Massachusetts family child care license: the EEC route from 6 to 10 children

When home child care needs an EEC license

606 CMR 7.00 defines family child care as care “provided in a private residence during part or all of the day for no more than ten children younger than 14 years old,” or younger than 16 if the children have special needs.⁠⁷ The statute excludes an “informal cooperative arrangement among neighbors or relatives” and “the occasional care of children with or without compensation.”⁠⁸ EEC’s policy statement puts numbers on both exemptions:⁠¹⁰

• Regular basis. Care is licensable only if it is available “for more than one day per week and for more than eight weeks in a twelve-month period.” Care that fails either test does not need a license.
• Occasional care. No child is present more than one day a week or more than 8 hours in a week, or no child stays more than 30 days from the first day of placement.
• Informal cooperative arrangement. All the children are related to you by blood, marriage or adoption; or parents swap care equally with no hired help and no compensation of any kind; or you care for a single unrelated child whose parents you knew, through friendship, school, church or similar ties, before the care began.

You cannot mix the two: “Exempt care cannot be combined with licensed care.”⁠¹⁰ If you are licensed, every child counts under the license.

Two neighboring licenses get confused with this one. Care for 10 or fewer children outside a private residence (a storefront or church hall, for example) is Small Group and School Age Child Care. More than 10 children is Large Group and School Age Child Care. Both are covered in the group and school-age guide.⁠⁷ One person may hold only one family child care license.⁠⁷

The three capacity tiers, and why you start at six

The statute caps an ordinary family child care home at 6 children under 16, “including participating children living in the residence.” It requires a “large family child care home” to have “at least 1 approved assistant when the total number of children participating in child care exceeds 6.”⁠⁸ The regulation turns that into three tiers. Each has its own experience bar, so the tier you can apply for depends on your history.⁠⁷

For the two larger tiers, 3 college credits in education or early childhood education can replace 6 months of the “additional” experience, and 6 credits can replace 9 months.⁠⁷ The required years are FCC licensee or certified-assistant time, so a new applicant cannot open above 6 children.

Counting children toward capacity

606 CMR 7.03(5)(c) treats these children as being in your care, so they use capacity slots:⁠⁷

1. Your preschoolers

   Every child living in the home who is younger than school age.

2. Home-schooled children

   Every home-schooled child living in the home, at any age.

3. Other young residents

   Any child under 10 who lives in the home and is present more than three consecutive hours on each of five consecutive weekdays.

4. Visitors

   Anyone under 14 who does not live in the home and is present while care is provided.

5. Overnight

   During overnight care, everyone under 18 in the home.

Who can be the licensee

You must be at least 18 and meet one of five experience routes for the up-to-6 tier:⁠²⁠⁷

• 1 year of experience as a parent;
• 1 year of full-time experience caring for children under 12;
• 6 months full-time with children under 12 plus 30 hours of EEC-approved training;
• 9 months full-time with children under 14 plus 15 hours of EEC-approved training; or
• EEC teacher, lead teacher or director certification.

The regulation adds that the 15 and 30 training hours do not include the EEC orientation.⁠⁷ You also need first aid and infant and child CPR certification, and a completed Family Child Care Medical Form from a health care professional confirming you are in good physical and mental health to care for children.⁠² Before licensure you must show proof from a licensed health care practitioner that you are immunized according to Department of Public Health recommendations (606 CMR 7.09(11)(b)).⁠¹¹ EEC can also ask for a health statement for any household member or person regularly on the premises.⁠⁷

Assistants

The regulation recognizes two kinds of assistant, each holding an EEC certificate:⁠⁷

• Certified assistant. Meets at least the qualifications of a provider licensed for six. One who matches your own qualifications can replace you at any time with advance notice to parents. One qualified only at the 6-child level can substitute in a home licensed for up to 10 for no more than 25 hours in a 12-month period.
• Regular assistant. Has lower qualifications than you and works under your general supervision. They may be alone with up to six children for no more than 25 hours in 12 months or 8 hours in 7 days, and only with valid first aid and CPR certification. In a home licensed for 7 or more, a regular assistant may work only under a licensee or certified assistant.

