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Home Daycare License Requirements in Florida (2026)

Opening a home daycare in Florida means getting a family child care home license from the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF), Office of Licensing. 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 Florida

Florida does not automatically license home child care. It sorts you into one of three regimes before it applies a single standard to you, and the sorting is done by your county, not by you. REGIME 1 — LICENSED FAMILY CHILD CARE HOME. Section 402.313(1), F.S. provides: “Family child care homes shall be licensed under this act if they are presently being licensed under an existing county licensing ordinance or if the board of county commissioners passes a resolution that family child care homes be licensed.” Two triggers, both county-level: a pre-existing licensing ordinance, or a resolution of the board of county commissioners. Where either exists, licensure is mandatory and registration is not available. REGIME 2 — REGISTERED FAMILY CHILD CARE HOME. Section 402.313(1)(a), F.S.: “If not subject to license, family child care homes shall register annually with the department, providing the following information: 1. The name and address of the home. 2. The name of the operator. 3. The number of children served. 4. Proof of a written plan to provide at least one other competent adult to be available to substitute for the operator in an emergency.

This plan shall include the name, address, and telephone number of the designated substitute. 5. Proof of screening and background checks. 6. Proof of successful completion of the 30-hour training course, as evidenced by passage of a competency examination… 7. Proof that immunization records are kept current. 8. Proof of completion of the required continuing education units or clock hours.” Registration is annual, it is with the Department (not the county), and it is not an inspection regime — DCF’s registration page says plainly that “registered family day care homes are not inspected by DCF.” Section 402.313(1)(b), F.S. preserves the opt-in: “A family child care home may volunteer to be licensed under this act.” DCF’s registration page notes why providers take that option: “While most counties do not require licensure of family day care homes, many family day care homes choose to be licensed to demonstrate they meet the state’s minimum health and safety standards.” REGIME 3 — LICENSED LARGE FAMILY CHILD CARE HOME. Section 402.3131(1), F.S.: “Large family child care homes shall be licensed under this section.”

No registration path exists, in any county, ever. THE COUNTY LIST THAT DECIDES REGIME 1 VERSUS REGIME 2 IS NOT THE LOCAL-AGENCY LIST. This is the trap. DCF publishes, on its “About Family Child Care Home Registration” page, a list headed “Restrictions — Registration in the following counties is not permitted as they have a local ordinance requiring licensure”: Brevard, Broward, Clay, Duval, Hernando, Hillsborough, Manatee, Miami-Dade, Nassau, Palm Beach, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Sarasota and Saint Johns — fifteen counties. The Handbook’s local-licensing-agency list is four counties: Broward, Palm Beach, Pinellas and Sarasota. The two lists answer different questions and overlap only partially. Hillsborough is the county that makes the distinction legible: it appears on the fifteen-county list (licensure is compulsory there by local ordinance) and it was removed from the four-county list in the December 2025 Handbook (DCF, not the county, is the licensing authority there). So in Hillsborough you must be licensed, and DCF licenses you. In Broward you must be licensed, and Broward’s designated agency licenses you.

In a county on neither list you may register with DCF instead, and no one inspects you. Establish both facts about your county before anything else. AND THE FIFTEEN-COUNTY LIST LOST ITS STATUTORY SCAFFOLDING IN 2025. Until July 1, 2025, s. 402.316(2), F.S. read: “Any county or city with state or local child care licensing programs in existence on July 1, 1974, will continue to license the child care facilities as covered by such programs, notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1).” Chapter 2025-181, Laws of Florida, section 5, struck that grandfather clause entirely and replaced the subsection with a licensure-application mechanism for exempt facilities. That deletion does not by itself repeal any county ordinance — s. 402.313(1), F.S. still gives ordinances and resolutions their force — but it removes the statutory sentence that many county programs cited as their charter. Combined with the new annual re-affirmation vote in s. 402.306(1)(b), F.S., the correct posture in 2026 is that Florida’s county-by-county map of home child care regulation is in motion. Verify your own county, in writing, this year.

WHAT A FAMILY CHILD CARE HOME IS. Section 402.302(8), F.S.: “‘Family child care home’ means an occupied residence in which child care is regularly provided for children from at least two unrelated families and which receives a payment, fee, or grant for any of the children receiving care, whether or not operated for profit.” Three elements do the work. It must be an OCCUPIED RESIDENCE — the operator has to live there. It must serve children from AT LEAST TWO UNRELATED FAMILIES — care for one other family’s children is outside the definition. And it must receive A PAYMENT, FEE, OR GRANT — unpaid care is outside it. “Child care” itself is defined at s. 402.302(1), F.S. as “the care, protection, and supervision of a child, for a period of less than 24 hours a day on a regular basis, which supplements parental care, enrichment, and health supervision for the child, in accordance with his or her individual needs, and for which a payment, fee, or grant is made for care.” Handbook 1.1 restates it and adds the consequence: “If a child care program meets this statutory definition of ‘child care,’ it is subject to regulation by the Department/local licensing agencies, unless specifically excluded or exempted from regulation by statute.”

WHAT A LARGE FAMILY CHILD CARE HOME IS. Section 402.302(11), F.S.: “‘Large family child care home’ means an occupied residence in which child care is regularly provided for children from at least two unrelated families, which receives a payment, fee, or grant for any of the children receiving care, whether or not operated for profit, and which has at least two full-time child care personnel on the premises during the hours of operation. One of the two full-time child care personnel must be the owner or occupant of the residence. A large family child care home must first have operated as a licensed family child care home for 2 years, with an operator who has had a child development associate credential or its equivalent for 1 year, before seeking licensure as a large family child care home.” The distinguishing feature is not floor area and not primarily headcount — it is the second adult. Handbook 1.2 defines “Employee” for this purpose as “one additional child care personnel at least 18 years of age, who is on the premises of a home operating as a large family child care home.” THE TWO-YEAR APPRENTICESHIP, AND A DEADLINE THE STATUTE DOES NOT CONTAIN.

Section 402.3131(1)(a), F.S. states the prerequisite as “[a] licensed family child care home must first have operated for a minimum of 2 consecutive years, with an operator who has had a child development associate credential or its equivalent for 1 year, before seeking licensure as a large family child care home,” and s. 402.305(3)(a) and Handbook 1.2 treat the Birth Through Five Child Care Credential as that equivalent. Handbook 2.1.G adds a recency window that appears nowhere in the statute: “A large family child care home must first have operated as a licensed family child care home for two consecutive years, with an operator who has had a child development associate credential or its equivalent, verified on the Department’s training transcript, for one year. The two consecutive years of operation as a licensed family child care home must have been within five years of the date of the application to operate a large family child care home.” Two consecutive years of licensed operation, inside the last five, with one year of credential — and the credential must be verified on the Department’s training transcript, not merely held.

Note also that this prerequisite is written in terms of LICENSED family child care home operation. Years spent as a registered (uninspected) home do not obviously count. This is the single most common route by which Florida applicants discover they are two years away from the license they wanted. THE LICENSE FLOWS DOWN BUT NOT UP. Rule 65C-20.008(2), F.A.C. (effective September 1, 2026): “A license to operate a large family child care home may be used to operate a family child care home when the number of children in care meets the definition of a family day care home. A license to operate a family child care home cannot be used to operate a large family child care home.” Handbook 3.3 states the staffing corollary: “Large family child care homes must meet and comply with all standards in s. 402.3131, Florida Statutes and with all requirements in this handbook at all times unless there are insufficient numbers of children in care to meet the definition of a large family child care home, in which case an additional employee is not required.” So a large home that drops below the large-home threshold on a given day is not obliged to keep a second adult on site that day; a family home that goes above it is operating unlicensed.

YOU MUST LIVE THERE, AND YOU MAY NOT HAVE A DAY JOB DURING HOURS OF OPERATION. Handbook 3.1: “A. The operator must be at least 18 years of age. B. The operator must reside at the location of the home where the care is provided. In the event of rental or leased property, the operator shall be the individual who occupies the residence. Proof of residency must include tax records with homestead exemption, driver’s license, and/or a copy of the lease. Operator must comply with local ordinances and/or Home Owners Association rules and requirements. C. The operator may not work outside of the home during the hours the family child care home or large family child care home is operating.” And, for large homes only: “D. The operator must be at least 21 years of age and responsible for the overall operation of the home.” That age-21 floor for large-home operators is in the December 2025 Handbook text and is easy to miss. Handbook 1.2 defines “Reside” for these purposes: “any person that lives at a family child care home or large family child care home. Factors for determining residency include: use of the home address as a permanent address for personal identification or mail delivery; use of the home to store personal belongings such as furniture, clothing, and toiletry items; and names listed on official documents such as lease agreements or property taxes.”

Both duties are enforceable violations: CF-FSP 5318 item 4.2 (“The operator worked outside of the home during the operating hours of the family child care home”) is classified as a Class 2 violation, and item 4.3 (“The operator, in whose name the license was issued, was no longer a resident of the family child care home”) as a Class 1 violation — the most serious class Florida has. THE HOME MAY NOT DOUBLE AS ANOTHER BUSINESS. Rule 65C-20.008(7), F.A.C. (effective September 1, 2026; currently 65C-20.008(6)): “During the hours of operation, the family child care home or large family child care home must not be used for any business or purpose unrelated to providing child care that can interfere with compliance with child care standards or permit the presence of individuals who do not meet screening and training requirements when children are present.” Handbook 2.1.E carries the same rule with an express carve-out for “parents or legal guardians of children in care.” CF-FSP 5318 item 1.3 makes it a Class 2 violation. WHO IS EXEMPT ENTIRELY. Section 402.316(3), F.S., as renumbered and amended by ch. 2026-140: “The provisions of ss. 402.301-402.319 do not apply to a child care facility or family child care home if the child care facility or family child care home has a certificate issued by the United States Department of Defense or by the United States Coast Guard to provide child care and has completed background screening by the United States Department of Defense pursuant to 34 U.S.C. s. 20351 and 32 C.F.R. part 86 and received a favorable suitability and fitness determination.

If the child care facility or family child care home elects to serve children ineligible for care under the United States Department of Defense Instruction 6060.02, the child care facility or family child care home must be licensed under this chapter.” This exemption for DoD- and Coast Guard-certified home providers was added by ch. 2025-181 and renumbered by ch. 2026-140. It is a full exemption from ss. 402.301–402.319 — not a reduced standard — and it evaporates the moment the home takes a child who is ineligible under DoDI 6060.02. Nothing comparable exists for church- or school-affiliated HOMES: the religious-exemption provisions of s. 402.316(1) and (2), F.S. run to “child care facilit[ies],” not to family child care homes. THE ADVERTISING RULE THAT CATCHES NEW PROVIDERS. Section 402.318, F.S.: “A person, as defined in s. 1.01(3), may not advertise a child care facility, family child care home, or large family child care home without including within such advertisement the state or local agency license number or registration number of such facility or home. Violation of this section is a misdemeanor of the first degree.”

