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Home Daycare License Requirements in California (2026)

Opening a home daycare in California means getting a family child care home license from the CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES (CDSS), COMMUNITY CARE LICENSING DIVISION (CCLD), CHILD CARE PROGRAM. Here is exactly what that takes in 2026 — your capacity limit and ratios, the training and background checks, the application steps, and the postings and enrollment forms you need — sourced to the state’s own rules and dated.

Who needs a license — home types in California

CALIFORNIA LICENSES TWO KINDS OF FAMILY CHILD CARE HOME, AND THE STATUTORY BANDS OVERLAP. Most summaries render the split as "small up to 8, large up to 14." That is half right and it hides the overlap. Health and Safety Code section 1596.78 defines all three terms: "(a) 'Family daycare home' means a facility that regularly provides care, protection, and supervision for 14 or fewer children, in the provider's own home, for periods of less than 24 hours per day, while the parents or guardians are away, and is either a large family daycare home or a small family daycare home. (b) 'Large family daycare home' means a facility that provides care, protection, and supervision for 7 to 14 children, inclusive, including children under 10 years of age who reside at the home, as set forth in Section 1597.465 and as defined in regulations. (c) 'Small family daycare home' means a facility that provides care, protection, and supervision for eight or fewer children, including children under 10 years of age who reside at the home, as set forth in Section 1597.44 and as defined in regulations. (d) A small family daycare home or large family daycare home includes a detached single-family dwelling, a townhouse, a dwelling unit within a dwelling, or a dwelling unit within a covered multifamily dwelling in which the underlying zoning allows for residential uses. A small family daycare home or large family daycare home is where the daycare provider resides, and includes a dwelling or a dwelling unit that is rented, leased, or owned." (Section 1596.78 amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 244, Sec. 3 (SB 234), effective January 1, 2020.) READ (b) AND (c) TOGETHER: the large band starts at SEVEN, and the small band runs to EIGHT.

Seven and eight children can be served under either license category. What differs is how you get there. A small home reaches seven or eight only by satisfying the four cumulative conditions of Health and Safety Code section 1597.44, and it does so "without an additional adult attendant." A large home is licensed for a group that requires an assistant provider and requires a fire clearance and a year of prior qualifying experience. The overlap is not a drafting accident: it is the seam where the two regulatory regimes meet, and it explains why a provider at seven children can be under two completely different sets of building, fire and staffing rules depending on which license she holds. THE REGULATORY DEFINITIONS SAY THE SAME THING FROM THE OTHER END. California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102352(f)(1) provides: "'Family Day Care' or 'Family Child Care' means regularly provided care, protection and supervision of children, in the caregiver's own home, for periods of less than 24 hours per day, while the parents or authorized representatives are away. The term 'Family Child Care' supersedes the term 'Family Day Care' as used in previous regulations. (A) 'Small Family Child Care Home' means a home that provides family child care for up to six children, or for up to eight children if the criteria in Section 102416.5(b) are met.

These capacities include children under age 10 who reside at the licensee's home. (B) 'Large Family Child Care Home' means a home that provides family child care for up to 12 children, or for up to 14 children if the criteria in Section 102416.5(d) are met. These capacities include children under age 10 who reside at the licensee's home and the assistant provider's children under age 10." Note the regulation's baseline numbers -- SIX and TWELVE -- and its stretch numbers -- eight and fourteen. The statute states the ceilings; the regulation states the default and the conditional stretch. Both are operative. TERMINOLOGY: THE STATUTE AND THE REGULATIONS USE DIFFERENT WORDS FOR THE SAME THING. The Health and Safety Code says "family daycare home" (one word since the 2019 SB 234 recast, "family day care home" in the older unamended sections). Title 22 says "Family Child Care Home," and section 102352(f)(1) states the supersession expressly. A reader will encounter "family day care home," "family daycare home," "family child care home" and the abbreviation FCCH in California materials; they denote one licensed thing.

THE LICENSEE MUST LIVE THERE, AND MUST BE THERE. Two separate requirements, often collapsed. First, residence: section 1596.78(d) says the home "is where the daycare provider resides," and California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102352(h)(1) defines "Home" as "the licensee's residence as defined by Government Code Section 244." Second, presence during operation -- and this rule was rewritten in June 2026. Health and Safety Code section 1597.63(a), added by Stats. 2026, Ch. 25, Sec. 26 (AB 150), effective June 29, 2026, provides: "A family daycare home licensee shall be present in the home and shall ensure that children in care are provided care and supervision during all hours of operation." Section 1597.63(b)(1) then permits a substitute: "Notwithstanding subdivision (a), when circumstances require a licensee to occasionally be temporarily absent from a family daycare home during its hours of operation, the licensee shall arrange for a substitute adult to provide care and supervision of the children in care if the family daycare home operates during the temporary absence."

THE CAP ON TEMPORARY ABSENCE CHANGED IN JUNE 2026 FROM A DAILY TEST TO A MONTHLY ONE, AND THE OLD DAILY TEST IS STILL PRINTED IN THE REGULATION. This is the single most consequential currency trap in the California entry. California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102417(a) -- last amended 8-19-2020 -- still reads: "The licensee shall be present in the home and shall ensure that children in care are supervised at all times. When circumstances require the licensee to be temporarily absent from the home, the licensee shall arrange for a substitute adult to care for and supervise the children during his/her absence. Temporary absences shall not exceed 20 percent of the hours that the facility is providing care PER DAY." Health and Safety Code section 1597.63(b)(2), effective June 29, 2026, now reads: "A temporary absence of the licensee shall not exceed 20 percent of the hours that the family daycare home is providing care IN ANY GIVEN CALENDAR MONTH." (Emphasis added in both quotations.) These are not the same rule and they are not even the same order of magnitude in practice. Under the regulation, a home open ten hours a day could absorb two hours of absence EVERY DAY.

Under the statute, a home open ten hours a day, twenty-two days a month -- 220 hours -- may absorb 44 hours of absence in the whole month, and a provider who took two hours a day would blow through the cap in the same twenty-two days by a factor of one. A statute enacted in 2026 controls over a regulation last amended in 2020; the regulation is simply out of date, and section 1597.63(g) authorizes CDSS to administer the new section "through letters or similar written instructions that shall have the same force and effect as regulations until regulations are adopted." Section 1597.63(b)(3) preserves a safety valve: "The department may waive the requirements of this subdivision on an individual basis if the waiver is reasonable and necessary to carry out this act and not detrimental to the health and safety of any child in care." THE SUBSTITUTE ADULT IS NOW A REGULATED ROLE WITH THREE PRECONDITIONS, PARENT NOTICE, AND A REPORT TO THE STATE. Before June 29, 2026, Title 22 said only "arrange for a substitute adult."

Health and Safety Code section 1597.63(c) now provides: "Prior to a substitute adult's initial presence in a family daycare home, a licensee shall ensure the substitute adult does all of the following, and complies with any additional requirements established by the department: (1) Obtains a criminal record clearance or exemption pursuant to Section 1596.871. (2) Completes the health and safety training described in Section 1596.866, as demonstrated by a current course completion card in pediatric first aid, pediatric cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and preventive health practices. (3) Is immunized against influenza, pertussis, and measles pursuant to Section 1597.622." Subdivision (d): "A family daycare home shall provide prior written notice to the parent or legal guardian of each child in care regarding any temporary absence of the licensee. If prior notice is impractical based on emergency circumstances, then written notice shall be provided no later than the next business day following the temporary absence." Subdivision (e): the home "shall report a temporary absence of the licensee to the department no later than the next business day following the temporary absence.

In addition, a written report shall be submitted to the department within seven calendar days," containing "(1) The name of the substitute adult. (2) The date and time of the temporary absence. (3) An attestation signed by the licensee indicating whether the requirements of subdivisions (c) and (d) were met." Subdivision (f) requires the home to "maintain documentation of compliance with this section and with Sections 1596.866, 1596.871, and 1597.622 regarding a substitute adult." In short: as of June 29, 2026 a California family child care licensee who steps out for two hours must have a cleared, trained, immunized substitute; must have told every parent in writing in advance; must telephone or otherwise report the absence to CDSS by the next business day; and must file a signed written report within a week. The corresponding amendment to Health and Safety Code section 1596.866(a)(1), by the same act, folds "each substitute adult who provides care in a family daycare home pursuant to Section 1597.63" into the 15-hour health and safety training population. THREE PEOPLE, THREE DIFFERENT AGE FLOORS -- AND THE ASSISTANT PROVIDER'S FLOOR IS FOURTEEN.

California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102352(a) defines the cast: - "(1) 'Adult' or 'Substitute Adult' means a person who is 18 years of age or older." - "(3) 'Assistant Provider' means a person at least 14 years of age who is primarily involved in caring for children during the hours that the home provides care." And section 102352(l)(2): "'Licensee' means an adult licensed to operate a Family Day Care Home and who is primarily involved in providing care for the children during the hours that the home provides care." Section 102352(p)(3) gathers them: "'Provider' means anyone providing care to children as authorized by these regulations and includes the licensee, assistant provider or substitute adult." The fourteen-year floor for an assistant provider is real, it is in the operative definition, and it is startling next to what the penalty statute says. Health and Safety Code section 1597.58(c) lists the violations that draw an immediate $500 civil penalty plus $100 for each day the violation continues, and paragraph (2) is: "Absence of supervision, including, but not limited to, a child left unattended and A CHILD LEFT ALONE WITH A PERSON UNDER 18 YEARS OF AGE."

So California permits a fourteen-year-old to be the assistant provider whose presence unlocks a large home's larger group, and simultaneously makes it a $500 serious violation to leave a child alone with that same fourteen-year-old. The two rules are consistent only on one reading: the assistant provider works alongside the licensee, never instead of her. That reading is confirmed by section 1597.63(a) ("shall be present in the home ... during all hours of operation") and by the definitions themselves -- the licensee is "primarily involved in providing care," the assistant provider is "primarily involved in caring for children," and only the substitute adult -- who must be 18 or older -- is the person contemplated to hold the home alone. Note the practical corollary for background checks: Health and Safety Code section 1596.871 attaches the fingerprinting duty to adults and to "[a]ny staff person, volunteer, or employee who has contact with the children," while California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102370(a) speaks of "the applicant(s) and all adults residing in the home." A fourteen-year-old assistant provider who does not reside in the home falls outside the fingerprint population on the face of these provisions; that is a gap a prudent provider should raise with her regional office rather than assume in either direction (see verify_flag). "INFANT" MEANS UNDER TWO, NOT UNDER ONE.

California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102352(i): "'Infant' means a child under two years of age." Every infant sublimit in the ratio rules -- four infants, no more than three infants, no more than two infants, no more than four infants, no more than three infants -- is counting children under two. A provider who mentally translates "infant" to "baby under one" will systematically overcount her available slots. This is the definitional hinge of the whole capacity scheme and the prior version of this entry never stated it. THE HOME COUNTS THE PROVIDER'S OWN CHILDREN UNDER TEN, AND IN A LARGE HOME THE ASSISTANT'S TOO. This appears in three places, which is how you know it is load-bearing. Health and Safety Code section 1596.78(b) and (c) both say "including children under 10 years of age who reside at the home." California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102352(f)(1)(A) says "[t]hese capacities include children under age 10 who reside at the licensee's home," and (B) adds "and the assistant provider's children under age 10." And section 102416.5(b) counts "children under age 10 who reside at the licensee's home" while section 102416.5(d) counts "children under age 10 who reside at the licensee's home and the assistant provider's children under age 10." Three consequences.

First, a provider with two children aged four and eight has six paying slots in a default small home, not eight. Second, her own ten-year-old does not count -- the line is under 10, not 10 and under. Third, in a LARGE home the assistant provider's own children under ten count too, but only, on the face of section 102352(f)(1)(B) and section 102416.5(d), when they are present; the regulation's phrase in section 102416.5(d) is "the maximum number of children for whom care may be provided at any one time when there is an assistant provider in the home, including ... the assistant provider's children under age 10." Hiring an assistant who brings two preschoolers costs the home two slots. THE ZONING AND TENANCY REGIME IS UNUSUALLY STRONG, AND SB 234 IS THE REASON. The brief's lead -- that SB 234, the Keep Children Close to Home Act, makes the home a residential use as of right -- is CORRECT and the text in force today confirms it. Health and Safety Code section 1597.45(a), as amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 244, Sec. 9 (SB 234), effective January 1, 2020: "The use of a home as a small or large family daycare home shall be considered a residential use of property and a use by right for the purposes of all local ordinances, including, but not limited to, zoning ordinances."

Note that this now covers LARGE homes; before SB 234, large family day care homes could be subjected to local use permits. Section 1597.45(b): "A local jurisdiction shall not impose a business license, fee, or tax for the privilege of operating a small or large family daycare home." Section 1597.45(c): use as a home "shall not constitute a change of occupancy for purposes of Part 1.5 (commencing with Section 17910) of Division 13 (State Housing Law) or for purposes of local building codes." Section 1597.45(d): not subject to CEQA. Section 1597.45(e) preserves only neutral local rules -- height, setback, lot dimension, health and safety, building standards, environmental impact -- "as long as those restrictions are identical to those applied to all other residences with the same zoning designation." Health and Safety Code section 1597.42, added by SB 234: "The use of a home as a family daycare home, operated under the standards of state law, in a residentially zoned area shall be considered a residential use of property for the purposes of all local ordinances, regulations, and rules, and shall not fundamentally alter the nature of the underlying residential use."

And section 1597.40(b), repealed and re-added by SB 234, is a field-preemption clause: "The Legislature declares this policy to be of statewide concern with the purpose of occupying the field. This act, the state building code, and the fire code, and regulations promulgated pursuant to those provisions, shall preempt local laws, regulations, and rules governing the use and occupancy of family daycare homes. Local laws, regulations, or rules shall not directly or indirectly prohibit or restrict the use of a facility as a family daycare home, including, but not limited to, precluding the operation of a family daycare home." THE LANDLORD AND HOA RULES ARE THE PART TENANTS MISS. Health and Safety Code section 1597.41, added by SB 234, voids restrictive covenants and, in subdivision (b), prohibits a "property owner or manager" from refusing "to sell or rent, or refuse to negotiate for the sale or rental of, or otherwise make unavailable or deny, a detached single-family dwelling, a townhouse, a dwelling unit within a dwelling, or a dwelling unit within a covered multifamily dwelling in which the underlying zoning allows for residential use to a person because that person is a family daycare provider."

But the protection carries a notice duty and a money concession. Section 1597.41(d)(1): "A prospective family daycare home provider who resides in a rental property shall provide 30 days' written notice to the landlord or owner of the rental property prior to the commencement of operation of the family daycare home." Section 1597.41(d)(4): "Notwithstanding any other law, upon commencement of, or knowledge of, the operation of a family daycare home on an individual's property, the landlord or property owner may require the family daycare home provider to pay an increased security deposit for operation of the family daycare home. The increase in deposit may be required notwithstanding that a lesser amount is required of tenants who do not operate family daycare homes. The total security deposit charged shall not exceed the maximum allowable under existing law." And section 1597.41(g) preserves ordinary landlord-tenant remedies: the section "does not alter the existing rights of landlords and tenants with respect to addressing and resolving issues related to noise, lease violations, nuisances, or conflicts between landlords and tenants."

Section 1597.41(e) puts a duty on the department itself: "During the license application process for a small or large family daycare home, the department shall notify the applicant that the remedies and procedures in Article 2 (commencing with Section 12980) of Chapter 7 of Part 2.8 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code relating to fair housing are available to family daycare home providers, family daycare home provider applicants, and individuals who claim that any of the protections provided by this section or Section 1597.40, 1597.42, 1597.43, 1597.45, 1597.455, or 1597.46 have been denied." A landlord or HOA that blocks a family child care home in California is exposed to the state fair-housing enforcement track, and CDSS is required to tell every applicant so. WHERE THE REGULATION LAGS SB 234, VISIBLY. California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102417(p) requires the 30-day landlord notice "in accordance with Section 1597.40(d) of the Health and Safety Code." There is no subdivision (d) of section 1597.40 today: SB 234 repealed the old section 1597.40 and added a new one with only subdivisions (a) and (b), and moved the 30-day notice to section 1597.41(d)(1). The regulation's cross-reference points at a repealed provision.

The duty survives -- it is in the statute -- but the citation in the regulation is dead, and it is a clean marker of how far Title 22 Chapter 3 has fallen behind Chapter 3.6. THE LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS EXPLAIN THE POSTURE. Health and Safety Code section 1597.30, as amended by SB 234, records that "[t]here is an extreme shortage of regulated family daycare homes in California, and the number has decreased significantly since 2008," that "[t]he state has a responsibility to promote the development and expansion of regulated family daycare homes to care for children in residential settings," and that "[t]he licensing program to be operated by the state should be cost effective, streamlined, and simple to administer ... while not placing undue burdens on the providers." Section 1597.43(a) supplies the doctrinal rationale for the zoning protection: family day care homes "constitute accessory uses of residentially zoned and occupied properties and do not fundamentally alter the nature of the underlying residential uses," and they "draw clients and vehicles to their sites during a limited time of day and do not require the attendance of a large number of employees and equipment."

Section 1597.43(b) draws the boundary the Legislature did not want blurred: congregate care facilities "are used throughout the day and night, and the institutional uses of these facilities are primary uses of the facilities, not accessory uses," and the expansion permitted by sections 1597.44 and 1597.465 "is not appropriate with respect to congregate care facilities." A PRIVACY FEATURE UNIQUE TO SMALL HOMES. Health and Safety Code section 1596.86(a) requires the director to publish annually a list of all licensed child day care facilities "OTHER THAN SMALL FAMILY DAYCARE HOMES." Subdivision (b)(1) explains: "To encourage the recruitment of small family daycare homes and protect their personal privacy, the department shall prevent the use of lists containing names, addresses, and other identifying information of facilities identified as small family daycare homes," except for administering the licensing program and supplying resource and referral agencies, food and nutrition programs, alternative payment programs, county welfare-to-work programs, family childcare organizations, certain provider organizations, CalHR and PERB, and Knox-Keene plans running employee-assistance childcare referral.

Subdivision (b)(2), amended by Stats. 2024, Ch. 73, Sec. 18 (SB 163), effective July 2, 2024, opens a narrow channel: "[T]he department may disclose the license numbers, names, Zip Codes, and telephone numbers of small family daycare homes for purposes of facilitating the placement of children in small family daycare homes," including to parents and to consumer-education websites. License number, name, ZIP code and phone -- not street address. This is why CDSS's public facility search shows a small family child care home's name but not where it is.

How many children you can care for in California

THE CEILINGS ARE EIGHT AND FOURTEEN, THE DEFAULTS ARE SIX AND TWELVE, AND THE COUNT IS NOT JUST THE PAYING CHILDREN. THE GOVERNING REGULATION, QUOTED IN FULL.

California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102416.5 (Staffing Ratio and Capacity), last amended 2-10-2016, operative 4-1-2016 (Register 2016, No. 7): "(a) The capacity specified on the license shall be the maximum number of children for whom care may be provided at any one time. (b) For a Small Family Child Care Home, the maximum number of children for whom care may be provided at any one time, including children under age 10 who reside at the licensee's home, shall be one of the following: (1) Four infants; or (2) Six children, no more than three of whom may be infants; or (3) More than six and up to eight children, without an additional adult attendant, only if the criteria in Section 1597.44 of the Health and Safety Code are met. (c) The total licensed capacity for a Small Family Child Care Home shall not exceed eight children. (d) For a Large Family Child Care Home, the maximum number of children for whom care may be provided at any one time when there is an assistant provider in the home, including children under age 10 who reside at the licensee's home and the assistant provider's children under age 10, shall be either: (1) Twelve children, no more than four of whom may be infants; or (2) More than twelve and up to fourteen children only if the criteria in Section 1597.465 of the Health and Safety Code are met. (e) If no assistant provider is present at a Large Family Child Care Home, then the licensee shall comply with the capacity requirements for a Small Family Child Care Home as specified in subsections (b) and (c). (f) The total licensed capacity for a Large Family Child Care Home shall not exceed fourteen children."

