means a center or family home in which child day care is provided during the evening and night hours. A child day care agency may be licensed for day care, night care, or both.") and the 13-hour ceiling in IV. https://www.myseedlist.com/states/new-hampshire-daycare-ratios and https://mybrightwheel.com/licensing-requirements/new-hampshire/ — the false layer, quoted in the entry so the applicant recognises it: a six-row centre table sold as "New Hampshire Daycare Staff-to-Child Ratios · Source: He-C 4002"; the assertions "New Hampshire does not set a separate group size limit for infants" and "New Hampshire uses the youngest-child method for mixed-age classrooms"; and the naming of the licensing agency as the "Bureau of Child Development and Head Start" with home categories "small family child care home" / "large family child care home".

BRIEF CORRECTED: the brief's "family child care ≤ 6 / family group" framing is right on the numbers but wrong on the shape of the field. New Hampshire publishes NO age-banded staff-to-child ratio table for homes. The only such table that reaches a home is He-C 4002.31(u), which applies to water activities only. CONSISTENCY WITH SIBLINGS: no contradiction of NH/agency.txt, NH/program.txt, NH/home_type_definition.txt or NH/capacity_max.txt. He-C 4002.33(m)-(o), He-C 4002.33(l) and He-C 4002.05(e) are quoted in capacity_max for the capacity question and are re-read here only for their ratio consequences; the HB 1771 history is set out in program.txt and is cross-referenced rather than re-argued. UNVERIFIED: whether the department in practice treats the RSA 170-E:11, I(c)(4) waiver ("Any licensed child care provider may apply for a one year waiver under this paragraph") as available to a family child care home. The rule's Appendix A anchors He-C 4002.33 on I(b) and not I(c), which strongly implies it is not, but no departmental policy statement, waiver form or waiver decision was readable during this task.

UNVERIFIED: whether the department accepts the literal reading of He-C 4002.33(o) under which a family group child care home with two adults may serve four children all younger than 24 months, paragraph (o) containing no under-24-months sub-cap. UNVERIFIED: the current text of any NH DHHS licensing handbook, application packet or CCLU ratio chart. The unit's public licensing pages could not be surveyed beyond the rule document itself during this task; the He-C 4002 PDF and the OLS codified text were the only agency sources readable. UNVERIFIED: the 2025 NH session. LegiScan's free full-text search covers the current (2026) session only; the 2025 acts were checked only indirectly, through the Justia 2025 compilation of RSA 170-E, which already incorporates them. [required_forms] Verified 26 August 2026. Method: started from the New Hampshire index of rules in effect served by the Office of Legislative Services, not from any pinned PDF, then swept the statute and the 2024-2026 session laws, then compared the rule text against the forms the agency is actually serving today. https://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rules/state_agencies/he-c4000.html — OLS index of rules in effect for Chapter He-C 4000. Fetched twice on 26 Aug 2026 (page Published Time: Thu, 20 Aug 2026). Establishes that Part He-C 4002 in force today is Document #14356, effective 9-22-25, readopted with amendment, EXPIRES 9-22-35, and that the deletion of the former He-C 4002.15 renumbered every later rule.

Source of all He-C 4002 text quoted in this field: 4002.02 (application, attachments, renewal, revision), 4002.04(b) (Waiver Request Form, August 2025), 4002.05 (reporting to the unit, DCYF number, retention periods (l) and (m)), 4002.08 (attendance), 4002.09 (staff records and health screening), 4002.10 (child records, registration form, immunisation, health assessment), 4002.12 (serious injury reporting), 4002.13 (children with disabilities), 4002.15 (written policies), 4002.16 (fire drills, EOP, drill logs), 4002.17(g),(j) (parent notification, behaviour management plan), 4002.19(h)-(v) (allergy care and treatment plans, CPR/first aid records, first aid supplies), 4002.20 (medication orders, PRN, dose log, epinephrine), 4002.31 (permission slips, retention, what travels on a trip), 4002.32 (professional development), 4002.33 (family child care staffing, ages, substitutes, junior helpers, PD documentation), 4002.40 (background checks, notarised Staff and Household Member Form, roster updates), 4002.44(g) (fine schedule). https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/XII/170-E/170-E-mrg.htm — RSA chapter 170-E as codified.