Your Facebook post, your yard sign and your listing all have to carry the number. CF-FSP 5318 item 4.1 makes it a licensing violation as well. UTILITY RATES. Section 402.313(12), F.S.: “Notwithstanding any other state or local law or ordinance, any family child care home licensed pursuant to this chapter or pursuant to a county ordinance shall be charged the utility rates accorded to a residential home. A licensed family child care home may not be charged commercial utility rates.” This protection is written for LICENSED homes, including those licensed under a county ordinance. It does not on its face extend to registered homes. INSURANCE, REWRITTEN IN 2026 AND NOT YET IN ANY HANDBOOK. Chapter 2026-140, section 5, rewrote s. 627.70161, F.S., now captioned “Family child care and large family child care insurance,” to sweep large homes in. The legislative finding is that “the potential liability of residential property insurers is substantially increased by the rendition of child care services on the premises,” and the operative rules are two. First, s. 627.70161(3), F.S.: “A residential property insurance policy may not provide coverage for liability for claims arising out of, or in connection with, the operation of a family child care home or a large family child care home, and the insurer shall be under no obligation to defend against lawsuits covering such claims, unless: (a) Specifically covered in a policy; or (b) Covered by a rider or endorsement for business coverage attached to a policy.”

Second, s. 627.70161(4), F.S.: “An insurer may not deny, cancel, or refuse to renew a policy for residential property insurance solely on the basis that the policyholder or applicant operates a family child care home or a large family child care home,” but the insurer MAY do so if the provider “provides care for more children than authorized for family day care homes by s. 402.302,” “fails to maintain a separate commercial liability policy or an endorsement providing liability coverage for the family child care home or large family child care home operations,” “fails to comply with the applicable family day care home licensure and registration requirements specified in chapter 402,” or on “[d]iscovery of willful or grossly negligent acts or omissions or any violations of state laws or regulations establishing safety standards.” Read together: your homeowner’s policy almost certainly does not cover the business, buying separate commercial liability coverage is effectively a condition of keeping the homeowner’s policy, and going over capacity is an express ground for cancellation. None of this is in the Handbook or on the DCF licensure page.

How many children you can care for in Florida

Ten children in a family child care home; twelve in a large family child care home; and in both cases only in one of a small number of fixed age configurations, with your own children counted. FAMILY CHILD CARE HOME — TEN, BUT ONLY IN ONE SHAPE. Section 402.302(8), F.S. sets the capacity in the definition itself: “A family child care home shall be allowed to provide care for one of the following groups of children, which shall include household children under 13 years of age: (a) A maximum of four children from birth to 12 months of age. (b) A maximum of three children from birth to 12 months of age, and other children, for a maximum total of six children. (c) A maximum of six preschool children if all are older than 12 months of age. (d) A maximum of 10 children if no more than 5 are preschool age and, of those 5, no more than 2 are under 12 months of age.” Handbook 2.2.1 reproduces the four groups word for word, prefaced by “A family child care home may provide care for one of the following groups of children, which shall include household children under 13 years of age.” THE WORDS “ONE OF THE FOLLOWING GROUPS” ARE THE OPERATIVE WORDS.

This is not a ceiling of ten with sub-limits; it is a menu of four mutually exclusive configurations, and you must be inside exactly one of them at every moment. The practical consequences are counter-intuitive and are where Florida homes get cited: • Four infants under 12 months is a lawful group (paragraph (a)) — and it is a group of four and nothing more. A fifth child of any age breaks it. • Three infants under 12 months plus three older children is lawful (paragraph (b), total six). A fourth infant is not, because paragraph (a) caps at four infants and permits no other children at all. • Six preschoolers is lawful only “if all are older than 12 months of age” (paragraph (c)). One child under 12 months in a group of six throws you out of (c) and into (b), where the total is still six but at most three may be infants. • Ten children is lawful only under paragraph (d), and only if no more than five of the ten are preschool age and no more than two of those five are under 12 months. Read the other way round: to hold ten children you need at least five school-age children. A home whose enrollment is all preschoolers can never lawfully reach ten.

This is the single most misreported Florida capacity fact. Note also what paragraph (d) does not do: it caps preschoolers at five and infants at two, but it places no cap on the school-age share other than the total of ten. “PRESCHOOL” IS DEFINED BY THE CONVERSE. The Handbook does not define “preschool child” directly; it defines “School-age child” at 1.2 as “any child who is at least five years old by September 1st of the beginning of the school year and who is enrolled in and attending a kindergarten program or grades one through five during a school district’s calendar year.” Two conditions, both required: the age AND actual enrollment and attendance. A five-year-old who is not enrolled in and attending kindergarten or grades 1–5 is not a school-age child for capacity purposes, and therefore counts against the five-preschooler sub-cap in paragraph (d). This matters most in July and August and for homeschooled children. LARGE FAMILY CHILD CARE HOME — TWELVE, IN TWO SHAPES. Section 402.302(11), F.S.: “A large family child care home shall be allowed to provide care for one of the following groups of children, which shall include household children under 13 years of age: (a) A maximum of 8 children from birth to 24 months of age. (b) A maximum of 12 children, with no more than 4 children under 24 months of age.”

Handbook 2.2.2 repeats both. The age break in the large home is 24 MONTHS, not 12 — a different pivot from the family home, and a frequent source of error when a provider steps up from one license to the other. Eight children under two is a lawful group; twelve children is lawful only with at most four under 24 months. YOUR OWN CHILDREN COUNT. Both definitions carry the same sentence: “Household children under 13 years of age, when on the premises of the [large] family child care home or on a field trip with children enrolled in child care, shall be included in the overall capacity of the licensed home” (ss. 402.302(8) and (11), F.S.). This is not a footnote: it is inside the definition, and it reaches your children on a field trip even when they are not enrolled. AND THE DEFINITION OF “HOUSEHOLD CHILDREN” WAS NARROWED. Section 402.302(9), F.S. now reads: “‘Household children’ means children who are related by blood, marriage, or legal adoption to, or who are the legal wards of, the family child care home operator, the large family child care home operator, or an adult household member who permanently or temporarily resides in the home.

Supervision of the operator’s household children shall be left to the discretion of the operator unless those children receive subsidized child care through the school readiness program pursuant to s. 1002.92 to be in the home.” Two things to take from the current text. First, the category is “related by blood, marriage, or legal adoption… or legal wards” — it reaches stepchildren through marriage and wards through guardianship, and it reaches the children of any adult household member, not just the operator’s own. Second, the second sentence — supervision of your own household children is at your discretion unless they are in the home on a school readiness subsidy — is a genuine relief provision that most secondary sources omit entirely. It relieves supervision, not counting: household children under 13 still count against capacity. OVER CAPACITY IS A CLASS 2 VIOLATION, AND A CLASS 1 IF IT ENDANGERS. CF-FSP Form 5318 (December 2025), Family Child Care Home Standards Classifications Summary, incorporated by reference in Rule 65C-20.012(1)(h)1., F.A.C., classifies item 1.1 — “A family child care home may provide care for a maximum of [ ]” with the four statutory groups spelled out and a blank for “There were [ ] children observed in care and their ages were [ ]” — as a CLASS 2 violation, and item 1.2 — “The operator was over the licensed capacity and the circumstances pose an imminent threat to the children which could or does result in serious harm and death of a child” — as a CLASS 1 violation.

CF-FSP Form 5317 (December 2025) does the same for large homes at items 1.1 and 1.2. Under Rule 65C-20.012(3)(e)2., F.A.C., the second violation of the same Class 2 standard draws an administrative complaint and a $50 fine; the third, $60 per day; the fourth, probation up to six months plus $75 per day; the fifth and subsequent, suspension, denial or revocation plus $100 per day. Under 65C-20.012(3)(e)1., a first or second Class 1 violation draws a fine of not less than $100 and not more than $500 per day per violation, and the third suspends, denies or revokes the license. CAPACITY IS ALSO AN INSURANCE TRIGGER. Section 627.70161(4)(a), F.S., as rewritten by ch. 2026-140, permits a residential property insurer to deny, cancel or refuse to renew the policy if “[t]he policyholder or applicant provides care for more children than authorized for family day care homes by s. 402.302.” Going over capacity in Florida can cost you your homeowner’s insurance as well as your license. AND IT IS A CRIME TO MISSTATE IT. Section 402.319(1)(f)1., F.S. makes it a first-degree misdemeanor knowingly to misrepresent, by act or omission, to a parent, a prospective parent, a representative of the licensing authority or a representative of a law enforcement agency, “[t]he number of children at the child care facility or the family child care home.”

Section 402.319(2), F.S. escalates: if the misrepresentation is made to a parent who relied on it and the child suffers great bodily harm, permanent disfigurement, permanent disability or death through intentional act or negligence, the offense is a felony of the second degree. Handbook 9.1.C carries the same list. NO SQUARE-FOOTAGE FLOOR FOR A FAMILY CHILD CARE HOME; TWO FLOORS FOR A LARGE HOME. The December 2025 Handbook imposes indoor and outdoor square-footage minimums only on large homes. Handbook 7.5, under the heading “Large Family Child Care Home Indoor Floor Space”: “In addition to meeting the requirements above, a large family child care home must have 35 square feet of usable indoor floor space per child that does not include bedrooms unless it can be demonstrated that these bedrooms are used as multipurpose activity rooms.” Handbook 7.5.E defines the measurement: “Usable indoor floor space is calculated by measuring at floor level from interior walls and by deleting space for stairways, toilets and bath facilities, permanent fixtures and non-movable furniture. Kitchens, offices, laundry rooms, storage areas, hallways, and other areas not normally used or accessible to the children in daily operations are not included when calculating usable indoor floor space to determine total home capacity.”

Handbook 7.5.F allows shelves and toy storage to count “if accessible to children,” and 7.5.G requires that “[w]here infants are in care, they shall have open indoor floor space outside of cribs and playpens.” For outdoor space, Handbook 7.6.O: “All large family child care homes must have a minimum of 270 square feet of usable outdoor play area located on their property and which is used for the children attending or residing at the large family child care home, during operating hours.” Twelve children at 35 square feet is 420 square feet of qualifying indoor space; the outdoor minimum is a flat 270 square feet, not per child. A family child care home has neither figure imposed on it by the Handbook — its capacity is set purely by the age groups of s. 402.302(8), F.S. OUTDOOR PLAY SPACE IS NOT OPTIONAL FOR A FAMILY HOME, WITH ONE EXCEPTION. Handbook 7.6.C requires outdoor play areas to be “enclosed with fencing or walls a minimum of 4 feet in height,” with “at least two exits, with at least one being remote from the home,” grandfathering areas approved before October 25, 2017 unless the fencing is changed.

Handbook 7.6.D is the exception: “Homes caring only for infants under 12 months of age shall not be required to have an outdoor play area; however, infants in care shall be provided opportunities for outdoor time each day that weather permits.” A home operating under the four-infants group of s. 402.302(8)(a), F.S. therefore does not need a fenced yard — an exception with real economic value in urban Florida.

Adult-to-child ratios

Florida publishes no staff-to-child ratio table for home-based care, and the omission is deliberate: in a family child care home the AGE-GROUP CAPACITY IS the ratio, because there is one adult. WHY THERE IS NO TABLE. Section 402.305(4)(a), F.S. sets out Florida’s ratio grid — one adult per four children birth through 1 year; per six for 1 to under 2; per eleven for 2 to under 3; per fifteen for 3 to under 4; per twenty for 4 to under 5; per twenty-five for 5 and older, with the mixed-group rule that “[w]hen children 2 years of age and older are in care, the staff-to-children ratio shall be based on the age group with the largest number of children within the group.” But s. 402.305 is captioned “Licensing standards; child care facilities,” and subsection (4)(a) begins “Minimum standards for the care of children in a licensed CHILD CARE FACILITY as established by rule of the department must include.” It does not govern family child care homes. Homes are governed by ss. 402.313 and 402.3131, F.S. and by Chapter 65C-20, F.A.C., and neither adopts the s. 402.305(4) grid. Rule 65C-20.009, F.A.C. — the rule that used to be titled “Staffing Requirements” — has been REPEALED since October 25, 2017. If a source hands you a Florida home ratio table, ask which text it came from.

