The person who spends more waking hours with your child than you do this week had to clear a bar to be there. It is worth knowing where the bar is, because it is lower than most parents assume and it has a gap in it that is ninety days wide.
Eighteen years old, a high school diploma, a fingerprint check against the state and federal databases and the abuse registry, two sworn affidavits, and twenty-four hours of training — eight of which have to happen before that person may be counted as one of the adults responsible for a room.
All of it is documented, and the documents are in one file that the center is required to keep for three months after that employee leaves. Staff leave after incidents. That is the whole of why this page ends where it does.
Free case review
A conversation with an attorney about what happened, at no cost and with no obligation.
No fee unless you recover
Agreed in writing before we start. Case expenses come out of the recovery, not out of your pocket.
The file is public
Five years of inspections and deficiencies for any licensed Texas center, free, tonight, under its own name.
The Bar
What Texas requires before somebody is left with your child
Six requirements, every one of them documented and every one of them inspectable. The last is the one with a timetable attached.
- 01
Eighteen years old
With a narrow exception allowing a 16- or 17-year-old who already holds a high school diploma to be counted in ratio, provided they are never left with sole responsibility.
- 02
A high school diploma or its equivalent
A diploma, a high school equivalency, or a certificate of coursework completion under the Education Code. Weighted Medium-High.
- 03
A background check
Fingerprint-based for caregivers, against the DPS and FBI criminal databases and both sex offender registries, plus a check against the Central Registry of abuse and neglect findings.
- 04
A tuberculosis record
Where the Department of State Health Services or the local health authority requires one.
- 05
Two sworn affidavits
Both completed before hire: the general employment affidavit under Human Resources Code §42.059, and the pre-employment affidavit about offences involving an inappropriate relationship with a minor under §42.0563.
- 06
And then the training
Twenty-four hours of pre-service training, orientation, pediatric first aid and CPR, and twenty-four hours a year after that. The timetable is below, and it is the part worth reading.
The Timetable
Ninety days before anyone must know CPR
Every requirement below is measured from the date of hire. Read the first two rows against the fourth: that gap is lawful, and it is the reason to ask a director what they do about it.
8 pre-service hours, before counting in the ratio
before day one
Orientation to the center
7 days
The other 16 pre-service hours
90 days
Pediatric first aid and CPR
90 days
24 clock hours of annual training
12 months
30 clock hours, for the director
12 months
The fingerprint check is renewed
5 years
The Check
What a background check actually consists of
Four things worth knowing, including one gap the system has by design and one renewal cycle that is longer than most people would guess.
What is actually searched
For a caregiver, a fingerprint-based check against the Texas DPS database of arrests and dispositions, the FBI’s national database, the Texas sex offender registry and the National Sex Offender Registry — plus a name check against the Central Registry, which is the state’s record of findings of child abuse and neglect.
When it has to be requested
When the center applies for its permit, when it hires someone, when it contracts with someone who requires one, and whenever it becomes aware of anyone at the operation who has not had one.
How often it is redone
Every five years where the person had a fingerprint-based check, and every two where they only had a name-based Texas check — and again whenever they change their state of residence or move into a role that requires fingerprinting.
An affidavit is not a background check
The state says so itself. A prospective employee signs a notarised affidavit about charges involving an inappropriate relationship with a minor, and the guidance under the rule is explicit that this is not a substitute for the check — and that an operation may dismiss an employee for failing to disclose what the affidavit asks for.
The Claims
Four ways a center is answerable for who it put in the room
These are the claims that reach the business rather than the individual — which matters, because the business is the one with a policy.
Negligent hiring
The center took somebody on it should not have. The affidavit was never taken, the check was never requested, the diploma was never verified, or the result came back and the person stayed anyway.
Negligent supervision of staff
Distinct from supervision of children, and frequently the stronger claim. A center is responsible for observing its own caregivers, and the standards require every employee — not only caregivers — to demonstrate competency, good judgment and self-control, to relate to children with courtesy and patience, and to ensure no child is abused, neglected or exploited in the center’s care.
Negligent retention
The center was told and did nothing. A complaint from another parent, a note in the file, an incident that was handled internally, a worker moved to another room instead of out of the building.
Failure to train
The ladder above is not a formality. In a case about a delayed response to a choking, a seizure, an allergic reaction or a head injury, whether the adult in the room held a current pediatric first aid and CPR certificate is very often the whole claim.
Questions
Hiring and training FAQs
What parents ask about the people in the room. The last one is the question most often answered wrongly, and getting it wrong is what costs a parent the claim.
What qualifications must daycare workers have in Texas?
A caregiver in a licensed center must be at least 18, hold a high school diploma or its equivalent, pass a fingerprint-based background check and a Central Registry check, complete two sworn affidavits before hire, and hold a tuberculosis record where the health authority requires one.
Can someone work with my child before their background check comes back?
The request has to be submitted when the center hires someone, but the result does not arrive the same day. What the rules do require in the meantime is orientation within seven days and before that person has unsupervised access to a child in care.
How long can a daycare go without re-checking its staff?
Five years, where the person had a fingerprint-based check. Two years, where they only had a name-based Texas check.
What if the daycare was warned about a staff member and did nothing?
Then the claim is no longer only about that person. Negligent retention is a claim against the business, and Texas requires that anyone whose behavior poses an immediate threat or danger to children must not be present while children are in care — a High-weighted standard.
Is the daycare responsible if a worker hurt my child deliberately?
Often, yes — but through a different route. The claim against the center is not usually that it wanted this to happen; it is that it hired, kept or failed to supervise the person who did it, or that it failed the standards requiring it to ensure no child in its care is abused, neglected or exploited.
How soon should I take legal action?
Sooner than the deadline suggests, and the deadline is not what most people think. Your child’s own claim is suspended while they are a minor and generally runs until two years after their eighteenth birthday.
