New Jersey child care center license: DCF Office of Licensing rules and steps

The six-child rule, and why it reaches into homes

New Jersey law defines a child care center as “any home or facility, by whatever name known” that cares for six or more children under 13 who attend for less than 24 hours a day ⁠¹. The word “home” in that definition matters. New Jersey has no licensed group or large family child care home tier. A home-based provider can register with the county Child Care Resource and Referral agency and care for up to five children (see the family child care provider registration guide). Caring for a sixth child requires a full center license from DCF’s Office of Licensing (OOL), with the same building, staffing and program rules as any commercial center ⁠¹⁠².

Two counting rules decide whether you cross the line:

• If the center is in the sponsor’s own home, the sponsor’s resident children do not count toward the six ⁠¹.
• Once you hold a license, you stay subject to N.J.A.C. 3A:52 even if enrollment later falls below six. The flip side: OOL cannot complete your initial program inspection unless at least six children are present ⁠¹.

The rule lists, by name, programs that count as centers. These include drop-in and night-time centers, county or municipal recreation-department programs, nursery and play schools, centers for sick children, infant-toddler programs, school-age programs, and kindergartens or pre-K classes that are not an integral part of a private K-6 school ⁠¹. Hours are capped too. A daytime center may not regularly care for a child more than 12 hours in a 24-hour period. An overnight center’s cap is 16 hours ⁠¹. Operating without a license is a fourth-degree crime under N.J.S.A. 30:5B-13 ⁠¹.

Programs that fall outside the license

N.J.A.C. 3A:52-1.2(c) and 1.3 separate programs that are not centers at all from programs that are exempt ⁠¹:

• Not centers: fewer than six children; drop-in care of no more than two hours while the parent stays in the same building (a gym or bowling alley, for example); programs on federal property; registered family child care homes; open-door programs where the program takes on no responsibility for the child; ad hoc care during emergencies or conferences ⁠¹.
• Exempt: programs run by a public school board; pre-K or child care that a private K-6 school operates directly, with staff it pays itself, as an integral part of the school; religious instruction for children 2 and older (no more than two hours a day for children under 6); care during religious services; single-activity programs such as sports, dance or art (two-hour daily limit for children under 6); homework or tutoring programs that file supporting documentation; youth camps licensed by the Department of Health; DCF regional schools; and Department of Education-approved private special-education preschools ⁠¹.

The youth camp exemption is narrow. A camp sponsor that also runs a child care center still needs a center license for it ⁠¹.

A third status sits between full licensure and exemption: the Certificate of Life/Safety Approval. It covers seasonal programs that run eight weeks or less, and church aid-society centers that were operating on or before May 16, 1984. These programs follow the physical facility, life safety, medication, sanitation, supervision, staffing-minimum and discipline rules. The certificate costs $110. If a licensed center adds a seasonal program at the same site, the certificate carries no extra fee ⁠¹.

Finding a building: zoning, the CO and the use group

DCF’s own start-up instructions begin with the site, not the application ⁠². In order:

1. Zoning

   Ask the municipal construction official whether the property is zoned for a child care center. If it is not in a business zone, you need a variance from the municipality ⁠².

2. Certificate of Occupancy

   For new construction, a change of use group, or a major alteration, the municipality must issue a CO under the New Jersey Uniform Construction Code (N.J.A.C. 5:23) in one of these groups ⁠¹⁠²:

   • I-4 (Institutional) if the building will hold even one child younger than 2½;

   • E (Educational)

     for six or more children 2½ and older;

   • A-3 (Assembly)

     , or I-4 or E, for school-age-only programs. DCF’s FAQ also lists A-4 ⁠².

   • Courtesy inspection and plan review

     Once you know the site is zoned for a center, OOL will do a courtesy inspection, and it reviews architectural plans for new construction and renovations. Both services are free ⁠². For a new building or a renovation, the rule is stricter than courtesy: you must send OOL your preliminary or final drawings and get OOL’s final approval before construction starts. That is in addition to filing them with the local construction official ⁠¹.

An existing building may not need a new CO. If it was built after the UCC was adopted in 1977, already carries an E, I-2, I-4, A-3 or A-4 classification, and has had no major alterations, you submit its original CO. A building that has housed a center since before 1977 uses a Certificate of Continued Occupancy plus a fire safety inspection certificate. A program serving only children 2½ and older inside a working public school can submit a fire safety inspection certificate from the last 12 months instead ⁠¹. You need a new CO if you change use group, make a major alteration, add floor area or stories, or relocate ⁠¹.

You also need two fire-side documents: a Life Hazard Use Registration certificate under the Uniform Fire Safety Act that matches your capacity and ages served (posted in the center), and a municipal fire safety inspection certificate based on an inspection within the past 12 months ⁠¹.

