Opening a family child care home in Florida: registration, license or large home

Registered or licensed: your county decides

Florida’s statute defines a family child care home as “an occupied residence in which child care is regularly provided for children from at least two unrelated families” for a payment, fee or grant, whether or not for profit.⁠¹ Every such home must hold either a registration or a license. Running one with neither is a first-degree misdemeanor.⁠¹ Unlike most states, Florida does not make licensure the default. A home must be licensed only where a county already licenses homes by ordinance, or where the board of county commissioners passes a resolution requiring it. Everywhere else the home registers with DCF each year, and may choose to be licensed anyway.⁠¹

DCF’s registration page says registration is not permitted in these 15 counties, because each has a local requirement for licensure: Brevard, Broward, Clay, Duval, Hernando, Hillsborough, Manatee, Miami-Dade, Nassau, Palm Beach, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Sarasota and St. Johns.⁠⁵ If you live in any other county, you can choose between the two routes.

Sources: fees from Fla. Stat. 402.315;⁠¹ inspection status from DCF;⁠⁵ VPK eligibility from Fla. Stat. 1002.55.⁠¹⁷

Registration is not a light-touch form. The annual filing must include the substitute plan, proof of background screening, proof of the 30-hour course and competency exam, current immunization records, continuing education, and proof that each parent received the health and safety checklist.⁠¹⁠⁵ You also have to hold DCF’s registration letter before you care for any child.⁠⁵ The real difference is that DCF does not inspect a registered home,⁠⁵ and the detailed licensing standards in Rule 65C-20 and its handbook apply to licensed homes. DCF says that although most counties do not require licensure, many homes choose to be licensed to show they meet the state’s minimum health and safety standards.⁠⁵

If you will regularly care for more than five children unrelated to you and your setup does not fit the home capacity limits below, the law treats you as a child care facility. That is a separate license; see the Florida child care facility guide.⁠¹

The four counties that license homes themselves

A Florida county whose standards meet or exceed the state’s can designate a local licensing agency, and the county commission must reaffirm that choice by majority vote every year.⁠¹ As of the 2025 handbook, four counties do this: Broward, Palm Beach, Pinellas and Sarasota. In three of them the county health department is the licensing authority; Broward uses a county agency.⁠³⁠⁶ In these counties you deal with the local agency, not DCF, and the county may charge its own fee.⁠¹

• Broward: the Child Care Licensing and Enforcement Section of the county’s Consumer Protection Division licenses and monitors all child care facilities and family child care homes (954-357-4800, [email protected]). Broward lists seven kinds of inspection, starting with a pre-licensing visit made by appointment.⁠¹¹
• Palm Beach: the Board of County Commissioners, acting as the Child Care Facilities Board, is the licensing agency. A seven-member Child Care Advisory Council approves, denies and revokes licenses on its behalf, and the Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach County runs the program and does the inspections.⁠¹³
• Pinellas: the Pinellas County Licensing Board, staffed by the Florida Department of Health in Pinellas County, requires prospective-provider training, background screening, and its training and forms before it will give you an application.⁠¹⁴
• Sarasota: the Florida Department of Health in Sarasota County (941-861-6133) licenses homes under a county family child care homes ordinance. The ordinance allows a license to be issued or renewed only after an inspection, at a fee the county board sets by resolution.⁠¹⁵

DCF’s December 2019 “Opening a Licensed Family Day Care Home” sheet, which is still linked from DCF’s site, lists five local-licensing counties including Hillsborough.⁠⁸ DCF’s licensure page and the December 2025 handbook name only four.⁠⁶⁠³ Hillsborough homes now apply to DCF, and licensure there is still mandatory.⁠⁶⁠⁵

How many children you can take, counting your own

Florida sets capacity by age mix, and your household children under 13 count whenever they are home, or on a field trip with the enrolled children.⁠¹ “Household children” includes children related to you by blood, marriage or adoption, your legal wards, and children of any adult who lives in the home, even temporarily.⁠¹ A family child care home may care for one of these four groups:⁠¹⁠³

