Mobile County Health Department pioneer in protecting daycare centers 09.15.25

September 15, 2025

Mobile County Health Department pioneer in protecting daycare centers

MOBILE, Ala. — On January 1, 2008, new rules for the construction, operation and maintenance of child daycare centers that were adopted by the Mobile County Board of Health went into effect. This made Mobile County the first county in Alabama with such rules to ensure the safety and well-being of the most vulnerable, our children in daycare centers.

All child daycare centers in Mobile County that keep more than 12 children for more than four hours a day have to comply with the rules. Mobile County Health Department (MCHD) officials said at the time that the results would help all childcare centers provide a safe environment for children.

According to Brad Philips, who oversees Inspection Services for MCHD, all church-exempt daycares in Mobile County have to be inspected. Up until 2018, Mobile County was only one of two counties in the state that looked at these exempt daycares.

That changed when House Bill 76 — known as the “Child Care Safety Act” — was passed by the state Legislature and was signed by Gov. Kay Ivey. The law licenses more of the unregulated religious daycare facilities in Alabama. This follows the deaths and illnesses of several children at unregulated daycare sites, including one in Mobile.

Inspecting daycare facilities is just one of the many tasks handled by MCHD’s Inspection Services. Any establishment that sells food to the public, operates a food processing facility, or a hotel lodging facility is required by State Law to have a health permit from the county health department in the county in which they operate.

Body art facilities and individual body art operators are required to have a license and health permit respectively. MCHD further requires all semi-public and public swimming pools to be permitted.

To learn more about Inspection Services, visit https://mchd.org/environmental-health/#Inspection-Services or call 251-690-8116.