What are the requirements to run a daycare from your home?
Every state regulates home daycare, but the trigger and the paperwork differ. In most states you need a license or a registration once you care for more than a small number of unrelated children, and that brings background checks for every adult in the home, CPR and first aid, a set of health-and-safety training hours, a home inspection, a capacity limit tied to children's ages, and a file for every child and every caregiver. This page explains what is common to nearly every state, what varies, and where to find your state's exact rules.
Last updated September 2026. Informational only — not legal advice. Confirm every requirement with your state licensing agency before relying on it.
Do I need a license to run a daycare from my home?
Almost certainly, once you are paid to care for children who are not related to you on a regular basis. The number of children that triggers regulation is set by each state and ranges from one child to a handful; caring for relatives usually does not count, and some states exempt a small number of children from one other family. Above the threshold, states use one of two tracks:
- Registration — a lighter process, usually self-certification plus background checks, with fewer inspections. Common for the smallest homes.
- Licensing — an application, an inspection before you open, ongoing inspections, and the full set of standards described below.
Several states run both tracks and move you from one to the other as you grow. Florida, for example, licenses family day care homes in most counties and registers them in the rest, and licenses "large family child care homes" separately. Texas distinguishes a registered child-care home from a licensed child-care home, each with its own chapter of minimum standards. Pennsylvania regulates family child care homes and group child care homes under separate chapters from centers. South Carolina registers family child care homes and licenses group child care homes. Illinois licenses day care homes under a separate part from day care centers — and as of July 1, 2026, that licensing is run by the new Illinois Department of Early Childhood rather than DCFS.
The words matter when you search: "family child care home," "family day care home," "registered family home," and "group home" are the terms most agencies use. "Home daycare" is what parents say.
What does every state require of a home daycare?
The details are state-specific, but the categories are close to universal because federal child care funding rules require states to cover them for any provider that can accept subsidy. Expect all of these:
1. Background checks for every adult in the home. Fingerprint-based state and FBI criminal history, a check of the child abuse and neglect registry, and a sex-offender registry search — for you, for any assistant, and typically for every household member over a set age, including teenagers. Checks are repeated on a cycle (five years is common) and must be renewed after a break in service.
2. Pediatric CPR and first aid. A current certificate for the provider, and in many states for assistants too. The card carries its own expiration; the state simply requires that it never lapse while children are in care.
3. Health and safety training before you open, and hours every year after. Safe sleep and shaken-baby prevention if you take infants, medication administration, allergy response, emergency planning, recognizing and reporting abuse, communicable disease, and building and vehicle safety. Most states then set an annual clock-hour requirement.
4. A home inspection before you open, and periodically after. Fire safety (extinguishers, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, exits, a fire drill log), water and sanitation, safe storage of medications and chemicals, outdoor play space and fencing, and the crib and sleep-space rules for infants.
5. A capacity limit tied to the ages of the children. Home ratios are written as a total number of children with a cap on how many can be infants or toddlers, and your own children under a certain age usually count. Growing past the limit means moving to the group-home or center track.
6. A file for every child. An enrollment record with emergency contacts and who may pick the child up, written consent for emergency medical care, an immunization record (or a documented exemption), a health statement or exam on the state's form, medication authorizations, and incident reports. Several states require the immunization and health records within a fixed window after the first day — 30 days is typical.
7. A file for every caregiver. The background clearance, training certificates, the CPR/first aid card, and in some states a health statement or TB screening.
8. Written policies parents sign. Discipline, release of children, medication, illness, and emergency procedures — provided at enrollment and acknowledged in writing.
Liability insurance is required in some states and merely recommended in others; where it is not required, a few states require you to tell parents in writing that you do not carry it.
What records does a home daycare have to keep?
Records are where home providers most often get cited, because the rules are the same as for a center but there is no office manager. Working from the standards we have read section by section for Texas, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Florida, the file you keep per child and per caregiver looks like this in every one of them:
| Per child | Per caregiver |
|---|---|
| Enrollment agreement and emergency contact information, kept current | Background clearance results, with the renewal date |
| Authorized pickup list, checked against ID | Training certificates — pre-service and each year's hours |
| Emergency medical consent | Pediatric CPR and first aid card, with expiration |
| Immunization record or exemption | Health statement or exam where the state requires one |
| Health statement or exam on the state form | Orientation and policy acknowledgments |
| Medication authorizations and administration log | |
| Accident and incident reports, shared with the parent | |
| Daily attendance |
The pattern that keeps a home in compliance is a renewal date on everything that expires: the CPR card, the background check, the immunization certificate, the health exam, the fire extinguisher tag, the liability policy. Miss one and it is a finding on the next visit.
How is a home daycare different from a center?
Lower capacity, one caregiver counted in ratio, and the inspection is of your house. The standards that carry over unchanged are the ones that protect children directly — background checks, safe sleep, medication handling, records, supervision. The standards that scale down are the ones about the building: square footage per child, the number of toilets, commercial kitchen rules, and director qualifications. Many states let a home provider count their own experience toward group-home or center licensing later.
Find your state's home daycare requirements
Each state page below covers the agency, the licensing overview, required documents, immunizations, staff requirements, and inspections, with a verified date and the official source on every section. Where a state has been checked section by section against its rule text, the ratios carry a Verified stamp; elsewhere the page tells you plainly that the table has not yet been checked.
Alabama · Alaska · Arizona · Arkansas · California · Colorado · Connecticut · Delaware · Florida · Georgia · Hawaii · Idaho · Illinois · Indiana · Iowa · Kansas · Kentucky · Louisiana · Maine · Maryland · Massachusetts · Michigan · Minnesota · Mississippi · Missouri · Montana · Nebraska · Nevada · New Hampshire · New Jersey · New Mexico · New York · North Carolina · North Dakota · Ohio · Oklahoma · Oregon · Pennsylvania · Rhode Island · South Carolina · South Dakota · Tennessee · Texas · Utah · Vermont · Virginia · Washington · Washington, D.C. · West Virginia · Wisconsin · Wyoming
Frequently asked questions
Can I run a home daycare without a license? Only below your state's threshold — typically a small number of unrelated children, sometimes only children from one other family — and never if you want to accept state child care subsidy. Above the threshold, operating unlicensed is a violation in every state and in most it is a misdemeanor.
Do my own children count toward the limit? In most states, yes, for children under a set age (often five or six). The capacity on your license is the total number of children present, not the number you are paid for.
Does my spouse need a background check? Yes. Every adult who lives in the home is screened, and many states also screen teenagers over a set age. Someone who moves in later has to be screened before they are in the home while children are in care.
How often is a home daycare inspected? It varies from annual to several times a year, and complaint inspections are unannounced everywhere. Registered homes are typically inspected less often than licensed ones.
What happens if I miss a renewal — say, my CPR card expires? It is a citation at the next inspection, and in most states a lapsed CPR card or background check means you cannot have children in care until it is current. This is the single most common way a well-run home ends up with a finding, which is why every expiring document needs a date on a calendar.
Where do I start? Your state's licensing agency page, linked from the state page above. Read the home-provider chapter, not the center chapter — they are separate documents in nearly every state — and call the regional office before you spend money on the house.
Informational only, and not legal advice. GetDocsSigned is not affiliated with or endorsed by any state licensing agency. Requirements change; confirm with your licensing representative.