WHAT GOVERNS INSTEAD. In a family child care home the operator carries the group alone, and the four age-mix groups of s. 402.302(8), F.S. (four infants; three infants plus others to a total of six; six preschoolers all over 12 months; or ten children with at most five preschoolers of whom at most two are under 12 months) are simultaneously the capacity and the ratio. In a large family child care home s. 402.302(11), F.S. requires “at least two full-time child care personnel on the premises during the hours of operation,” one of whom “must be the owner or occupant of the residence,” and the groups of eight-under-24-months or twelve-with-at-most-four-under-24-months are the ratio for those two adults. Handbook 3.3 confirms the only relief: large homes must comply at all times “unless there are insufficient numbers of children in care to meet the definition of a large family child care home, in which case an additional employee is not required.” Missing that second adult while operating as a large home is a Class 2 violation — CF-FSP Form 5317 item 6.5, “There were no child care personnel in addition to the operator on the premises while operating as a large family child care home.”

THE ONE REAL RATIO TABLE FLORIDA PUBLISHES FOR HOMES IS FOR WATER. Handbook 6.H sets minimum staff-to-child ratios “while children are swimming or wading”: Infant (birth up to 1 year) 1:1; Toddler (1 year up to 3 years) 1:1; Preschooler (3 years up to 5 years) 1:4; School-Age Children (5 years and up) 1:10; and “Mixed Age Groups — Ratio shall be based on age of the youngest child present.” The mixed-group rule is severe: one child under three in the water pulls the whole group to 1:1, which for a single-operator family child care home means one child in the water at a time. The same paragraph requires that “[c]onstant and active supervision is required when any child is in or around water, including bathing and swimming activities. An adult should remain in direct physical contact with an infant at all times during swimming or water play. During wading and/or water play activities at a swimming pool on site or during a field trip that is more than three feet deep, or at beach or lake areas, children ages 1 year up to 5 years must be within an arm’s reach and in the sight of the supervising adult at all times.”

FIELD TRIPS ADD ADULTS IN A LARGE HOME. Handbook 6.N: “In addition to the number of child care personnel required to meet staff-to-child ratios, if there are more than six preschoolers participating on field trips away from the large family child care home, there must be one additional adult present per each six preschoolers, or any fraction thereof, to provide direct supervision to the children. If some children remain in the home, the adult supervision staff-to-child ratios as required in section 402.302(8), F.S., shall apply and must be maintained. In addition, one child care personnel on the field trip and one child care personnel remaining on the premises with children must have a valid and current certificate(s) of course completion for pediatric cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) procedures and first aid training. At no time shall the total number of children exceed the capacity as defined in Section 402.302(8), F.S.” Read the CPR sentence carefully: it requires currently certified personnel in BOTH places at once, which for a two-adult large home means both adults must hold current pediatric CPR and first aid before the home can split.

Handbook 2.4.5.E states the responsibility rule for the split: “When one child care personnel takes some children on a field trip and one child care personnel remains on the premises with the remainder of the children in care, the operator or employee transporting children is totally responsible for the care and supervision of those children.” Handbook 1.2 defines the trigger: “‘Field trip’ means any trip away from the home. Field trips commence when child care personnel and children leave the home’s property, whether by vehicle or by walking.” A walk to the corner is a field trip. RATIOS DO NOT RELAX IN A VEHICLE. Handbook 2.4.4.C: “When transporting children, staff-to-child ratios must be maintained at all times.” Handbook 2.4.4.D: “An adult must remain within sight and hearing of children being transported in a vehicle, so as to be able to respond to the needs of the children at all times.” WHAT “SUPERVISION” MEANS, AND HOW THE DEFINITION WAS TIGHTENED IN DECEMBER 2025. Handbook 1.2 now defines “Direct supervision” as “actively watching and directing children’s activities within the same room or designated outdoor play area, during transportation, and any activity outside of the home, and responding to each child’s needs.

During napping/sleeping times, direct supervision means being within sight and sound of a child with frequent visual checks.” The coded December 2025 draft shows what was added to the October 2021 text: “actively” before “watching,” and the entire clause “within the same room or designated outdoor play area, during transportation, and any activity outside of the home.” The old definition did not tie supervision to the same room. This is a real tightening, effective September 1, 2026, and it lands squarely on the single-operator home that steps into the kitchen. THE SUPERVISION RULES THEMSELVES. Handbook 6.A: “The operator shall remain responsible for the supervision of the children in care and capable of responding to emergencies and the needs of the children at all times. Child care personnel must directly supervise children, both indoors and outdoors, by sight and sound. Children must never be left without child care personnel supervision inside or outside the home, in a vehicle, or at a field trip location by themselves.” Handbook 6.B, on sleep: “Bedroom doors must remain open while children are napping or sleeping.

When children are napping or sleeping, child care personnel must supervise by sound with frequent visual checks (every 10-15 minutes) to ensure the child’s head is uncovered and assess the infant’s breathing and color. Baby monitors are permissible however, they do not replace the frequent visual checks.” Handbook 6.C: “No person shall be an operator, substitute, employee or volunteer in a home while using or under the influence of narcotics, alcohol, or other drugs that impair an individual’s ability to provide supervision and safe child care.” Handbook 6.E: “Children must be attended at all times when being diapered or when changing clothes… A safety strap or harness must not be used on the diaper changing table/surface.” Handbook 6.F: “Infants must be held for bottle feedings until they are developmentally ready to sit in an age appropriate chair with good head control. There must not be any propped bottles.” Handbook 6.G: “A child shall never be left unattended on a table or countertop.” Handbook 6.K requires photo identification before release: “All individuals authorized to pick up a child must be identified in writing prior to release by the custodial parent or legal guardian to the program, and the program must verify the individual picking up the child is authorized by using a picture form of identification.”

Handbook 6.M adds, for large homes: “direct supervision must be maintained at all times during the hours of operation.” WHO DOES NOT COUNT TOWARD SUPERVISION. Handbook 5.2.3: “Foster grandparents are not classified as child care personnel, and they may not be assigned the roles of teacher’s aides, group leaders or other similar positions. Foster grandparents are not counted in the staff-to-child ratio.” Handbook 1.2 defines them by reference to 45 C.F.R. Part 2552. Leaving an unscreened individual alone with children is CF-FSP 5318 item 8.1, a CLASS 1 violation, cited to s. 435.06(2)(a), F.S. and Handbook 4.2.C.

Training you must complete before licensure

Thirty-five clock hours plus current pediatric CPR and first aid before you may care for a single child — and, for a large family child care home, a credential you must already have held for a year. THE CORE 30 HOURS. Handbook 5.1.1 opens: “Prior to licensure and prior to caring for children, all home operators, substitutes for the operator, and substitutes working more than 40 hours per month on average over a 6-month period must: A. Successfully complete the Department’s 30-clock-hour Family Child Care Home training, as evidenced by successful completion of a competency-based examination(s) offered by the Department or its designated representative with a weighted score of 70 or better. Operators who successfully completed the mandatory 30-clock-hour Family Child Care Home training prior to January 1, 2004, are not required to fulfill the competency examination requirement. Documentation of course completion may either be a single Family Child Care Home certificate or certificates for the five individual training courses which total 30-clock-hours of training: Family Child Care Home Rules and Regulations; Health, Safety and Nutrition; Identifying and Reporting Child Abuse and Neglect; Child Growth and Development; and Behavioral Observation and Screening.

All certificates must be reflected on the training transcript.” The statutory hook is s. 402.313(4), F.S.: “Operators of family child care homes must successfully complete an approved 30-clock-hour introductory course in child care, as evidenced by passage of a competency examination, before caring for children.” Section 402.313(1)(a)6., F.S. lists the same five subject areas for registration purposes: “a. State and local rules and regulations that govern child care. b. Health, safety, and nutrition. c. Identifying and reporting child abuse and neglect. d. Child development, including typical and atypical language development; and cognitive, motor, social, and self-help skills development. e. Observation of developmental behaviors, including using a checklist or other similar observation tools and techniques to determine a child’s developmental level. f. Specialized areas, including early literacy and language development of children from birth to 5 years of age, as determined by the department, for owner-operators of family child care homes.” “WEIGHTED SCORE” IS NOT A PERCENTAGE.

Handbook 1.2: “‘Weighted score’ means a scaled score, rather than a percentage score, based on the difficulty of the exam and determined by competency exam professionals in consultation with subject matter experts.” A 70 weighted is not 70% correct. THE FIVE EXTRA HOURS ON EARLY LITERACY. Handbook 5.1.1.B: “Complete a single course of training in early literacy and language development of children ages birth through five years that is a minimum of five clock-hours or .5 CEUs. Proof of completion will be documented on the certificate of course completion, classroom transcript, or diploma. Early literacy course documentation must be uploaded into the Florida Pathways (Registry)… In order to meet this requirement, individuals must complete one of the following: 1. One of the Department’s online literacy courses… 2. One of the Department’s approved literacy training courses. A list of these courses may be obtained from the Department’s website… (no additional courses will be approved by the Department); or 3. One college level early literacy course (for credit or non-credit) if taken within the last five years.”

The parenthetical matters: the approved-course list is closed. The statutory basis is s. 402.313(6), F.S.: “Operators of family child care homes shall be required to complete 0.5 continuing education unit of approved training in early literacy and language development of children from birth to 5 years of age one time. The year that this training is completed, it shall fulfill the 0.5 continuing education unit or 5 clock hours of the annual training required in subsection (5).” Chapter 2025-181, section 6, added a further route by amending s. 1002.59(1), F.S.: “Successful completion of an emergent literacy training course approved under this section satisfies requirements for approved training in early literacy and language development under ss. 402.305(2)(e)4., 402.313(6), and 402.3131(5).” If you already hold a Florida emergent-literacy certificate for VPK, it counts. THE TOTAL, AND WHEN IT MUST BE DONE FOR REGISTRATION. DCF’s registration page states the arithmetic in one sentence: “Proof of completion of the 30-hour family day care home training course as well as an approved 5-hour course in early literacy and language development of children ages birth through five years.

The 35 hours of training must be completed prior to registration.” For licensure the Handbook’s formula is “prior to licensure and prior to caring for children,” which is stricter than “within X days of hire” regimes elsewhere: there is no grace period for the operator of a family child care home. PEDIATRIC CPR AND FIRST AID, WITH TWO REQUIREMENTS MOST SOURCES OMIT. Handbook 5.1.1.C: “Have certificate(s) of course completion for pediatric cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) procedures and first aid training, which must be current and valid at all times. Certificates of course completion are valid based on the time frames established by each first aid and CPR training program, not to exceed three years. CPR courses must include an on-site instructor-based skills assessment that shall be documented by the certified CPR instructor. Documentation of completion of the online course and on-site assessment must be maintained at the home and available for review by the licensing authority.” Two hard rules: no certificate is honoured for more than THREE YEARS regardless of what the issuing body prints on it, and a pure online CPR course is not acceptable — there must be an in-person, instructor-observed skills assessment, documented by the instructor.