Volunteers count toward FCC ratios only if they are at least 18 and assigned to the program for at least three months.⁠⁷

Training before you can apply

EEC requires about 16 hours of training before you submit an application.⁠¹ First create two accounts: an EEC Professional Qualifications (PQ) number and a StrongStart account, the EEC online training system.⁠³ Then complete:⁠³

The online courses are offered in Spanish, Portuguese and Mandarin as well as English. The PEM is offered in Spanish and Portuguese.⁠³ The regulation separately requires the licensee to attend an EEC-approved orientation “within one year prior to licensure,” so do not finish training long before you plan to apply.⁠⁷

Your home: location, exits, space and safety

Where care may be provided

FCC can operate in a house, apartment or condo. If you rent, you need your landlord’s permission, and a homeowners or condo association may also have to approve.⁠² The regulation requires a dwelling with complete independent living facilities. It must be either the full-time legal residence of the licensee or of someone personally known to the licensee, or an unoccupied unit in one of three set-ups: on the same property as your single-family home; the other side of a duplex you live in; or a building of no more than three stories, one unit per floor, where you live in another unit.⁠⁷

Zoning is not a hurdle. M.G.L. c. 40A, s. 3 says family child care homes and large family child care homes “shall be an allowable use and no city or town shall prohibit or regulate such use in its zoning ordinances or by-laws.”⁠⁹ A building inspection certificate is required only for programs outside a residence or licensed for more than ten, so a family child care home does not need one under 606 CMR 7.07(2).⁠⁷ If your water comes from a private well, it must be inspected and approved by the local board of health or a private laboratory within one year of licensure.⁠⁷

Physical requirements

• Exits. At least two separate exits to the outside, approved by EEC and kept free of hazards.⁠²⁠⁷ A basement used for child care needs its own two means of egress directly outside. Homes continuously licensed since before October 10, 2003 are exempt from the basement rule until a substantial basement renovation.⁠⁷
• Indoor space. At least 150 square feet of approved activity space for one or two children, 225 square feet for three to six, and 35 square feet per child for seven to ten. The space may span no more than two adjacent floors, and only one nap-only area counts.⁠⁷ EEC’s summary page shortens this to 35 square feet per child.⁠²
• Outdoor space. At least 75 square feet per child outside at one time.⁠⁷ Busy streets, poisonous plants, bodies of water, pools or dangerous machinery mean you need an enclosed play area.⁠²
• Smoke detectors. On every level including the basement, near the base of each stairway, and outside each separate sleeping area. Test them monthly in a safety log and change batteries at least yearly.⁠⁷ Carbon monoxide detectors must follow the state fire code.⁠⁷
• Lead. Give parents written information on lead poisoning and a disclosure of any known lead source in the home, and keep their signed acknowledgment. If a pre-1978 home has chipping or peeling paint, parents must be notified in writing.⁠⁷
• Playgrounds. Equipment in homes first licensed after January 22, 2010 must sit in use zones with impact-absorbing surfacing. Pea gravel and wood chip nuggets may not be used where infants and toddlers play.⁠⁷
• Pools. Pools must be made inaccessible with fences, self-locking gates or other barriers when not in use, and a second adult must be on the premises whenever children swim (wading pools excepted).⁠⁷
• Firearms. Keep firearms unloaded and either locked in a cabinet or trigger-locked, with ammunition stored separately. Notify EEC whenever a firearm is brought into the home, and tell parents in writing at enrollment.⁠⁷

Smoking and alcohol are banned on the premises during care hours. Parents must be told in writing before a pet joins the program.⁠⁷ EEC publishes its FCC policies (busy streets, peeling paint, exits and evacuations, playground safety and others) on one list page linked from its requirements page.⁠²

Background record checks for the whole household

You, every household member, and every frequent visitor aged 15 or older must pass an EEC background record check (BRC). That includes anyone who lives in the home, whether or not they help with care, anyone who “frequently and predictably” visits (a relative, house cleaner or friend), and anyone who helps run the program, paid or unpaid.⁠² For licensing purposes a household member is anyone who has lived in the home for 30 consecutive days or more.⁠⁷

The BRC starts after you submit the LEAD application, when EEC emails each person a consent form. Each person then gets instructions for an in-person fingerprint appointment.⁠⁴⁠⁵ Fingerprints run state and national checks: Massachusetts CORI (including juvenile and sealed records and non-convictions), Department of Children and Families supported 51B findings of abuse or neglect, the Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry, the FBI and the National Sex Offender Registry. Anyone who lived outside Massachusetts in the past five years also gets out-of-state checks.⁠⁵

The EEC family child care steps pages do not state a fingerprinting fee. An EEC background-check FAQ written for funded programs says fingerprinting costs $35 per person.⁠¹⁷ Ask your regional office, and check the fee when you book the appointment, whether that figure applies to your household’s checks.