In practice, two preschoolers of your own use two of the six preschool places under option C. Your own 9-year-old counts toward the 10 under option D. How you supervise your own children is left to you, unless they attend your home on a School Readiness subsidy, in which case they are treated like any other enrolled child.⁠¹

Who can run the home

The operator must be at least 18, must live in the home where care is given, and cannot work outside the home during care hours.⁠³ Proof of residency can be tax records with a homestead exemption, a driver’s license, or a lease. In a rental, the operator has to be the person who lives there.⁠³ During care hours the home cannot be used for any other business that interferes with the standards or brings in people who have not been screened and trained.⁠²

You must also have a written plan naming at least one substitute, 18 or older, who can step in on a temporary or emergency basis.⁠¹⁠³ The substitute’s details go on the application. Changes must be reported to licensing within 5 working days. A substitute may not work more than 40 hours a month in your home, averaged over six months.⁠³

Florida forbids local zoning from blocking a registered or licensed home. Under Fla. Stat. 125.0109 (for counties) and 166.0445 (for cities), the home is a valid residential use; zoning cannot require a special exemption, use permit or waiver, and cannot charge a special fee over $50.⁠¹⁰ Homeowners’ associations are not covered by that protection. DCF warns that neighborhood covenants can prohibit a home, and requires written approval from the local government, the HOA and your landlord, or else DCF’s signed Zoning/Building Code/HOA attestation accepting responsibility for compliance.⁠⁷ Some cities and counties also require a local business license.⁠⁸

Training to finish before the first child arrives

Training is DCF’s first step, and DCF calls it “the most time-consuming and challenging part” of registering.⁠⁷ Before you register or are licensed, and before you care for any child, the operator and the operator’s substitute must finish:

1. The 30-hour Family Child Care Home course

   It has five parts: Rules and Regulations (6 hours), Health, Safety and Nutrition (8), Identifying and Reporting Child Abuse and Neglect (4), Child Growth and Development (6), and Behavioral Observation and Screening (6).⁠⁷ Each part ends with a competency exam, which you must pass with a weighted score of 70 or better.⁠³

2. A 5-hour early literacy course

   (0.5 CEU) on language development from birth to age five. It can be one of DCF’s online courses, a DCF-approved course, or a college early literacy course taken within the last five years.⁠³ DCF’s registration page counts these together as “35 hours of training” to finish before registration.⁠⁵

3. Pediatric CPR and first aid

   CPR must include an in-person, instructor-led skills check, even if the coursework was online. Certificates last no longer than three years.⁠³

Within 30 days, anyone caring for infants also needs safe sleep and shaken baby syndrome training, and all child care personnel need hands-on fire extinguisher training.⁠³ In a large home, a substitute for the employee who averages under 40 hours a month needs only the 6-hour Rules and Regulations course (plus CPR and first aid) before caring for children.⁠³

Only DCF’s online Training Transcript counts as proof. A course certificate that does not show up on the transcript is treated as invalid, and the course has to be retaken.⁠³ After you open, operators need 10 clock hours (1 CEU) of in-service training every licensing year, logged on form CF-FSP 5268A.⁠³⁠¹

Level 2 screening for everyone in the household

Florida screens your household, not just you. The operator, the substitute, any volunteers, and every household member over 12 must be cleared before the license is issued, before a new person moves in, and before anyone works with children.⁠³⁠¹ Anyone who stays in the home four weeks or more counts as a household member, including long-term visitors.⁠³

• Adults: Level 2 screening. This covers FBI and Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) criminal checks, sex offender registries, and child abuse and neglect registries for every state where the person lived in the past five years.⁠³ Fingerprints must go through DCF’s Background Screening Clearinghouse using a Clearinghouse-compatible LiveScan vendor. If the screening is not started in the Clearinghouse first, the person may have to be fingerprinted and pay again.⁠³
• Household members aged 12 to 17: an FDLE juvenile records check instead of fingerprints.⁠¹⁠³
• Employment history: licensing staff contact every employer the operator had in the past five years. You must do the same for your substitute, making at least three documented attempts.⁠³