CF-FSP Form 5318 makes the second point enforceable at item 7.6: “The CPR training did not include an on-site instructor-based skills assessment and is invalid for the individual,” a Class 2 violation; item 7.5, “The home did not have at least one person providing care to children with a valid and current certification in pediatric CPR procedures and/or first aid training,” is also Class 2. The statutory floor behind it, for facilities and read across by the Handbook, is s. 402.305(7)(a), F.S., which requires “that at least one staff person trained in person in cardiopulmonary resuscitation, as evidenced by current documentation of course completion, be present at all times that children are present.” SUBSTITUTES — TWO DIFFERENT TRAINING BURDENS, DIVIDED AT 40 HOURS A MONTH. A substitute for the OPERATOR, and any substitute averaging more than 40 hours per month over a six-month period, carries the full operator package: the 30 hours with the competency exam, the 5-hour literacy course, and current pediatric CPR and first aid (Handbook 5.1.1, whose opening sentence names them expressly).

Handbook 5.1.2, titled in the body “Substitutes for the Large Family Child Care Home Employee Who Work Less Than 40 Hours/Month,” sets the lighter package: “A. The Department’s six clock-hour Family Child Care Home Rules and Regulations training, as evidenced by successful completion of a competency-based examination offered by the Department or its designated training representative prior to licensure and caring for children. B. Substitutes who have successfully completed the three clock-hour Fundamentals of Child Care training or 30-clock-hour Family Child Care Home training are not required to complete the six clock-hour Family Child Care Home Rules and Regulations course. C. Have certificate(s) of course completion for pediatric cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) procedures and first aid training, which must be current and valid at all times.” Note the naming discrepancy inside the adopted Handbook: the table of contents heads 5.1.2 “Substitutes Who Work Less Than 40 Hours/Month,” while the body heads it “Substitutes for the Large Family Child Care Home Employee Who Work Less Than 40 Hours/Month.”

CF-FSP Form 5318 resolves it in the direction of the table of contents: item 7.4 cites Handbook 5.1.2 for “[a] substitute, who worked less than 40 hours a month on average, did not complete the department’s 6 clock-hour Family Child Care Rules and Regulation course (or have documentation of completion of the 3 clock-hour Fundamentals of Child Care Home Rules course),” without limiting it to large homes. Assume the six-hour course applies to any sub-40-hour substitute and confirm with your licensing counselor. THE 40-HOUR CEILING IS ALSO A LIMIT ON THE SUBSTITUTE. Handbook 3.2.D: “Substitutes may not work for the operator more than 40 hours per month on average over a 6-month period in any single home for which they have been identified as the designated substitute.” Handbook 3.2.E puts the paperwork on you: “The operator must document the hours worked on a monthly basis. The operator must sign a statement attesting to the number of hours that the substitute works in the operator’s home. The statement must be placed in the substitute’s file.” Exceeding 40 hours is CF-FSP 5318 item 5.6. LARGE FAMILY CHILD CARE HOME OPERATORS — THE CREDENTIAL, HELD FOR A YEAR BEFORE YOU APPLY.

Handbook 5.1.3.A: “Possess an active Staff Credential Verification Confirmation, documented on the Training Transcript for at least one year prior to licensure.” The qualifying credentials, per Handbook 5.1.3.A.2, are “a) An active National Early Childhood Credential (NECC); or b) An active Birth Through Five Child Care Credential awarded as a Florida Child Care Professional Credential (FCCPC), a Florida Department of Education Child Care Apprenticeship Certificate (CCAC), or Early Childhood Professional Certificate (ECPC); or c) An active School-Age Child Care Credential awarded as a Florida Child Care Professional Credential (FCCPC) or School-Age Professional Certificate (SAPC)… or d) Formal Educational Qualifications.” Two exclusions are express: “3. An Employment History Recognition Exemption will not be accepted to meet the minimum staff credential requirements for Large Family Child Care Homes,” and “4. An Employment History Recognition Exemption and a School-Age FCCPC will not be accepted to meet the minimum staff credential requirements for Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten (VPK).”

Handbook 5.1.3.B adds that the credential must stay active: “Inactive staff credentials may not be used to operate a large family child care home,” and an individual whose credential lapses “shall not be counted to meet the staff credential requirement” even while a renewal application is pending. Handbook 1.2 defines the Birth Through Five Child Care Credential as requiring “a minimum of 120 hours of early childhood instruction, 480 contact hours with children ages birth through eight years, and a formal observation,” valid five years from issuance; the NECC definition, per s. 402.305(3)(c), F.S. and Handbook 1.2, is an early childhood credential “approved by the Department and recognized by licensing authorities in at least five states that incorporates 120 hours of early childhood instruction, 480 contact hours with children ages birth through eight years, and includes at least two methods of formal assessment,” expressly including the CDA issued by the Council for Professional Recognition. Handbook 5.9 states the statutory rule flatly: “Pursuant to Section 402.3131(1)(a), F.S. a licensed family child care home operator must have a child development associate credential or its equivalent for 1 year, before seeking licensure as a large family child care home.” A STATUTORY 40-HOUR COURSE THAT THE HANDBOOK DELIVERS AS 30 + 10. Section 402.3131(3), F.S. reads: “Operators of large family child care homes must successfully complete an approved 40-clock-hour introductory course in group child care, as evidenced by passage of a competency examination.

Successful completion of the 40-clock-hour introductory course shall articulate into community college credit in early childhood education, pursuant to ss. 1007.24 and 1007.25.” The Handbook does not name a 40-hour course. It requires the 30-hour Family Child Care Home training before licensure (5.1.1.A, applied to large-home operators by 5.1.3’s opening words “[i]n addition to the training requirements identified above”) and then, at 5.4.1, “[w]ithin six months of licensure, large family child care home operators must successfully complete 10-clock-hours of specialized training from the Department’s Part II training courses as evidenced by successful completion of a competency examination with a weighted score of 70 or better. These courses include: A. Special Needs Appropriate Practices (10 hours), or B. Understanding Developmentally Appropriate Practices (5 hours) and one of the following courses: C. Infant and Toddler Appropriate Practices (5 hours) D. Preschool Appropriate Practices (5 hours) E. School-Age Appropriate Practices (5 hours).” Thirty plus ten is forty — but ten of those forty hours are due AFTER licensure, not before it.

Budget six months, not zero. WHAT A LARGE HOME’S EMPLOYEE MUST DO, AND ON WHAT CLOCK. Handbook 5.3.1: within 90 days of employment the employee must “[b]egin the Department’s 30-clock-hour Family Child Care Home training. The training shall be successfully completed within 12 months from the date on which the training began… Training taken prior to employment in the child care industry does not constitute ‘begin training’. The ‘begin training’ timeframe begins at the time of employment in the child care industry. Training completion may not exceed 15 months from the date of employment in a Florida large family child care home.” Handbook 5.3.1.B: “By June 12, 2021, large family child care home employees must also have current First Aid training and pediatric cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) certification. Large family child care home employees hired on or after March 14, 2021, must have current first aid training and pediatric cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) certification within 90 days of hire date at the home.” Handbook 5.5.1 adds the literacy course for employees: “Within 12 months of date of employment in the Florida large family child care home, complete a single course of training in early literacy and language development of children ages birth through five years that is a minimum of five-(5)-clock-hours or .5 CEUs,” uploaded to Florida Pathways.

Handbook 1.2 defines “Begin training” by reference to s. 402.305(2)(d)1., F.S. and places the documentation duty on the home: “The large family child care home is responsible for obtaining documentation from child care personnel.” TWO 30-DAY CLOCKS THAT RUN FROM HIRE, NOT FROM LICENSURE. Handbook 5.2.1: “All child care personnel who work in a home that offers care to infants must have training regarding guidance on safe sleep practices, preventing shaken baby syndrome and abusive head trauma; recognition of signs and symptoms of shaken baby syndrome and abuse head trauma; strategies for coping with crying, fussing, or distraught child and the development and vulnerabilities of the brain in infancy in early childhood within 30 days of hire at the home. For child care personnel to satisfy this requirement the training must be accomplished through one of following methods: the Department’s Health Safety and Nutrition course, Department’s Safe Sleep course, or the Early Learning Florida’s Safe Sleep Practices course. Documentation of training must be maintained on the Department’s training transcript in the child care personnel record.”

The list of acceptable courses is closed. Handbook 5.2.2: “All child care personnel shall be trained in the use and operation of a fire extinguisher, at each home they are employed, within 30 days of date of hire. Documentation of completed training must be maintained in the personnel record.” Note “at each home they are employed” — a substitute who works in two homes needs the extinguisher training twice. Both are enforceable as CF-FSP 5318 item 7.9 (“The home did not have documented proof that all child care personnel were trained and knowledgeable within 30 days of employment in [ ]: 7.9.1. safe sleep practices and shaken baby syndrome; 7.9.2. the use of fire extinguishers”). Handbook 2.3.G ties the safe-sleep training to a written policy: “Providers that care for infants must have a written policy and procedure to identify and prevent shaken baby syndrome and abusive head trauma. The policy and procedures must require completion of the safe sleep training by child care personnel, as outlined in section 5.2.1.” FOSTER GRANDPARENTS. Handbook 5.2.3: “Foster grandparents are required to have 100% attendance of the Department’s following training courses: Family Child Care Home Rules and Regulations; Health, Safety, and Nutrition; Identifying and Reporting Child Abuse and Neglect; and Special Needs Appropriate Practices.

This requirement can be met by either instructor-led or online training and does not require a competency exam. Foster grandparents must begin training within 30 days of working in the child care industry… Training must be completed within one (1) year.” EXEMPTIONS — ONE SHOT, AND TWO COURSES THAT CANNOT BE EXEMPTED. Handbook 5.7: “Child care personnel working in a family child care home or large family child care home have one opportunity, if they choose, to exempt from one or more of the Department’s training courses prior to attending training by successful completion of corresponding competency examinations.” The educational exemptions are then listed: “A. The Department… will exempt from the Health, Safety and Nutrition; Child Growth and Development; and Behavioral Observation and Screening courses those child care personnel who meet one of the following educational qualifications: 1. Associates degree or higher with six college credit hours in the areas of early childhood education/child growth and development or degree in the area of elementary education with certification to teach any age birth through 6th grade. 2. An active National Early Childhood Credential (NECC) or an active Birth Through Five Florida Child Care Professional Credential (FCCPC).”

And, twice over in the adopted text: “There are no educational exemptions from the Family Child Care Home Rules and Regulations course or from the Identifying and Reporting Child Abuse and Neglect courses.” Handbook 5.7.B–D exempt bachelor’s-degree holders from specified Part II courses: early childhood education/child growth and development degrees from Understanding Developmentally Appropriate Practices, Infant and Toddler Appropriate Practices and Preschool Appropriate Practices; elementary education degrees from Understanding Developmentally Appropriate Practices and School-Age Appropriate Practices; exceptional student education degrees from Special Needs Appropriate Practices. THE TRAINING TRANSCRIPT IS THE ONLY PROOF THAT COUNTS. Handbook 5.8.A–B: “The Department’s Training Transcript is the only acceptable verification of successful completion of the Department’s training… Any course completion certificate not documented on the Training Transcript will be considered invalid, requiring that the course(s) be retaken. Until the coursework is retaken and completed, family child care homes will be out of compliance with the mandated training standard.”

Handbook 1.2 defines it as “the electronic documentation of statutorily mandated training and staff credential qualifications for child care personnel.” Take a certificate off a wall and check the transcript instead — a paper certificate that never reached the transcript is worth nothing in an inspection.