Re-fetched live on 26 Aug 2026. Establishes RSA 170-E:7 (state registry and criminal records check, incl. II(a) out-of-state repository/registry forms and payments, II-a exemption, III 45-day determination, IV-a five-year eligibility, IV-b signed statement, IV-c five-year cycle), RSA 170-E:7-a repealed by 2025, 80:6, II eff. 1 July 2025, RSA 170-E:8, I (3-year licence), RSA 170-E:9 (renewal, 3 months, IV inspection within 30 days of reopening), RSA 170-E:6-b (insurance disclosure), RSA 170-E:10 (public posting of findings on the department website). Also establishes the staleness noted below. https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/X/141-C/141-C-mrg.htm — RSA chapter 141-C. Establishes RSA 141-C:20-a (required immunisations; paragraph III added by 2025, 141:456 eff. 1 July 2025), 141-C:20-b (form supplied by the commissioner; records kept and available), 141-C:20-c (two exemptions only, medical and religious; amended 2022, 55:1), 141-C:20-d (exclusion during outbreak), 141-C:20-e (annual immunisation report to the commissioner). https://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rules/state_agencies/he-p300.html — He-P 300 as served by OLS.

Establishes He-P 301.13 (documentation of immunisation; conditional enrolment; the "New Hampshire Childcare/School Immunization Religious Exemption Form" (March 2023) with its quoted text; medical exemption by letter on letterhead) and He-P 301.15 (record review categories, the 15 November annual report to the commissioner, exclusion and readmission, separate filing of immunisation records). https://gc.nh.gov/bill_status/legacy/bs2016/billText.aspx?sy=2026&id=2344 — 2026 Chapter 98 (HB 1771-FN), approved 28 May 2026, effective 27 July 2026: amends RSA 170-E:11, I(c)(5) to require an annual notice to licensed providers of the staffing-waiver option, and repeals 2024, 197:3, I, the prospective repeal of RSA 170-E:11, I(c). https://gc.nh.gov/bill_status/billinfo.aspx?id=2344 — bill status for HB 1771-FN: SIGNED BY GOVERNOR, Chapter Number 98. https://gc.nh.gov/bill_status/legacy/bs2016/billText.aspx?sy=2026&id=1963 — 2026 Chapter 217 (HB 1195), municipal zoning for child day care providers; rewrites RSA 674:16, VI so family and group family child care is allowed by right on a lot where residential use is permitted and is not subject to local site plan review.

Relevant to the zoning attachment in He-C 4002.02(e)(4). https://gc.nh.gov/bill_status/legacy/bs2016/billText.aspx?sy=2026&id=1372 — 2026 Chapter 109 (SB 608-FN), family caregiver support and child care support for kinship caregivers; swept and found to impose no new form on a licensee. https://gc.nh.gov/bill_status/results.aspx?adv=2&txtbillno=hb1433 — 2026 HB 1433-FN, signed; a business child care tax credit. No licensing form consequence. https://gc.nh.gov/rules/register/default.aspx and Rulemaking Register No. 33, 20 August 2026 — checked for any pending amendment to He-C 4002; none proposed. He-C 4002 is stable at Document #14356. https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/programs-services/childcare-parenting-childbirth/child-care-licensing — the agency's own Child Care Licensing page, read 26 Aug 2026. Establishes which forms the department is actually serving, and the following contradictions with the rule in force, each read directly in the served file: .../documents/2021-11/cclu-application-familybased.pdf ("Application for Family Child Care Program") — stamped "Effective 11/2017" on every page; directs under-21 applicants to "HE-C 4002.31(b)", a rule number superseded twice.