Environmental screens that can kill a site

New Jersey screens child care sites for contamination more closely than most states. Check these before you sign a lease:

• Banned former uses. No new or relocating center may open, after March 6, 2018, in a building that was formerly a dry cleaner or funeral home ⁠¹.
• Prior-use certification. At initial application, renewal and relocation, you must certify in writing whether the building ever housed a UCC Group F (factory/industrial), H (high hazard), S (storage), B dry cleaner or nail salon, M gas station, or A funeral home use. For a building older than the UCC, you need at least a Preliminary Assessment under the DEP Technical Requirements for Site Remediation (N.J.A.C. 7:26E). If any listed use turns up, you must also: certify compliance with the site remediation laws and DEP’s child care guidance; contact DEP and complete any corrective actions it recommends; and have a Licensed Indoor Environmental Consultant perform an Indoor Environmental Health Assessment, which goes to the Department of Health ⁠¹.
• Drinking water. You certify that the center has a potable water supply from a public community water system. On that supply you submit lead and copper results from a DEP-certified lab, covering every faucet used for drinking or food preparation and at least 50 percent of all indoor faucets. A center without public water must instead submit sampling results showing it meets the maximum contaminant levels for public non-transient, non-community systems ⁠¹. DCF has applied these water rules to all centers since March 6, 2017. The report is attached to DCF’s Drinking Water Testing Checklist and Statement of Assurance ⁠².
• Radon. Test every classroom on the lowest floor children use at least once every five years, and post the results ⁠¹.
• Lead paint. A DCA-certified Lead Inspector/Risk Assessor must inspect all painted surfaces. This does not apply if the building was constructed after 1978, or if you have documentation of an earlier inspection showing no lead hazards. Any hazards found must be abated by a certified contractor ⁠¹.
• Multi-use buildings. If the center will share a building with other tenants, say so on the application. OOL can require a separate entrance, separate toilets or a separate floor, and can bar shared hallways or gyms ⁠¹.

Space, toilets and outdoor play

Licensed capacity is the most children OOL approves for the rooms it accepts as licensed space ⁠¹. Indoor space is measured as usable activity floor space. Hallways, toilets, offices, storage, staff rooms, kitchens, lockers and fixed equipment are excluded ⁠¹.

Sources: ⁠¹.

The outdoor area for newer centers must be close by, on a safe walking route ⁠¹. If outdoor space at the site is impossible, OOL may waive it, but only if three conditions are met: no workable site exists in the same area, OOL finds a compelling local need for child care, and you set aside an indoor active play area outside licensed capacity. That area must give 35 square feet per child for at least 25 percent of capacity, with a 350 square foot minimum ⁠¹. Playgrounds, including community playgrounds you take children to, must meet the Playground Safety Subcode ⁠¹.

The pending 42-square-foot rule

On July 7, 2025, DCF published a reproposal (PRN 2025-088) to amend N.J.A.C. 3A:52-5.3. It would raise indoor space from 35 to 42 square feet per child, per classroom, for centers first licensed six months or more after the amendment takes effect. The aim is to match the floor space standard the Department of Education proposed for state-funded preschool classrooms. The comment period ran to September 5, 2025 ⁠⁴. As of October 12, 2026, DCF’s public notices page still lists the change only as a proposal and shows no adoption ⁠⁵. The sources checked do not say whether the amendment was adopted, withdrawn or allowed to lapse, and the reproposal gives no adoption date. Until DCF lists an adoption, the 35 and 30 square foot figures in N.J.A.C. 3A:52-5.3(q)3 are the ones in the published manual. If you are designing a new building, ask OOL during plan review which standard it will apply to your first license.

Who must be on staff

Every center has a sponsor (the licensee). If the sponsor is a corporation, partnership or board, it names an individual sponsor representative. For school-age programs, that representative must hold a bachelor’s degree ⁠¹. The center also needs a director and qualified program staff whose required credentials depend on licensed capacity ⁠¹. One person can hold more than one role. A sponsor can also serve as director, and a director can count as a required teacher ⁠¹.

Director qualifications ⁠¹:

• Early childhood program licensed for more than 30 children: a master’s degree in a field related to children or business, or a bachelor’s degree plus one year of managerial or supervisory experience.
• Early childhood program for 30 or fewer: the group teacher qualifications.
• School-age program: the program supervisor qualifications.

The director must be scheduled at the center for at least 50 percent of daily operating hours. Either the director or a designee must be on the premises whenever the center is open. A designee cannot have full-time classroom duties while covering, and must complete OOL’s licensing-rules training and 20 hours of training a year ⁠¹.