Ongoing (annual) training

Ten clock hours, or one continuing education unit, every licensing year — measured against your own 12-month licensing period, not the calendar year, and recorded on a Department form. THE STATUTE. Section 402.313(5), F.S.: “In order to further develop their child care skills and, if appropriate, their administrative skills, operators of family child care homes shall be required to complete an additional 1 continuing education unit of approved training or 10 clock hours of equivalent training, as determined by the department, annually.” Section 402.3131(4), F.S. imposes the identical duty on large family child care home operators “who have completed the required introductory course.” THE RULE. Handbook 5.6.1: “All operators must complete a minimum of 10-clock-hours or one CEU of in-service training concentrating on children ages birth through 12 years annually during the operator’s 12-month licensing period.” Two constraints sit in that sentence and are routinely dropped. The content must concentrate on children BIRTH THROUGH 12 YEARS; and the clock is the operator’s LICENSING PERIOD, so a licence issued in March runs its training year March to March.

THE CEU CONVERSION, AND WHO MAY ISSUE ONE. Handbook 1.2: “‘Continuing Education Unit (CEU)’ is a standard unit of measure of coursework used for training and credentialing purposes. The Department will accept CEUs for training offered by the Department, Office of Early Learning, from educational institutions accredited and recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, organizations accredited by the International Association of Continuing Education and Training (IACET), or from nationally affiliated member-based state professional organizations… CEUs awarded for training and credential purposes will be calculated at a rate of 1 continuing education unit for every 10 hours of contact training.” The same definition section narrows “Nationally Affiliated Member Based State Professional Organization” to bodies “officially affiliated with a national child care advocacy organization that for over 20 years has provided members with opportunities to use and strengthen professional skills,” naming as examples “the Florida Association for the Education of Young Children, Inc. and Florida Family Child Care Home Association, Inc.,” and expressly excluding “an organization that provides primarily training opportunities.” A vendor that only sells courses cannot award you CEUs for this purpose.

THE PERMITTED SUBJECT AREAS. Handbook 5.6.1 lists them A through Z, and “college level courses will be accepted”: “A. Health and safety, including universal precautions, prevention of infectious diseases, sudden infant death syndrome, emergencies due to food and allergic reactions, and shaken baby syndrome; use of safe sleep practices; administration of medicine, emergency preparedness; handling of hazardous materials; B. Safe Sleep Practices- American Pediatrics Standards; C. SIDS Sudden Infant Death Syndrome; D. Pediatric CPR; E. First Aid (may only be taken to meet the in-service requirement once every two years); F. Nutrition; G. Child development – typical and atypical; H. Social and Emotional Development; I. Child transportation and safety; J. Behavior management; K. Working with families; L. Design and use of child-oriented space; M. Community, health and social service resources; N. Child abuse; O. Child care for multilingual children; P. Working with children with disabilities in child care; Q. Safety in outdoor play; R. Literacy; S. Guidance and discipline; T. Computer technology; U. Leadership development/program management and child care personnel supervision; V. Age appropriate lesson planning; W. Homework assistance for school-age care; X. Developing special interest centers/spaces and environments; Y. Other course areas relating to child care or child care management; or Z. Any of the online courses offered through the Department’s child care website.”

Paragraph Y is broad enough to absorb most legitimate professional development; paragraph Z means the Department’s own free online catalogue satisfies the requirement at no cost. THE FIRST AID TRAP. Handbook 5.6.1.E permits first aid to count for in-service “once every two years” only. Since Handbook 5.1.1.C requires first aid to be current and valid at all times and caps any certificate at three years, a provider who renews first aid annually and books it as in-service will come up short in the alternate years. Pediatric CPR (paragraph D) carries no such two-year restriction in the text, which is an asymmetry worth exploiting when planning the year. THE LITERACY COURSE COUNTS ONCE. Section 402.313(6), F.S.: “The year that this training is completed, it shall fulfill the 0.5 continuing education unit or 5 clock hours of the annual training required in subsection (5).” Section 402.3131(5), F.S. does the same for large-home operators. In the year you take the one-time five-hour early literacy course, half the annual requirement is already met. MISSING THE YEAR IS CURABLE, BUT THE MAKE-UP HOURS ARE FORFEIT.

Handbook 5.6.1, closing sentence: “Operators who do not complete the required annual in-service training during a given licensure year must complete the remaining in-service training hours within 30 days of the noncompliance finding by the licensing authority. These hours cannot be used to meet the current year’s in-service training requirements.” You pay twice: the missed hours plus the current year’s ten. Non-completion is CF-FSP 5318 item 7.7 (“The 10 hours of annual in-service training had not been completed by the operator for the operator’s 12-month licensing period,” Handbook 5.6.1). LARGE HOME EMPLOYEES. Handbook 5.6.2: “All large family child care employees must complete the annual in-service training requirements as outlined in 5.6.1. A. Large family child care home employees may apply the mandated 30-clock-hour Family Child Care Home training to meet the annual in-service training requirement during the first year of employment. B. All employees continuously employed or hired prior to the last month of the provider’s licensure year must complete the annual in-service training requirement.

This includes any changes in employment from one program to another. C. Employees continuously employed or hired prior to the last month of the provider’s licensure year who do not complete the required annual in-service training during any given year must complete the remaining in-service training hours within 30 days of the noncompliance finding… These hours cannot be used to meet the current year’s in-service training requirements.” The first-year credit in paragraph A is a real saving; the “last month” rule in paragraph B means an employee hired in the final month of your licensing year is excused for that year. THE RECORD, AND HOW LONG YOU KEEP IT. Handbook 5.8.C: “Documentation of the in-service training requirement must be recorded on CF-FSP Form 5268A, In-Service Training Record, which is incorporated by reference in 65C-20.008(7)(a), F.A.C., and maintained at the home… A new in-service training record is required each licensing year.” Handbook 5.8.D: “The in-service training records for the previous two licensing years must also be maintained at the home for review by the licensing authority.”

Three years of records live at the home: current plus two. Failure to record on the form is a separate violation from failure to train — CF-FSP 5318 item 7.8, “Documentation of in-service training for the operator was not recorded on CF-FSP 5268A, In-Service Training.” A CITATION INSIDE THE HANDBOOK THAT IS ALREADY WRONG. Handbook 5.8.C cites the In-Service Training Record to “65C-20.008(7)(a), F.A.C.” In the rule as amended effective September 1, 2026 — the very rule that incorporates this Handbook — CF Form 5268A is at 65C-20.008(9)(a), and 65C-20.008(8) is the Handbook itself. The December 2025 Handbook carries a cross-reference to the rule text that the September 1, 2026 amendment renumbered out from under it. The form is the same form (CF Form 5268A, October 2017, Ref-08750); only the citation is stale. By contrast Handbook 8.3.D was updated correctly and now cites the parent brochure to 65C-20.008(9)(b), F.A.C. — proof that the renumbering was done deliberately and that 5.8.C was simply missed. ONE MORE ANNUAL TRAINING DUTY THAT IS NOT COUNTED IN THE TEN HOURS. Handbook 7.23: “Child care providers shall develop a written exposure plan regarding universal safety precautions, recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to follow in the event there is exposure to blood and potentially infectious fluids.

Personnel are required to be educated on the home’s exposure plan regarding standard precautions before beginning to work and annually thereafter. Written documentation that child care personnel have participated in the home’s annual refresher education for the exposure plan, and understand the proper procedures… must be retained for 12 months and be available for licensing to review.” This is a separate, self-administered annual refresher with its own documentation duty.

Background checks

Level 2 screening through the Care Provider Background Screening Clearinghouse for you, for everyone who lives with you from age twelve up, for your substitute, for your volunteers and for any large-home employee — completed and cleared BEFORE the licence issues, before anyone moves in, before anyone is employed and before anyone volunteers unsupervised. THE RULE THAT MAKES IT A GATE. Rule 65C-20.008(5), F.A.C. (effective September 1, 2026; currently subsection (4)): “A submitted CF-FSP Form 5133 or CF-FSP Form 5238 will not be considered complete until the licensing authority receives proof of background screening clearance on the operator of the family child care home or the large family child care home, substitutes, and on all other household members who are subject to background screening pursuant to sections 402.313(3) and 402.3131(2), F.S. If the designated substitute changes during the licensure year, prior to taking care of children, the new designated substitute for the operator must comply with background screening requirements and the licensing authority must receive proof of background screening clearances.”

The application is not merely delayed by a missing clearance; it is not a complete application at all, and the 90-day statutory decision clock under s. 120.60(1), F.S. does not start. WHO IS SCREENED. Handbook 4.1: “Operators, household members (adults and children 12 to 17 years of age), substitutes, volunteers and Large Family Child Care Home employees must have a level 2 background screening clearance from the Department prior to obtaining a license, residing in the home, employment, or volunteering unsupervised with children.” The statutory source is s. 402.313(3), F.S.: “Child care personnel in family child care homes shall be subject to the applicable screening provisions contained in ss. 402.305(2) and 402.3055. For purposes of screening in family child care homes, the term includes any member over the age of 12 years of a family child care home operator’s family, or persons over the age of 12 years residing with the operator in the family child care home. Members of the operator’s family, or persons residing with the operator, who are between the ages of 12 years and 18 years shall not be required to be fingerprinted, but shall be screened for delinquency records.”

Section 402.3131(2), F.S. is the parallel provision for large homes, phrased “12 years of age or older.” Note the small drafting difference between the two sections — “over the age of 12 years” in s. 402.313(3) against “12 years of age or older” in s. 402.3131(2). Both the Handbook and CF-FSP 5318 resolve it in favour of the broader reading, treating household members from age 12 as within scope. “HOUSEHOLD MEMBER” IS BROAD, AND FOUR WEEKS IS THE THRESHOLD. Handbook 1.2: “‘Household member’ means members of the operator’s immediate or extended family who reside in the home and non-family members who reside in the home, including long-term visitors, live-in paramours, housemates, extended seasonal visitors, and those who are handicapped and/or elderly. A length of stay of four weeks or greater constitutes residing in the home for purposes of the screening requirement.” Four weeks. A partner who moves in, an adult child who comes home for a month, a parent recovering from surgery in your spare room — all of them need a Level 2 clearance before the four weeks are up, and the Handbook’s “Reside” definition (use of the address for mail or identification, storage of personal belongings, names on leases or property taxes) supplies the evidence test.

WHAT A LEVEL 2 SCREENING CONTAINS. Handbook 4.1.A: “Level 2 screening as outlined in s 435.04, F.S., is required for all child care personnel and includes a criminal records check (both national and statewide), a sexual predator and sexual offender registry search, and child abuse and neglect history of any state in which an individual resided during the preceding 5 years. All fingerprints must be submitted and processed through the Background Screening Clearinghouse and therefore a LiveScan vendor that is Clearinghouse compatible must be used for submission of fingerprints. Household members aged 12 to 17 years must complete a Juvenile Records Check with FDLE. Providers may use the public portal to request certified State of Florida criminal history juvenile record checks from this link: https://shield.fdle.state.fl.us/shield/app/orisearch.” Handbook 1.2 gives the same content under “Initial screening”: “a full Level 2 screening which must include Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) checks, a search of the criminal history records, sexual predator and sexual offender registry, and child abuse and neglect registry of any state in which the applicant is currently residing or has resided in during the preceding five years.”