FIVE THINGS THAT SENTENCE-BY-SENTENCE READING PRODUCES AND SUMMARIES DO NOT. ONE: "AT ANY ONE TIME" IS THE MEASURE, NOT ENROLLMENT. Section 102416.5(a) and section 102352(c)(2) both define capacity as a simultaneous-presence number: "'Capacity' means the maximum number of children for whom care is authorized at any one time." A home with twelve enrolled children who never overlap is not over capacity; a home with nine children present for ten minutes at pickup is. The overlap moment governs. TWO: THE CAPACITY ON THE LICENSE IS THE CEILING, NOT THE STATUTORY MAXIMUM. Section 102416.5(a): "The capacity specified on the license shall be the maximum number of children for whom care may be provided at any one time." A small home licensed for six may not take eight merely because it can satisfy Health and Safety Code section 1597.44; the licensed capacity has to be changed. The mechanics and price of that change are in Health and Safety Code section 1596.803(b)(1)(C): "A fee of twenty-five dollars ($25) when an existing licensee seeks to either increase or decrease the licensed capacity of the facility."

Twenty-five dollars in either direction, including down. THREE: THE PROVIDER'S OWN RESIDENT CHILDREN UNDER TEN OCCUPY LICENSED SLOTS. Both subdivision (b) and subdivision (d) say "including children under age 10 who reside at the licensee's home," and Health and Safety Code section 1596.78(b) and (c) say the same. This is the opposite convention from several other states, where a provider's own children are excluded from licensed capacity and counted only for staffing. In California there is one number and the provider's own young children are inside it. Worked example: a licensee with children aged 3, 7 and 11 who wants a default small home has 6 minus 2 = four slots for enrolled children, because the 3-year-old and the 7-year-old count and the 11-year-old does not. If she also wants to serve infants, the 3-year-old is not an infant (section 102352(i): under two) but still consumes one of the six. FOUR: IN A LARGE HOME THE ASSISTANT PROVIDER'S OWN CHILDREN UNDER TEN COUNT AS WELL. Section 102416.5(d), and section 102352(f)(1)(B). The regulation ties this to the moment "when there is an assistant provider in the home," so the assistant's children consume capacity while they are there. A large home at fourteen whose assistant brings a five-year-old is at fifteen and out of compliance.

FIVE, AND MOST OFTEN MISSED: A LARGE HOME WITHOUT ITS ASSISTANT PRESENT COLLAPSES TO SMALL-HOME NUMBERS. Section 102416.5(e) is unambiguous: "If no assistant provider is present at a Large Family Child Care Home, then the licensee shall comply with the capacity requirements for a Small Family Child Care Home as specified in subsections (b) and (c)." The license category does not by itself authorize the larger group; the assistant's physical presence does. A licensee holding a large license for fourteen who opens at 6:30 a.m. before her assistant arrives at 8:00 a.m. may have at most six children on the premises during that ninety minutes (or eight, if the section 1597.44 conditions are satisfied, or four if they are all infants), and every child over that line is an over-capacity violation. Section 102416.5(e) is also, notably, the reason the statutory band in Health and Safety Code section 1596.78(b) begins at SEVEN: a large home is defined by the group size the assistant makes possible. THE EIGHT-CHILD STRETCH FOR A SMALL HOME: FOUR CUMULATIVE CONDITIONS, ALL FOUR REQUIRED.

Health and Safety Code section 1597.44, in full: "A small family day care home may provide care for more than six and up to eight children, without an additional adult attendant, if all of the following conditions are met: (a) At least one child is enrolled in and attending kindergarten or elementary school and a second child is at least six years of age. (b) No more than two infants are cared for during any time when more than six children are cared for. (c) The licensee notifies each parent that the facility is caring for two additional schoolage children and that there may be up to seven or eight children in the home at one time. (d) The licensee obtains the written consent of the property owner when the family day care home is operated on property that is leased or rented." (Amended by Stats. 2003, Ch. 744, Sec. 1, effective January 1, 2004.) Three of these are easy to under-read. Condition (a) requires TWO specific children, not one: one who is enrolled in AND attending kindergarten or elementary school, and a second who is at least six years old. Condition (b) is not "no more than two infants" as a general rule; it bites only "during any time when more than six children are cared for" -- at six children or fewer the small-home infant sublimit is three, and at exactly four children they may all be infants.

Condition (d) is a document the landlord signs, not a conversation. THE FOURTEEN-CHILD STRETCH FOR A LARGE HOME: THE SAME FOUR CONDITIONS, DIFFERENT NUMBERS. Health and Safety Code section 1597.465, in full: "A large family day care home may provide care for more than 12 children and up to and including 14 children, if all of the following conditions are met: (a) At least one child is enrolled in and attending kindergarten or elementary school and a second child is at least six years of age. (b) No more than three infants are cared for during any time when more than 12 children are being cared for. (c) The licensee notifies a parent that the facility is caring for two additional schoolage children and that there may be up to 13 or 14 children in the home at one time. (d) The licensee obtains the written consent of the property owner when the family day care home is operated on property that is leased or rented." (Amended by Stats. 2003, Ch. 744, Sec. 2, effective January 1, 2004.) "SCHOOL AGE CHILD" INCLUDES TRANSITIONAL KINDERGARTEN -- WHICH IN CALIFORNIA IS NOT A SMALL DETAIL. California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102416.5(i): "For the purpose of meeting the criteria in Sections 1597.44 and 1597.465 of the Health and Safety Code 'school age child' means a child who meets one of the following criteria: (1) Is enrolled in and attending kindergarten, including transitional kindergarten, or elementary school; or (2) Is at least six years of age."

California has been expanding universal transitional kindergarten, which enrolls four-year-olds. Because the regulation counts TK, a four-year-old attending TK is a "school age child" for the purpose of unlocking the seventh and eighth slots -- which is precisely why the documentation rule below exists and why it is written around children UNDER SIX. THE PAPERWORK THAT KEEPS THE STRETCH SLOTS LEGAL. California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102416.5(g): "For the purpose of meeting the criteria in Sections 1597.44 and 1597.465 of the Health and Safety Code, for a school age child who is under age six, the licensee shall maintain documentation verifying the child's enrollment and attendance at kindergarten, including transitional kindergarten, or elementary school. (1) The documentation requirement shall be met by either of the following: (A) Documentation from the school in which the child is enrolled and attending verifying the child's enrollment and attendance, or (B) A signed and dated statement from the child's authorized representative verifying the child's enrollment and attendance. (2) The documentation and statement described in paragraph (1) shall include the name of the child, the name of the school the child is enrolled in and attending, the date of the child's enrollment and the date the child started attending the school. (3) The licensee shall obtain the documentation or statement described in paragraph (1) AT THE BEGINNING OF EACH SCHOOL YEAR, no later than 30 calendar days from the date the child begins attending school, UNTIL THE CHILD IS SIX YEARS OF AGE.

If a child enrolls in and begins attending school after the school year has commenced, then the licensee shall obtain the documentation or statement described in paragraph (1) upon enrollment or within 30 calendar days following the child's enrollment. (4) The documentation or statement described in paragraph (1) shall be maintained in the child's record pursuant to Section 102421." Three points. It repeats EVERY school year, not once. It stops when the child turns six (after that, age alone qualifies under section 102416.5(i)(2)). And a parent's signed, dated statement is sufficient -- the licensee is not obliged to obtain a school record, though the statement must carry the four data elements in paragraph (2). Section 102416.5(h) handles the parent-notice half: "For a Family Child Care Home that meets the criteria in Sections 1597.44 or 1597.465 of the Health and Safety Code to care for up to two additional children, the licensee shall maintain proof of parent notification in the child's record pursuant to Section 102421," with subdivisions (h)(1) and (h)(2) pointing respectively to sections 1597.44(c) and 1597.465(c).

And section 102421(d)(1) names the instrument: "The licensee shall maintain a completed and signed LIC 9150 (Rev. 8/14) Parental Notification Additional Children in Care, which is incorporated by reference, for this purpose." Section 102417(q) handles the landlord half: "A licensee who operates on rented or leased property, and who wishes to increase the capacity of the Family Child Care Home as specified in Section 102416.5(b)(3) or Section 102416.5(d)(2), shall obtain the written consent of the property owner/landlord to increase the home's capacity to eight or 14 children. (1) The licensee shall maintain the original of the completed and signed LIC 9149 (Rev. 8/14) Property Owner/Landlord Consent, which is incorporated by reference, ATTACHED TO THE FAMILY CHILD CARE HOME'S LICENSE ON FILE IN THE HOME." Note the storage instruction: attached to the license, in the home. It is the only document in the chapter that must be physically attached to the license. THE CAPACITY MATH, ASSEMBLED. For a SMALL family child care home, the licensee may serve, counting her own resident children under ten: - four children if all four are infants (under two); - six children of whom at most three are infants; - seven or eight children if and only if all four conditions of Health and Safety Code section 1597.44 are met, and in that configuration at most TWO of them may be infants; - never more than eight in total, whatever the ages (section 102416.5(c)).

For a LARGE family child care home with an assistant provider present, counting the licensee's and the assistant's own children under ten: - twelve children of whom at most four are infants; - thirteen or fourteen children if and only if all four conditions of section 1597.465 are met, and in that configuration at most THREE may be infants; - never more than fourteen in total (section 102416.5(f)); - and, whenever the assistant provider is not in the home, the small-home numbers above instead (section 102416.5(e)). WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU EXCEED IT. Health and Safety Code section 1597.58(b)(1) sets the baseline at "one hundred dollars ($100) per day for each violation of this chapter if a facility fails to correct a deficiency after being provided a specified length of time to correct that deficiency," with section 1597.58(b)(2)(A) escalating a repeat violation within 12 months to "an immediate civil penalty of two hundred fifty dollars ($250) per repeat violation and one hundred dollars ($100) for each day the repeat violation continues after citation." Over-capacity commonly travels with the supervision violation in section 1597.58(c)(2), which carries an immediate $500 plus $100 per day.

And section 1597.58(b)(3) removes the usual escape hatch for serious cases: "If the nature or seriousness of the violation or the frequency of the violation warrants a higher penalty or an immediate civil penalty assessment, or both ... a correction of the deficiency shall not impact the imposition of a civil penalty." A NOTE ON WHAT DOES NOT LIMIT CAPACITY. There is no square-footage-per-child rule for a California family child care home, no minimum outdoor play area, and no toilet-count rule. Those requirements live in Chapter 1 of Division 12 for centers, and California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102351.1 excludes Chapter 1 from family child care homes entirely. Article 7 of Chapter 3, titled "Physical Environment," is reserved. What constrains the physical premises instead is section 102417's list of specific hazards (pools, stairs, firearms, poisons, heaters, hazards adjacent to the play area), the Title 24 fire and building standards for large homes, and, for a large home only, the fire clearance under section 102371(a).

Adult-to-child ratios

CALIFORNIA DOES NOT PUBLISH A STAFF-TO-CHILD RATIO TABLE FOR FAMILY CHILD CARE HOMES. IT PUBLISHES CAPACITY BANDS WITH INFANT SUBLIMITS, AND THE "RATIO" IS THE NUMBER OF CAREGIVERS THOSE BANDS PRESUPPOSE. The regulation that carries the word is titled "Staffing Ratio and Capacity" -- California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102416.5 -- and if you read it looking for a ratio expressed as "one adult per N children" you will not find one. What it gives you is: a set of permitted group compositions for one caregiver (the small-home numbers), a set of permitted group compositions for two caregivers (the large-home numbers), and a rule that says the second set evaporates the moment the second caregiver leaves. THE ONE-CAREGIVER SET (SMALL FAMILY CHILD CARE HOME). Section 102416.5(b): "the maximum number of children for whom care may be provided at any one time, including children under age 10 who reside at the licensee's home, shall be one of the following: (1) Four infants; or (2) Six children, no more than three of whom may be infants; or (3) More than six and up to eight children, without an additional adult attendant, only if the criteria in Section 1597.44 of the Health and Safety Code are met."

Expressed as effective ratios, with "infant" meaning a child under two years of age (section 102352(i)) and counting the licensee's own resident children under ten: - ALL-INFANT GROUP: 1 caregiver : 4 children under two. This is the tightest ratio California permits in a home, and it is the same number a California infant CENTER runs at under its own rules -- but here one person does it alone. - MIXED GROUP: 1 caregiver : 6 children, of whom at most three may be under two. So 3 infants plus 3 older children is lawful; 4 infants plus 2 older children is not, because the group of six may contain no more than three infants -- and 4 infants alone is lawful only as the four-child configuration in paragraph (1). - STRETCHED GROUP: 1 caregiver : 7 or 8 children, of whom at most TWO may be under two, and only if Health and Safety Code section 1597.44's four conditions are all met. Note the drop in the infant sublimit from three to two as you cross six. Section 1597.44(b): "No more than two infants are cared for during any time when more than six children are cared for." The statutory phrase "without an additional adult attendant" in section 1597.44 is what makes the eight-child small home a genuine 1:8 configuration.

California is explicit that no second adult is required for it. THE TWO-CAREGIVER SET (LARGE FAMILY CHILD CARE HOME, ASSISTANT PROVIDER PRESENT). Section 102416.5(d): "the maximum number of children for whom care may be provided at any one time WHEN THERE IS AN ASSISTANT PROVIDER IN THE HOME, including children under age 10 who reside at the licensee's home and the assistant provider's children under age 10, shall be either: (1) Twelve children, no more than four of whom may be infants; or (2) More than twelve and up to fourteen children only if the criteria in Section 1597.465 of the Health and Safety Code are met." Expressed as effective ratios: - 2 caregivers : 12 children, of whom at most four may be under two -- an effective 1:6 with an infant cap of four across the whole group. - 2 caregivers : 13 or 14 children, of whom at most THREE may be under two, and only if all four conditions of Health and Safety Code section 1597.465 are met. Section 1597.465(b): "No more than three infants are cared for during any time when more than 12 children are being cared for." Again the infant sublimit TIGHTENS as the group grows -- from four to three.

THE INFANT SUBLIMITS ARE THE ONLY AGE-BASED RULE IN THE CHAPTER. There is no toddler ratio, no preschool ratio, no school-age ratio, and no separate rule for mixed groups beyond the infant counts. A small home may lawfully hold six four-year-olds with one caregiver; a large home may hold twelve four-year-olds with two. Whether that is wise is not a licensing question in California, because Health and Safety Code section 1597.52(a) confines "[l]icensing reviews of a family day care home for children ... to health and safety considerations." THE RATIO IS ENFORCED BY PRESENCE, NOT BY PAYROLL. Section 102416.5(e): "If no assistant provider is present at a Large Family Child Care Home, then the licensee shall comply with the capacity requirements for a Small Family Child Care Home as specified in subsections (b) and (c)." Employing an assistant does not authorize the large group; having her in the house does. The practical failure modes are the open-and-close windows (assistant arrives after opening or leaves before closing), the assistant's lunch break, and the assistant's sick day. In each of those windows a fourteen-child home is a six-child home -- eight if section 1597.44's conditions are met, four if the remaining children are all under two.

WHO CAN BE THE SECOND CAREGIVER, AND HOW OLD SHE MUST BE. California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102352(a)(3): "'Assistant Provider' means a person at least 14 years of age who is primarily involved in caring for children during the hours that the home provides care." Fourteen. Contrast section 102352(a)(1): "'Adult' or 'Substitute Adult' means a person who is 18 years of age or older." And contrast Health and Safety Code section 1597.58(c)(2), which makes it a $500 immediate civil penalty plus $100 per day to leave "a child ... alone with a person under 18 years of age." The assistant provider counts toward the staffing that unlocks fourteen children; she cannot lawfully be left holding them. The only person the statute contemplates covering for the licensee is the "substitute adult," who must be 18 or older under section 102352(a)(1) and who, since June 29, 2026, must additionally hold a criminal record clearance or exemption, current pediatric first aid, pediatric CPR and preventive health practices course completion cards, and influenza, pertussis and measles immunization before her first presence in the home (Health and Safety Code section 1597.63(c)).

THE THIRD PERSON IN THE ROOM: THE LICENSEE, AND HER MANDATORY PRESENCE. Health and Safety Code section 1597.63(a), added by Stats. 2026, Ch. 25, Sec. 26 (AB 150), effective June 29, 2026: "A family daycare home licensee shall be present in the home and shall ensure that children in care are provided care and supervision during all hours of operation." The ratio arithmetic above always assumes the licensee is one of the caregivers. A large home cannot run on an assistant plus an employee while the licensee is elsewhere; it runs on the licensee plus an assistant, and any absence of the licensee triggers the substitute-adult machinery and the 20-percent-per-calendar-month cap in section 1597.63(b)(2). SUPERVISION IS A SEPARATE, ABSOLUTE DUTY. California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102417(a) requires the licensee to "ensure that children in care are supervised at all times," and section 1597.63(a) restates it as care and supervision "during all hours of operation." The penalty statute treats a lapse as a top-tier violation: Health and Safety Code section 1597.58(c) imposes "an immediate civil penalty of five hundred dollars ($500) per violation and one hundred dollars ($100) for each day the violation continues after citation" for, among others, "(2) Absence of supervision, including, but not limited to, a child left unattended and a child left alone with a person under 18 years of age," "(3) Accessible bodies of water, when prohibited by this chapter or regulations adopted pursuant to this chapter," and "(4) Accessible firearms, ammunition, or both."

THE ONE PLACE CALIFORNIA DOES SPECIFY A SUPERVISION INTERVAL: SLEEPING INFANTS, EVERY FIFTEEN MINUTES. California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102425(j), operative 8-19-2020, is where a numerical supervision standard actually appears: "The provider shall supervise infants while they are sleeping and adhere to the following requirements: (1) The provider shall physically check on sleeping infants every 15 minutes." Subdivision (j)(2) requires documentation of labored breathing, signs of distress -- "which includes but is not limited to flushed skin color, increase in body temperature, and restlessness" -- and any infant up to 12 months sleeping in a position other than on the back, with the record kept in the infant's file and containing "a. Date. b. Infant's name. c. Time of each 15-minute check." Subdivisions (j)(4) through (j)(7) add the physical-proximity rules: "The provider shall be near enough to the sleeping infant to be able to hear them wake up"; if the infant sleeps in a separate room "the door to the room the infant is sleeping in shall remain open at all times" and "[t]he provider shall be able to visually observe the infant without moving the door"; "[t]he provider shall be on the same floor as the sleeping infant"; and "[a] digital video and audio monitoring device may be used in the home but shall not be used in place of the requirements enumerated in Subsection (j)." A monitor does not buy you out of the fifteen-minute physical check.

The single exception is overnight: section 102426(b)(1) provides that "[t]he monitoring device may be used in place of physically checking the infant every 15 minutes if the infant is sleeping and the provider is going to sleep." OVERNIGHT CARE IMPOSES ITS OWN STAFFING RULE. Section 102426(a): "To provide overnight care, the provider shall meet the following requirements: (1) The provider shall remain awake whenever children in care are awake. (2) The door to the room where the provider is sleeping as well as the door to the room where the children in care are sleeping shall remain open. (3) If the sleeping arrangements are not situated in such a way that the provider can be assured of hearing a child in care wake up, a digital video and audio monitoring device shall be used. (A) The monitoring device shall be maintained in good working order at all times. (4) Clean bedding and nightclothes shall be available to children in care." "Overnight Care," per section 102352(o), "means care being provided to children anytime between the hours of 6 p.m. and 6 a.m." TRANSPORTATION HAS ITS OWN LIMITS, WHICH FUNCTION AS A RATIO OF SORTS.

