Certification Readiness: The Documents You'll Be Asked For

Certification through your state's NARR affiliate is, at its core, a documentation review: can you produce, on request, the written policies and records that show your house runs the way you say it does? This checklist is generalized from a real state affiliate's compliance checklist (Florida's, one of the strictest); your own affiliate publishes its own version, and which items are required varies by the NARR Level of Support (I–IV) you certify at — peer-run Level I homes are exempt from most staffing items for the simple reason that they have no staff. Treat this as the superset to prepare against.

Application documents

• Background screening for operators and staff, on the affiliate's request form, with any required attestation of good moral character.
• Privacy policy acknowledgment — signed evidence that staff know the confidentiality rules.
• The NARR Code of Ethics, signed by every staff member. Not filed once by the owner — signed by each person, kept on file, re-signed as staff change. This is the single most commonly requested document, and this app's e-sign templates make it a two-minute task per hire.

Staffing documents (Levels II–IV)

• Staff orientation records — proof each staff member was actually onboarded, not just hired.
• Job descriptions for every position, including volunteers.
• Certification and credential verification, with expiration tracking (this app's staff credentials card exists for exactly this).
• Staff development, wellness, and evaluation policies — higher levels expect you to invest in the people doing the work.

The policy & procedure manual

The heart of the review. Affiliates commonly expect written policy AND procedure for roughly two dozen areas: mission and vision, code of ethics, confidentiality, social media, resident screening, resident orientation, house rules, program format, good neighbor conduct, contraband searches, medication storage and use, drug testing, recurrence of use, discharge, maintenance and repairs, emergencies, infectious disease, sex-offender acceptance or denial, grievances, resident rights, financial obligations, paid work by residents, and recovery support documentation. See the companion guide "Writing Your Policy & Procedure Manual" for how to write these without drowning.

The resident orientation handbook

The resident-facing mirror of the manual: application, confidentiality, social media, program format and a sample weekly schedule, house rules WITH consequences, resident rights, good neighbor policy, contraband policy, medication policy, drug testing, recurrence of use, discharge, emergency procedures, infectious disease, financial obligations, the grievance procedure, maintenance requests, a contact sheet, and a community resource guide. Every resident signs that they received and reviewed it — that signature is what makes "they knew the rules" true later.

Property documents

• Owner acknowledgment letter if the property is leased — the landlord knows a recovery residence operates there.
• Commercial general liability insurance, typically naming the affiliate as additionally insured, with every address listed.
• A home safety self-inspection log on the affiliate's checklist or your own equivalent — see "The Home Safety Walkthrough" guide, and this app's Inspections feature, which timestamps every walkthrough.
• An evacuation floor plan posted where residents can see it.

Program and recovery-support documents

• Proof of legal business entity (Levels II and up).
• Marketing materials as actually used — affiliates check that what you advertise matches what you run.
• The forms you use to document recovery support: meeting sheets, sponsorship records, employment and volunteering. If your records can't show HOW you support residents' recovery plans, higher-level certification stalls.

How to use this list

Walk it once and mark each item: have it, have it but stale, don't have it. Most operators discover the gap isn't writing policies — it's proving people SIGNED them and that recurring logs actually happened. That's a records problem, and it's the one this software exists to solve: e-sign templates for the handbook and code of ethics, credential expiry tracking, inspection logs, test records, and grievance resolutions, all timestamped and exportable when the reviewer asks.

State affiliates differ in fees, timelines, and which levels they certify — and in a growing number of states, certification is effectively mandatory (required before state agencies or courts may refer residents, or tied to funding). Check your own affiliate's current checklist before submitting; this is preparation guidance, not legal advice.