Section 402.302(15), F.S. defines “screening” to include “[e]mployment history checks, including documented attempts to contact each employer that employed the applicant within the preceding 5 years and documentation of the findings” and requires that “[f]ingerprint submission must comply with s. 435.12.” Handbook 4.1.B describes the return path: “The fingerprint results from the Federal Bureau of Investigation will be returned to DCF via the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. DCF will review both the federal and state criminal history results, along with state criminal records, national sex offender registry, Florida sex offender registry, and the Florida child abuse and neglect registry.” Handbook 4.1.C: “DCF will issue an eligible or non-eligible result for employment through the Clearinghouse upon completion of searches and results from other states, if applicable.” THE ORDER OF OPERATIONS THAT COSTS PEOPLE MONEY. Handbook 4.1.K: “The employer/owner/operator must initiate the screening through the Clearinghouse prior to fingerprinting. Failure to initiate the screening may result in an invalid screening and the individual will have to be re-fingerprinted and pay the fees again.”

Initiate in the Clearinghouse first; go to the LiveScan vendor second. Reversing the order voids the screening and you pay twice. Note also the vendor constraint — the LiveScan vendor must be Clearinghouse compatible; not every LiveScan vendor in Florida is. THE FIVE-YEAR EMPLOYMENT HISTORY, AND WHO CHASES IT. Handbook 4.1.D, for the operator: “The operator must submit to licensing a five-year employment history. Licensing staff will conduct employment history checks for the operator, including documented attempts to contact each employer that employed the individual within the preceding five years and documentation of the findings. Documentation must include the applicant’s job title and description of his/her regular duties, confirmation of employment dates, and level of job performance.” Handbook 4.1.E shifts the burden to you for everyone else: “The employer/owner/operator must conduct employment history checks for substitutes… The employer/owner/operator must make at least three attempts to obtain employment history information. Failed attempts to obtain employment history must be documented in the personnel file and include date, time, and the reason the information was not obtained.”

Handbook 4.1.Q repeats the identical duty for large family child care home employees. Three attempts, each logged with date, time and reason. CF-FSP 5318 items 6.3 and 6.4 make both the existence and the completeness of that record citable. OUT-OF-STATE HISTORY: THREE SEPARATE SEARCHES, ALL ON YOU. If anyone in scope lived outside Florida in the preceding five years, Handbook 4.1.F–H require three distinct requests, all initiated by the employer/owner/operator through the National Records Request link at https://www.myflfamilies.com/services/background-screening: (F) criminal history records for each state lived in, with results forwarded to the DCF Background Screening unit — with a shortcut, “[i]f the previous state of residence participates in the National Fingerprint File Program, then a request for criminal history records will not be required”; (G) a search of each state’s child abuse and neglect registry, with “[d]ocumentation of the date the search was requested, and the date the results were received” kept in the file; and (H) a search of each state’s sexual offender/predator registry, with “[d]ocumentation of the search date, and findings from each state.”

Handbook 4.3.E and 4.3.F require copies of the out-of-state child abuse and sexual offender requests to be on record, and CF-FSP 5318 item 6.11 makes a missing copy a citable incompleteness (6.11.2 out-of-state child abuse and neglect registry search missing; 6.11.3 out-of-state sexual offender/predator registry search missing). THE THREE LAWFUL WAYS TO PUT SOMEONE TO WORK. Handbook 4.1.J: “An individual may be hired under one of these circumstances: 1. If all components are complete with an eligible screening and documented in the employee’s file. 2. ‘Provisional hire’ status upon notification email from the Department allowing the individual to be hired for a 45-day period while out of state records are being requested and awaiting clearance. During those 45 days the individual must be under the supervision of screened and trained child care personnel when in contact with the children. 3. Screening requests have been initiated, but before results have been received, the individual may be hired for training and orientation purposes only in accordance with s. 435.06(2)(d), Florida Statutes.

Until screening is complete showing good moral character, the employee may not be in contact with the children as specified in this statute.” Handbook 4.3.C requires that “[i]f awaiting Out-of-State criminal history results, a copy of the DCF email informing of the individual’s eligibility for a provisional hire status must be in the personnel file” — the email is the authority, and CF-FSP 5318 item 6.10 cites its absence. THE STATUTE PUTS A THREE-DAY CLOCK ON THE DEPARTMENT. Section 402.305(2)(a), F.S., as amended by ch. 2025-181: “The department shall complete the screening and provide the results to the child care facility within 3 business days from the receipt of the criminal history record check. If the department is unable to complete the screening within 3 business days, the department shall issue the current or prospective child care personnel a 45-day provisional-hire status while all required information is being requested and the department is awaiting results unless the department has reason to believe a disqualifying factor may exist. During the 45-day period, the current or prospective child care personnel must be under the direct supervision of a screened and trained staff member when in contact with children.”

This is a 2025 addition, and it is the statutory source of the 45-day provisional hire the Handbook describes. It runs against the Department, and it is worth knowing when a clearance stalls. THE ROSTER, AND THE ARREST NOTIFICATION. Handbook 4.1.L: “The employer/owner/operator must add substitutes, employees and household members to their Employee/Contractor Roster within ten days of when the individual has received a child care eligible result. Employer/owner/operator must add an end date within ten days of termination for individuals on the Employee/Contractor Roster in the Clearinghouse when employment terminates, or a household member is no longer residing in the home.” Handbook 4.1.M: “The employer/owner/operator will receive an email notification if any individual on the Employee/Contractor Roster is arrested for a disqualifying offense. The employer/owner/operator is required to take appropriate action if an individual becomes disqualified pursuant to s. 435.06, Florida Statutes.” The roster is not a formality — it is the mechanism by which the state tells you that someone in your house has been arrested, and failing to maintain it is CF-FSP 5318 item 6.9. Failing to act on a disqualification once known is CF-FSP 5318 item 6.2, a CLASS 1 violation: “The record for an individual indicated the person had been arrested for and are awaiting final disposition of, have been found guilty of, regardless of adjudication, or entered a plea of nolo contendere or guilty to any offense noted in section [435].04, Florida Statute, which disqualifies the person from employment and the owner/operator failed to take appropriate action.”

OUT-OF-STATE OFFENCES ARE TRANSLATED INTO FLORIDA LAW. Handbook 2.1.C: “For the purpose of issuing a license, any out-of-state criminal offense, which if committed in Florida would constitute a disqualifying offense, shall be treated as a disqualifying offense for screening purposes.” Handbook 4.1.N repeats it for large homes in terms of “disqualifying felony offense.” Handbook 4.1.O adds for large homes that “[b]ackground screening fingerprint submission must comply with s. 435.12, F.S.” RE-SCREENING EVERY FIVE YEARS — AND A 90-DAY BREAK RESETS YOU TO UNSCREENED. Handbook 4.2: “A screening conducted under this rule is valid for five years, at which time a re-screen must be conducted in the same manner as the initial screening. A. The five-year re-screen is required for the operator, household members, substitutes, and volunteers. B. The five-year re-screen must include, at a minimum, a criminal records check (both national and statewide), a sexual predator and sexual offender registry search, and child abuse and neglect history of any state in which an individual resided during the preceding 5 years. C. An operator, substitute, employee, volunteer and all household members must be re-screened as outlined in sections 402.313 and 402.3131, F.S., following a break in operation/employment in the child care industry or from residing in the home, that exceeds 90 days.

Child care personnel/individual with a break in service that exceeds 90 days are considered unscreened child care personnel/individuals until completion of re-screening. These child care personnel/individuals shall not have unsupervised contact with children in care. D. If child care personnel take a leave of absence, such as maternity leave, extended sick leave, migrant child care programs, etc. re-screening is not required unless the five-year re-screen comes due during the leave of absence.” Paragraph D is the exception people miss: a leave of absence is not a break in service, but a five-year re-screen that falls due during the leave still falls due. Handbook 1.2 narrows what the re-screen must contain: “‘Re-screening’ is the background screening process that is conducted every five years after the date of the initial screening. Re-screening must include, national and statewide criminal records checks through the FDLE, a search of the sexual predator and sexual offender registry, and Florida’s child abuse and neglect registry.” Missing the five-year cycle is CF-FSP 5318 item 6.6, cited to s. 402.313(3), F.S. THE FILE YOU MUST BE ABLE TO PRODUCE.

Handbook 4.1.I: “The employer/owner/operator must maintain on-site at the program copies/documentation of completion of all applicable elements in the screening process for an individual in the personnel file for review by the licensing authority.” Handbook 4.3 then itemizes it: “A. Each personnel record must have a completed CF-FSP Form 5131, Background Screening and Personnel File Requirements, which is incorporated by reference in rule 65C-22.001, F.A.C. B. CF-FSP Form 1649A, Child Care Attestation of Good Moral Character, incorporated by reference in 65C-22.001(7)(a), F.A.C., must be completed for all child care personnel at the time of initial screening or upon change in employers. C. A copy of the eligible results generated from the Clearinghouse must be on record for each personnel… D. A copy of the DCF letter/email informing of search conducted of the Florida’s child abuse and neglect registry must be on record for each personnel screened between July 1st and December 15th of 2016. E. A copy of each request made to out of state child abuse and neglect registries… F. A copy of each search conducted for out of state sexual offender/predator registries… G. A copy of all background screening clearance documents for the operator, household members, substitutes, and Large Family Child Care Home employees must be provided to the Department for inclusion in the official licensing file or in accordance with the appropriate local licensing agency requirements. H. Volunteers must complete a CF-FSP 5217 Volunteer Acknowledgement, incorporated by reference in 65C-22.001(7)(e), F.A.C., prior to volunteering in the home.

Written documentation of volunteer hours must be maintained at the home and available for review by the licensing authority. I. Household members aged 12 to 17 years must complete a Juvenile Records Check with FDLE.” Note paragraph G’s tail: where a local licensing agency licenses you, its filing requirements govern instead of DCF’s. A FORM THAT WAS DELETED FROM THIS LIST IN DECEMBER 2025. The October 2021 Handbook contained a further paragraph requiring that “[t]he operator, substitute, employee and/or volunteer must complete a CF-FSP 5337, Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Requirements, incorporated by reference in 65C-22.001(7)(l), F.A.C., signed prior to initial licensure and annually thereafter.” The coded December 2025 draft shows that entire paragraph struck. From September 1, 2026 the Handbook no longer requires CF-FSP 5337. Any Florida checklist that still lists it as a required annual signature is describing the October 2021 edition. The mandated-reporter obligation itself survives elsewhere and in a different form: s. 402.319(3), F.S. requires that “[e]ach child care facility, family child care home, and large family child care home shall annually submit an affidavit of compliance with s. 39.201,” and CF-FSP Form 5133 section 9 carries that affirmation on the face of the application alongside a s. 435.05(3), F.S. attestation of compliance with Chapter 435 “under penalty of perjury.”

THE VOLUNTEER LINE. Section 402.302(3), F.S. carves out light-touch volunteers: “A volunteer who assists on an intermittent basis for less than 10 hours per month is not included in the term ‘personnel’ for the purposes of screening and training if a person who meets the screening requirement of s. 402.305(2) is always present and has the volunteer in his or her line of sight.” Line of sight, always, and under ten hours a month. Above that line, or out of sight, the volunteer is child care personnel and needs the full Level 2 clearance — plus, per Handbook 4.3.H, the CF-FSP 5217 acknowledgement and a written record of hours (CF-FSP 5318 item 6.8). WHY THE GATE IS ABSOLUTE FOR PROVISIONAL LICENCES TOO. Section 402.309(2), F.S.: “A provisional license or registration may not be issued unless the operator or owner makes adequate provisions for the health and safety of the child… A provisional license or registration may not be issued unless the child care facility, family child care home, or large family child care home is in compliance with the requirements for screening of child care personnel in ss. 402.305, 402.3055, 402.313, and 402.3131, respectively.” There is no provisional route around screening.