Sources: ⁠¹. The chart continues in steps of 60 children up to 540. A center for 6 to 30 children where at least half the children have special needs must have a head teacher ⁠¹.

Head teacher qualifications can be met seven ways (Options A-G). Examples: a bachelor’s degree in education, psychology, health care, nursing or another child-development field, or a P-3, elementary, nursery or Teacher of the Handicapped certification, plus six college credits in early childhood education and two years of full-time experience with children under 6; Montessori training equivalent to a bachelor’s plus two years of experience; or a Head Teacher endorsement from Professional Impact New Jersey ⁠¹. OOL can grant conditional approval for up to two years to someone with the degree but not yet the credits or experience. During that time the center must also use a consulting head teacher ⁠¹. Head teachers and group teachers must be scheduled for at least 75 percent of daily operating hours or six hours a day, whichever is less. A consulting head teacher must visit at least twice a month and keep written records of each visit ⁠¹.

A group teacher needs one year of teaching experience in a group program for children under 6, plus one of these: an associate degree in early childhood education or child development; 6 early childhood credits plus 9 related credits; a CDA; a Certified Child Care Professional certificate; a Professional Impact NJ Group Teacher endorsement; or the New Jersey Infant/Toddler Credential ⁠¹.

School-age programs need one program supervisor per site for capacities of 6 to 180, two for 181 to 360, and three for 361 to 540 ⁠¹. Supervisor qualifications rise with capacity:

• 6 to 15 children: a high school diploma or GED, 6 hours of child care training and 2 years of experience.
• 16 to 30 children: the same diploma and training with 3 years of experience.
• Larger programs: options that combine a CDA, college credits, a bachelor’s degree or a recreation certification with program-management training.

The required training must be finished within nine months of OOL approving the supervisor ⁠¹.

Ratios and group sizes

Sources: ⁠¹.

How ratios are counted ⁠¹:

• Per room, rounded up. Ratios apply to the actual children present in each room or divided area. Any fraction means one more staff member. In mixed-age rooms, compute each age group to the nearest tenth, add them, and round up.
• Lower ratios at rest only under conditions. A staff member must be in the nap room, and enough staff must be in the building to meet the awake ratios.
• Special-needs centers. Where at least half the children have special needs, ratios drop to 1:3 for children under 2½ and for non-ambulatory older children, and 1:5 for ambulatory children 2½ and older.
• Two-adult minimum. An early childhood program needs at least two staff present, one of them 18 or older, once six children under 6 are there.
• Minimum ages. Staff count toward the ratio from age 14 in early childhood programs and from age 16 in school-age programs. Staff under 18 must work in sight of an adult staff member.
• Field trips. At least two staff go on every field trip.

Group sizes ⁠¹:

• Infants and toddlers: each primary caregiver has a defined group of four infants or six toddlers. A room with more than 12 infants or 20 toddlers must be partitioned.
• Children 2½ and older: groups top out at 20.
• School-age programs: groups top out at 30.

Background checks and pre-hire records

Before anyone works on a regular schedule, the center completes OOL’s Staff Records Checklist for that person. It covers education and experience, a conviction disclosure, a Mantoux tuberculin test, a physical exam, two references, and both background checks ⁠¹.

• CARI (Child Abuse Record Information). Required for the sponsor and every regularly scheduled staff member, at any age. The center pays $10 per check to “Treasurer, State of New Jersey.” DCF answers within 45 working days ⁠¹⁠².
• CHRI (Criminal History Record Information). Required for the sponsor and staff 18 and older, through electronic fingerprinting with the State-authorized vendor (State Police and FBI). New hires must be fingerprinted within two weeks of starting. If the sponsor refuses, the application is denied ⁠¹. DHS’s CHRI unit answers questions at 609-633-3761 ⁠².

The sponsor must also disclose in writing any earlier denial, suspension, revocation or non-renewal of a center license, whether in New Jersey or another state. A past action does not automatically disqualify you, but OOL will investigate it ⁠¹.

Training before and after opening

• Orientation within two weeks of hire, on 12 required topics, including child tracking, abuse reporting, evacuation, safe sleep, abusive head trauma and allergy emergencies. No one may be left alone with children until orientation is done ⁠¹.
• Annual hours: 12 hours a year for all staff. The director, head teachers, group teachers and program supervisors need 20 hours a year instead ⁠¹.
• Director licensing training: OOL’s training on licensing regulations, within 90 days of hire. It counts toward the 20 hours ⁠¹.
• Infant/toddler training for anyone working with children under 2½: start within 90 days and finish within one year ⁠¹.
• First aid and CPR: at least two staff with current certification, including a hands-on component, must be in the center whenever children are present ⁠¹.