The rule in force requires the "(August 2025)" version. .../documents/2021-11/cclu-personnelhealthform.pdf ("Child Care Personnel Health Form") — stamped "Effective 11/2017"; contains a TUBERCULIN TEST block "(REQUIRED FOR HIGH RISK INDIVIDUALS ONLY)" although no tuberculosis requirement exists anywhere in He-C 4002. .../inline-documents/sonh/child-care-registration-and-emergency-information.pdf — by contrast stamped "Effective August 2025" and carrying the four-way licensing-coordinator choice; this form HAS been updated. .../documents/2021-11/cclu-healthassessmentform.pdf ("Early Childhood Health Assessment Record") — endorsement line dated "May 2012". .../documents/2021-12/cclu-staffandhousehold.pdf — "Revised 09/2018". .../documents/2021-11/cclu-injuryreport.pdf — "Revised 01/2019". .../documents/2021-11/cclu-firedrilllog.pdf — "Effective 04/2022". .../documents/2021-11/cclu-medication.pdf — cites "HE C 4002.18" for medication, which is now He-C 4002.20. .../inline-documents/sonh/child-care-application-instructions.pdf — cites He-C 4002.27(a)(4) for water testing (now 4002.26), He-C 4002.20(m) for CPR (now 4002.19(r)), He-C 4002.34(d)(2) for provider education (now 4002.33(e)(2)), He-C 4002.35(j) for director qualifications (now 4002.34), He-C 4002.33(a) for professional development (now 4002.32);

and demands background record checks for "all household members age 10 years and older", an age found nowhere in He-C 4002 or RSA 170-E:7. .../inline-documents/sonh/renewal-child-care-application-instructions.pdf — cites "He-C 4002.02(j)" for the three-month renewal deadline, which is He-C 4002.02(h) under Document #14356, and repeats the "age 10 years and older" figure. https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/.../documents2/imm-cert-religious-exemption.pdf — the served religious exemption form; its own header reads "New Hampshire Childcare/School Immunization Religious Exemption Form" with "March 2023", matching He-P 301.13(e)(1) exactly.

This one is current. CONTRADICTIONS OF THE BRIEF, STATED EXPRESSLY AS METHOD REQUIRES. (1) The brief's premise that He-C 4002 governs is correct, but the numbering is not stable: Document #14356 renumbered the part on 22 September 2025 and the agency's own instruction sheets still cite the pre-2022 and 2022 numbering. (2) There is no New Hampshire "central registry release form" for the applicant to sign; RSA 170-E:7, II(a) has the department search the registries and puts only the out-of-state repository and registry requests on the individual. (3) There is no adult TB statement requirement; the words "tuberculosis" and "tuberculin" do not appear in Part He-C 4002. (4) There is no general "individual care plan for a child with a health condition"; the only mandated individualised health documents are the allergy care plan and treatment plan under He-C 4002.19(h). (5) There is no prescribed injury or serious-occurrence FORM; there are deadlines and prescribed contents. (6) There is no standing "permission to transport" form. (7) There is no licence application fee. UNVERIFIED: the internal contents and revision stamp of the "(August 2025)" versions of the Application for Family Child Care Program, the Child Care Personnel Health Form, the Early Childhood Health Assessment Record, the Staff and Household List, the Staff and Household Member Form, the New Background Record Check and the Waiver Request Form.

Those versions are named in Document #14356 but the department's public page still serves 2012-2022 files, and direct download of several PDFs was blocked at the CDN. Whether the August 2025 versions retain the tuberculin block, and what the twelve-year-old household member in He-C 4002.02(e)(5)b. must file, could not be confirmed from primary text and should be asked of the unit at cclunit@dhhs.nh.gov or 603-271-9025. UNVERIFIED: He-P 301.14 (the dose and age schedule for each required vaccine) was located in the OLS text but its table was not read line by line; only He-P 301.13 and He-P 301.15 are relied on above.