The application, step by step

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

1. STEP 0 — SETTLE WHICH REGIME AND WHICH AUTHORITY APPLY TO YOUR COUNTY, IN WRITING, BEFORE YOU SPEND A DOLLAR. Two independent questions. (a) Does your county compel licensure? Section 402.313(1), F.S.: “Family child care homes shall be licensed under this act if they are presently being licensed under an existing county licensing ordinance or if the board of county commissioners passes a resolution that family child care homes be licensed.” DCF publishes, under the heading “Restrictions,” the counties where “[r]egistration… is not permitted as they have a local ordinance requiring licensure”: Brevard, Broward, Clay, Duval, Hernando, Hillsborough, Manatee, Miami-Dade, Nassau, Palm Beach, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Sarasota and Saint Johns. (b) Who is the licensing authority? Section 402.306(1)(a), F.S. lets a county whose standards meet or exceed the state minimum designate its own agency; the December 2025 Handbook, section 1, names the four that have: “The Department regulates… in 63 of the 67 counties in Florida. Four counties have decided to designate a local licensing authority… Broward, Palm Beach, Pinellas and Sarasota,” of which “[t]hree… have designated the local county health department as the licensing authority. Broward County has designated another agency.” Note that the four-county list is now perishable: s. 402.306(1)(b), F.S., added by ch. 2025-181 effective July 1, 2025, provides that “[t]he decision to designate a local licensing agency under subparagraph (a)1. must be annually affirmed by a majority vote of the county commission.” Get your county’s answer to both questions from the county, this year, and get it in writing. Everything downstream — forms, fees, inspection procedure, even which standards apply — turns on it.
2. STEP 1 — CLEAR ZONING, BUILDING CODE AND YOUR HOA BEFORE YOU APPLY, NOT AFTER. Handbook 2.1.D: “The provider is responsible for confirming with the county/city zoning authority that the property can be used for the operation of child care prior to operation. The ‘land use’ must be applied correctly to avoid noncompliance with county/city zoning and potential fines or closure.” Handbook 3.1.B adds that the “[o]perator must comply with local ordinances and/or Home Owners Association rules and requirements.” The instruction page of CF-FSP Form 5133 is blunter about sequencing: you “[m]ust also obtain and provide approval from local zoning and building code offices and Home Owner’s Association prior to the submission of the application,” and DCF’s registration packet includes a standalone “Zoning Building Code/HOA Attestation.” Florida gives home child care no statewide zoning preemption comparable to California’s; the burden is entirely yours and the sanction named in the Handbook is closure.
3. STEP 2 — CONFIRM YOU CAN SATISFY THE RESIDENCY AND OUTSIDE-EMPLOYMENT RULES. Handbook 3.1: the operator must be at least 18 (21 for a large family child care home, per 3.1.D), “must reside at the location of the home where the care is provided” with proof by “tax records with homestead exemption, driver’s license, and/or a copy of the lease,” and “may not work outside of the home during the hours the family child care home or large family child care home is operating.” Both are enforceable: CF-FSP 5318 item 4.3 (operator no longer a resident) is a CLASS 1 violation and item 4.2 (working outside the home during operating hours) is Class 2. If you intend to keep a day job, Florida’s home licence is not available to you.
4. STEP 3 — COMPLETE 35 HOURS OF TRAINING AND GET PEDIATRIC CPR AND FIRST AID, BEFORE ANY CHILD ARRIVES. The Department’s 30-clock-hour Family Child Care Home training with a competency examination passed at “a weighted score of 70 or better,” delivered as one certificate or five (Family Child Care Home Rules and Regulations; Health, Safety and Nutrition; Identifying and Reporting Child Abuse and Neglect; Child Growth and Development; Behavioral Observation and Screening) — Handbook 5.1.1.A and s. 402.313(4), F.S. Plus the one-time five-clock-hour (0.5 CEU) early literacy and language development course for children birth through five, uploaded into the Florida Pathways registry — Handbook 5.1.1.B and s. 402.313(6), F.S. Plus current pediatric CPR and first aid, each certificate valid no more than three years and the CPR course including “an on-site instructor-based skills assessment… documented by the certified CPR instructor” — Handbook 5.1.1.C. DCF’s registration page states the deadline for registrants without ambiguity: “The 35 hours of training must be completed prior to registration.” Confirm every course lands on the Department’s Training Transcript — Handbook 5.8.B: a certificate not on the transcript “will be considered invalid, requiring that the course(s) be retaken.”
5. STEP 4 — INITIATE LEVEL 2 SCREENING IN THE CLEARINGHOUSE FIRST, THEN GET FINGERPRINTED, FOR EVERY PERSON IN SCOPE. Handbook 4.1.K: “The employer/owner/operator must initiate the screening through the Clearinghouse prior to fingerprinting. Failure to initiate the screening may result in an invalid screening and the individual will have to be re-fingerprinted and pay the fees again.” Use a LiveScan vendor that is Clearinghouse compatible (Handbook 4.1.A). In scope: yourself, every household member 12 and older, your designated substitute, any volunteer who will be unsupervised, and (large homes) your employee — Handbook 4.1, ss. 402.313(3) and 402.3131(2), F.S. Household members aged 12 to 17 are not fingerprinted but must complete an FDLE Juvenile Records Check, available at https://shield.fdle.state.fl.us/shield/app/orisearch (Handbook 4.1.A, 4.3.I). Start any out-of-state work immediately: criminal history, child abuse and neglect registry and sexual offender registry requests for every state anyone lived in during the preceding five years, through the National Records Request link at https://www.myflfamilies.com/services/background-screening (Handbook 4.1.F, G, H).
6. STEP 5 — ASSEMBLE THE FIVE-YEAR EMPLOYMENT HISTORIES. Yours goes to licensing, which does the checking (Handbook 4.1.D). Your substitute’s — and, in a large home, your employee’s — you check yourself, with “at least three attempts to obtain employment history information” and every failed attempt logged with “date, time, and the reason the information was not obtained” (Handbook 4.1.E and 4.1.Q). Each record must show “the applicant’s job title and description of his/her regular duties, confirmation of employment dates, and level of job performance.”
7. STEP 6 — WRITE THE SUBSTITUTE PLAN, AND UNDERSTAND THAT IT IS BOTH A DOCUMENT AND A PERSON. Handbook 3.2: “The operator must have a written plan to provide at least one substitute, 18 years of age or older, to be available on a temporary/emergency basis. A. The substitute’s information (including name, date of birth, telephone number, address, anticipated number of hours worked and whether or not this person substitutes for another home) must be provided on the CF-FSP Form 5133… B. The written plan must be kept current and include the name, address, and telephone number of the substitute. C. Any changes to the plan must be reported to the licensing office within 5 working days. All hours worked by the substitute must be documented in writing and maintained for 12 months. D. Substitutes may not work for the operator more than 40 hours per month on average over a 6-month period in any single home… E. The operator must document the hours worked on a monthly basis. The operator must sign a statement attesting to the number of hours that the substitute works in the operator’s home. The statement must be placed in the substitute’s file.” The substitute’s screening and training must be complete before the application is complete (Rule 65C-20.008(5), F.A.C.), and a mid-year change of substitute restarts that requirement before the new person may care for children.
8. STEP 7 — FILE THE APPLICATION, WITH THE FEE. Family child care home: CF-FSP Form 5133, May 2019, incorporated by reference in Rule 65C-20.008(1), F.A.C. (Ref-10482). Large family child care home: CF-FSP Form 5238, May 2019, Rule 65C-20.008(2), F.A.C. (Ref-10580). Either may be filed online through CARES at https://cares.myflfamilies.com/security/login. New from September 1, 2026, Rule 65C-20.008(3), F.A.C.: “Each completed CF-FSP Form 5133 or CF-FSP Form 5238 must be submitted with the licensure fee pursuant to s. 402.315, F.S.” The fees are set by s. 402.315(3), F.S.: “(b) For a family child care home registered pursuant to s. 402.313, such fee shall be $25. (c) For a family child care home licensed pursuant to s. 402.313, such fee shall be $50. (d) For a large family child care home licensed pursuant to s. 402.3131, such fee shall be $60.” Section 402.315(5), F.S. directs the money to a departmental trust fund reallocated to child care licensing. Two payment gates: Handbook 2.1.A, “[a]ll fines imposed through the administrative process or an administrative hearing against an applicant must be paid before a license can be issued”; and Rule 65C-20.012(4), F.A.C., “[a] license will not be renewed if a licensee has not paid all previously owed fines to the Department.”
9. STEP 8 — KNOW THE TWO CLOCKS THAT START WHEN THE APPLICATION IS COMPLETE. The instruction page of CF-FSP Form 5133 states them: “Within 30 days of receipt of the application, the Department must notify the applicant in writing of any error(s) or omission(s) on the application and any additional information needed for the application to be considered complete,” and “[t]he Department has a 90-day time limit for approving or denying the license once the completed application has been submitted. Remember: An application is not complete until all requirements have been submitted. The submission of a completed application starts the 90-day ‘clock’ for the approval or denial of the license.” These are the s. 120.60(1), F.S. licensing clocks. Rule 65C-20.008(5), F.A.C. tells you what makes the application incomplete: missing proof of background screening clearance for the operator, the substitutes or any household member in scope. The CF-FSP 5133 instructions add that an application “is not considered complete until all documents are received, which includes submission of background screening documents for the owner/operator, licensure fee, and approved fire and environmental health inspections.”
10. STEP 9 — FOR A LARGE FAMILY CHILD CARE HOME ONLY: FIRE MARSHAL APPROVAL BEFORE LICENSURE. Section 402.3131(8), F.S.: “Prior to being licensed by the department, large family child care homes must be approved by the state or local fire marshal in accordance with standards established for child care facilities.” Handbook 7.11.C: “Large family child care homes shall conform to state standards adopted by the State Fire Marshal, Chapter 69A-36, F.A.C., Uniform Fire Safety Standards for Child Care Facilities.” Handbook 7.11.D states what must be on file and — new in the December 2025 edition — what may substitute: “A copy of the current and approved annual fire inspection report completed by a certified fire inspector or an alternative fire safety plan approved by the local fire marshal office must be on file with the licensing authority.” The words “or an alternative fire safety plan approved by the local fire marshal office” are underlined as an addition in the coded December 2025 draft; the October 2021 text required the inspection report alone. There is no corresponding fire marshal approval requirement for an ordinary family child care home — its fire duties are the operable smoke detector and current-certificate fire extinguisher of Handbook 7.11.B.
11. STEP 10 — BUILD THE HOME TO THE HANDBOOK BEFORE THE INSPECTION, BECAUSE ONE CATEGORY OF PROOF CANNOT BE CREATED AFTERWARDS. Handbook 7.22.E: “Documentation of conducted fire and emergency preparedness drills must be available at the time of the inspection. Documentation produced after the inspection shall not meet the licensing standard or corrective action requirements.” So the drills have to have happened. Fire drills are monthly, “utilizing the smoke detector(s)… at various dates and times when children are in care,” recorded with “the date, number of children and child care personnel in attendance, evacuation route used, and time taken for all individuals to evacuate,” kept 12 months, and must include over the year “[o]ne fire drill during the established napping/sleeping times, [o]ne fire drill using an alternate evacuation route, and [o]ne fire drill in the presence and at the request of the licensing authority” (Handbook 7.21). The written emergency preparedness plan must cover “fire, evacuation, relocation, shelter in place, lockdown, and inclement weather (tornadoes),” describe how parents are notified and updated, and every drill in it other than fire drills must be practised “a minimum of one time per year” with records kept 12 months (Handbook 7.22.A–D). Large homes add a posted evacuation diagram (Handbook 7.22.G–H).
12. STEP 11 — PUT THE REST OF THE PHYSICAL AND PAPER STANDARDS IN PLACE. Non-exhaustive, from the December 2025 Handbook: a labelled, restocked first aid kit with the twelve listed contents including a digital thermometer, tweezers, scissors and “[a] current resource guide on first aid and CPR procedures” (7.19); posted emergency procedures and emergency telephone numbers with the home’s address and directions (7.20.A); at least one operable telephone on site at all times children are in care — and note that the December 2025 edition struck the word “corded”, so “[t]his phone may be a cell phone if the phone stays operable, is accessible to child care personnel at all times… and is connected to the phone number provided to the Department and parents/guardians” (7.12.A); temperature maintained between 65 and 82 degrees Fahrenheit (7.12.C); carbon monoxide detectors as required by s. 553.885(1), F.S. with 12 months of testing records (7.B); tamper-resistant electrical outlets or safety covers (7.E); daily documented health and safety inspection of indoor and outdoor play areas kept 12 months (7.A, 7.6.N); outdoor play area fenced to at least four feet with two exits, one remote from the home, no gaps over 3½ inches, constructed to discourage climbing (7.6.C, F, G) — unless the home cares only for infants under 12 months (7.6.D); water hazards inaccessible and fenced 4 to 6 feet (7.6.H); pools and spas barriered or alarmed with exterior doors locked at all times (7.7.A–D); wading pools and inflatable water slides with landing areas “are prohibited” (7.7.G); safe sleep practice per AAP with tight-fitting sheets and nothing over the top of cribs (7.8.B), a minimum of 18 inches around each napping space (7.8.M), and air and foam mattresses prohibited (7.8.F); an integrated pest management program (7.9); firearms stored inaccessible to children in accordance with ss. 790.001 and 790.174, F.S. and none carried on any person on the premises except law enforcement (7.4); no smoking, e-cigarettes or vaping in the home, in vehicles, or in outdoor areas used by children while children are in care (7.3, s. 386.204, F.S.); and a written discipline and expulsion policy given to parents with their signature captured on the enrollment form (2.3.B, C, E).
13. STEP 12 — PASS THE INSPECTION, AND UNDERSTAND THAT REFUSING ACCESS IS ITSELF A SANCTIONABLE ACT. Rule 65C-20.012(6), F.A.C.: “The family child care home or large family child care home operator must allow access to the entire premises of the home to inspect for compliance with minimum standards. Access to the family day care home or large family child care home also includes access by the parent, legal guardian, and/or custodian, to their child(ren) while in care.” Handbook 9.1.A adds that personnel “must not interfere with or prevent the licensing authority from copying records, photographing or recording a location/activity on the premises as documentation for the inspection.” Section 402.311(1), F.S. makes the application itself the consent: “Any application for a license or renewal made pursuant to this act or the advertisement to the public for the provision of child care as defined in s. 402.302 shall constitute permission for any entry or inspection of the premises,” and provides that on refusal “a warrant shall be obtained from the circuit court… The department or local licensing agency may institute disciplinary proceedings pursuant to s. 402.310 for such refusal.” Section 402.311(3), F.S. also tells you what an inspection report is not: “The department’s issuance, transmittal, or publication of an inspection report resulting from an inspection under this section does not constitute agency action subject to chapter 120” — you cannot appeal the report itself; you contest the administrative complaint that follows.
14. STEP 13 — POST THE LICENCE AND BEGIN, KNOWING WHAT A PROVISIONAL LICENCE IS AND IS NOT. Handbook 2.1.F: “A copy of the annual license shall be posted in a conspicuous location within the home.” Failure to post is CF-FSP 5318 item 4.4. On provisional licences, Rule 65C-20.008(6), F.A.C. (currently (5)): “The Department may issue a provisional license allowing a home to operate for a designated period of time while working to correct one or more licensing standard(s) not met, provided the operator is making adequate provisions to ensure the health and safety of the children in care. A provisional license may not be issued as the initial license and is a not a disciplinary sanction.” The statute is more generous than the rule in one specific case: s. 402.309(3), F.S., added by ch. 2023-249, MANDATES a provisional licence or registration where the applicant is applying for an initial licence, has made adequate provisions for health and safety, and “[p]rovides evidence that he or she has completed, within the previous 6 months, training pursuant to United States Department of Defense Instruction 6060.02 and background screening by the United States Department of Defense… and received a favorable suitability and fitness determination.” Section 402.309(4), F.S. caps any provisional licence at six months, “renewed one time for a period that may not exceed 6 months under unusual circumstances beyond the control of the applicant,” and s. 402.309(5) allows suspension or revocation if “insufficient progress has been made toward compliance.”
15. STEP 14 — IF YOU ARE REGISTERING RATHER THAN LICENSING, THIS IS A DIFFERENT AND SHORTER PATH, WITH ONE ABSOLUTE RULE. DCF: “you must complete the registration process and receive a registration letter from DCF prior to providing child care,” with a first-time applicant filing an “Intent to Apply” (enquiries: (850) 488-4900). Renewals are on paper: DCF instructs registrants to “download and print all of the documents listed below. Complete all forms and mail them all together with your $25 application fee to: Department of Children and Families, Office of Child Care, 2415 North Monroe Street, Suite 400, Room N216, Tallahassee, FL 32303.” The packet is: Family Day Care Home Registration Renewal; Registered Family Child Care Home Application Checklist; Attestation of Good Moral Character; Health and Safety Checklist; Child Abuse and Neglect Report Form; List of Children in Care; Employment History; Zoning Building Code/HOA Attestation; and the Online Juvenile Records Check. The statutory content of a registration is fixed by s. 402.313(1)(a), F.S. — name and address of the home, name of the operator, number of children served, the written substitute plan with name, address and telephone number, proof of screening and background checks, proof of the 30-hour course with the competency examination, proof that immunization records are kept current, and proof of the required continuing education units or clock hours. The $25 fee matches s. 402.315(3)(b), F.S.
16. STEP 15 — FOR A LARGE FAMILY CHILD CARE HOME, PLAN THE TWO-YEAR RUNWAY BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE. Section 402.3131(1)(a), F.S.: “A licensed family child care home must first have operated for a minimum of 2 consecutive years, with an operator who has had a child development associate credential or its equivalent for 1 year, before seeking licensure as a large family child care home.” Handbook 2.1.G adds the recency limit: the two consecutive years “must have been within five years of the date of the application,” and the credential must be “verified on the Department’s training transcript.” Then, per Handbook 5.1.3.A, the credential must have been ACTIVE and documented on the Training Transcript “for at least one year prior to licensure,” and an Employment History Recognition Exemption will not serve. Then, within six months of licensure, ten clock hours of Part II specialized training with a competency examination (Handbook 5.4.1). Then, on an ongoing basis, a second full-time adult on the premises during all hours of operation, one of whom is you as owner or occupant (s. 402.302(11), F.S.), 35 square feet of usable indoor floor space per child excluding bedrooms and 270 square feet of usable outdoor play area (Handbook 7.5, 7.6.O), fire marshal approval under Chapter 69A-36, F.A.C. (s. 402.3131(8), F.S.), and — for any vehicle used to transport children — a Department-approved child safety alarm system meeting the five criteria of Handbook 2.4.4.K.1 (s. 402.305(10)(b), F.S.). Budget two years, not two months.
17. STEP 16 — DIARIZE THE RENEWAL 45 DAYS OUT, AND KNOW THAT THE LATE FINE CHANGES ON SEPTEMBER 1, 2026. Rule 65C-20.008(4), F.A.C.: “A completed CF-FSP Form 5133 or CF-FSP Form 5238 for renewal of an annual license must be submitted to the licensing authority at least 45 days prior to the expiration date of the current license to ensure that a lapse of licensure does not occur. Failure to submit… constitutes a licensing violation as defined in paragraph 65C-20.012(3)(d), F.A.C.” Under the version of 65C-20.012(3)(d), F.A.C. in force through August 31, 2026, the sanction is graduated: “The department shall issue an administrative complaint imposing a fine of $50.00 for the first occurrence, $100.00 for the second occurrence, and $200.00 for each subsequent occurrence within a five-year period.” Effective September 1, 2026 that entire sentence is struck and replaced with a flat charge: “A $100.00 late fine will be imposed and must be paid before the license is renewed.” A first-time late filer pays more from September 1; a repeat late filer pays less. Section 402.308(1), F.S. is the annual duty behind it, and Handbook 2.1.B provides that a timely and sufficient renewal application lets you keep operating while it is decided, “as long as provisions are in place to ensure the continued health and safety of the children in care,” without limiting the Department’s emergency suspension power.