Section 102417(h) through (l): only drivers licensed for the type of vehicle may transport children; "[t]he manufacturer's rated seating capacity of the vehicle shall not be exceeded"; vehicles "shall be maintained in safe operating condition"; "[a]ll vehicle occupants must be secured in an appropriate restraint system"; "[c]hildren shall not be left in parked vehicles"; and "[w]hen transporting infants in any motor vehicle, the licensee shall secure the infants in a car seat, designed for infants, which is secured in the vehicle in accordance with manufacturer's instructions." A CROSS-CHECK ON THE ARITHMETIC. Health and Safety Code section 1597.58(e) and (f), which set death and serious-injury penalties, describe the two home types by cross-reference to the two stretch statutes -- "(1) Five thousand dollars ($5,000) for a small family day care home, as described in Section 1597.44" and "(2) Seven thousand five hundred dollars ($7,500) for a large family day care home, as described in Section 1597.465." The Legislature treats sections 1597.44 and 1597.465 as the definitional home of each category, which is why those two short sections carry so much of the ratio weight.

Training you must complete before licensure

CALIFORNIA'S PRE-LICENSURE TRAINING IS NOT ONE COURSE. IT IS FIVE SEPARATE REQUIREMENTS THAT LAND ON DIFFERENT PEOPLE AND ARE PROVED WITH DIFFERENT DOCUMENTS: (1) the 15-hour health and safety training, (2) mandated reporter training, (3) the CDSS orientation, (4) tuberculosis clearance, and (5) the three-vaccine immunization requirement. Only the first is usually described. All five are conditions of getting or keeping a license. === 1. THE 15-HOUR HEALTH AND SAFETY TRAINING (HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE SECTION 1596.866) === Section 1596.866 was amended by Stats. 2026, Ch. 25, Sec. 20 (AB 150), effective June 29, 2026 -- two months before this entry was written -- and the amendment changed WHO must take it. Subdivision (a)(1) now reads: "In addition to other required training, all staff who provide childcare at a daycare center, each family daycare home licensee, all staff who provide childcare at a family daycare home, AND EACH SUBSTITUTE ADULT WHO PROVIDES CARE IN A FAMILY DAYCARE HOME PURSUANT TO SECTION 1597.63, shall have at least 15 hours of health and safety training, and if applicable, at least 1 additional hour of training pursuant to clause (ii) of subparagraph (C) of paragraph (2)." Note the "at least 1 additional hour": the headline number is 15, but the childhood nutrition component can push it to 16. THE MANDATORY COMPONENTS.

Section 1596.866(a)(2): "The health and safety training shall include the following components: (A) Pediatric first aid. (B) Pediatric cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). (C) (i) A preventive health practices course or courses that include instruction in the recognition, management, and prevention of infectious diseases, including immunizations, prevention of childhood injuries, and, FOR LICENSES ISSUED ON AND AFTER JULY 1, 2020, INSTRUCTION IN THE PREVENTION OF LEAD EXPOSURE that is consistent with the most recent State Department of Public Health's training curriculum on childcare lead poisoning prevention. (ii) FOR LICENSES ISSUED ON OR AFTER JANUARY 1, 2016, individuals described in paragraph (1) shall have at least one hour of childhood nutrition training as part of the preventive health practices course or courses." So a 2026 applicant's preventive health practices course must contain the lead-exposure component and at least one hour of childhood nutrition. Health and Safety Code section 1596.8661(c) specifies what the nutrition hour must contain: "instruction in childhood nutrition shall be at least one hour in length and shall include content on age-appropriate meal patterns based on the most current Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

In order to increase childcare providers' capacity to serve healthy foods at a lower cost, the training shall contain information about reimbursement rates for the United States Department of Agriculture's Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) (7 C.F.R. 226.20), and shall direct childcare providers to the CACFP Unit of the Nutrition Services Division of the department for detailed information on CACFP eligibility and enrollment." THE ANAPHYLAXIS AND EPINEPHRINE REQUIREMENT, IN FORCE SINCE JANUARY 1, 2026. This is new and almost universally missing from secondary summaries. Section 1596.866(a)(4)(A)(i): "On and after January 1, 2026, persons described in paragraph (1) shall obtain training in a pediatric first aid or pediatric CPR course that includes instruction in the prevention and treatment of anaphylaxis, including the emergency use of epinephrine auto-injectors, subject to the requirements of Section 1797.197a." Clause (ii) handles the people already trained: "Persons who, on or before December 31, 2025, have completed a course or courses in pediatric first aid and pediatric CPR that did not include instruction in the prevention and treatment of anaphylaxis, including the emergency use of epinephrine auto-injectors, shall comply with clause (i) for the next renewal period."

Clause (iii)(I) records legislative intent that this "will be adopted into the existing training requirements ... and will not require additional hours," with clause (iii)(II) providing that any additional hours that do arise are reimbursable to a family childcare provider under Welfare and Institutions Code Chapter 25 (commencing with section 10420). Subparagraph (B) then makes the content mandatory on the course side: "On and after January 1, 2028, a pediatric first aid and pediatric CPR training course shall include instruction in the prevention and treatment of anaphylaxis, including the emergency use of epinephrine auto-injectors." The practical reading for a person applying in 2026: her pediatric first aid or pediatric CPR card must already cover anaphylaxis and epinephrine auto-injectors, or she must pick that up at her next renewal. THE INHALED-MEDICATION COMPONENT, IN FORCE SINCE 2000. Health and Safety Code section 1596.798(a)(4): "Beginning January 1, 2000, a licensee or staff person who obtains or renews a pediatric first aid certificate pursuant to Section 1596.866 shall complete formal training designed to provide instruction in administering inhaled medication to children with respiratory needs.

This training shall include, but not be limited to, training in the general use of nebulizer equipment and inhalers, how to clean the equipment, proper storage of inhaled medication, how a child should respond to inhaled medication, what to do in cases of emergency, how to identify side effects of the medication, and when to notify a parent or legal guardian or health care provider." Section 1596.798(a)(6) adds a records duty most providers do not know about: "any training materials pertaining to nebulizer care that licensees or staff receive in the process of obtaining or renewing a pediatric first aid certificate ... shall be kept on file at the child daycare facility. The materials shall be made available to a licensee or staff person who administers inhaled medication." Health and Safety Code section 1596.8661(a) confirms the linkage: "pediatric first aid training pursuant to Section 1596.866 shall include a component of training in the administration of inhaled medication described in paragraph (4) of subdivision (a) of Section 1596.798." WHAT MAY BE OPTIONAL CONTENT. Section 1596.866(a)(3): "The training may include instruction in sanitary food handling, emergency preparedness and evacuation, and caring for children with special needs." "May," not "shall."

WHO MAY TEACH IT, AND WHAT PROVES IT. Section 1596.866(d)(1): "Current pediatric first aid and pediatric CPR course completion cards issued by the American Red Cross, the American Heart Association, or by a training program approved by the Emergency Medical Services Authority pursuant to Section 1797.191." Section 1596.866(d)(2)(A): "A course completion card for a preventive health practices course or courses ... issued by a training program approved by the Emergency Medical Services Authority pursuant to Section 1797.191." Section 1596.866(d)(3) adds accredited colleges and universities as approved sources, provable "by a certificate of course completion, course completion cards, or certified copies of transcripts that identify the number of hours and the specified course or courses taken for the training." Section 1596.866(d)(2)(B) grandfathers people who completed preventive health practices before September 21, 1998 and hold a certificate or certified transcripts. Section 1596.866(f) requires all covered persons to "maintain current course completion cards for pediatric first aid and pediatric CPR issued by the American Red Cross, the American Heart Association, or by a training program approved by the Emergency Medical Services Authority."

FORMAT RESTRICTIONS. Section 1596.866(e): "The training required under subdivision (a) SHALL NOT BE PROVIDED BY A HOME STUDY COURSE. This training may be provided through in-service training, workshops, or classes. This subdivision shall not be interpreted to prohibit approved online courses in pediatric first aid or preventive health practices." Read that carefully: online is permitted for pediatric first aid and preventive health practices; the sentence conspicuously does not name pediatric CPR, which is a skills-demonstration course. IT IS A CONDITION OF LICENSURE, WITH A 90-DAY FUSE AFTERWARDS. Section 1596.866(c)(1): "The completion of the training required pursuant to this section shall be a condition of licensure." Section 1596.866(c)(3): "A notice of deficiency shall be issued by the department at the time of a site visit to a licensee who is not in compliance with this section. The licensee shall, at the time the notice is issued, develop a plan of correction to correct the deficiency within 90 days of receiving the notice. The facility's license may be revoked if it fails to correct the deficiency within the 90-day period.

Section 1596.890 shall not apply to this paragraph." California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102368(d) restates the licensure condition: "As a condition of licensure, the licensee shall comply with the requirements for training in preventive health practices, including pediatric cardiopulmonary resuscitation and pediatric first aid, as specified in Health and Safety Code Section 1596.866," and section 102416(c) restates it for personnel. DISABILITY-LAW EXCEPTIONS. Section 1596.866(g): "The department shall have the authority to grant exceptions to the requirements imposed by this section in order to meet the requirements of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990." === 2. MANDATED REPORTER TRAINING -- A PRECONDITION TO LICENSURE SINCE JANUARY 1, 2018 === This is the requirement most commonly missing from California family child care summaries, including the previous version of this entry. Health and Safety Code section 1596.8662(b)(2), as amended by Stats. 2026, Ch. 25, Sec. 21 (AB 150), effective June 29, 2026: "On and after January 1, 2018, a person who applies for a license to be a provider of a child daycare facility shall complete the mandated reporter training provided pursuant to paragraphs (2) and (3) of subdivision (a) AS A PRECONDITION TO LICENSURE and shall complete renewal mandated reporter training every two years following the date on which the person completed the initial mandated reporter training."

Paragraph (b)(3) covers employees: "On and after January 1, 2018, a person who becomes an administrator or employee of a licensed child daycare facility shall complete the mandated reporter training ... within the first 90 days that the person is employed at the facility and shall complete renewal mandated reporter training every two years." WHAT THE TRAINING MUST COVER. Section 1596.8662(a)(2) requires CDSS to provide statewide guidance on mandated-reporter responsibilities under the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act (Penal Code section 11164 et seq.), "using its free module or modules provided on the State Department of Social Services internet website," covering: "(A) Information on the identification of child abuse and neglect, including behavioral signs of abuse and neglect. (B) Reporting requirements ... including guidelines on how to make a suspected child abuse report when suspected abuse or neglect takes place outside a child daycare facility, or within a child daycare facility, and to which enforcement agency or agencies a report is required to be made. (C) Information that failure to report an incident of known or reasonably suspected child abuse or neglect, as required by Section 11166 of the Penal Code, is a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months confinement in a county jail, or by a fine of one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both that imprisonment and fine. (D) Information that mandated reporting duties are individual and no supervisor or administrator may impede or inhibit reporting duties ... (E) Information on childhood stages of development in order to help distinguish whether a child's behavior or physical symptoms are within range for their age and ability, or are signs of abuse or neglect."

Section 1596.8662(a)(3) adds a child-safety and maltreatment-prevention module: "protective factors that may help prevent abuse, including dangers of shaking a child, safe sleep practices, psychological effects of repeated exposure to domestic violence, safe and age-appropriate forms of discipline, how to promote a child's social and emotional health, and how to support positive parent-child relationships," plus risk factors such as "stress and social isolation," when to call for emergency medical attention, and how to communicate with a family before and after making a report. Section 1596.8662(a)(4) requires compliance with the Dymally-Alatorre Bilingual Services Act, including materials in non-English languages spoken by a substantial number of the public served. PROOF AND ENFORCEMENT. Section 1596.8662(b)(4): "The licensee of a licensed child daycare facility shall obtain proof from an administrator or employee of the facility that the person has completed mandated reporter training." Section 1596.8662(b)(5): a person who does not use the department's online module "shall report to, and obtain approval from, the department regarding the training that person shall use in lieu of the online training module."

Section 1596.8662(c): "Current proof of completion for each licensed child daycare provider or applicant for that license, administrator, and employee of a licensed child daycare facility shall be submitted to the department upon inspection of the child daycare or upon request by the department." Section 1596.8662(d)(1): notice of deficiency at the site visit with a plan to correct "within 45 days" -- shorter than the 90 days section 1596.866 allows for health and safety training. === 3. THE ORIENTATION, WHICH MUST HAPPEN BEFORE THE APPLICATION IS FILED === Two provisions, in tension over timing, and the regulation is the stricter one. Health and Safety Code section 1596.845: "Prior to the issuance of a new license or special permit pursuant to this chapter, Chapter 3.5 ... or Chapter 3.6 ... the applicant shall attend an orientation given by the department. The orientation given by the department shall outline all of the following: (a) The rules and regulations of the department applicable to child day care facilities. (b) The scope of operation of a child day care facility. (c) The responsibility entailed in operating a child day care facility. (d) Information about the Healthy Schools Act of 2000 and integrated pest management practices."

California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102369(c) moves the deadline earlier: "PRIOR TO FILING AN APPLICATION, the applicant shall attend an orientation provided by the licensing agency. (1) The orientation shall cover, but not be limited to, the following areas: (A) Completion of the application for license. (B) Scope of operation subject to regulation by the Department." So the statute says before issuance; the regulation says before filing. Comply with the regulation. WHAT THE APPLICANT RECEIVES AT ORIENTATION, FOR FREE. Health and Safety Code section 1596.855(a): "Upon attendance at an orientation meeting, as described in Section 1596.845, an applicant shall be provided, WITHOUT CHARGE, a printed copy of all applicable regulations by the department, a copy of Section 1596.842, and a copy of the appeals procedure specified in subdivision (b) of Section 1596.842. The department shall inform applicants of the availability of a Spanish language version of these materials and shall provide it to the applicant upon request." Section 1596.855(c) adds that translated versions "shall be provided as a convenience to the reader.

In the event of a discrepancy between these versions and the English version, the English version shall prevail." Section 1596.842 is the list of PROVIDER rights that the applicant is handed at orientation, and it is worth reading before the first inspection: the right to require licensing field staff to identify themselves; to be advised of the type of visit; "[t]he right to be treated as a professional and with dignity and respect"; the right to a report listing each observed deficiency separately numbered, keyed to a section of law or regulation, with a description of the evaluator's observation and "a clear explanation of why the existing condition constitutes a deficiency"; the right to review licensing laws, regulations and policy; the right to an impartial investigation of all complaints; the right at the time of the visit to determine and develop the plan of correction; "[t]he right to use the licensing report (LIC 809) as a means to agree or disagree with cited deficiencies"; the right to an exit interview and a signed copy of the LIC 809; the right to be told on the LIC 809 the evaluator's supervisor and phone number; and the right of access to the public file on any facility.

Subdivision (b) adds appeal rights and subdivision (c) "[t]he right to file a formal complaint, and receive a written response to that complaint within 30 days, for any licensing issue not covered by subdivision (b), including, but not limited to, inappropriate behavior of department employees." WHAT THE ORIENTATION COSTS. Health and Safety Code section 1596.803(b)(1)(D): "An orientation fee of twenty-five dollars ($25) for attendance by any individual at a department-sponsored family child day care home orientation session, and a fifty dollar ($50) orientation fee for attendance by any individual at a department-sponsored child day care center orientation session." This figure is statutory, not a published agency price -- it lives in the Health and Safety Code and has since the fee schedule was last amended by Stats. 2014, Ch. 29, Sec. 28 (SB 855), effective June 20, 2014. Health and Safety Code section 1597.57(c) requires the department to "[a]dminister an orientation program for new operators of family day care homes for children that may be conducted directly by the department or by contract with local governments or family day care home associations." === 4. TUBERCULOSIS CLEARANCE, WITH AN UNUSUAL SEVEN-DAY TAIL === Health and Safety Code section 1597.54(b)(4), as amended by Stats. 2026, Ch. 25, Sec. 25 (AB 150), effective June 29, 2026, requires the application to include "[e]vidence of a current tuberculosis clearance, as defined in regulations that the department shall adopt, for any adult in the home during the time that children are under care.

This requirement may be satisfied by a current certificate, as defined in subdivision (f) of Section 121525, that indicates freedom from infectious tuberculosis as set forth in Section 121525." The regulation supplies the timing window, and it is not what most people assume. California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102369(b)(9) requires "[e]vidence of a current tuberculosis clearance, NOT MORE THAN ONE YEAR PRIOR TO OR SEVEN DAYS AFTER INITIAL PRESENCE IN THE HOME, for any adult in the home during the time that children are under care." So the test may be up to a year old at the time it is submitted, and a newly arrived adult has a seven-day grace period after first being present. Note the population: "any adult in the home during the time that children are under care" -- not just staff. A spouse who is home during care hours is inside this requirement. === 5. IMMUNIZATION AGAINST INFLUENZA, PERTUSSIS AND MEASLES === Health and Safety Code section 1597.622(a)(1): "Commencing September 1, 2016, a person shall not be employed or volunteer at a family day care home if he or she has not been immunized against influenza, pertussis, and measles.

Each employee and volunteer shall receive an influenza vaccination between August 1 and December 1 of each year." Subdivision (a)(2) allows a 30-day conditional period "upon signing and submitting a written statement attesting that he or she has been immunized as required." The exemptions in subdivision (b) are narrow and precisely bounded: "(1) The person submits a written statement from a licensed physician declaring that because of the person's physical condition or medical circumstances, immunization is not safe. (2) The person submits a written statement by a licensed physician providing that the person has evidence of current immunity to the diseases described in subdivision (a). (3) The person submits a written declaration that he or she has declined the influenza vaccination. THIS EXEMPTION APPLIES ONLY TO THE INFLUENZA VACCINE. (4) The person was hired after December 1 of the previous year and before August 1 of the current year. This exemption applies only to the influenza vaccine during the first year of employment or volunteering." There is no personal-belief exemption for pertussis or measles -- only for influenza.

Subdivision (c) requires documentation "in the person's personnel record that is maintained by the family day care home," and subdivision (d) defines "volunteer" as "any nonemployee who provides care and supervision to children in care." Health and Safety Code section 1597.54(b)(5) folds this into the application: "Commencing September 1, 2016, evidence of current immunity or exemption from immunity, as described in Section 1597.622, for the applicant and any other person who provides care and supervision to the children." And section 1597.63(c)(3) extends it to every substitute adult before her first presence in the home. === ONE THING CALIFORNIA DOES NOT REQUIRE === There is no early-childhood education coursework requirement, no CDA, no minimum semester units and no high-school-diploma requirement for a family child care home licensee. The regulation's only qualification rule is California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102368(c): "Any person 18 years of age or over may apply for a license regardless of age, sex, race, religion, color, political affiliation, national origin, disabilities, marital status, actual or perceived sexual orientation, or ancestry."