UNVERIFIED: the channel and format by which the He-P 301.15(d) annual report is filed with the commissioner by 15 November; the rule fixes the deadline and the four categories but names no form. [required_postings] Verified 26 August 2026. Method: started from the New Hampshire index of rules in effect served by the Office of Legislative Services, never from a pinned PDF; then ran an exhaustive mechanical sweep for every occurrence of "post", "posted", "posting" and "postings" across the whole of Part He-C 4002 so that the posting universe is enumerated rather than assumed; then swept RSA 170-E and the 2024-2026 session laws. https://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rules/state_agencies/he-c4000.html — OLS index of rules in effect, Chapter He-C 4000. Fetched twice on 26 Aug 2026. Establishes that Part He-C 4002 in force is Document #14356, effective 9-22-25, EXPIRES 9-22-35, and that the deletion of the former He-C 4002.15 renumbered every later rule (so "Required Postings" moved from He-C 4002.15 to He-C 4002.14). Source of the verbatim text of He-C 4002.14(a)(1)-(4) quoted in full in element 01, and of He-C 4002.02(i),(j),(l),(m),(n) and 4002.05(a),(c),(j) (licence), 4002.06 (statement of findings, corrective action plan, timing, no-CAP shortcuts, directed CAP, no alteration), 4002.07 (informal and independent informal dispute resolution), 4002.08 (attendance), 4002.09(b) (staff health screening availability), 4002.10(b),(c)(1) (compelled parent notice;

SOF/CAP post-and-make-available; unannounced yearly visit language; four-way choice), 4002.15 (the six written policies; delivery at enrolment and on hire), 4002.16 (fire drill record available to the fire inspector and department; EOP kept not posted; families given the communication and reunification portion at enrolment; drill logs), 4002.17(b),(e),(g)-(l) (guidance and prohibited practices; parents' unannounced access), 4002.18(a),(d) (written schedule available for review; 60 minutes gross motor), 4002.19(h)-(v) (allergy plans posted with permission, or kept available on refusal; CPR and first aid certificates on file; first aid supplies; telephone), 4002.20 (medication records on file), 4002.25 (rest and sleep; electronic monitor authorisation and 15-minute checks; no posting anywhere in the rule), 4002.26(f) (water test results on file), 4002.30 (nutrition; contains no menu requirement), 4002.31(a),(b),(c),(d) (general permission slip; the trip notice with destination, route and estimated return), 4002.32(b),(c),(d) (training, including safe sleep and abuse reporting), 4002.33(j),(l),(m)-(o) (PD documentation available;

own children under 6 counted in capacity; ratios), 4002.38(k) (school-age schedule maintained on file for review), 4002.42(d),(e) (confidentiality; department access to records), 4002.44(g) (fine schedule).

Mechanical sweep result, relied on for every negative assertion in this field: within Part He-C 4002 the verb "post" is used of a program in exactly three places — He-C 4002.14(a) itself, He-C 4002.19(k)-(l) (allergy plans), and He-C 4002.31(b) (unplanned trip notice) — plus the compelled parent-notice text quoted inside He-C 4002.10(c)(1) and the reference in He-C 4002.06(h) to the department's website. Nothing else in the part requires a program to display anything. Same index, Part He-C 4003 — used as a drafting contrast: He-C 4003.08(b) ("shall post the YRC license in a prominent place where it is visible to interested parties") and He-C 4003.31(d) ("shall post a copy of their NH license(s) in a conspicuous location in the camp office or infirmary"). The drafters wrote explicit posting duties in the neighbouring part and did not write them into He-C 4002. https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/XII/170-E/170-E-mrg.htm — RSA 170-E, re-fetched live 26 Aug 2026. Establishes RSA 170-E:8, I (3-year licence) and III (minimum yearly monitoring visits, at least one unannounced per licensing period), RSA 170-E:10, II and III (findings and final decisions are public, posted on the department's website not less than 21 business days from the finding, available for 3 years; at least 15 business days' notice to the agency; the agency's response also posted), RSA 170-E:10-a (informal dispute resolution, 14 days), RSA 170-E:6-b (liability insurance or disclosure to parents). https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/programs-services/childcare-parenting-childbirth/child-care-licensing — read 26 Aug 2026 to see what the agency actually gives providers.