Applying in LEAD, step by step

1. Confirm eligibility

   Check the experience routes, first aid/CPR, medical form, space and household BRC requirements above. EEC says that if you do not meet them, “you likely aren’t ready to apply.”⁠¹

2. Finish the training

   Complete PPT, EEC Essentials 2.0 and the in-person PEM.⁠³

3. Get LEAD access

   Request an account in the Licensing Education Analytic Database (LEAD) online or through your EEC regional office. Once you start the application you have 90 days to complete the process.⁠⁴

4. Submit the licensing transaction

   LEAD asks about you, your household members and your indoor and outdoor space. Upload first aid/CPR certificates, the medical form, training certificates and any indoor/outdoor safety or operations forms EEC requests.⁠⁴ The regulation also lists the lead paint disclosure, health records, written parent information, children’s record forms and a volunteer plan if you will use volunteers.⁠⁷

5. Sign the tax certification and BRC consent

   Two emails follow submission. In the tax certification statement you attest that you have filed and paid all Massachusetts taxes (the REAP requirement). The consent form starts your BRC.⁠⁴⁠⁷

6. Set up the home as if it were opening day

   EEC expects the home to “look exactly as it will on your first day of operation” before the visit, with enough age-appropriate toys and equipment for the children you plan to enroll.⁠¹⁠⁶

7. Pre-licensing visit

   The licensor spends 1-2 hours checking safety and confirming you have printed, reviewed and, where needed, completed the EEC FCC Enrollment Packet, Parent Handbook, Sample Forms, Safe Sleep Pledge and progress reports.⁠⁶

8. Clear follow-up items

   Licensor notes appear in LEAD 1-2 days after the visit. Follow-up items are due within 2 weeks, corrective action plans need notes and photos, and some items trigger a second visit.⁠⁶

Your written emergency plan must name a back-up caregiver who can reach your home within ten minutes to take over if you or someone in your family has a medical emergency.⁠⁷ Monthly evacuation drills from each floor of the approved space, documented with date, time, exit used and number of children, start once you open.⁠⁷

Ratios and day-to-day supervision

Family child care uses the multi-age group ratios in 606 CMR 7.10(4):⁠⁷

Children must stay on the same floor as the educator, napping children must be checked visually at least every 15 minutes with the door left ajar, and any infant enrolled before 6 months old must be under direct visual supervision, naps included, for the first six weeks.⁠⁷ Children 5 or older may play outdoors without you for up to an hour, with written parent permission, but only in a yard of a single-family or first-floor home enclosed by a fence at least four feet high, with a check every 15 minutes.⁠⁷ No educator may regularly care for children more than 12 hours in a 24-hour period. Regular overnight care needs EEC’s written approval of an evacuation plan first, and for 7-10 children two educators must be on site, one awake all night.⁠⁷

Infant safe sleep: new policy from November 1, 2026

EEC released Safe Sleep for Infants, Policy FO-26-05, on September 9, 2026. It takes effect November 1, 2026 and applies to all licensed and funded programs.⁠¹³ Infants under 12 months must be placed on their backs in an individual crib, portacrib, playpen or bassinet with a firm, properly fitted mattress, and may not sleep in car seats, swings or bouncy seats. Weighted blankets, swaddles, sleep sacks and other weighted items are prohibited. An infant may be swaddled only with written documentation from the child’s health care provider that swaddling is medically necessary.⁠¹³

Enforcement escalates by citation.⁠¹³

• First citation. You send a letter home the same day to each involved infant’s family. Every educator involved completes an EEC Safe Sleep course on StrongStart within 10 business days, and a licensor makes an unannounced follow-up visit within the same window.
• Second citation. You notify the parents of every enrolled infant, attend an office conference with the regional office, and keep a daily infant sleep log.
• Further violations. Infant care stops at the close of business that day.

Fees, license term and renewal

As published on 2026-10-12, EEC charges no fee to apply for a family child care license.⁠¹ A regular FCC license is valid for three years from issuance.⁠⁷ File the renewal application on EEC forms, with “any required application fee,” at least 30 days before the license expires (the rule does not name a fee amount; ask your licensor), attend a license renewal meeting, and submit any written plans you revised during the license period plus up-to-date inspection certificates.⁠⁷ FCC educators working more than ten hours a week must complete at least 10 hours of professional development a year. Those working more than 25 hours a year but under ten hours a week must complete 5. At least one third must address diverse learners, and first aid/CPR training does not count toward the total.⁠⁷ CPR must be renewed before the expiration date on the certificate.⁠⁷