A license application is not complete until the licensing office has every clearance.⁠² For registration, DCF says to finish training first. Its online Intent to Apply form is what gives you access to the Clearinghouse.⁠⁷ Screenings must be repeated every five years, and after any break of more than 90 days.⁠³

Making the house meet the handbook

Licensed homes must meet the “Family Child Care Home and Large Family Child Care Home Handbook” (December 2025), which Rule 65C-20.008 adopts by reference.⁠² The requirements most likely to need work on the house itself:

• Outdoor play area: a fence or wall at least 4 feet high, with gaps no wider than 3½ inches and at least two exits, one of them away from the house. A home that cares only for infants under 12 months does not need an outdoor play area.⁠³
• Pools and spas: a barrier at least 4 feet high on all four sides, or a pool alarm that works whenever children are in care. An exterior wall of the house with a door in it does not count as the barrier. Wading pools are banned.⁠³ Swimming ratios are 1:1 for children under 3, 1:4 for preschoolers and 1:10 for school-age children.⁠³
• Fire and air: a working smoke detector, a fire extinguisher with a current certificate, carbon monoxide detectors where Fla. Stat. 553.885 requires them, and indoor temperature kept between 65 and 82 °F.⁠³
• Childproofing: tamper-resistant outlets (or outlet covers), firearms stored where children cannot reach them, and no firearm carried by anyone on the premises except law enforcement officers.⁠³
• Sleep: bedroom doors open during naps, with a visual check every 10 to 15 minutes. Cribs must be at least 18 inches from blinds or curtains. Air and foam mattresses are not allowed.⁠³

Before you open you also need written plans: a discipline and expulsion policy that bans physical punishment, a shaken baby prevention policy if you take infants, and an emergency plan covering fire, evacuation, relocation, shelter in place, lockdown and severe weather.⁠³ Fire drills are monthly. Over the year they must include one at nap time, one using an alternate exit, and one run while a licensing inspector watches.⁠³ Each child needs Florida’s DH 680 immunization certificate and a DH 3040 health exam on file within 30 days of enrollment. Otherwise the child cannot stay.⁠³

DCF’s 2019 guidance adds radon: licensed homes in the 48 counties with “Intermediate” or “Elevated” radon potential must be tested within a year of opening, and the results reported to the Department of Health.⁠⁸ The statute it relies on, Fla. Stat. 404.056(4), names state-licensed day care centers rather than homes, so ask your licensing office whether it will check for a radon test.⁠²²

Applying: registration packet vs. CARES license

Registration (DCF, non-licensing counties). Complete the 35 training hours, then submit DCF’s online Intent to Apply. This opens your Clearinghouse access so the household can be fingerprinted.⁠⁷⁠⁵ DCF’s initial checklist asks for the application, a $25 check or money order, good moral character attestations, screening clearances for you, your substitute and adult household members, FDLE results for household members aged 12 to 17, training proof, the completed Health and Safety Checklist, a copy of your driver’s license, five-year employment histories for you and your substitute, and the Zoning/HOA form.⁠²⁰ Renewals are mailed with the $25 fee to the Office of Child Care in Tallahassee. For questions, DCF lists (850) 488-4900.⁠⁵

License (DCF counties). Apply on CF-FSP Form 5133 through DCF’s online CARES system, and reapply every year.⁠² In CARES you choose “Home” and a capacity of “10 or Less,” then list everyone who lives in the home and name a substitute.⁠¹⁹ The $50 fee goes with the application.⁠²⁠¹ DCF does not issue a provisional license as a first license; you have to meet the standards before opening.⁠²

License (Broward, Palm Beach, Pinellas, Sarasota). Contact the local agency first. Broward charges a preliminary application fee for prospective home applicants, and Pinellas requires its training and screening steps before it will issue an application.⁠¹²⁠¹⁴

Once licensed or registered, every ad for your home must include its license or registration number. Leaving it out is a misdemeanor.⁠¹ A licensed home must post its license where it can be seen.⁠³

Fees and fines

Sources: Fla. Stat. 402.315;⁠¹ Rule 65C-20.012;⁠⁴ Broward fee schedule;⁠¹² Fla. Stat. 125.0109.⁠¹⁰

