In ChildFriendly Pro's June 2025 Lunch & Learn, child care operator Krystal Churcher identified four recurring licensing non-compliance areas for Alberta centers, active supervision, ratios during transitions and mixed age groups, medication forms, and attendance records, and said penalties of up to $10,000 for non-compliance were expected from September.
What the session covered
According to Churcher, a licensed child care center in Alberta is governed by two layers of rules. Churcher described the regulations as "the how": detailed operational requirements that licensing officers check during inspections. The Child Care Act is "the why": the legal framework that sets intent, principles and broad legislative goals. She explained that compliance now affects more than the license itself. In her account, centers in the CWELCC agreement operate under government funding policy, and eligibility for the Affordability Grant and the Inclusive Spaces Grant is tied to good standing, so repeated infractions or critical incidents can affect funding. Churcher also described the licensing officer's role, saying Child Care Connect is now the first point of contact, while the regional licensing officer assigned to a file conducts inspections of health, safety, regulatory requirements and the program plan, and should provide guidance. She advised operators to know the regulations well, build a positive relationship with their officer, and ask whether a concern raised is an opinion or a regulation.
What do licensing officers check for active supervision and ratios?
Churcher quoted the regulation that at all times children must be under supervision adequate to ensure their safety, well-being and development. The common pitfalls she listed were cell phones in classrooms, poor positioning and limited visibility, such as blind spots around outdoor play equipment or cozy corners and children standing behind an educator. Her example was a staff member distracted by a phone, causing a non-compliance. On ratios, she noted that staff-to-child ratios vary by age, using one staff to eight children as an example for one age group. For mixed age groups, where a group includes children from two or more age groups, she explained that the ratio is determined by the age of the majority of children, so centers may need to ratio up when younger children are in the majority. Common errors are miscalculations during transitions, inaccurate age tracking and incorrect groupings. Her example was two groups combining unexpectedly during a transition and exceeding the ratio until a licensing officer noticed. She said officers ask for children's ages, count children and watch ratios throughout an inspection.
What medication and attendance records must a licensed child care center keep?
Churcher said medication and record-keeping errors are among the most frequent non-compliances she is asked about. She said medication must be in the original labeled container; parents sometimes repackage it, which does not meet the requirement. Records must include parental consent, dosage and all other fields required by regulation, and EpiPens that travel between parents and the center need the same care. Her example inspection found medication stored in an unlocked area and given at the wrong time because of unclear labeling and incomplete consent forms. Churcher said medication must be locked away, with a log of dose, time and who administered it. For attendance, she quoted the requirement that daily attendance records include arrival and departure times, whether on paper or electronic. She said officers pull a random selection of child files, focusing on emergency contacts and authorized access to the child. Her example inspection found missing sign-in signatures and inaccurate departure times, which can lead to a non-compliance order, required staff training on record-keeping and follow-up inspections. She stressed that staff must keep records correctly without the director.
How can directors stay compliant between licensing inspections?
Churcher recommended ongoing staff training, current policies, and showing staff both the regulations and what a licensing inspection looks like. Directors and supervisors should complete daily checks, at least a couple of times a day for new teams, of sign-ins, attendance, ratios and children who have left but were not signed out. Medication procedures should name the designated people responsible, including for ongoing medication such as inhalers and EpiPens, and be part of onboarding. In her own center, Churcher keeps a copy of the regulations for staff plus a simplified cheat sheet that restates each regulation in everyday language with real examples, and she has translated regulations into other languages for staff. In the discussion she noted that penalties for non-compliance of up to $10,000, expected from September, concerned many operators in the Association of Child Care Entrepreneurs group chats. Her advice was to do things right consistently and to keep records and reports that prove medication, ratio and attendance requirements are met, especially as many new staff arrive without this training.
Licensing compliance checklist from the session
| Time | Key point | What centers should do |
|---|---|---|
| 04:13 | Churcher: grant eligibility, including the Affordability Grant, is tied to licensing compliance. | Treat repeated infractions as a funding risk, not only a licensing issue. |
| 05:14 | Churcher: regulations are the how; the Child Care Act is the why. | Read both and know how each regulation applies day to day. |
| 08:09 | When an officer raises a concern, ask whether it is an opinion or a regulation. | Keep program and curriculum choices that meet regulations, and ask for the specific rule. |
| 11:28 | Churcher, quoting the regulation: children must be under supervision adequate for safety, well-being and development at all times. | Remove cell phones from classrooms and check staff positioning and blind spots. |
| 13:48 | Churcher: in mixed age groups, the ratio follows the age of the majority of children. | Recalculate ratios whenever groups combine, especially at transitions. |
| 15:49 | Churcher: medication must be in the original labeled container with consent and dosage recorded. | Reject repackaged medication and lock all medication away from children. |
| 17:18 | Churcher, quoting the requirement: daily attendance must include arrival and departure times. | Check sign-in signatures, departure times and emergency contacts in every file. |
| 20:15 | Directors should run daily administrative checks. | Review attendance, sign-outs and ratios at least twice a day with new teams. |
| 21:22 | A plain-language regulations cheat sheet helps staff apply the rules. | Create a simplified regulations guide with real examples, translated if needed. |
| 28:35 | Churcher: penalties of up to $10,000 for non-compliance were expected from September. | Keep reports that prove ratio, medication and attendance compliance. |
How ChildFriendly Pro automates this
The session described paper sign-in sheets and manual ratio counts compiled for licensing officers. At 23:35, Wayne Chen from ChildFriendly Pro showed a filterable attendance report listing the staff, children and ratio status for any room at a given date and time, live room compliance warnings including mixed-age majority calculations and Alberta group size, and digital medication submissions with a staff administration dashboard.
Next steps
- Register for the next Director Lunch & Learn
- Live room ratios and digital attendance kiosk
- Free Alberta mock licensing inspection and self-audit checklist
- Book a ChildFriendly Pro demo
