• Georgia has regulations to protect children in day care centers.children image by Mat Hayward from Fotolia.com
  
  Because the safety of children is a paramount concern, the State of Georgia has enacted regulations for day care centers. Some these laws restrict the number of children who can stay in a center. Other regulations set specific requirements such as education and the absence of a criminal background for administrators and caregivers.
  
  

Caregiver to Child Ratio

• One caregiver can care for only six babies.cute babies indian image by Photoeyes from Fotolia.com
  
  Georgia requires day care facilities to meet specific ratios of caregivers to children based on the age of the children. For children up to 9 months old, the ratio is one caregiver for every six children with a maximum group of 12 children. For children from 10 to 18 months old, the ratio is 1:8 with a maximum group size of 16 children. For children 5 years old, the ratio climbs to 1:20 with a maximum group size of 40. At age 6 the ratio is 1:25 with a maximum group size of 50.
  
  

Requirements For Administrators

• Running a day care center requires a responsible administrator.mature businesswoman with glasses image by Brett Mulcahy from Fotolia.com
  
  The administrator is responsible for the day-to-day operations of a day care center. Day care administrators must have a clean criminal record, and no "credible evidence" gathered in an administrative hearing that you have been involved in child abuse neglect or grossly negligent behavior that caused serious physical harm to anyone.
  
  You must be at least 21 years old and meet certain education requirements. All administrators must be certified in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) every two years, and first aid every three years. Administrators must either have a high school diploma and a year of childcare experience, or an associate or bachelor's degree. Depending on the type of degree you have earned, there may be certain work experience requirements.
  
  

Requirements For Lead Caregivers

• The lead caregiver directly works with children.merry teacher image by Valentin Mosichev from Fotolia.com
  
  The law requires that each group of children has a lead caregiver. To assume this role, you must meet the same criminal record requirements as an administrator. You need to be at least 18 years old to be a lead caregiver, and you only need a high school diploma and a year of childcare work experience. The CPR requirements are the same as for an administrator.
  
  

Safety Requirements

• Safety regulations protect children in day care centers.safety image by anna karwowska from Fotolia.com
  
  When children are presen,t there must be an employee on the premises who is certified in first aid and CPR. All employees in a day care center must be sober during the work day. To ensure that child caregivers are energetic and focused, staff members who do childcare cannot be assigned to more than 12 hours of work in a 24-hour period.