The "Child Care Program Emergency Procedures" PDF it serves is a sample, not a mandated template. The page's own inspection links and the NHCIS search URL confirm the public-facing SOF/CAP publication described in RSA 170-E:10, II. https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/.../inline-documents/sonh/child-care-registration-and-emergency-information.pdf — read directly; stamped "Effective August 2025" and reproducing the He-C 4002.10(c)(1) block verbatim, including "Child care programs are required to post a copy of the most recent statement of findings (SOF) and the corresponding corrective action plan (CAP) in a location which is accessible to parents, and programs must maintain copies of the most recent SOF with CAP and make them available for parents to review upon request." This is the primary evidence for the posted-versus-available distinction in element 03. https://gc.nh.gov/bill_status/legacy/bs2016/billText.aspx?sy=2026&id=2344 — 2026 Chapter 98 (HB 1771-FN), approved 28 May 2026, effective 27 July 2026. Swept for posting duties: it creates a NOTICE duty on the department (an annual notice to providers of the staffing-waiver option under RSA 170-E:11, I(c)(5)), not a posting duty on providers. https://gc.nh.gov/bill_status/legacy/bs2016/billText.aspx?sy=2026&id=1963 — 2026 Chapter 217 (HB 1195), zoning; no posting duty. https://gc.nh.gov/bill_status/legacy/bs2016/billText.aspx?sy=2026&id=1372 — 2026 Chapter 109 (SB 608-FN), kinship caregivers; no posting duty. https://gc.nh.gov/rules/register/default.aspx and Rulemaking Register No. 33, 20 August 2026 — no pending amendment to He-C 4002. CONTRADICTIONS OF THE BRIEF, STATED EXPRESSLY.

The brief asked about postings New Hampshire does not in fact require, and the text is clear on each: (1) the DCYF abuse and neglect reporting number is NOT a required posting — 1-800-894-5533 appears in He-C 4002.05(b) as a mandated-reporter duty; the only telephone number He-C 4002.14 compels on a wall is the Northern New England Poison Center at 1-800-222-1222; (2) there is no required discipline policy posting, and He-C 4002.15(a) does not even list a discipline policy among the six required written policies; (3) there is no safe sleep posting — He-C 4002.25 contains no posting requirement at all; (4) menus are not required in any form, posted or filed, and "menu" appears once in the whole part, at He-C 4002.19(j); (5) the daily schedule must be written and "available for review by the department and parents or guardians" under He-C 4002.18(a), not posted; (6) parents' right of unannounced access under He-C 4002.17(k) is a substantive right with no accompanying notice requirement; (7) there is no separate capacity or age-range posting — those figures appear on the licence itself under He-C 4002.02(j), which is posted under He-C 4002.14(a)(1). Additionally, He-C 4002.44(g) contains no fine for breach of He-C 4002.14, so a posting failure is a citation requiring a corrective action plan rather than an automatic monetary penalty; the fines that bite are He-C 4002.44(g)(1)-(2) for failing to abide by the licence, (g)(6) for failing to make records available under He-C 4002.05(k),(l),(m)(4),(n), and (g)(9)-(10) for failing to submit or implement a corrective action plan.

STALENESS FINDING RECORDED FOR THE PROJECT, NOT A POSTING CLAIM. As of 26 August 2026 the codified RSA served at gc.nh.gov still shows the pre-2026 text of RSA 170-E:11, I(c)(5)-(6) and still carries the bracketed note "[Paragraph I(c) effective December 31, 2026; see also paragraph I(c) set out above.]", even though 2026 Chapter 98 repealed that prospective repeal and rewrote I(c)(5) with effect from 27 July 2026. The codified statute is behind the session law; this was confirmed by a live re-fetch on 26 August 2026 and not from a cached copy. UNVERIFIED: whether the Child Care Licensing Unit in practice cites a program for posting the statement of findings without the corrective action plan, or accepts the pair only once the CAP is approved; He-C 4002.14(a)(2) says "approved by the department" but the enforcement practice was not confirmed from primary text. UNVERIFIED: whether the department expects the He-C 4002.14(a)(4) evacuation notice to carry prescribed contents; the rule fixes only the location ("next to each exit"), and the contents described in element 05 are inferred from He-C 4002.16(a)(6)-(7) rather than stated in He-C 4002.14. UNVERIFIED: the contents of the "(August 2025)" versions of any form incorporated by reference in He-C 4002; the department's public page is still serving 2012-2022 files and direct PDF download was blocked at the CDN for several of them.

Verified 2026-08-26. General information, not legal advice and not a guarantee of licensure — confirm with your state’s licensing agency before applying.