Most parents assume that everyone who works at a day care has passed a background check. For many programs, federal rules do require it. But the rules have limits, and federal audits have found that some states did not always make sure every check was done. This article explains what the rules say, what the audits found, and how families can look up a program’s record.
Who the federal background check rules cover
The rules come from the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act, at 42 U.S.C. 9858f, and from the federal regulation at 45 CFR 98.43. They apply to states that receive federal child care funds. They reach child care programs that are licensed, regulated or registered, and programs that can be paid with federal child care assistance.
The checks are not just for teachers. They cover paid staff, including contract workers. They also cover anyone whose job involves caring for or supervising children, or who has unsupervised access to them. In a family child care home, every adult 18 or older who lives there must be checked.
What a full check includes
Under the regulation, a complete check has several parts:
- An FBI fingerprint check
- A search of the National Sex Offender Registry
- A search of the state criminal records, sex offender registry and child abuse and neglect registry where the person lives
- The same state searches in every other state where the person lived in the past five years
A check must be requested before a person starts work, and repeated at least once every five years. A new hire may start after some fingerprint results come back, but must be supervised at all times until the rest of the check is complete. States are supposed to finish a check within 45 days.
Some people cannot be hired at all. The list includes anyone who is on, or must register on, a sex offender registry. It also includes people with felony convictions for child abuse, crimes against children, or rape or sexual assault. Refusing a check, or lying on one, also rules a person out.
Inspections and public reports
A separate rule, 45 CFR 98.42, requires at least one inspection before a program is licensed. After that, licensed programs must get at least one unannounced inspection each year. Programs that are exempt from licensing but receive federal funds must also be inspected once a year.
Another rule, 45 CFR 98.33, requires each state to post inspection results on a website that families can use. The reports must show the date of the inspection, any rules the program broke, and what was done to fix the problem. States must show at least three years of results where available. The federal ChildCare.gov site links to each state’s resources.
What federal audits found
The HHS Office of Inspector General has audited how some states checked on these rules. In a 2020 report on Illinois, auditors reviewed records for 327 people at 30 child care locations. They found problems at 12 of the 30. Two people were missing one or more required checks. Another 47 had passed their first checks, but their five-year repeat checks had not been done.
In a 2021 report on Louisiana, auditors reviewed records for 264 people at 30 locations. They found problems at 8 of them. Fifteen people did not have all required checks done on time. The report said the state relied on providers to start the process. Louisiana disagreed with the findings.
A 2022 federal research summary found that checks across state lines have been hard for many states. It listed problems such as legal limits, short staffing, fees, incomplete records and states that did not answer requests.
These rules are still in place. A federal rule issued in May 2026 changed other parts of the child care program, mainly family co-payments and how providers are paid. It did not rewrite the background check section.
Why this can matter after abuse
A skipped check does not prove a program caused harm. But it can be one part of the story.
If a child was sexually abused at a day care, a family may wonder whether the program should have known about the risk. Whether a program followed hiring, supervision and inspection rules can be part of the evidence in a civil case. Still, a missed rule does not make a program automatically responsible. That depends on the facts, the state’s law and what the program knew.
Our page on day care sexual abuse explains how these claims can work, and our sexual assault and abuse overview covers related settings.
If you are a survivor or a parent, you do not have to sort this out alone. Deadlines to bring a claim vary by state and can depend on the child’s age and who the claim is against. A lawyer can look at the specific facts and explain the options, at your own pace.
This article is general information about how these cases work. It is not legal advice, it does not create an attorney-client relationship, and no two claims are alike. If something here sounds like your situation, the useful next step is a conversation about the facts.