What California requires instead is health-and-safety competence plus, for a LARGE home only, a year of prior experience -- see the next paragraph, which is a training-adjacent prerequisite that the previous version of this entry omitted entirely. === THE LARGE-HOME EXPERIENCE PREREQUISITE: ONE YEAR, AND YOU CANNOT SKIP IT === Health and Safety Code section 1597.52(b): "No home shall be licensed or registered as a large family day care home after January 1, 1984, unless the provider has at least one year's experience as a regulated small family day care home operator or as an administrator of a licensed day care center. The director may waive this requirement upon a finding that the applicant has sufficient qualifying experience." The regulation is slightly broader than the statute on what counts. California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102369(b)(5): "When applying for a license as a large family child care home, substantiation that the provider has at least one year of experience as a regulated small family child care home operator; or one year of experience as an administrator or director of, or AS A TEACHER AT, a licensed child care center. (A) Waiver of this requirement shall be considered by the director upon finding that the applicant has sufficient qualifying experience."

The statute names only "administrator of a licensed day care center"; the regulation adds "director of, or as a teacher at." A former center teacher therefore has a regulation-based path to a large-home license that the bare statute does not describe. The practical consequence: a first-time California family child care applicant cannot open at fourteen children. She opens small, runs a regulated small family child care home for a year, and then applies to move to the large category -- or she asks the Director for a waiver on the basis of other qualifying experience.

Ongoing (annual) training

TWELVE HOURS PER YEAR, BEGINNING JANUARY 1, 2027 -- WITH NINE MANDATED TOPICS, PLUS TWO OTHER RECURRING TRAINING CLOCKS THAT ARE ALREADY RUNNING. === THE 12-HOUR CONTINUING EDUCATION REQUIREMENT, AND ITS START DATE === Health and Safety Code section 1596.866(b), as amended by Stats. 2026, Ch. 25, Sec. 20 (AB 150), effective June 29, 2026: "Beginning January 1, 2027, persons described in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) shall complete a minimum of 12 hours of continuing education on an annual basis. Annual training shall be provided by qualified sources to be determined by the department. The courses shall include all of the following topics: (1) Emergency and disaster preparedness and response planning. (2) Building and physical premises safety, including identification of and protection from hazards, bodies of water, and vehicular traffic. (3) Safe sleep practices and prevention of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). (4) Prevention of shaken baby syndrome, abusive head trauma, and child maltreatment. (5) Transporting children safely. (6) Infectious diseases in children. (7) Prevention and response to emergencies due to food and allergic reactions. (8) Handling and storage of hazardous materials and the appropriate disposal of biocontaminants. (9) Administration of medication, consistent with parental consent."

Four observations that matter to a provider planning her calendar. FIRST, THE START DATE HAS NOT ARRIVED. As of the date of this entry -- August 25, 2026 -- the 12-hour annual requirement is prospective. It begins January 1, 2027. Before that date California imposes no fixed statewide annual hour count on a family child care home licensee. What it imposes instead are the recurring clocks in the next two sections, which are already running. SECOND, THE POPULATION IS THE SAME ONE AS THE 15-HOUR TRAINING, AND IT NOW INCLUDES SUBSTITUTE ADULTS. Subdivision (b) applies to "persons described in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a)," which the June 2026 amendment defines as "all staff who provide childcare at a daycare center, each family daycare home licensee, all staff who provide childcare at a family daycare home, and each substitute adult who provides care in a family daycare home pursuant to Section 1597.63." A licensee who uses substitutes will, from January 1, 2027, be responsible for substitutes who carry their own 12 annual hours. THIRD, THE TOPIC LIST IS NOT ADVISORY. The statute says "[t]he courses shall include all of the following topics," and then lists nine.

This is a curriculum, not a menu. It also maps almost exactly onto the federal Child Care and Development Block Grant health-and-safety training subjects, which is why the list reads the way it does. FOURTH, THE PROVIDER SOURCE IS NOT YET FIXED. "Annual training shall be provided by qualified sources TO BE DETERMINED BY THE DEPARTMENT." As of this writing CDSS has authority under section 1596.866(h) to determine those sources "by means of written directives, interim licensing standards, or similar instructions from the department until regulations are adopted," and such instructions "shall have the same force and effect as regulations." A provider planning 2027 hours should ask her regional office which sources CDSS has qualified rather than assume any early-childhood workshop counts. PROOF OF THE ANNUAL HOURS. Section 1596.866(d)(4) adds to the list of acceptable documentation: "A course completion card for a continuing education course or courses, as described in subdivision (b)." === THE CLOCK THAT IS ALREADY RUNNING, NUMBER ONE: PEDIATRIC CPR AND FIRST AID, EVERY TWO YEARS, CURRENT AT ALL TIMES === Health and Safety Code section 1596.866(c)(2): "Training in pediatric first aid and pediatric CPR by persons described in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) SHALL BE CURRENT AT ALL TIMES.

Each person described in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) shall renew their pediatric first aid and pediatric CPR every two years. Training in preventive health practices, as described in subparagraph (C) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (a), IS A ONE-TIME ONLY REQUIREMENT for persons described in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a)." Three distinct rules in one subdivision: CPR and first aid renew on a two-year cycle; they must be current at every moment, not merely renewed at some point in the biennium; and the preventive health practices course -- the part that carries the infectious disease, injury prevention, lead exposure and nutrition content -- is taken once in a career and never repeated. Section 1596.866(f) reinforces the currency rule: covered persons "shall maintain current course completion cards for pediatric first aid and pediatric CPR issued by the American Red Cross, the American Heart Association, or by a training program approved by the Emergency Medical Services Authority pursuant to Section 1797.191, or shall have current certification in pediatric first aid and pediatric CPR from an accredited college or university."

The renewal cycle is also the vehicle for the anaphylaxis upgrade. Section 1596.866(a)(4)(A)(ii): a person trained on or before December 31, 2025 without anaphylaxis and epinephrine auto-injector content "shall comply with clause (i) for the next renewal period." A provider whose card expires in, say, March 2027 must come back with a course that includes epinephrine auto-injector instruction. === THE CLOCK THAT IS ALREADY RUNNING, NUMBER TWO: MANDATED REPORTER RENEWAL, EVERY TWO YEARS === Health and Safety Code section 1596.8662(b)(2): an applicant completes mandated reporter training as a precondition to licensure "and shall complete renewal mandated reporter training EVERY TWO YEARS following the date on which the person completed the initial mandated reporter training." Subdivision (b)(3) imposes the same two-year renewal on administrators and employees, who must complete the initial training "within the first 90 days that the person is employed at the facility." Subdivision (b)(1) covers the legacy population -- persons who were already licensed on January 1, 2018 had until March 30, 2018 to complete it and are on the same two-year renewal cycle since.

Enforcement is by notice of deficiency with a 45-day correction plan (section 1596.8662(d)(1)), and section 1596.8662(d)(2) removes the ordinary deficiency-notice protections: "A deficiency under this subdivision is not subject to Section 1596.890." === THE CLOCK THAT IS ALREADY RUNNING, NUMBER THREE: THE ANNUAL INFLUENZA VACCINATION WINDOW === Health and Safety Code section 1597.622(a)(1): "Each employee and volunteer shall receive an influenza vaccination BETWEEN AUGUST 1 AND DECEMBER 1 OF EACH YEAR." It is not a training requirement, but it is an annual recurring compliance obligation with a fixed four-month window, it applies to every employee and every volunteer who provides care and supervision, and it is documented in the personnel record under section 1597.622(c). A provider who declines the influenza vaccine may do so under section 1597.622(b)(3) by written declaration -- an option that exists for influenza only, not for pertussis or measles. === THE CLOCK THAT STARTS JANUARY 1, 2027 ALONGSIDE THE 12 HOURS: EMERGENCY-PLAN TRAINING AND QUARTERLY DRILLS === Health and Safety Code section 1596.868, added by Stats. 2026, Ch. 25, Sec. 23 (AB 150), effective June 29, 2026, with compliance required "[o]n and after January 1, 2027" under subdivision (h)(2), imposes its own recurring training and drill schedule on every child daycare facility -- a term that section 1596.750 defines to include family day care homes.

Subdivision (b): "A facility shall provide training on the emergency and disaster plan to each staff member upon hire, and to each volunteer before beginning service, AND ANNUALLY THEREAFTER. The training shall include staff and volunteer responsibilities during an emergency or disaster." Subdivision (c): "A facility shall conduct a practice drill AT LEAST QUARTERLY for each staff and volunteer shift and maintain documentation of each drill. The type of emergency or disaster covered in a drill SHALL VARY FROM QUARTER TO QUARTER, taking into account different emergency scenarios. Documentation shall include the date, the type of emergency or disaster covered by the drill, and the names of staff and volunteers participating in the drill." Subdivision (d): "A facility shall review the emergency and disaster plan annually and make updates as necessary, including, but not limited to, changes in floor plans, temporary shelter locations, and the ages of children in care. The licensee or administrator shall sign and date documentation stating that the emergency and disaster plan has been reviewed and updated as necessary."

THIS SUPERSEDES THE SIX-MONTH DRILL RULE THAT IS STILL PRINTED IN THE REGULATION. California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102417(g)(9)(A), last amended 8-19-2020, says: "Each family child care home shall conduct fire drills and disaster drills at least once every six months. 1. The licensee shall document the drills, including the date and time of each drill. This documentation shall kept at the family child care home." Two drills a year, documented with date and time. Section 1596.868(c) requires four a year, of varying scenario, documented with date, type and the names of participants.

The statute is later and controls; from January 1, 2027 a family child care home that runs two drills a year is out of compliance with the Health and Safety Code no matter what Title 22 still says. === SUMMARY OF THE RECURRING OBLIGATIONS A CALIFORNIA FAMILY CHILD CARE LICENSEE CARRIES === - Pediatric first aid: renew every two years, current at all times (section 1596.866(c)(2)). - Pediatric CPR: renew every two years, current at all times, and from the next renewal after December 31, 2025 the course must include anaphylaxis and epinephrine auto-injector instruction (sections 1596.866(c)(2), 1596.866(a)(4)(A)). - Preventive health practices: once only, never repeated (section 1596.866(c)(2)). - Mandated reporter training: renew every two years (section 1596.8662(b)(2)). - Influenza vaccination: annually between August 1 and December 1, for employees and volunteers (section 1597.622(a)(1)). - 12 hours of continuing education across nine topics: annually, beginning January 1, 2027 (section 1596.866(b)). - Emergency and disaster plan training: on hire, before service for volunteers, and annually; quarterly varied drills; annual signed plan review -- from January 1, 2027 (section 1596.868(b), (c), (d)). - Health-care-provider medication instructions on file for each child: "The instructions shall be updated annually" (section 1596.798(a)(2)(B)). - Anaphylactic policy notice to parents: "upon enrollment of a child at a child daycare facility, AND ANNUALLY THEREAFTER" -- from January 1, 2028 (section 1596.7985(c)(2)). - The annual licensing fee, on each anniversary of the effective date of the license (section 1596.803(a)(1)).

Background checks

CALIFORNIA RUNS THREE SEPARATE CHECKS, NOT ONE. A summary that says "Live Scan fingerprints through the DOJ and FBI" describes two of them and omits the third, which is the one that most often surprises applicants. The three are: (1) a state and federal criminal offender record information search on fingerprints submitted through the California Department of Justice, (2) a Child Abuse Central Index search, and (3) for a family child care home specifically, a check of the county child protective services agency's own child abuse and neglect complaint records for the two years preceding the application. === THE THIRD CHECK, QUOTED, BECAUSE IT IS THE ONE THAT GETS MISSED === Health and Safety Code section 1596.877: "(a) PRIOR TO GRANTING A LICENSE TO, OR OTHERWISE APPROVING, ANY FAMILY DAY CARE HOME, THE DEPARTMENT SHALL CHECK THE CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT COMPLAINT RECORDS OF THE CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES AGENCY OF THE COUNTY IN WHICH THE APPLICANT HAS RESIDED FOR THE TWO YEARS PRECEDING THE APPLICATION. (b) Prior to granting a license to or otherwise approving any individual to care for children in either a family day care home or a day care center, the department shall check the Child Abuse Registry pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (b) of Section 11170 of the Penal Code.

The Department of Justice shall maintain and continually update an index of reports of child abuse by providers and shall inform the department of subsequent reports received from the child abuse index pursuant to Section 11170 of the Penal Code and the criminal history. (c) The department shall investigate any reports received from the Child Abuse Registry and investigate any information received from the county child protective services agency. However, child protective services agency information arising from a report designated as 'unfounded,' as defined pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 11165.12 of the Penal Code, shall not be included in the investigation. The investigation shall include, but not be limited to, the review of the investigation report and file prepared by the child protective services agency that investigated the child abuse report. THE DEPARTMENT SHALL NOT DENY A LICENSE BASED UPON A REPORT FROM THE CHILD ABUSE REGISTRY OR BASED ON CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT COMPLAINT RECORDS OF THE COUNTY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES AGENCY UNLESS CHILD ABUSE IS SUBSTANTIATED."

Two protections are built in: unfounded reports are excluded from the investigation entirely, and a license may not be denied on a CACI or county record unless the abuse is SUBSTANTIATED. But the check happens, and it reaches back two years into the county where the applicant lived. California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102352(c)(4) defines the index: "'Child Abuse Central Index' means the California Department of Justice maintained statewide, multi-jurisdictional, centralized index of child abuse investigation reports. These reports pertain to alleged incidents of physical abuse, sexual abuse, mental/emotional abuse and/or severe neglect. Each child protection agency (police, sheriff, county welfare and probation departments) is required by law to forward to the California Department of Justice a report of every child abuse incident it investigates, unless an incident is determined to be unfounded." Section 102352(c)(5) defines a CACI clearance as a search that "did not result in a match or the search resulted in a match but the California Department of Social Services determined after an investigation that the allegation of child abuse or neglect was not substantiated." === THE CRIMINAL RECORD CHECK: THE RULE IS "BEFORE INITIAL PRESENCE," NOT "BEFORE HIRE" === The opening paragraph of Health and Safety Code section 1596.871 states the standard: "An individual shall be required to obtain either a criminal record clearance or a criminal record exemption from the State Department of Social Services BEFORE THE INDIVIDUAL'S INITIAL PRESENCE IN A CHILD DAY CARE FACILITY."

The same paragraph records the legislative purpose: "to require the fingerprints of those individuals whose contact with child day care facility clients may pose a risk to the children's health and safety." California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102416(d) restates the rule for a family child care home and supplies the three permitted routes: "Prior to employment or initial presence in the child care home, all employees and volunteers subject to a criminal record review shall: (1) Obtain a California clearance or a criminal record exemption as required by law or Department regulations or (2) Request a transfer of a criminal record clearance as specified in Section 102370(j) or (3) Request and be approved for a transfer of a criminal record exemption, as specified in Section 102370.1(p), unless, upon request for a transfer, the Department permits the individual to be employed, reside or be present at the facility." Section 102370(d) is the parallel provision for all individuals subject to a criminal record review. And section 102370(a) states the applicant-side rule flatly: "PRIOR TO THE DEPARTMENT ISSUING A LICENSE, the applicant(s) and all adults residing in the home shall obtain a California criminal record clearance or exemption." === WHO IS IN THE POPULATION === Health and Safety Code section 1596.871(b)(1): "In addition to the applicant, this section shall be applicable to criminal record clearances and exemptions for the following persons: (A) Adults responsible for administration or direct supervision of staff. (B) Any person, other than a child, residing in the facility. (C) Any person who provides care and supervision to the children. (D) Any staff person, volunteer, or employee who has contact with the children."

Subparagraphs (E) through (G) extend it to corporate officers, local educational agency officers and persons with a financial interest who can exercise substantial influence. California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102369(b)(8) mirrors it for the application: "the fingerprints of any applicant for a family day care home license, and the following adults: (A) Any person, other than a child, residing in the facility. (B) Any person who provides care and supervision to the children. (C) Any staff person or employee who has contact with the children." Note "[a]ny person, other than a child, residing in the facility." In a family child care home this reaches the licensee's spouse, adult children, roommates, parents and anyone else living in the house.

It also creates a running obligation, because household composition changes: California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102416.2(a)(2) requires the licensee to report to the department by telephone or fax by the next business day "[a]ny change in household composition including adults moving in or out of the home AND ANYONE LIVING IN THE HOME WHO REACHES HIS OR HER 18TH BIRTHDAY." A licensee's own child turning eighteen triggers a fingerprint requirement and a next-business-day report. === WHO IS OUT, AND ON WHAT CONDITIONS === Health and Safety Code section 1596.871(b)(1)(D) carves out five categories, each conditional: "(i) A volunteer providing time-limited specialized services shall be exempt from the requirements of this subdivision if this person is directly supervised by the licensee or a facility employee with a criminal record clearance or exemption, the volunteer spends no more than 16 hours per week at the facility, and the volunteer is not left alone with children in care. (ii) A student enrolled or participating at an accredited educational institution shall be exempt ... if the student is directly supervised ..., the facility has an agreement with the educational institution concerning the placement of the student, the student spends no more than 16 hours per week at the facility, and the student is not left alone with children in care. (iii) A volunteer who is a relative, legal guardian, or foster parent of a client in the facility shall be exempt from the requirements of this subdivision. (iv) A contracted repair person retained by the facility, if not left alone with children in care, shall be exempt ... (v) Any person similar to those described in this subdivision, as defined by the department in regulations."

California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102370(b) elaborates the same list and adds two more: medical professionals who hold a valid California license or certification whose criminal record was cleared as a condition of that licensure, who are "providing time-limited specialized clinical care or services" "within the individual's scope of practice" and who are not employed, retained or contracted by the licensee (section 102370(b)(5)); employees of a licensed home health agency who are in the facility at the request of a child's parent or guardian (section 102370(b)(6)); and "[a]n attendant or facilitator for a child with a developmental disability who is visiting the client or providing direct care and supervision to the child" (section 102370(b)(7)). Both of the last two carry the same caveat: "The exemption shall not apply to an individual who is employed, retained or contracted by the licensee." Section 1596.871(b)(2) preserves the licensee's option to be stricter: "Nothing in this subdivision shall prevent a licensee from requiring a criminal record clearance of any individuals exempt from the requirements under this subdivision."

Section 1596.871(b)(1)(H) and (I) exclude from the section certain employees of childcare and development programs under contract with the State Department of Education who cleared through the Commission on Teacher Credentialing or as a condition of school-district employment -- an exclusion that matters to centers far more than to homes. === THE MECHANICS: LIVE SCAN, TWO SETS, FOURTEEN DAYS === California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102370(c): "All individuals subject to a criminal record review shall be fingerprinted and sign a Criminal Record Statement (LIC 508 [Rev. 1/03]) under penalty of perjury. (1) A person signing the LIC 508 must: (A) Declare whether he/she has been convicted of a crime, other than a minor traffic violation as specified in Section 102370(g) REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THE INDIVIDUAL WAS GRANTED A PARDON FOR THE CONVICTION, RECEIVED AN EXPUNGEMENT PURSUANT TO PENAL CODE 1203.4 OR THE INDIVIDUAL'S RECORD WAS SEALED AS A RESULT OF A COURT ORDER. (B) If convicted of a crime other than a minor traffic violation as specified in Section 102370(g), provide information regarding the conviction."

That capitalized clause is the trap. A California expungement under Penal Code section 1203.4 does not relieve the duty to disclose here, and Health and Safety Code section 1596.871(d)(1) says the same thing on the department's side: the department may act on a conviction "notwithstanding a subsequent order pursuant to Sections 1203.4 and 1203.4a of the Penal Code permitting the person to withdraw a plea of guilty and to enter a plea of not guilty, or setting aside the verdict of guilty, or dismissing the accusation, information, or indictment." A person who answers "no" on a LIC 508 because a conviction was expunged has made a false statement under penalty of perjury. Section 102370(c)(2): "The licensee shall submit these fingerprints to the California Department of Justice along with a second set of fingerprints for the purpose of searching the records of the Federal Bureau of Investigation," submitted by the licensee or "sent by electronic transmission to the California Department of Justice by a fingerprinting entity approved by the California Department of Social Services." Section 102370(c)(2)(B) forbids padding the submission: "A licensee or an applicant for a license may not submit, or enable another to submit under the licensee's or the applicant's authority, the fingerprints of any person who does not, or whom the licensee or applicant reasonably believes will not reside, provide care and supervision to, or have contact with clients at the licensee's or applicant's facility," and if the department finds a violation it "may immediately cease processing criminal record and Child Abuse Central Index clearances for the facility."