Paperwork the rule requires on day one

Three requirements need to be in place before opening:

• Insurance. The sponsor must carry comprehensive general liability insurance and keep proof on file. Centers that transport children also need vehicle insurance ⁠¹⁠².
• Phone and email. The center needs its own telephone and an email account that the director checks regularly ⁠¹.
• Information to Parents document. Every parent and every staff member receives OOL’s designated Information to Parents document, and staff sign that they received it ⁠¹.

DCF’s Licensing and Billing page posts the forms OOL expects to see, including the Center Self-Assessment Checklist, the children’s and staff records checklists, and the drinking water checklist ⁠². Centers must also review the federal CPSC list of unsafe children’s products every year ⁠².

Applying and getting the first license

1. Confirm the site

   Get zoning approval or a variance, the CO in the correct use group, and the environmental certifications described above. Ask OOL for its free courtesy inspection ⁠¹⁠².

2. File through NJCCIS

   DCF links the Child Care Center Application to the NJCCIS portal. File at least 45 days before your planned opening. The same deadline applies to relocations and renewals ⁠¹⁠².

3. Pay the fee

   Pay the capacity-based fee with the application (table below). If you are denied or never open, the fee is refunded. Once a license issues, it is not ⁠¹.

4. Pass the life/safety review

   OOL will not issue even a temporary first license until you submit a satisfactory CO and documentation that you meet the state physical facility rules in N.J.A.C. 3A:52-5.2 through 5.6 ⁠¹.

5. Receive a temporary or regular license

   A center in full compliance gets a regular license. One in substantial compliance with no serious hazard gets a temporary license of up to six months, along with written steps to reach full compliance. Temporary licenses can be reissued, but a center cannot operate on them for more than 18 months in total ⁠¹.

6. Program inspection with children present

   OOL needs at least six children in attendance to complete the initial program inspection ⁠¹.

Sources: ⁠¹. Pay by check or money order to “Treasurer, State of New Jersey” ⁠¹.

The license names a specific sponsor and a specific address and cannot be transferred, so a buyer of an existing center applies for its own license ⁠¹. Two buildings can share one license only if they are on the same or adjoining property, have the same director, and OOL agrees. Otherwise each building needs its own license ⁠¹.

After you open

A licensing period is three years. For a first license, it runs from the date the first temporary or regular license was issued ⁠¹. OOL inspects every year for monitoring, does a renewal inspection every three years, and investigates complaints ⁠³. The renewal application is due 45 days before the license expires ⁠¹. Changes have their own deadlines ⁠¹:

• Next working day (verbal): a hospitalization or death of a child, fire or storm damage, plans to use emergency space, a permanent closure, or any staff conviction.
• Before the change: changes to your application information, including location, require a verbal notice at least three working days ahead and a written notice within 30 days.

A center with no children in attendance for six months or more is treated as closed and must get a new license to reopen ⁠¹.

Subsidy and quality rating

Families using the state Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP), run by the Department of Human Services’ Division of Family Development, can only use providers licensed or registered by DCF’s Office of Licensing (or approved by DFD) ⁠⁶. CCAP providers also have to meet the federal Child Care and Development Block Grant requirements ⁠⁶:

• Comprehensive background checks. These go beyond the state’s CARI and CHRI checks: criminal, sex offender and child abuse registries in every state where a staff member lived in the past five years, plus NCIC, FBI fingerprints and the National Sex Offender Registry. CCDBG also lists disqualifying crimes.
• Health and safety training. All direct-care staff complete DFD-standard training, including pediatric first aid and CPR, within two weeks of hire.

Grow NJ Kids, New Jersey’s quality rating system, enrolls centers through NJCCIS. You must finish an online orientation within 30 days of acceptance; programs that have not finished it within 90 days are disengaged. A first rating takes about 18 months on average, and a star rating lasts three years. Ratings are issued per site ⁠⁷.

Sources

1. 1
   New Jersey Department of Children and Families, Office of Licensing, N.J.A.C. 3A:52, Manual of Requirements for Child Care Centers (effective December 20, 2023, expires December 20, 2030) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
2. 2
   New Jersey Department of Children and Families, Licensing and Billing: information for child care providers and provider FAQs Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
3. 3
   New Jersey Department of Children and Families, Office of Licensing Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
4. 4
   New Jersey Department of Children and Families, Notice of reproposal, N.J.A.C. 3A:52-5.3, PRN 2025-088 (57 N.J.R. 1407, July 7, 2025) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
5. 5
   New Jersey Department of Children and Families, Public Notices (rule proposals and adoptions) Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
6. 6
   New Jersey Department of Human Services, Division of Family Development, Provider Eligibility for CCAP Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
7. 7
   New Jersey Department of Human Services, Division of Family Development, Participating in Grow NJ Kids Checked 12 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑

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