Florida law requires that a licensed home be billed residential, not commercial, utility rates.⁠¹

Penalties increase with repeat violations of the same standard. A first or second Class I violation brings a fine of $100 to $500 per day; a third means suspension, denial or revocation. Class II fines run from $50 for a second violation to $100 per day plus loss of the license at the fifth. Class III violations start at $25.⁠⁴ Violations are classified on DCF forms CF-FSP 5318 and 5317 (December 2025).⁠⁴ A violation more than two years before the next one of the same standard does not count toward progressive discipline.⁠⁴

After you open: renewal, inspections and annual duties

• Renewal: licenses run one year. Submit the renewal at least 45 days before expiry; filing late is itself a violation and brings the $100 fine. A license will not be renewed while earlier fines are unpaid.⁠²⁠⁴ Registrations are renewed every year.⁠¹
• Inspections: applying for a license, or advertising child care, counts as permission for licensing staff to inspect the premises.⁠¹ Inspectors may see the whole house and may copy records and take photographs.⁠³ A home that has been licensed for 2 consecutive years with no Class 1 deficiency, has had at least two full renewal inspections in that time, and has no uncorrected violations or open complaints (among other conditions) qualifies for a shorter “abbreviated” inspection.⁠¹
• Annual paperwork: the operator completes DCF’s health and safety self-evaluation checklist every year and gives it to parents.⁠¹ You also need 10 in-service hours, and must keep in-service records for the last two licensing years.⁠³

The large family child care home tier

A large family child care home can care for up to 8 children from birth to 24 months, or up to 12 children with no more than 4 under 24 months, again counting your own children under 13.⁠¹ It is always licensed, even in counties where ordinary homes only register, and the state fee is $60.⁠¹ A large home license can also be used to operate at family-home numbers. A family home license does not work the other way.⁠²

To qualify you must:

1. Have run a licensed home for 2 consecutive years

   Registration time does not count. The two years must fall within the five years before you apply.⁠¹⁠³

2. Have held a credential for a year

   The operator must have held a CDA or an equivalent Florida credential, shown on the DCF transcript, for at least one year before licensure. An Employment History Recognition Exemption is not accepted.⁠³

3. Meet the age and staffing rules

   The operator must be at least 21. A second full-time person, aged 18 or older, must be on duty during all hours, unless enrollment drops to family-home numbers.⁠³⁠⁹

4. Pass a fire inspection and meet space rules

   The home needs a current annual fire inspection under the State Fire Marshal’s child care rule, 69A-36. It also needs 35 square feet of usable indoor space per child (bedrooms excluded) and at least 270 square feet of outdoor play area.⁠³⁠¹

Within six months of licensure, the operator must also finish 10 hours of DCF Part II specialized training.⁠³ Any vehicle used to carry children must have a DCF-approved child safety alarm.⁠³ Fla. Stat. 402.3131 calls for a 40-clock-hour introductory course in group child care for large home operators,⁠¹ but DCF’s handbook and its large home sheet both list the 30-hour Family Child Care Home course as the introductory training required before licensure.⁠³⁠⁹

If you want more than 12 children, or want to run care outside your home, you will need a child care facility license; see the Florida child care facility guide.

School Readiness and VPK

Florida’s two state-funded early learning programs pay providers through local early learning coalitions, and they treat homes differently:

• School Readiness (subsidized care) accepts both licensed and registered family child care homes. A home cannot deliver it while its license is on probation.⁠¹⁶ A registered home that joins is inspected for health and safety under s. 402.311, and must post the health and safety checklist and send it to the coalition every year.⁠¹⁶ Providers need general liability insurance of at least $100,000 per occurrence and $300,000 aggregate, with the coalition named as additional insured.⁠¹⁶ They also must read to children for 30 minutes a day and work with the coalition to screen each child within 45 days of enrollment.⁠¹⁶
• VPK (free prekindergarten for 4-year-olds) is open to licensed family child care homes and large homes. Registered homes are not on the statute’s list.⁠¹⁷ A school-year VPK program provides 540 instructional hours. A single lead instructor may teach up to 11 children and must hold at least a Florida Child Care Professional Credential.⁠¹⁷⁠¹⁸ To become a provider, contact the early learning coalition for your county.⁠¹⁸