Health and Safety Code section 1596.871(c)(1)(B) sets the DOJ turnaround: "Within 14 calendar days of the receipt of the fingerprint images, the Department of Justice shall notify the State Department of Social Services of the criminal record information," and if there is none, "the Department of Justice shall provide the licensee and the State Department of Social Services with a statement of that fact within 14 calendar days." If prints are illegible, DOJ must say so within 14 days. MAILING ADDRESS DUTY. California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102370(d)(1): every individual subject to review shall "[s]ubmit a valid mailing address at which the individual shall be able to receive communications from the Department. (A) An individual who holds a criminal record clearance or exemption shall maintain a current and valid mailing address with the Department and shall notify the Department within ten (10) days of any change in mailing address."

Separately, Health and Safety Code section 1596.83 requires the applicant or licensee to file a mailing address in writing and notify the department of any change "within 10 calendar days." === THE PENALTIES FOR GETTING THE SEQUENCE WRONG ARE IMMEDIATE AND PER-DAY === Health and Safety Code section 1596.871(c)(1)(B): "A licensee's failure to submit fingerprint images and related information to the Department of Justice or to comply with paragraph (1) of subdivision (h), as required in this section, shall result in the citation of a deficiency, and an immediate assessment of civil penalties in the amount of one hundred dollars ($100) per violation per day for a maximum of five days, unless the violation is a second or subsequent violation within a 12-month period in which case the civil penalties shall be in the amount of one hundred dollars ($100) per violation for a maximum of 30 days, and shall be grounds for disciplining the licensee pursuant to Section 1596.885 or 1596.886." California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102370(e) mirrors it, and section 102370(f) adds: "Violation of Section 102370(d) may result in a denial of the license application or suspension and/or revocation of the license." === WHAT A CONVICTION DOES === Health and Safety Code section 1596.871(a)(3)(A): "If the State Department of Social Services finds that the applicant or any other person specified in subdivision (b) has been convicted of a crime, OTHER THAN AN INFRACTION, the application shall be denied, unless the director grants an exemption."

Subparagraph (D): after licensure, "the license may be revoked, unless the director grants an exemption." California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102370(g) sets the regulatory threshold slightly differently -- "a crime other than a minor traffic violation FOR WHICH THE FINE WAS LESS THAN $300" -- and then lists the four consequences: denial for initial applicants; administrative action including revocation for current licensees; exclusion under Health and Safety Code section 1596.8897 for current employees, with denial or revocation if the person stays; and exclusion for individuals residing in the facility, again with denial or revocation if the person stays. Section 102370(h): "If the conviction was for another crime, except a minor traffic violation, the Department shall determine if the person shall be allowed to remain in the facility until a decision on the exemption is rendered." Health and Safety Code section 1596.871(c)(2) sets the licensee's duty on notice: if the department determines the person was convicted of a sex offense against a minor, an offense under Penal Code sections 243.4, 273a, 273ab, 273d, 273g or 368, or a felony, "the State Department of Social Services shall notify the licensee to act immediately to terminate the person's employment, remove the person from the child day care facility, or bar the person from entering the child day care facility."

For other crimes except infractions, the licensee must "act immediately" either to remove the person or to seek an exemption. Failure to comply draws the same $100-per-day citation structure. === THE EXEMPTION, AND THE CRIMES THAT CAN NEVER BE EXEMPTED === Health and Safety Code section 1596.871(f)(1): "After review of the record, the director may grant an exemption from disqualification ... if the director has substantial and convincing evidence to support a reasonable belief that the applicant and the person convicted of the crime, if other than the applicant, are of good character so as to justify issuance of the license or special permit or granting an exemption. However, an exemption shall not be granted pursuant to this subdivision if the conviction was for any of the following offenses: (A) An offense specified in Section 220, 243.4, or 264.1, subdivision (a) of Section 273a, or, prior to January 1, 1994, paragraph (1) of Section 273a, Section 273ab, 273d, 288, or 289, subdivision (c) of Section 290, or Section 368, of the Penal Code, or was a conviction of another crime against an individual specified in subdivision (c) of Section 667.5 of the Penal Code. (B) A felony offense specified in Section 729 of the Business and Professions Code or Section 206 or 215, subdivision (a) of Section 347, subdivision (b) of Section 417, or subdivision (a) or (b) of Section 451 of the Penal Code."

Those are non-exemptible. Everything else is discretionary. California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102352(r)(1) defines the standard the director applies: "'Rehabilitation' means the effort to reestablish good character since the date of the last conviction, including, but not limited to, education, counseling or therapy, training, stable employment, restitution, remorse, changes in lifestyle, or community service." THE SIMPLIFIED EXEMPTION. Health and Safety Code section 1596.871(c)(3): "The department may issue an exemption ON ITS OWN MOTION ... if the person's criminal history indicates that the person is of good character based on the age, seriousness, and frequency of the conviction or convictions." California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102352(s)(1) names it: "'Simplified Exemption' means an exemption granted on the Department's own motion, as authorized in Health and Safety Code Section 1596.871(c)(3), if the individual's criminal history meets specific criteria established by Department regulation." DUE PROCESS BEFORE EXCLUSION.

Health and Safety Code section 1596.871(f)(2): "The department shall not prohibit a person from being employed or having contact with clients in a facility on the basis of a denied criminal record exemption request or arrest information unless the department complies with the requirements of Section 1596.8897." Section 1596.871(c)(4) requires the department, concurrently with notifying the licensee, to notify the affected individual of the right to seek an exemption. === ARRESTS ARE TREATED DIFFERENTLY FROM CONVICTIONS === Health and Safety Code section 1596.871(e)(1): "The State Department of Social Services shall not use a record of arrest to deny, revoke, or terminate any application, license, employment, or residence unless the department investigates the incident and secures evidence, whether or not related to the incident of arrest, that is admissible in an administrative hearing to establish conduct by the person that may pose a risk to the health and safety of any person who is or may become a client." Subdivision (e)(2) suspends clearance while the department investigates an arrest for a Penal Code section 290 offense or for violating sections 245, 273ab, 273.5 or 273a(b), or any non-exemptible crime.

California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102370(n) adds the emergency powers, which are severe: pending an investigation into an arrest for a non-exemptible crime, "(1) If the arrested individual is a licensee, the Department may notify the licensee, by telephone or in writing, TO IMMEDIATELY CEASE OPERATION FOR UP TO 30 DAYS. (2) If the individual arrested is not a licensee, the Department may notify the licensee and the individual ... that the individual may not be present in the facility for up to 30 days. (3) If the individual arrested is the licensee's spouse or a dependent adult that resides in the licensee's home, the Department may notify the licensee, by telephone or in writing, TO IMMEDIATELY CEASE OPERATION FOR UP TO 30 DAYS." An arrest of a household member -- not a conviction, an arrest -- can close a California family child care home for a month. === TRANSFERRING AN EXISTING CLEARANCE === Health and Safety Code section 1596.871(h)(1): "the department may permit an individual to transfer a current criminal record clearance ... from one facility to another, as long as the criminal record clearance has been processed through a state licensing district office, and is being transferred to another facility licensed by a state licensing district office."

Subdivision (h)(2): "The State Department of Social Services shall hold criminal record clearances in its active files for a minimum of two years after an employee is no longer employed at a licensed facility in order for the criminal record clearances to be transferred." Subdivision (h)(3) permits transfers in both directions between CDSS and a county office with department-delegated licensing authority, and between two such counties. California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102370(i) lists the paperwork: "A signed Criminal Background Clearance Transfer Request, LIC 9182 (Rev. 4/02)," plus a copy of the individual's driver's license, DMV identification card, or valid photo identification issued by another state or the United States government, plus "[a]ny other documentation required by the Department (e.g., LIC 508, Criminal Record Statement [Rev. 1/03] and job description)." Notably, section 102370(i) also permits transfer "from TrustLine to a state licensed facility." Section 102370(j) covers agency-to-agency transfers via a Substitute Agency Notification Request (BCII 9002) processed through the Department of Justice. === RECORDKEEPING, AND WHERE IT LIVES === California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102370(k): "The licensee shall maintain documentation of criminal record clearances or criminal record exemptions of employees, volunteers that require fingerprinting and non-client adults residing in the facility. (1) Documentation shall be available for inspection by the Department."

Section 102416.1(a) requires each employee's personnel record to contain, among twelve items, "(11) A signed statement regarding their criminal record history as required by Section 102370(c)" and "(12) Documentation of either a criminal record clearance or a criminal record exemption as required by Section 102370(d)." Section 102416.1(b)(1) requires the same two items for volunteers who must be fingerprinted. Section 102416.1(c): "All personnel records shall be kept for at least three years following termination of employment/volunteer work." Section 102416.1(d): "All personnel records shall be maintained at the child care home and shall be available to the licensing agency for review." === WHAT PARENTS ARE ENTITLED TO KNOW === California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102419(a)(8) gives every parent the right "[t]o be informed by the licensee, upon request, of the name and type of association to the family child care home for any adult who has been granted a criminal record exemption, and that the name of the person may also be obtained by contacting the local licensing office."

Section 102419(d)(2) requires the licensee, whenever a parent makes that request, to "note, date, and initial the request in the child's file" and to ask the parent to initial the notation. Section 102419(c) requires the licensee to give every parent "the LIC 995E (6/05), Caregiver Background Check Process form." Failure on any of these draws the escalating penalty ladder in section 102419(d)(3)(A)-(C): $50 per day, then $150 plus $50 per day for a repeat within 12 months, then $150 plus $150 per day. WHEN SOMEONE IS EXCLUDED, EVERY PARENT MUST BE TOLD IN WRITING WITHIN ONE DAY. Health and Safety Code section 1596.8712(a)(1) requires the department, within 45 days of excluding an individual from a licensed family day care home, to prepare "an addendum to the notification of parents' rights form required by Section 102419 of Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations, clearly identifying the name or names of any individual or individuals who have been excluded," and to identify "the existence and location of a public file maintained by the department explaining the reason for the exclusion."

Subdivision (b)(1) requires the licensee, "[i]mmediately upon receipt," to give every parent a copy and obtain the parent's signature. Subdivision (d) sets "an immediate civil penalty of one hundred dollars ($100) per violation" for failing to distribute the addendum, obtain the signature, or produce the signed addenda on request. California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102417(s) names the instruments and the clock: the licensee shall "[i]mmediately remove the individual and prevent the individual from returning to the home or having contact with children in care," and "[p]rovide a copy of the Addendum to Notification of Parent's Rights (Regarding Removal/Exclusion) (LIC 995B, Rev. 05/03) to one parent or authorized representative of every child currently in care WITHIN ONE DAY of receipt of the notice and addendum from the Department," with the reinstatement counterpart (LIC 995C, Rev. 03/01) on the same one-day clock. Health and Safety Code section 1597.58(c)(6) makes "[t]he presence of a person subject to a department Order of Exclusion on the premises" a $500 immediate violation plus $100 per day. === ONE PROTECTION FOR THE LICENSEE, AND ONE FOR THE APPLICANT === Health and Safety Code section 1596.8715: "If a licensee or facility is required by law to deny employment or to terminate employment of any employee based on written notification from the state department that the employee has a prior criminal conviction or is determined unsuitable for employment under Section 1596.8897, the licensee or facility shall not incur civil liability or unemployment insurance liability as a result of that denial or termination."

Health and Safety Code section 1596.871(i): "Notwithstanding any other law, the department may provide an individual with a copy of the individual's state or federal level criminal offender record information search response as provided to that department by the Department of Justice if the department has denied a criminal background clearance based on this information and the individual makes a written request to the department for a copy specifying an address to which it is to be sent." A person denied a clearance can get the record that denied her, in writing, unaltered. === COST === Health and Safety Code section 1596.871(j): "The State Department of Social Services may charge a reasonable fee for the costs of processing electronic fingerprint images and related information." Section 1596.8713(a) permits the Department of Justice to "charge a fee sufficient to cover its costs" for meeting the 14-day requirement. Section 1596.8713(b)(2) provides that on or after July 1, 2001 "no fee shall be charged" for a child care facility VOLUNTEER's California or FBI record or child abuse index check "if funds for those purposes are appropriated in the annual Budget Act and the exemption does not cause an increase in fees for other providers," where "volunteer" means "a person who provides services at a child care facility and does not receive any payment of a salary or hourly wage in exchange for these services."

The fingerprint rolling fee charged by the Live Scan operator is separate from all of these and is set by the operator. === A BAR THAT APPLIES BEFORE ANY OF THIS === Health and Safety Code section 1596.851(a)(1) requires the department to "cease any further review of the application until two years shall have elapsed from the date of the revocation" if the applicant previously held a license under the Act or under the community care, health facility, residential care or elder-care chapters and that license was revoked within the preceding two years. Subdivision (a)(3) requires the department to cease review entirely if the applicant "was excluded from a facility licensed by the department pursuant to Section 1558, 1568.092, 1569.58, or 1596.8897 ... unless the excluded individual has been reinstated pursuant to Section 11522 of the Government Code." Subdivision (b) imposes a one-year cessation after a denial, running from the effective date of the decision upholding the denial or from the notification of the denial and the right to petition. Subdivision (b)(3) allows the department to continue reviewing anyway "if it has determined that the reasons for the denial of the application were due to circumstances and conditions which have been corrected or are no longer in existence," and subdivision (d) clarifies that "[t]he cessation of review shall not constitute a denial of the application."

The application, step by step

Work through these in order — the prep packet turns them into a checklist you can tick off:

