California Daycare Record-Keeping Requirements

What Records Title 22 Requires

California's licensing regulations require Family Child Care Home providers to maintain two categories of records: child-level files for each enrolled child, and facility-level documentation that covers your overall operation. Licensing analysts check both during announced and unannounced inspections, and you're expected to produce any record on the spot — no "I'll email it to you later."

Child-Level Records

For every child in your care, you must maintain a file containing:

Enrollment and emergency information — the child's full legal name, date of birth, home address, parent/guardian names and contact numbers, emergency contacts (including the expanded contacts required under AB 495), authorized pick-up persons, and the child's physician name and phone number.

Health records — current immunization records or a valid exemption on file, documentation of any known allergies or medical conditions, physician authorization for administering medication, and the child's most recent physical examination form.

Medication logs — if you administer any medication (including over-the-counter), you must document the medication name, dosage, time administered, and the parent's written authorization. Each administration gets its own log entry.

Parent acknowledgment forms — signed receipts confirming the parent received your personal rights notice and applicable parent-disclosure materials, your discipline policy, your emergency and disaster plan summary, and your operational policies (hours, fees, illness exclusion criteria, field trip procedures).

Incident and injury reports — any injury, illness, or unusual incident must be documented with the date, time, description, actions taken, and parent notification. Injuries requiring medical attention must be reported to CCLD within 24 hours.

Facility-Level Records

Emergency and disaster plan (Form LIC 610A) — your written plan covering evacuation routes, relocation sites, child tracking during evacuation, emergency supply locations, and a drill log showing you conduct evacuation drills at least every six months.

Floor plan (Form LIC 999A) — a detailed sketch of your home showing all rooms used for child care, sleeping areas, outdoor play space dimensions, exits, off-limits areas, and the location of fire extinguishers and first-aid supplies.

Criminal record statements (Form LIC 508) — signed statements from every adult household member, on file and updated when new adults join the household.

Training certificates — current EMSA health and safety training certificate, pediatric CPR/first aid card, mandated reporter training completion certificate, and TB clearance documentation for you and any assistant.

Attendance records — daily documentation of which children are present, arrival and departure times, and absences.

Parent Rights and Acknowledgments

CDSS parent-disclosure and rights materials list the personal rights of children in licensed care. They cover rights like the right to be free from corporal punishment, the right to contact parents at any time, the right to privacy during toileting and diaper changes, and the right to receive nutritious meals.

You must provide the applicable materials to every parent at enrollment and obtain their signed acknowledgment. The signed copy stays in the child's file. Failure to have current parent-rights acknowledgments on file is one of the most common citation triggers during routine inspections — easy to comply with, easy to forget.

Attendance Tracking for Subsidized Care

If you accept families using CalWORKs, CAPP, or other state-subsidized voucher programs, your attendance tracking requirements multiply. The standard Title 22 attendance log (who was here today) becomes a detailed time-in/time-out record that the Alternative Payment (AP) agency uses to calculate your reimbursement.

Key differences from standard attendance tracking:

Sign-in and sign-out times — record attendance in the format required by the AP agency, using its approved sign-in/sign-out process.

Submission schedule — submit completed attendance records according to the AP agency's billing cycle. Late or incomplete records can delay payment.

Absence documentation — subsidized programs allow a limited number of excused absences per month (the exact number varies by program and county). Unexcused absences beyond the limit result in non-payment for those days. You must document the reason for each absence.

Retention period — retain attendance records for the period required by your AP agency and the current subsidy-program rules. Standard Title 22 retention may differ from the program's audit requirement.

CCDF Compliance

The federal Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) sets baseline requirements that flow through California's subsidy programs. As a provider accepting subsidized children, you're subject to CCDF compliance in addition to Title 22. The main practical impacts:

Health and safety training — CCDF requires pre-service or orientation training covering specific topics (preventing SIDS, safe sleep practices, administration of medication, building and grounds safety, emergency preparedness). California's EMSA training satisfies most CCDF requirements, but your AP agency may require additional documentation.

Background check portability — qualifying California clearances and exemptions may be transferred through the Guardian process. Do not assume that an out-of-state background check transfers to California.

Additional monitoring — an AP agency may conduct monitoring in addition to CCLD's regular visits; confirm the current requirements for your county and program.

Organizing Your Records

The practical approach that survives inspections:

One binder per child with tabbed sections for enrollment, health/immunization, medication logs, parent acknowledgments, and incident reports. When a child disenrolls, move their binder to a retention archive — don't discard it.

One facility binder with your LIC 610A, LIC 999A, training certificates, LIC 508 forms, and your license itself. Keep this in a consistent, accessible location — the front of your care space, not a back closet.

A daily attendance sheet on a clipboard near your front door. Even if you're not serving subsidized families, maintaining time-in/time-out records protects you if a parent disputes pick-up times or an incident occurs and the timeline matters.

Our California Home Daycare Licensing Guide includes a complete document tracker that maps every required record to the inspection checkpoint where it gets checked, so you're building your filing system correctly from day one rather than scrambling before your first annual visit.

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