EEC must make at least one pre-licensing visit and at least one unannounced visit a year to every licensed program, using differential monitoring to set what each visit covers. This follows the federal Child Care and Development Fund rule at 45 CFR 98.42.⁠¹² Between visits, notify EEC in writing within five days of certain legal proceedings involving you, a household member or a person regularly in the home; at least ten days before moving; within seven days of approval as a foster or adoptive placement; and whenever a firearm comes into the home.⁠⁷ A licensee who stops providing care can choose inactive status and return the license to EEC rather than give it up.⁠⁷

Subsidies, C3 grants and family child care systems

Two state funding streams reach family child care homes. Child Care Financial Assistance (CCFA) covers care for eligible families. A provider that takes only vouchers, with no contracted slots, completes the CCFA Attendance training through its regional Child Care Resource and Referral agency (CCR&R).⁠¹⁵ A $20 million appropriation funded higher CCFA reimbursement rates for family child care and centers; updated rates appear from April 1, 2026, retroactive to July 1, 2025.⁠¹⁵

Commonwealth Cares for Children (C3) grants are monthly, non-competitive operating grants open to all EEC-licensed providers serving children, whether or not they enroll subsidized families. To qualify you must accept children with vouchers or offer equivalent care.⁠¹⁴ Newly licensed providers are admitted “should funding be available,” judged in a quarterly fiscal review. Family child care providers are exempt from the rule that centers spend 50% of C3 funds on workforce costs. Homes with at least 3 children enrolled on average receive the full base rate.⁠¹⁴ On 2026-10-12 the C3 page still described fiscal year 2026 terms.

Some homes affiliate with a family child care system, an organization that contracts with approved member homes to provide training, monitoring, referrals and administrative support.⁠⁸ Systems are not a separate license tier: you still hold your own EEC license, and you must tell EEC if you join or leave one.⁠⁷

What is changing

• Safe sleep (November 1, 2026). Policy FO-26-05 takes effect, with the weighted-item ban, the swaddling restriction and the citation steps described above.⁠¹³
• Regulation rewrite. EEC told its Board in October 2023 that its early education and out-of-school time regulations, which include 606 CMR 7.00, “have not seen a comprehensive revision since 2010,” and that a 2021 review that had been paused was being relaunched.⁠¹⁶ As of 2026-10-12, EEC’s proposed-amendments page says it has no proposed amendments to its regulations at this time, and EEC still links the December 24, 2021 Register version.⁠¹⁸⁠⁷ Ask your licensor whether a rewrite is scheduled before you rely on any rule here for a multi-year plan.
• 2021 amendments still in force. That version includes CPR renewal tied to the certificate’s expiration date, and authority for the Commissioner to revise or rescind educator qualification and professional development requirements during a significant workforce shortage (606 CMR 7.09(20)).⁠⁷

Sources

1. 1
   Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, Become a Family Child Care Provider (published February 17, 2026) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
2. 2
   Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, 1. Check if you meet FCC licensing requirements Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
3. 3
   Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, 2. Complete FCC program trainings Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
4. 4
   Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, 3. Submit your FCC license application Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
5. 5
   Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, 4. Complete your FCC background record check Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
6. 6
   Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, 6. Complete your FCC pre-licensing visit Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
7. 7
   Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, 606 CMR 7.00, Standards for the Licensure or Approval of Family Child Care; Small Group and School Age and Large Group and School Age Child Care Programs (Mass. Register #1459, 12/24/21) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
8. 8
   The General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, M.G.L. c. 15D, s. 1A, Definitions Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
9. 9
   The General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, M.G.L. c. 40A, s. 3, Subjects which zoning may not regulate Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
10. 10
    Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, Policy Statement: Informal Cooperative Arrangement and Occasional Care Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
11. 11
    Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, Policy Statement: Immunization Requirements for Educators Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
12. 12
    Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, EEC Inspections and Visits Policy (updated April 4, 2020) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
13. 13
    Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, Safe Sleep for Infants, Policy FO-26-05 (effective November 1, 2026) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
14. 14
    Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, Commonwealth Cares for Children (C3) Grants Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
15. 15
    Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, Managing Child Care Financial Assistance Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
16. 16
    Massachusetts Board of Early Education and Care, October EEC Board Meeting Slide Deck (October 11, 2023) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
17. 17
    Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, Frequently Asked Questions on EEC's Background Record Check Process for EEC Funded Programs Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
18. 18
    Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, Early Education & Care (EEC) Proposed Amendments to Regulations Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑

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