1. STEP 1 -- DECIDE WHICH LICENSE YOU CAN ACTUALLY APPLY FOR, BECAUSE A FIRST-TIME APPLICANT CANNOT OPEN LARGE. Health and Safety Code section 1597.52(b): "No home shall be licensed or registered as a large family day care home after January 1, 1984, unless the provider has at least one year's experience as a regulated small family day care home operator or as an administrator of a licensed day care center. The director may waive this requirement upon a finding that the applicant has sufficient qualifying experience." California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102369(b)(5) restates it as an application element and widens the qualifying experience: "one year of experience as a regulated small family child care home operator; or one year of experience as an administrator or director of, or as a teacher at, a licensed child care center. (A) Waiver of this requirement shall be considered by the director upon finding that the applicant has sufficient qualifying experience." If you have never run a licensed home and never worked in a licensed center, your realistic first application is for a SMALL family child care home -- capacity up to six by default, up to eight if the four conditions of Health and Safety Code section 1597.44 are met. The choice is not cosmetic: it determines whether you need a fire clearance (large only, section 102371(a)-(b)), whether you pay $73 or $140 (section 1596.803(a)(1)), and whether you are exempt from the state fire-inspection articles (small only, section 1597.455(a)).
2. STEP 2 -- CONFIRM YOU CAN LICENSE THE ADDRESS, AND GIVE YOUR LANDLORD 30 DAYS' WRITTEN NOTICE IF YOU RENT. The home must be where you live: Health and Safety Code section 1596.78(d) ("A small family daycare home or large family daycare home is where the daycare provider resides, and includes a dwelling or a dwelling unit that is rented, leased, or owned") and California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102352(h)(1) ("'Home' means the licensee's residence as defined by Government Code Section 244"). Renting is expressly protected -- Health and Safety Code section 1597.41(b) prohibits a property owner or manager from refusing to rent to a person "because that person is a family daycare provider," and section 1597.41(a) and (c) void restrictive covenants and CC&Rs. But the protection carries a notice duty: section 1597.41(d)(1), "A prospective family daycare home provider who resides in a rental property shall provide 30 days' written notice to the landlord or owner of the rental property prior to the commencement of operation of the family daycare home." California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102417(p)(1) supplies the instrument and the retention rule: "The licensee shall provide the landlord or owner of the rental property with a completed LIC 9151 (Rev. 8/14) Property Owner/Landlord Notification, which is incorporated by reference, for this purpose and maintain a copy of the completed form at the Family Child Care Home for review by the Department." Expect the landlord to raise your security deposit -- section 1597.41(d)(4) expressly permits an increase "notwithstanding that a lesser amount is required of tenants who do not operate family daycare homes," capped at the statutory maximum. Note also section 102417(p)'s dead cross-reference to "Section 1597.40(d)"; the live provision is section 1597.41(d)(1).
3. STEP 3 -- ATTEND THE CDSS ORIENTATION BEFORE YOU FILE ANYTHING, AND PAY THE $25 STATUTORY ORIENTATION FEE. California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102369(c): "Prior to filing an application, the applicant shall attend an orientation provided by the licensing agency," covering at least "(A) Completion of the application for license" and "(B) Scope of operation subject to regulation by the Department." Health and Safety Code section 1596.845 requires the orientation to outline the department's rules and regulations, the scope of operation of a child day care facility, the responsibility entailed in operating one, and "[i]nformation about the Healthy Schools Act of 2000 and integrated pest management practices." The fee is set by statute, not by an agency price list: Health and Safety Code section 1596.803(b)(1)(D), "[a]n orientation fee of twenty-five dollars ($25) for attendance by any individual at a department-sponsored family child day care home orientation session." Take what you are owed on the way out: Health and Safety Code section 1596.855(a) entitles you, "without charge," to "a printed copy of all applicable regulations by the department, a copy of Section 1596.842, and a copy of the appeals procedure specified in subdivision (b) of Section 1596.842," with a Spanish version on request.
4. STEP 4 -- COMPLETE THE 15-HOUR EMSA-APPROVED HEALTH AND SAFETY TRAINING, WITH THE 2026 CONTENT. Health and Safety Code section 1596.866(a)(1) requires "at least 15 hours of health and safety training, and if applicable, at least 1 additional hour" of childhood nutrition training. The components are pediatric first aid, pediatric CPR, and a preventive health practices course covering recognition, management and prevention of infectious diseases including immunizations, prevention of childhood injuries, and -- for licenses issued on and after July 1, 2020 -- "instruction in the prevention of lead exposure that is consistent with the most recent State Department of Public Health's training curriculum on childcare lead poisoning prevention" (section 1596.866(a)(2)(C)(i)). For licenses issued on or after January 1, 2016 the preventive health course must include at least one hour of childhood nutrition (section 1596.866(a)(2)(C)(ii)), which under section 1596.8661(c) must cover age-appropriate meal patterns from the current Dietary Guidelines for Americans and CACFP reimbursement information. AND, since January 1, 2026: "persons described in paragraph (1) shall obtain training in a pediatric first aid or pediatric CPR course that includes instruction in the prevention and treatment of anaphylaxis, including the emergency use of epinephrine auto-injectors" (section 1596.866(a)(4)(A)(i)). Proof is a course completion card from the American Red Cross, the American Heart Association, or an EMSA-approved program under Health and Safety Code section 1797.191, or a certificate or certified transcript from an accredited college or university (section 1596.866(d)). The training "shall not be provided by a home study course," though "approved online courses in pediatric first aid or preventive health practices" are allowed (section 1596.866(e)). Completion "shall be a condition of licensure" (section 1596.866(c)(1); California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102368(d)).
5. STEP 5 -- COMPLETE MANDATED REPORTER TRAINING. THIS IS A PRECONDITION TO LICENSURE, NOT A POST-LICENSURE nicety, AND IT IS THE STEP MOST OFTEN LEFT OUT OF CALIFORNIA CHECKLISTS. Health and Safety Code section 1596.8662(b)(2): "On and after January 1, 2018, a person who applies for a license to be a provider of a child daycare facility shall complete the mandated reporter training provided pursuant to paragraphs (2) and (3) of subdivision (a) as a precondition to licensure and shall complete renewal mandated reporter training every two years." The department supplies the training free on its website (section 1596.8662(a)(2)); if you use anything else, section 1596.8662(b)(5) requires you to "report to, and obtain approval from, the department regarding the training that person shall use in lieu of the online training module." Keep the certificate: section 1596.8662(c) requires "[c]urrent proof of completion ... upon inspection of the child daycare or upon request by the department." Non-compliance draws a notice of deficiency with a 45-day correction plan (section 1596.8662(d)(1)), and section 1596.8662(d)(2) removes the protection of Health and Safety Code section 1596.890.
6. STEP 6 -- LIVE SCAN EVERY ADULT, AND WAIT FOR THE CLEARANCE OR EXEMPTION BEFORE ANYONE IS PRESENT. California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102370(a): "Prior to the Department issuing a license, the applicant(s) and all adults residing in the home shall obtain a California criminal record clearance or exemption." Each person signs a Criminal Record Statement, LIC 508 (Rev. 1/03), under penalty of perjury, declaring any conviction other than a minor traffic violation "regardless of whether the individual was granted a pardon for the conviction, received an expungement pursuant to Penal Code 1203.4 or the individual's record was sealed as a result of a court order" (section 102370(c)(1)(A)). Two sets of fingerprints go to the California Department of Justice -- one for the state search, one forwarded to the FBI (section 102370(c)(2); Health and Safety Code section 1596.871(a)(3)(E)). DOJ must respond within 14 calendar days (section 1596.871(c)(1)(B)). "Criminal Record Clearance" is defined as having BOTH: California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102352(c)(8), "'Criminal Record Clearance' means an individual has a California clearance and an FBI clearance." Three alternatives to a fresh clearance exist and are equally valid -- an exemption granted by the director under Health and Safety Code section 1596.871(f), a transfer of an existing clearance under section 102370(j) using a Substitute Agency Notification Request (BCII 9002), or a transfer of an existing exemption under section 102370.1(p), requested with a signed LIC 9182 (Rev. 4/02) Criminal Background Clearance Transfer Request plus photo identification (section 102370(i)).
7. STEP 7 -- LET CDSS RUN THE TWO CHILD-ABUSE CHECKS. This is not something you file; it is something the department does, and it reaches into the county you lived in. Health and Safety Code section 1596.877(a): "Prior to granting a license to, or otherwise approving, any family day care home, the department shall check the child abuse and neglect complaint records of the child protective services agency of the county in which the applicant has resided for the two years preceding the application." Section 1596.877(b) adds the Child Abuse Registry check under Penal Code section 11170(b)(3), and provides that "[t]he Department of Justice shall maintain and continually update an index of reports of child abuse by providers and shall inform the department of subsequent reports." Two limits protect you: section 1596.877(c) excludes information from a report designated "unfounded," and provides that "[t]he department shall not deny a license based upon a report from the Child Abuse Registry or based on child abuse and neglect complaint records of the county child protective services agency unless child abuse is substantiated."
8. STEP 8 -- OBTAIN A TUBERCULOSIS CLEARANCE FOR EVERY ADULT WHO WILL BE IN THE HOME DURING CARE HOURS, AND MIND THE WINDOW. Health and Safety Code section 1597.54(b)(4) requires "[e]vidence of a current tuberculosis clearance ... for any adult in the home during the time that children are under care," satisfiable "by a current certificate, as defined in subdivision (f) of Section 121525, that indicates freedom from infectious tuberculosis as set forth in Section 121525." The regulation's window is unusual and generous at both ends: California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102369(b)(9), "not more than one year prior to or seven days after initial presence in the home." Note that the population is "any adult in the home during the time that children are under care" -- a working spouse who is home on Fridays is inside it.
9. STEP 9 -- GET THE IMMUNIZATIONS DONE FOR EVERYONE WHO WILL PROVIDE CARE. Health and Safety Code section 1597.622(a)(1): "Commencing September 1, 2016, a person shall not be employed or volunteer at a family day care home if he or she has not been immunized against influenza, pertussis, and measles. Each employee and volunteer shall receive an influenza vaccination between August 1 and December 1 of each year." Section 1597.54(b)(5) folds this into the application as "evidence of current immunity or exemption from immunity, as described in Section 1597.622, for the applicant and any other person who provides care and supervision to the children." The only belief-based exemption is for influenza: section 1597.622(b)(3), "The person submits a written declaration that he or she has declined the influenza vaccination. This exemption applies only to the influenza vaccine." Medical exemptions for all three require a licensed physician's written statement (section 1597.622(b)(1)-(2)). Documentation goes in the personnel record (section 1597.622(c)).
10. STEP 10 -- IF YOU ARE APPLYING FOR A LARGE HOME, OBTAIN THE FIRE CLEARANCE. YOUR APPLICATION IS NOT "COMPLETE" WITHOUT IT. California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102371(a): "A fire safety clearance approved by the city or county fire department, the district providing fire protection services, or the State Fire Marshal shall be required for a large family child care home." Section 102371(b): "A fire clearance shall not be required for a small family child care home." And section 102352(c)(6) makes the clearance part of the definition of a filed-and-complete application: "'Completed Application' means that all required information and documentation has been provided to the Department, including the completed application form and, FOR A LARGE FAMILY CHILD CARE HOME, A FIRE CLEARANCE; and that a home visit has been completed." Section 102369(b)(10) requires the application to carry the "[n]ame, address and telephone number of the city or county fire department, the district providing fire protection services, or the State Fire Marshal's Office having jurisdiction." The substantive standards are in Title 24: the 2025 California Building Code section 455.6 requires that "[e]very large-family day-care home shall comply with the provisions for Group R-3 occupancies"; section 455.3 requires "State Fire Marshal approved and listed single station residential type smoke alarms," with number and placement "determined by the enforcement authority"; section 455.4 requires that "[l]arge and small family day-care homes shall be equipped with a portable fire extinguisher having a minimum 2A10BC rating"; section 455.7 requires unenclosed gas-fired water heaters or furnaces in child-care areas to be protected against child contact; and section 455.8 routes exiting to section 1006.2.2.7. Health and Safety Code section 1597.46(a) is the statutory source, requiring the State Fire Marshal to adopt separate Title 24 building standards that "shall apply uniformly throughout the state" and shall include the extinguisher and smoke detector requirement, "[s]pecification as to the number of required exits from the home," and "[s]pecification as to the floor or floors on which childcare may be provided and the number of required exits on each floor." Section 1597.46(c) blocks inconsistent local fire ordinances "except to the extent the building ordinance or local rule or regulation applies to all residences with the same zoning designation in which childcare is provided."
11. STEP 10A -- IF YOU ARE APPLYING FOR A SMALL HOME, KNOW WHAT YOU ARE EXEMPT FROM AND WHAT YOU ARE NOT. Health and Safety Code section 1597.455(a), added by SB 234: "A small family daycare home shall not be subject to Article 1 (commencing with Section 13100) or Article 2 (commencing with Section 13140) of Chapter 1 of Part 2 of Division 12, EXCEPT that a small family daycare home shall contain a fire extinguisher and smoke detector device that meet standards established by the State Fire Marshal." Those two articles are the state fire-safety inspection and building-standards provisions; a small home sits outside them. Section 1597.455(b) adds the carbon monoxide requirement: "A small family daycare home for children shall have one or more carbon monoxide detectors in the facility that meet the standards established in Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 13260) of Part 2 of Division 12. The department shall account for the presence of these detectors during inspections." The identical CO requirement applies to large homes under section 1597.46(b). California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102417(g)(1) restates the extinguisher and detector duty for every home: "The home shall contain a fire extinguisher and smoke detector device which meet standards established by the State Fire Marshal." And 2025 California Building Code section 455.4 fixes the extinguisher rating for both sizes at a minimum 2A10BC.
12. STEP 11 -- SETTLE THE LIABILITY QUESTION BEFORE THE INSPECTION, BECAUSE IT IS CHECKED AT EVERY INSPECTION. Health and Safety Code section 1597.531(a) gives three mutually exclusive options: "liability insurance covering injury to clients and guests in the amount of at least one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) per occurrence and three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) in the total annual aggregate, sustained on account of the negligence of the licensee or its employees, or a bond in the aggregate amount of three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000). In lieu of the liability insurance or the bond, the family day care home may maintain a file of affidavits signed by each parent with a child enrolled in the home." The affidavit must state that the parent has been informed the home carries no insurance or bond, and, if the provider does not own the premises, must also state that the property owner's or homeowners' association's insurance "may not provide coverage for losses arising out of, or in connection with, the operation of the family day care home." Section 1597.531(a) closes with the enforcement hook: "These affidavits shall be on a form provided by the department and shall be reviewed at each licensing inspection." California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102417(m) repeats all three options. If you carry insurance or a bond and rent, or share common space governed by an HOA, section 1597.531(b) and section 102417(n) require you to add the owner or the HOA as an additional insured if they ask in writing, if adding them does not cause cancellation or non-renewal, and if they pay any additional premium.
13. STEP 12 -- ASSEMBLE PROOF OF CONTROL OF PROPERTY AND, IF YOU WANT EIGHT OR FOURTEEN CHILDREN AND YOU RENT, THE LANDLORD'S WRITTEN CONSENT. California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102417(o): "The licensee shall maintain documentation of proof of control of property at the Family Child Care Home for review by the Department. (1) If the licensee owns or is buying the home, 'proof of control of property' is a copy of the property deed, the property tax statement, or a payment coupon from the mortgage company or bank. (2) If the licensee is operating on rented or leased property, 'proof of control of property' is a copy of the rental agreement or lease." Separately, if you intend to use the section 1597.44 or section 1597.465 stretch capacity on rented or leased property, section 102417(q) requires "the written consent of the property owner/landlord to increase the home's capacity to eight or 14 children," documented on "LIC 9149 (Rev. 8/14) Property Owner/Landlord Consent, which is incorporated by reference, attached to the Family Child Care Home's license on file in the home." Note the odd storage rule -- attached to the license itself.
14. STEP 13 -- PREPARE THE HOME TO SECTION 102417, WHICH IS THE OPERATIVE PHYSICAL-PREMISES RULE (ARTICLE 7 IS RESERVED AND EMPTY). California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102417 requires, in the words of the regulation: the home "shall be kept clean and orderly, with heating and ventilation for safety and comfort" (subd. (b)); "[t]he home shall maintain telephone service" (subd. (c)); "safe toys, play equipment and materials," and "[f]ixtures, furniture, and equipment that have been banned or recalled by the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission shall not be used for children in care or accessible to children in care" (subd. (d), (d)(1)); a sick child "shall be separated from other children and the nature of the illness determined" (subd. (e)); food brought from home must be "labeled with the child's name and properly stored or refrigerated" (subd. (f)); "[f]ireplaces and open-face heaters shall be screened to prevent access by children" and the home shall contain a fire extinguisher and smoke detector (subd. (g)(1)); "[g]as heaters shall be properly vented and permanently installed" (subd. (g)(2)); "[w]here children less than five years old are in care, stairs shall be fenced or barricaded" (subd. (g)(3)); and "[p]oisons, detergents, cleaning compounds, medicines, firearms and other items which could pose a danger if readily available to children shall be stored where they are inaccessible to children," with "[s]torage areas for poisons, firearms and other dangerous weapons ... locked," trigger locks or a removed firing pin permitted in lieu of locked firearm storage with firing pins "stored and locked separately from firearms," and "[a]mmunition ... stored and locked separately from firearms" (subd. (g)(4)). Water is treated at length: subdivision (g)(5) requires inaccessibility of "pools (in-ground and above-ground), fixed-in-place wading pools, hot tubs, spas, fish ponds and similar bodies of water through a pool cover or by surrounding the pool with a fence," with fences "at least five feet high ... constructed so that the fence does not obscure the pool from view," gates that "swing away from the pool, self-close and have a self-latching device located no more than six inches from the top of the gate," and covers "strong enough to completely support the weight of an adult ... placed on the pool and locked while the pool is not in use." Homes licensed before June 1, 1995 are grandfathered on existing pool fencing "until such fence is replaced or structurally altered." Subdivision (g)(6) requires outdoor play areas to be "either fenced, or ... supervised by the licensee or caregiver," to exclude any area made inaccessible under the pool rule, and to be inaccessible to "canals, cliffs, condemned buildings, creeks, ditches, lakes, ocean fronts, mines, power lines, quarries, rivers, ravines, swamps, watercourses, and areas subject to flooding." Subdivision (g)(10) bans baby walkers, citing Health and Safety Code section 1596.846(b): "A baby walker shall not be kept or used on the premises of a child day care facility." Health and Safety Code section 1596.847(a) separately bans unsafe full-size and non-full-size cribs.
15. STEP 14 -- WRITE THE EMERGENCY AND DISASTER PLAN. IN 2026 THIS IS TWO OVERLAPPING REQUIREMENTS, AND THE NEWER ONE MUST BE FILED WITH THE APPLICATION. The old requirement: California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102417(g)(9), "Each family child care home shall have a written disaster plan of action prepared on a form approved by the Department. All children, age and ability permitting, and the provider, the assistant provider, and other members of the household, shall be instructed in their duties under the disaster plan. As their age and ability permit, newly enrolled children shall be informed promptly of their duties as required in the plan," with subdivision (g)(9)(A) requiring "fire drills and disaster drills at least once every six months," documented with "the date and time of each drill," kept at the home. Health and Safety Code section 1597.54(b)(2)(B) requires the application to include "[e]vidence satisfactory to the department that there is a fire escape and emergency and disaster plan for the facility." THE NEW REQUIREMENT: Health and Safety Code section 1596.868, added by Stats. 2026, Ch. 25, Sec. 23 (AB 150), effective June 29, 2026, applies to every "child daycare facility, as defined in Section 1596.750" -- which includes family day care homes -- and specifies a twelve-part plan: evacuation procedures "including identification of an assembly point or points"; "[p]rocedures for facility lockdowns due to an active shooter threat or other dangerous situation"; shelter-in-place procedures; "[p]lans for the facility to be self-reliant for a period of not less than 72 hours immediately following any emergency or disaster, including ... a short-term or long-term power failure," with generator location and operating-instruction rules; relocation procedures including a transportation plan, communication with emergency response personnel, evacuation route information, and "at least two locations that can temporarily shelter children in care when relocation is necessary. At least one of the locations shall be outside of the immediate geographic area"; a contact list covering local emergency response personnel, the local licensing agency regional office, parents or legal guardians for all children in care, and transportation providers; "[t]he location of utility shutoff valves and shutoff instructions"; and procedures for reunification, parent communication, medication assistance and administration, medication storage including refrigerated medication, "[t]he care of infants, toddlers, children with disabilities, and children with medical conditions or other special needs," and continuity of operations. If the transportation plan uses a facility vehicle, "the keys to the vehicle shall be available to staff on all shifts." Subdivision (h)(1) is the application step: "An applicant for a child daycare facility license shall submit an emergency and disaster plan with the license application." Subdivision (h)(2) sets the compliance date: "On and after January 1, 2027, a child daycare facility shall be in compliance with this section." Subdivision (i) limits the licensing agency's role to confirming a plan is on file, and subdivision (k) says the section "shall not be interpreted to require the licensing agency to evaluate the content" of it. Attach the Earthquake Preparedness Checklist: Health and Safety Code section 1596.867(a), as amended by AB 150, requires it "as an attachment to the emergency and disaster plan prescribed by Section 1596.868," provides that it "shall not be considered a requirement for obtaining or maintaining a license," requires it to be "made accessible to the public at the child daycare facility," and states that the licensing agency "shall not monitor or be responsible for enforcing any provision contained in the Earthquake Preparedness Checklist." Subdivision (b) caps it at two typewritten pages and lets the licensee select from the listed procedures -- bolting bookcases to wall studs, moving heavy books to low shelves, securing water heaters with plumber's tape, practising "duck, cover, and hold" drills "no less than 4 times a year," storing a three-day supply of nonperishable food and water, and so on.
16. STEP 15 -- FILE THE APPLICATION AND PAY THE STATUTORY FEE. Health and Safety Code section 1597.54(b) lists what the application must contain: a brief statement confirming financial security to operate, with the express limit that "[t]he department shall not require any other specific or detailed financial disclosure"; evidence of the fire extinguisher and smoke detector (small) or of the State Fire Marshal standards (large); evidence of a fire escape and emergency and disaster plan; fingerprints under section 1596.871(b); current tuberculosis clearance; immunization evidence under section 1597.622; "[e]vidence satisfactory to the department of the ability of the applicant to comply with this chapter and Chapter 3.4 ... and the regulations"; and "[e]vidence satisfactory to the department that the applicant and all other persons residing in the home are of reputable and responsible character. The evidence shall include, but not be limited to, a criminal record clearance pursuant to Section 1596.871, employment history, and character references." Subdivision (c) is a warning: "Failure of the applicant to cooperate with the licensing agency in the completion of the application shall result in the denial of the application. Failure to cooperate means that the information described in this section and in regulations of the department has not been provided, or not provided in the form requested by the licensing agency, or both." California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102369(b) adds the applicant's name, address, telephone number and confirmation of being 18 or over; the age and number of children to be served; "[n]ame and age of every person residing in the home where care is to be provided"; a statement of intent to comply; and the fire authority contact information. THE FEE, from Health and Safety Code section 1596.803(a)(1): family day care capacity 1 to 8 -- original application $73, annual fee $73; capacity 9 to 14 -- original application $140, annual fee $140. These figures are in the Health and Safety Code itself, not in an agency fee schedule. Section 1596.803(d) permits payment "by a bona fide business or personal check."; section 1596.803(b)(1)(G) allows the department to charge processing costs including "bounced check charges, charges for credit and debit transactions, and postage due charges"; and section 1596.803(e) makes non-payment "grounds for denial or forfeiture of a license."
17. STEP 16 -- PASS THE ANNOUNCED PRE-LICENSING SITE INSPECTION, WHICH MUST HAPPEN WITHIN 30 DAYS. Health and Safety Code section 1597.55a(b): "The department shall conduct an announced site inspection prior to the initial licensing of the applicant." Health and Safety Code section 1597.59 sets both clocks: "The department shall conduct an initial site visit within 30 days after the receipt of all appropriate licensing application materials," and the department "shall grant or deny a license to a family day care home for children within 30 days after receipt of all appropriate licensing application materials as determined by the department, provided both of the following conditions are met: (a) A site visit has been completed and the family day care home has been found to be in compliance with licensing standards. (b) The applicant and each person described by subdivision (b) of Section 1596.871 has obtained a criminal record clearance, or been granted a criminal record exemption by the department or the local contracting agency." The two conditions are what make the 30 days elastic in practice: the clock is measured from receipt of ALL appropriate materials, and the clearances have to be in hand. California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102352(c)(6) captures the same idea in the definition of a "Completed Application," which requires that "a home visit has been completed." Health and Safety Code section 1596.8535(a) constrains when the visit may occur: "only during the period beginning one hour before and ending one hour after the facility's normal business hours or at any time childcare services are being provided," except for complaint investigations where the department determines otherwise is necessary. If the department finds non-compliance it must deny -- Health and Safety Code section 1596.856 -- and a denial carries a 15-day right to petition for a hearing under section 1596.879.
18. STEP 17 -- IF DENIED, KNOW THE CLOCK. Health and Safety Code section 1596.879: "Immediately upon the denial of any application for a license or for a special permit, the department shall notify the applicant in writing. Within 15 days after the department mails the notice, the applicant may present his or her written petition for a hearing to the department. Upon receipt by the department of the petition, the petition shall be set for hearing," conducted under the Administrative Procedure Act (Government Code section 11500 et seq.). Health and Safety Code section 1596.854 warns that withdrawing an application does not stop a denial proceeding "unless the department consents in writing to the withdrawal." And section 1596.851(b) imposes a one-year cessation of review on a later application after a denial, subject to subdivision (b)(3), which lets the department continue "if it has determined that the reasons for the denial of the application were due to circumstances and conditions which have been corrected or are no longer in existence."
19. STEP 18 -- BEFORE THE FIRST CHILD ARRIVES: PUT UP THE POSTINGS, ASSEMBLE THE CHILD FILES, AND BUILD THE INFANT SLEEP SYSTEM. The postings are set out in required_postings. The per-child file must contain, at minimum: the signed and dated bottom portion of the LIC 995A parents' rights notice (California Code of Regulations, Title 22, sections 102419(d)(1) and 102421(a)), kept "for at least three years following termination of service to the child"; a copy of the emergency information card required by section 102417(g)(7), carrying "the child's full name, telephone number and location of a parent or other responsible adult to be contacted in an emergency, the name and telephone number of the child's physician and the parent's authorization for the licensee or registrant to consent to emergency medical care" (section 102421(b)); immunization documentation under section 102418(g); school enrollment and attendance documentation for any school-age child under six being counted toward the stretch capacity (section 102421(c)); and, where the stretch capacity is used, the completed and signed LIC 9150 parental notification (section 102421(d)(1)). If you will care for any child under two, build the infant-sleep system before opening: one crib or play yard per infant unable to climb out, meeting CPSC standards, firm mattress made for that crib with a tightly fitted sheet that "overlaps the underside of the mattress so it cannot be dislodged," no bumper pads, nothing hanging above or attached to the side, a completed and signed Individual Infant Sleeping Plan (LIC 9227 (3/20)) in each infant's file, back-sleeping for every infant up to 12 months absent a written physician exemption, no swaddling, no covered heads, no car-seat sleeping, and a written fifteen-minute check log recording date, infant's name and the time of each check (California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102425(a) through (j)). Also assemble the current roster required by Health and Safety Code section 1596.841 -- "the name, address, and daytime telephone number of the child's parent or guardian, and the name and telephone number of the child's physician" -- which section 102417(g)(8) makes a standing requirement and section 1596.868(e)(1) will require to be "readily available during an emergency or disaster" from January 1, 2027.
20. STEP 19 -- UNDERSTAND WHAT HAPPENS AFTER YOU OPEN, BECAUSE THE INSPECTION REGIME IS UNANNOUNCED AND CONTINUOUS. Health and Safety Code section 1597.55a(a): "Every family day care home shall be subject to unannounced inspections by the department ... The department shall inspect these facilities as often as necessary to ensure the quality of care provided." Subdivision (c) requires an annual unannounced inspection when a license is on probation, when a facility compliance plan requires one, when an accusation is pending, or "[i]n order to verify that a person who has been ordered out of a family day care home by the department is no longer at the facility." Subdivision (d)(1) requires "annual unannounced inspections of no less than 30 percent of facilities not subject to an inspection under subdivision (c)," selected by "a random sampling methodology developed by the department." Subdivision (e) sets the floor: "The department shall inspect a licensed family day care home at least once every three years." Subdivision (j) records the aspiration: "It is the intent of the Legislature to achieve annual inspections for licensed family day care homes and facilities governed by this section on or before July 1, 2021." Health and Safety Code section 1596.852 gives entry authority "at any time, with or without advance notice." Complaint inspections are governed by section 1596.853: any person may complain orally or in writing; "[t]he substance of the complaint shall be provided to the licensee no earlier than at the time of the inspection"; the department must make an onsite inspection "within 10 days after receiving the complaint" unless it determines the complaint "is willfully intended to harass a licensee or is without any reasonable basis"; and a dismissed complaint is marked confidential with written notice to the provider within 30 days. And section 102416.3 requires you to notify the department BEFORE you convert a garage, add a room, install a pool, spa, fish pond, decorative water feature or fountain, build a deck or porch, install a swing set or climbing structure, or convert an area previously identified as "off limits" into a care area -- with a copy of any local building inspector's report that the work required.