Recent changes

• New name in the statutes. Ch. 2026-140, Laws of Florida (CS/CS/CS/SB 1690, approved June 12, 2026), changed “family day care home” to “family child care home” in Chapter 402 and the other statutes it amended, effective July 1, 2026; the statute editors made the same change everywhere else in the 2026 Florida Statutes.⁠²¹⁠¹ Many DCF forms and pages, and the title of Rule chapter 65C-20, still use the old name, so you will see both.⁠⁵⁠²
• Fewer parent notices. The same act deleted the requirements that homes and large homes give parents influenza information each August and September and hot-car warnings each April and September.⁠²¹
• Homeowner’s insurance. The act also extended Fla. Stat. 627.70161 to large homes: a residential property policy does not cover liability from operating a family or large family child care home unless the policy, a rider or a business endorsement specifically covers it, and an insurer may not deny, cancel or refuse to renew solely because you run one (with exceptions).⁠²¹
• New handbook and rules. Amended Rules 65C-20.008 and 65C-20.012 took effect September 1, 2026. They adopt the December 2025 handbook and new December 2025 violation classification forms.⁠²⁠⁴
• Abbreviated inspections. Ch. 2025-181 revised the conditions for abbreviated inspections, and DCF amended its family home rule to match.⁠¹⁠²

Sources

1. 1
   The Florida Legislature, Florida Statutes, Chapter 402 (ss. 402.301-402.319, child care), 2026 Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
2. 2
   Florida Department of State, Florida Administrative Code, Rule 65C-20.008, Application (effective 9/1/2026) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
3. 3
   Florida Department of Children and Families, via Florida Administrative Code Ref-19079, Family Child Care Home and Large Family Child Care Home Handbook (December 2025) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
4. 4
   Florida Department of State, Florida Administrative Code, Rule 65C-20.012, Enforcement (effective 9/1/2026) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
5. 5
   Florida Department of Children and Families, About Family Child Care Home Registration Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
6. 6
   Florida Department of Children and Families, About Child Care Licensure Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
7. 7
   Florida Department of Children and Families, Becoming a Registered Family Day Care Home Provider (August 2021) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
8. 8
   Florida Department of Children and Families, Opening a Licensed Family Day Care Home (December 2019) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
9. 9
   Florida Department of Children and Families, Opening a Licensed Large Family Child Care Home (December 2019) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
10. 10
    The Florida Legislature, Florida Statutes s. 125.0109, Family child care homes; local zoning regulation Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
11. 11
    Broward County Consumer Protection Division, Child Care Licensing Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
12. 12
    Broward County, Child Care Licensing and Enforcement Section Fee Schedule, October 1, 2026 - September 30, 2027 Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
13. 13
    Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach County, Child Care Licensing Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
14. 14
    Florida Department of Health in Pinellas County (Pinellas County Licensing Board), Family Child Care Homes Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
15. 15
    Florida Department of Health in Sarasota County, Group Care Facilities (child care licensing) and Family Child Care Homes Ordinance Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
16. 16
    The Florida Legislature, Florida Statutes s. 1002.88, School readiness program provider standards Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
17. 17
    The Florida Legislature, Florida Statutes s. 1002.55, School-year prekindergarten program delivered by private prekindergarten providers Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
18. 18
    Florida Department of Education, Division of Early Learning, Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) Providers Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
19. 19
    Florida Department of Children and Families, CARES User Guide: How to Apply Online for a Family Day Care Home License Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
20. 20
    Florida Department of Children and Families, Registered Family Day Care Initial Checklist Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
21. 21
    Florida Department of State, Laws of Florida, Chapter 2026-140, Laws of Florida (CS/CS/CS/SB 1690) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
22. 22
    The Florida Legislature, Florida Statutes s. 404.056, Environmental radiation standards; mandatory testing Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑

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