What you must post on your walls

• THE PARENTS' RIGHTS POSTER -- PUB 394 (8/02), "FAMILY CHILD CARE HOME NOTIFICATION OF PARENTS' RIGHTS POSTER." This is the one true, named, always-up posting in the California family child care chapter, and it carries its own penalty ladder. California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102419(b): "The licensee shall post the PUB 394 (8/02), Family Child Care Home Notification of Parents' Rights Poster in a prominent, publicly accessible area in the family child care home AT ALL TIMES CHILDREN ARE IN CARE." The rights it announces are enumerated in section 102419(a): to enter and inspect the home under Health and Safety Code section 1596.857; to file a complaint with the local licensing office under section 1596.853; to review the home's public file kept by the local licensing office under section 1596.859; to review at the home "reports of licensing visits and substantiated complaints against the licensee made during the last three years"; to complain and inspect "without discrimination or retaliation"; to request in writing that a parent not be allowed to visit or take a child, on a certified copy of a court order; "[t]o receive from the licensee the name, address and telephone number of the local licensing office in accordance with Section 1596.874"; and "[t]o be informed by the licensee, upon request, of the name and type of association to the family child care home for any adult who has been granted a criminal record exemption." Failure to post draws, under section 102419(d)(3)(A)-(C), "a civil penalty of fifty dollars ($50) per day until the deficiency is corrected," rising on a repeat within 12 months to "$150 plus an assessment of $50 per day," and on a further repeat to "$150 plus an assessment of $150 per day."
• THE STATUTORY PARENT-INSPECTION AND MEGAN'S LAW NOTICE -- PERMANENT. Health and Safety Code section 1596.857(d): "Each child day care facility shall PERMANENTLY POST in a facility location accessible to parents and guardians a written notice, available from the department, of the right to make an inspection pursuant to this section and the prohibition against retaliation and the right to file a complaint. In addition, this notice shall include information stating that the specified registered sex offender database is available to the public via an Internet Web site maintained by the Department of Justice as www.meganslaw.ca.gov. The department shall make this written notice available to child day care facility licensees, and shall include on this notice a statement of the right of the parents and guardians to review licensing reports of facility visits and substantiated complaints against the facility on the site of the facility, pursuant to Section 1596.859." Note "permanently" -- unlike the site-visit notices below, this one never comes down. In practice CDSS combines this content with the parents' rights poster, but the statutory duty stands on its own.
• THE LICENSING-AGENCY AND COMPLAINT-NUMBER NOTICE. Health and Safety Code section 1596.874(a): "The State Department of Social Services shall furnish each licensed child day care facility with a notice that shall be posted at the facility where it can be easily seen by employees and consumers. The required notice shall contain information which does all of the following: (1) Identifies the licensing agency and how licensing regulations may be obtained. (2) Gives local telephone numbers where complaints may be made. (3) Contains the nonretaliation provision in Section 1596.881." Subdivision (b) adds a related availability duty rather than a posting: "The licensee of the child day care facility shall make his or her copy of current licensing regulations available to employees and consumers." This is why Health and Safety Code section 1596.855(a) gives every applicant a free printed copy of the regulations at orientation -- it is the copy she is required to keep available.
• THE SITE-VISIT NOTICE -- 30 CONSECUTIVE DAYS, 14-POINT TYPE, BUT ONLY WHILE CLIENTS ARE PRESENT. Health and Safety Code section 1596.817(a) requires the DEPARTMENT, when it conducts a site visit, to post "on, or immediately adjacent to, the interior side of the main door into the facility and adjacent to the postings required pursuant to Section 1596.8595, a notice, written in at least 14-point type," stating the date of the site visit; whether the facility was cited and in which of two categories -- "(A) A violation that, if not corrected, will have a direct and immediate risk to the health, safety, or personal rights of children in care. (B) A violation that, if not corrected, could become a risk to the health, safety, or personal rights of children, a recordkeeping violation that would impact the care of children, or a violation that would impact those services required to meet children's needs"; whether the facility must post the site visit report for 30 days under section 1596.8595; how to obtain copies of the report; and the name and telephone number of a departmental contact. Subdivision (b)(1): "The notice posted pursuant to subdivision (a) shall remain posted for 30 consecutive days, EXCEPT THAT A FAMILY DAY CARE HOME SHALL COMPLY WITH THE POSTING REQUIREMENTS CONTAINED IN THIS SUBDIVISION ONLY DURING THE HOURS WHEN CLIENTS ARE PRESENT." Subdivision (b)(2): "Failure ... to comply with paragraph (1) shall result in an immediate civil penalty of one hundred dollars ($100)." The carve-out is a privacy accommodation to the fact that the facility is somebody's house.
• THE IMMEDIATE-RISK LICENSING REPORT -- 30 CONSECUTIVE DAYS, SAME DOOR. Health and Safety Code section 1596.8595(a)(1): "Each licensed child day care facility shall post a copy of any licensing report pertaining to the facility that documents either a facility inspection or a complaint investigation that results in a citation for a violation that, if not corrected, will create a direct and immediate risk to the health, safety, or personal rights of the children in care. The licensing report provided by the department shall be posted immediately upon receipt, adjacent to the postings required pursuant to Section 1596.817 and on, or immediately adjacent to, the interior side of the main door to the facility and shall remain posted for 30 consecutive days." Subdivision (a)(2) repeats the family-day-care-home accommodation: the home complies "during the hours when clients are present." Subdivision (a)(3): "$100" immediate civil penalty for failure. Subdivision (b)(1) extends the same 30-day posting to the follow-up report "verifying the licensee's compliance or noncompliance with the department's order to correct" that deficiency, with its own $100 penalty.
• AVAILABLE-ON-SITE RATHER THAN POSTED: THE LICENSE ITSELF. This is where most summaries get California wrong. California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102368(a) does not require the license to be displayed; it says: "The license shall be AVAILABLE IN THE FACILITY UPON REQUEST." Section 102368(b) adds: "The license shall not be transferred to other individuals or locations." One document must be physically attached to that license, however: California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102417(q)(1) requires the original signed LIC 9149 (Rev. 8/14) Property Owner/Landlord Consent to be kept "attached to the Family Child Care Home's license on file in the home" when the home operates on rented or leased property at the eight- or fourteen-child capacity.
• AVAILABLE-ON-SITE RATHER THAN POSTED: THREE YEARS OF LICENSING REPORTS AND SUBSTANTIATED COMPLAINTS. Health and Safety Code section 1596.859(a)(1): "Each licensed child daycare facility shall make accessible to the public a copy of any licensing report or other public licensing document pertaining to the facility that documents a facility inspection, a substantiated complaint investigation, a conference with a local licensing agency management representative and the licensee in which issues of noncompliance are discussed, or a copy of an accusation indicating the department's intent to revoke the facility's license. An individual licensing report and other licensing documents shall not be required to be maintained beyond three years from the date of issuance." Note that this reaches conferences about noncompliance, not just formal citations.
• AVAILABLE-ON-SITE RATHER THAN POSTED: THE EARTHQUAKE PREPAREDNESS CHECKLIST. Health and Safety Code section 1596.867(a), as amended by Stats. 2026, Ch. 25, Sec. 22 (AB 150), effective June 29, 2026: "All child daycare facilities, as defined in Section 1596.750, shall include an Earthquake Preparedness Checklist as an attachment to the emergency and disaster plan prescribed by Section 1596.868. However, the Earthquake Preparedness Checklist shall not be considered a requirement for obtaining or maintaining a license for a child daycare facility. THE EARTHQUAKE PREPAREDNESS CHECKLIST SHALL BE MADE ACCESSIBLE TO THE PUBLIC AT THE CHILD DAYCARE FACILITY. The licensing agency shall not monitor or be responsible for enforcing any provision contained in the Earthquake Preparedness Checklist or ensuring that the checklist is made accessible to the public." A public-accessibility duty that the agency is expressly forbidden from enforcing is an unusual construction; the duty is real, the licensing consequence is nil.
• AVAILABLE-ON-SITE RATHER THAN POSTED: THE EMERGENCY AND DISASTER PLAN, ON REQUEST. Health and Safety Code section 1596.868(g), effective June 29, 2026 with compliance required from January 1, 2027: "A facility shall make the emergency and disaster plan available, upon request, to parents or legal guardians of children in care and local emergency response personnel." Subdivision (e) additionally requires four things to be "readily available during an emergency or disaster": "(1) A roster of children in care for that day. (2) A needs and services plan for each infant in care. (3) A medication list for children in care. (4) Contact information for the parent or legal guardian of each child in care." Subdivision (i): "The licensing agency shall confirm, during regularly scheduled visits, that an emergency and disaster plan is on file at a facility."
• KEPT AND PRODUCED ON REQUEST RATHER THAN POSTED -- THE FULL LIST. The current roster of children required by Health and Safety Code section 1596.841, containing "the name, address, and daytime telephone number of the child's parent or guardian, and the name and telephone number of the child's physician," which "shall be available to the licensing agency upon request" (see also California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102417(g)(8)). The written disaster plan of action on a department-approved form, with the log of fire and disaster drills "including the date and time of each drill," which "shall kept at the family child care home" (section 102417(g)(9), (g)(9)(A)(1)) -- superseded from January 1, 2027 by the quarterly-drill documentation of Health and Safety Code section 1596.868(c), which records "the date, the type of emergency or disaster covered by the drill, and the names of staff and volunteers participating." Each child's emergency information card (section 102417(g)(7)). Proof of control of property -- deed, tax statement, mortgage coupon, rental agreement or lease (section 102417(o)). Liability insurance, bond, or the file of parent affidavits, which "shall be reviewed at each licensing inspection" (Health and Safety Code section 1597.531(a); section 102417(m)). A copy of the completed LIC 9151 landlord notification (section 102417(p)(1)). Personnel records for every employee and fingerprinted volunteer, "maintained at the child care home ... available to the licensing agency for review" and kept "at least three years following termination of employment/volunteer work" (section 102416.1(c), (d)). Documentation of criminal record clearances or exemptions for employees, fingerprinted volunteers and non-client adults residing in the facility, "available for inspection by the Department" (section 102370(k)). Signed LIC 995B/995C receipts in each child's file (sections 102417(s)(4), 102419(i)). Nebulizer training materials received when obtaining or renewing a pediatric first aid certificate (Health and Safety Code section 1596.798(a)(6)). Current proof of mandated reporter training, submitted "upon inspection of the child daycare or upon request by the department" (section 1596.8662(c)). Documentation of the substitute-adult requirements under Health and Safety Code section 1597.63(f). Infant sleep documentation -- the LIC 9227 Individual Infant Sleeping Plan and the fifteen-minute check log -- "maintained in the infant's file and ... available to the Department for review" (California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102425(c)(2), (j)(2)(D)).
• A POSTING THAT DOES NOT EXIST IN CALIFORNIA. There is no requirement in Title 22, Division 12, Chapter 3 or in the California Child Day Care Facilities Act to post ratios, a menu, a daily schedule, a curriculum, a sanitation certificate, or the licensee's training certificates. Health and Safety Code section 1597.52(a) limits licensing review to health and safety and excludes "any reviews of the content of any educational or training programs of the facility," and California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102351.1 removes the entire center-oriented Chapter 1 from application to homes. What California posts instead is the parents' rights apparatus and the enforcement history -- who to call, what you may inspect, and what the department found the last time it came.

Enrollment forms for each child

• LIC 508 (Rev. 1/03) -- CRIMINAL RECORD STATEMENT. Named in California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102370(c): "All individuals subject to a criminal record review shall be fingerprinted and sign a Criminal Record Statement (LIC 508 [Rev. 1/03]) under penalty of perjury." The signer must declare any conviction other than a minor traffic violation "regardless of whether the individual was granted a pardon for the conviction, received an expungement pursuant to Penal Code 1203.4 or the individual's record was sealed as a result of a court order" (section 102370(c)(1)(A)), and must supply conviction details (section 102370(c)(1)(B)). A signed statement is required in every employee personnel record (section 102416.1(a)(11)) and every fingerprinted volunteer's record (section 102416.1(b)(1)(A)).
• LIC 9052 -- NOTICE OF EMPLOYEE RIGHTS. California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102416(a): "The licensee shall provide each employee with a copy of the Notice of Employee Rights (LIC 9052 (4/88)) form furnished by the Department. (1) Each employee shall be requested to sign and date the notice form acknowledging receipt. (2) A copy of the signed notice form shall be retained in the employee's personnel record. (3) If the employee refuses to sign the notice form, a dated notation to that effect shall be retained in the employee's personnel record." Section 102417(r) repeats the retention rule. Section 102416.1(a)(10) cites the same instrument with a different revision -- "[LIC 9052, (Rev. 03/03)]" -- an internal inconsistency in the chapter worth knowing about when you are asked for "the current version." Section 102416(b) supplies the deadline for the underlying claim: an employee alleging a violation must present it to the licensee "within 45 days after the action as to which complaint is made and presented to the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement not later than 90 days after the action."
• LIC 995A (8/06) -- FAMILY CHILD CARE HOME NOTIFICATION OF PARENTS' RIGHTS. California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102419(d): "At the time of acceptance of each child into care, the licensee shall provide the child's parent or authorized representative with a copy of the notice Family Child Care Home Notification of Parents' Rights, LIC 995A (8/06)," together with LIC 995E and LIC 9212. Section 102419(d)(1): "The licensee shall request the child's parent or authorized representative to sign and date the bottom portion of the notice form LIC 995A (8/06) ... The bottom portion of this form must be kept in the child's file as proof that the parent or authorized representative has been notified of his or her rights and received a copy of the Caregiver Background Check Process, LIC 995E (6/05), and the Family Child Care Consumer Awareness Information, LIC 9212 (10/05)." Section 102419(g): if the parent refuses to sign, "a dated notation to that effect, containing the parent or authorized representative's name and telephone number, shall be kept in the child's record." Section 102421(a)(1): the signed portion is kept "for at least three years following termination of service to the child." Health and Safety Code section 1596.857(e) is the statutory source and requires the notice to include the Megan's Law website; subdivision (f) provides that delivering it discharges the provider's duty to say anything further about registered sex offenders in the neighborhood and creates no liability.
• LIC 995E (6/05) -- CAREGIVER BACKGROUND CHECK PROCESS. California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102419(c): "The licensee shall provide to the parent or authorized representative the LIC 995E (6/05), Caregiver Background Check Process form." Delivery is proved by the parent's signature on the LIC 995A (section 102419(d)(1)). Failure carries the $50-per-day escalating penalty in section 102419(d)(3).
• LIC 9212 (10/05) -- FAMILY CHILD CARE CONSUMER AWARENESS INFORMATION. Required at acceptance of each child alongside LIC 995A and LIC 995E (California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102419(d)), with receipt proved by the parent's signature on the LIC 995A (section 102419(d)(1)).
• LIC 995B (Rev. 05/03) -- ADDENDUM TO NOTIFICATION OF PARENT'S RIGHTS (REGARDING REMOVAL/EXCLUSION), AND LIC 995C (Rev. 03/01) -- THE REINSTATEMENT COUNTERPART. California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102417(s)(2) requires the licensee, on notice from the department to remove or exclude an individual, to "[p]rovide a copy of the Addendum to Notification of Parent's Rights (Regarding Removal/Exclusion) (LIC 995B, Rev. 05/03) to one parent or authorized representative of every child currently in care within one day of receipt of the notice and addendum from the Department," with the LIC 995C on the same one-day clock when the person may return. Section 102419(h) extends the LIC 995B duty forward: while an addendum is still in effect, the licensee gives it to each new parent "when the parent or authorized representative arranges for child care services or on the first day the child receives care, whichever is first." Signed, dated receipts go in each child's record (sections 102417(s)(3)-(4), 102419(i)). Health and Safety Code section 1596.8712(d) sets "an immediate civil penalty of one hundred dollars ($100) per violation" for failing to distribute, obtain signatures, or produce them.
• LIC 995D (5/03) -- FAMILY CHILD CARE HOME EXPLANATION OF REMOVALS/EXCLUSIONS AND REINSTATEMENT. Optional, not mandatory: California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102419(h)(2), "The licensee MAY provide the parent or authorized representative with the Family Child Care Home Explanation of Removals/Exclusions and Reinstatement, LIC 995D (5/03)."
• LIC 9149 (Rev. 8/14) -- PROPERTY OWNER/LANDLORD CONSENT. Required only when the home operates on rented or leased property AND uses the stretch capacity. California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102417(q): the licensee "shall obtain the written consent of the property owner/landlord to increase the home's capacity to eight or 14 children. (1) The licensee shall maintain the original of the completed and signed LIC 9149 (Rev. 8/14) Property Owner/Landlord Consent, WHICH IS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE, attached to the Family Child Care Home's license on file in the home." Incorporation by reference means the form itself is part of the regulation. The statutory sources are Health and Safety Code sections 1597.44(d) and 1597.465(d).
• LIC 9150 (Rev. 8/14) -- PARENTAL NOTIFICATION ADDITIONAL CHILDREN IN CARE. California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102421(d)(1): where the home uses the stretch capacity, "[t]he licensee shall maintain a completed and signed LIC 9150 (Rev. 8/14) Parental Notification Additional Children in Care, which is incorporated by reference, for this purpose," in each child's record. Section 102416.5(h) is the underlying duty, and the statutory sources are Health and Safety Code sections 1597.44(c) ("notifies each parent that the facility is caring for two additional schoolage children and that there may be up to seven or eight children in the home at one time") and 1597.465(c) (the 13-or-14 equivalent).
• LIC 9151 (Rev. 8/14) -- PROPERTY OWNER/LANDLORD NOTIFICATION. California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102417(p)(1): "The licensee shall provide the landlord or owner of the rental property with a completed LIC 9151 (Rev. 8/14) Property Owner/Landlord Notification, which is incorporated by reference, for this purpose and maintain a copy of the completed form at the Family Child Care Home for review by the Department." This is the instrument for the 30-day pre-operation notice now located at Health and Safety Code section 1597.41(d)(1). Note that section 102417(p) still cites the repealed "Section 1597.40(d)."; the form duty survives the dead citation.
• LIC 624B (8/06) -- UNUSUAL INCIDENT/INJURY REPORT, FAMILY CHILD CARE HOME. California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102416.2(e): "The written report shall be either Form LIC 624B (8/06) Unusual Incident/Injury Report--Family Child Care Home, or a letter that includes the following information, in addition to that required by Health and Safety Code Sections 1597.467(b)(2)(A) through (b)(2)(D): (1) Child's date of birth. (2) Child's or parent's primary language, (e.g. English, Spanish, Chinese, Russian). (3) Time the incident or injury happened. (4) Date that the parent or authorized representative was notified their child was injured or subjected to any act of violence. (5) Description of how the incident or injury happened and name of the child(ren) or adult(s) that may have been involved as well as any steps taken to prevent the incident or injury from recurring. (6) Name and telephone number of any physician or other health care provider that examined the child. (7) Any agency notified, person contacted, date of the contact, and the telephone or fax number of that agency or person." The statutory core it supplements is Health and Safety Code section 1597.467(b)(2): child's name, age, sex and date of admission; date and nature of the event; attending physician's name, findings and treatment; and disposition of the case. Section 102416.2(h) requires a copy to be kept in the child's record.
• LIC 9227 (3/20) -- INDIVIDUAL INFANT SLEEPING PLAN. California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102425(c): "An Individual Infant Sleeping Plan [LIC 9227 (3/20)] shall be completed for each infant up to 12 months of age the provider has in care and included in the infant's file at the facility. (1) This plan shall be signed and dated by the infant's authorized representative. (2) The Individual Infant Sleeping Plan ... shall be maintained in the infant's file and shall be available to the Department for review." The form drives the substantive rule: section 102425(d)(4) provides that "[a]n infant with an Individual Infant Sleeping Plan ... that has SECTION C of the form completed and signed by an authorized representative shall be placed on their back when first laid down to sleep. In the event the infant changes position, the infant may remain in the alternative position," and subparagraph (A) requires the provider, on observing that the infant can roll both ways, to "fill out SECTION D of the Individual Infant Sleeping Plan ..., notify the authorized representative, and obtain the authorized representative's signature ... no later than the next business day following observation." A physician's written medical exemption from back-sleeping is attached to the plan and must contain sleep-position instructions, the duration of the exemption, the physician's contact information and the physician's signature and date (section 102425(d)(1)).
• LIC 9182 (Rev. 4/02) -- CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CLEARANCE TRANSFER REQUEST, AND BCII 9002 -- SUBSTITUTE AGENCY NOTIFICATION REQUEST. California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102370(i) requires "[a] signed Criminal Background Clearance Transfer Request, LIC 9182 (Rev. 4/02)" plus a driver's license, DMV identification card or other government photo identification, plus "[a]ny other documentation required by the Department (e.g., LIC 508 ... and job description)," to transfer a clearance from one state-licensed facility to another or "from TrustLine to a state licensed facility." Section 102370(j) governs agency-to-agency transfers: the individual and the transferring agency submit a "Substitute Agency Notification Request (BCII 9002)" to the receiving agency, which submits it to the Department of Justice, which approves and returns it.
• LIC 809 -- THE LICENSING REPORT. Not a form the provider files, but the form she signs and can dispute. Health and Safety Code section 1596.842(a)(8) gives the provider "[t]he right to use the licensing report (LIC 809) as a means to agree or disagree with cited deficiencies," (a)(9) "[t]he right to an exit interview upon completion of the visit and to receive a signed copy of the LIC 809," and (a)(10) "[t]he right to be informed on the LIC 809 of the evaluator's supervisor and his or her telephone number." Section 1596.842(a)(4) sets the content standard: each deficiency separately numbered, keyed to "a section of law or licensing regulation," with "a description of the evaluator's observation that led to the finding of a deficiency" including "a clear explanation of why the existing condition constitutes a deficiency."
• PM 286 (6/95) -- CALIFORNIA SCHOOL IMMUNIZATION RECORD, USED FOR FAMILY DAY CARE HOMES. California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102418(g): "The licensee shall document each child's immunizations as required by the California Code of Regulations, Title 17, Section 6070, and shall maintain such documentation for as long as the child is enrolled. (1) This requirement includes updating each child's PM 286 (6/95) when the child is due to receive required immunizations after enrollment." Section 102418(a) requires immunization against the diseases listed in Title 17 beginning at section 6000 prior to admission; section 102418(f) provides that a child who does not meet the requirements "shall not be admitted"; and section 102418(j) relieves the licensee of documenting immunizations for a child "also enrolled in a public or private elementary school." Health and Safety Code section 1597.541(b) is the statutory duty: "All family day care homes for children shall maintain evidence that enrolled children have met the age-appropriate immunization requirements." NOTE: section 102418(e)(2) still refers to parents signing "the 'Personal Beliefs Affidavit'" on the back of the PM 286. That subsection dates from 1997 and California's school personal-belief exemption was eliminated by later legislation; the text of section 102418 as rendered by the mirror used for this research also has gaps at subdivisions (b), (c), (d), (h) and (i). See verify_flag.
• FORMS COMMONLY LISTED FOR THE APPLICATION PACKET THAT ARE NOT NAMED ANYWHERE IN TITLE 22 CHAPTER 3 OR THE ACT. Secondary sources routinely list "LIC 279 Application for a Family Child Care Home License," "LIC 279B Current Children In Your Home," "LIC 999A Facility Sketch: Floor Plan and Yard," "LIC 610A Emergency Care and Disaster Plan," and "LIC 9108 Statement Acknowledging Requirement to Report Suspected Child Abuse." None of these numbers appears in Title 22, Division 12, Chapter 3, nor in Health and Safety Code Chapter 3.4 or 3.6. What the law requires is CONTENT, not those numbers: Health and Safety Code section 1597.54(b) and California Code of Regulations, Title 22, section 102369(b) list the application's required contents; Health and Safety Code section 1597.57(a) requires the department to "[d]evelop and utilize one application form for all family day care homes for children requesting a new license"; section 102417(g)(9) requires the disaster plan to be "prepared on a form approved by the Department"; and Health and Safety Code section 1596.868(h)(1), from June 29, 2026, requires an emergency and disaster plan to be submitted with the license application. Ask your regional office for the current form numbers rather than relying on a published list -- and see verify_flag for what this entry could and could not confirm about them.

What's specific about getting licensed in California

California's defining quirk is its two-tier home license (Small Family Child Care Home vs. Large Family Child Care Home) combined with a capacity math that counts your own children under 10 against your limit and requires a second adult (assistant) to run a Large home. Layer on a very specific statutory training bundle: 15 hours of preventive health and safety training with pediatric CPR and first aid, PLUS a brand-new anaphylaxis/epinephrine training requirement that took effect January 1, 2026, and a 12-hour annual continuing-education mandate starting January 1, 2027. California also requires providers/staff to be immunized against influenza, pertussis (Tdap), and measles. That combination of own-children-count-toward-capacity, the Small/Large structure, and the freshly updated 2026-2027 training rules is what genuinely sets California apart from other states.

How long it takes and what it costs in California

Timeline: Plan for roughly two to four months from your mandatory CDSS licensing orientation to an issued license. The sequence is: attend orientation, submit your application packet, get every household adult fingerprinted (LiveScan) and TB-cleared, then pass an in-home pre-licensing inspection. The two things that most often stretch it past a couple of months are slow criminal-background clearances for household adults and scheduling the in-home inspection, so start those early. (California does not publish a guaranteed turnaround, so treat this as a realistic range, not a promise.)

Cost: Your biggest real costs are the required trainings and clearances, not the license itself. Budget for: LiveScan fingerprinting for every adult in the home (state + federal processing plus a rolling fee at the LiveScan site, commonly in the ~$50-90 range per adult and varying by location), the 15-hour health and safety course plus pediatric CPR/first aid certification (course fees vary, often roughly $50-150), a TB test, and any home safety fixes (smoke/CO detectors, a fire extinguisher, pool fencing). California also charges a licensing application fee and an annual fee set by CDSS, which are modest relative to the above; verify the current exact dollar amounts on the CDSS fee listing before you budget, as we could not confirm the latest figures from an official source here.

Source: PRIMARY STATUTE, READ IN FULL AT THE LEGISLATURE'S OWN SITE ON 2026-08-25. California Health and Safety Code, Division 2, Chapter 3.4 (California Child Day Care Act, sections 1596.70-1596.895), Articles 1 and 2 read section by section at https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displayText.xhtml?lawCode=HSC&division=2.&title=&part=&chapter=3.4.&article=1. and ...&article=2. ; and Chapter 3.6 (Family Day Care Homes, sections 1597.30-1597.622) read in full at https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displayText.xhtml?lawCode=HSC&division=2.&title=&part=&chapter=3.6.&article= .

Sections relied on, each with the enactment credit line printed by leginfo and quoted in the body above: 1596.70, 1596.71, 1596.72, 1596.73, 1596.74, 1596.75, 1596.750, 1596.76, 1596.77, 1596.770, 1596.78, 1596.79, 1596.791, 1596.792, 1596.793, 1596.795, 1596.798 (amended 2026), 1596.7985 (amended 2026), 1596.7996, 1596.803, 1596.817, 1596.819, 1596.81 (amended 2026), 1596.82, 1596.83, 1596.84, 1596.841, 1596.842, 1596.845, 1596.846, 1596.847, 1596.85, 1596.851, 1596.852, 1596.853, 1596.8535 (amended 2025), 1596.854, 1596.855, 1596.856, 1596.857, 1596.858, 1596.859, 1596.8595, 1596.86, 1596.861, 1596.865, 1596.866 (amended 2026), 1596.8661, 1596.8662 (amended 2026), 1596.867 (amended 2026), 1596.868 (added 2026), 1596.87, 1596.871, 1596.8712, 1596.8713, 1596.8715, 1596.873, 1596.874, 1596.875, 1596.877, 1596.878, 1596.879; 1597.30, 1597.36, 1597.40, 1597.41, 1597.42, 1597.43, 1597.44, 1597.45, 1597.455, 1597.46, 1597.465, 1597.467, 1597.52, 1597.53, 1597.531, 1597.54 (amended 2026), 1597.541, 1597.542, 1597.543, 1597.55a, 1597.55b, 1597.56, 1597.57, 1597.58, 1597.59, 1597.61, 1597.62, 1597.621, 1597.622, 1597.63 (added 2026). THE 2025-2026 SESSION ACTS THAT TOUCH THIS PROGRAM, IDENTIFIED BY SWEEPING THE CREDIT LINES OF EVERY SECTION IN BOTH CHAPTERS RATHER THAN BY SEARCHING FOR BILLS.

Stats. 2026, Ch. 25 (AB 150), "Early care and education," approved June 29, 2026 and effective the same day, which amended Health and Safety Code sections 1596.798, 1596.7985, 1596.81, 1596.866, 1596.8662, 1596.867, 1596.95 and 1597.54 and ADDED sections 1596.868 and 1597.63. Bill record read at https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB150 . And Stats. 2025, Ch. 546 (SB 582), effective January 1, 2026, which amended Health and Safety Code section 1596.8535 (inactive license status, with compliance deadlines of May 1, 2026 and October 1, 2026). No other section in Chapters 3.4 or 3.6 carries a 2025 or 2026 credit line. PRIMARY REGULATIONS. California Code of Regulations, Title 22, Division 12 (Child Care Facility Licensing Regulations), Chapter 3 (Family Day Care Homes for Children). All 38 sections of the chapter -- 102351.1, 102352, 102357, 102358, 102359, 102368, 102369, 102369.1, 102370, 102370.1, 102370.2, 102371, 102383, 102383.1, 102384, 102391, 102392, 102393, 102394, 102395, 102396, 102401, 102402, 102402.1, 102403, 102416, 102416.1, 102416.2, 102416.3, 102416.5, 102417, 102418, 102419, 102421, 102423, 102424, 102425, 102426 -- were downloaded on 2026-08-25 from the Cornell Legal Information Institute mirror of the California Code of Regulations (https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/california/22-CCR-<section>), including the Register history notes and the Authority/Reference citations printed with each section.

IMPORTANT LIMITATION, stated plainly: the OFFICIAL publisher of the California Code of Regulations is the Barclays edition at https://govt.westlaw.com/calregs, which returned HTTP 403 behind a Cloudflare challenge on 2026-08-25 and could not be read. See verify_flag for how currency was cross-checked instead. CURRENCY CROSS-CHECK, AND THE MEASUREMENT OF THE AGENCY'S OWN STALE RULEBOOK. CDSS regulations index for Family Child Care, https://www.cdss.ca.gov/inforesources/letters-regulations/legislation-and-regulations/community-care-licensing-regulations/family-child-care , read 2026-08-25: it lists one document, "Title 22, Div 12, Chap 3, Family Child Care Homes," dated 04/01/2022. The compilation CDSS serves at https://www.cdss.ca.gov/ord/entres/getinfo/pdf/fccman.pdf was downloaded and converted to text on 2026-08-25 (788,933 bytes, 3,877 lines): its latest manual letter is CCL-18-03 effective 4/11/18, its table of contents ends at section 102424 followed by "Article 7. Physical Environment (Reserved)", and it contains zero occurrences of "102425", "102426", "9227", "swaddl" or "play yard". A second CDSS-hosted compilation at https://www.cdss.ca.gov/ord/entres/getinfo/pdf/fcc.pdf was also downloaded (329,571 bytes) and is the AUGUST 2006 edition, cover page naming Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Secretary S. Kimberly Belshé, and citing "Section 102416.5(c)" for the 14-child criteria -- a subsection letter the 2016 amendment moved to (d).

BUILDING AND FIRE STANDARDS. 2025 California Building Code (California Code of Regulations, Title 24, Part 2), Section 455 (Large Family Day-Care Homes [SFM]) and Section 310.6, read 2026-08-25 at https://up.codes/s/large-family-day-care-homes-sfm and https://up.codes/s/large-family-day-care-homes . Statutory sources: Health and Safety Code sections 1597.455, 1597.46 and 1597.543. BILL AND SESSION-LAW ANCHORS FOR THE OLDER LAYERS. SB 234, Stats. 2019, Ch. 244, the Keep Children Close to Home Act, effective January 1, 2020, which repealed and re-added Health and Safety Code sections 1597.40, 1597.46 and 1597.543, added sections 1597.41, 1597.42 and 1597.455, and amended sections 1596.72, 1596.73, 1596.78, 1597.30 and 1597.45. SB 855, Stats. 2014, Ch. 29 (fee schedule, section 1596.803). AB 2231, Stats. 2016, Ch. 823 (civil penalties, section 1597.58, and posting, section 1596.8595). SB 792, Stats. 2015, Ch. 807 (immunization, section 1597.622). AB 2370, Stats. 2018, Ch. 676 (lead, section 1596.7996). SB 1093, Stats. 2022, Ch. 614 (criminal record clearance, section 1596.871). SB 163, Stats. 2024, Ch. 73 (small-home privacy, section 1596.86). WHERE THE REGULATION TEXT LAST CHANGED, FROM THE REGISTER NOTES PRINTED WITH EACH SECTION.

Section 102416.5: "Amendment of subsections (a) and (b), new subsections (b)(3) and (c), subsection relettering, amendment of newly designated subsection (d), new subsections (d)(2)-(i)(2) and amendment of NOTE filed 2-10-2016; operative 4-1-2016 (Register 2016, No. 7)." Section 102417: "New subsection (d)(1) and amendment of NOTE filed 8-19-2020; operative 8-19-2020 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4(b)(3) ... (Register 2020, No. 34)." Sections 102425 and 102426: "New section filed 8-19-2020; operative 8-19-2020 ... (Register 2020, No. 34)." Section 102352: last amended 8-19-2020 (Register 2020, No. 34). Section 102419: "Amendment of section and NOTE filed 8-11-2006; operative 9-10-2006 (Register 2006, No. 32)." Section 102416.2 and section 102416.3: "New section filed 8-11-2006; operative 9-10-2006 (Register 2006, No. 32)." Section 102421: last amended 2-10-2016, operative 4-1-2016 (Register 2016, No. 7). Section 102416: Certificate of Compliance filed 8-20-2004 (Register 2004, No. 34). Section 102370: emergency filings 2003-2004 with Certificate of Compliance filed 8-20-2004. Section 102371, section 102358, section 102359, section 102351.1, section 102423, section 102424: last amended 10-6-97 or 10-23-97, operative 11-5-97 or 11-22-97 (Register 97, Nos. 41 and 43). The authority citation throughout the chapter is Health and Safety Code section 1596.81.

Verified 2026-08-25. General information, not legal advice and not a guarantee of licensure — confirm with your state’s licensing agency before applying.