What you must post on your walls

• A copy of the annual license, posted in a conspicuous location within the home — Handbook 2.1.F: “A copy of the annual license shall be posted in a conspicuous location within the home.” Failure to post is a citable licensing standard violation: CF-FSP Form 5318 (December 2025) item 4.4, “The home’s license was not posted in a conspicuous place,” and CF-FSP Form 5317 item 5.4 for large homes. Note that this is the LICENCE; a registered family child care home receives a registration letter from DCF rather than a licence, and the Handbook’s posting duty is written for licensed homes.
• Emergency procedures, posted and readily accessible — Handbook 7.20: “The operator shall have a procedure for responding when an immediate emergency medical response is required. Emergency procedures must be posted and readily accessible. The operator shall develop contingency plans for emergencies or disaster situations when it may not be possible to follow standard emergency procedures. All child care personnel must be trained to manage in an emergency.”
• Emergency telephone numbers plus your own address and directions, posted on or near all telephones — Handbook 7.20.A: “Emergency telephone numbers (including ambulance, fire, police, poison control center, Florida Abuse Hotline, the county public health unit); the home’s address, and directions to the home (including major intersections and local landmarks) must be posted on or near all telephones and shall be used to protect the health, safety and well-being of any child in care.” The address-and-directions element is the part providers omit; it exists so a substitute or a panicking visitor can read a 911 dispatcher the route.
• Known medication allergies and special restrictions, posted with the stored medication — Handbook 7.24.B: “Any known allergies to medication or special restrictions must also be documented, maintained in the child’s file, and posted with stored medication.” This is a posting requirement in a place most providers never think of as a noticeboard: wherever the medication is kept.
• LARGE FAMILY CHILD CARE HOME ONLY — the written plan of scheduled activities for each age group or class, “posted in a conspicuous location accessible to the custodial parents or legal guardian” — Handbook 2.5. The plan must “[p]romote emotional, social, intellectual and physical growth,” “[i]nclude quiet and active play, both indoors and outdoors,” “[i]nclude meals, snacks, and nap times,” and must “[n]ot include the use of electronic media for children under two years of age,” with media for children two and over limited to educational or physical-activity use “for no more than 1 to 2 hours per day.”
• LARGE FAMILY CHILD CARE HOME ONLY — the emergency evacuation plan and diagram, posted — Handbook 7.22.G and H: “The operator shall prepare an emergency evacuation plan including a diagram of safe routes by which the child care personnel and children may exit each area of the home in the event of fire or other emergency requiring evacuation. This plan shall be posted and shared with the employees, substitutes, custodial parents, and/or legal guardians.”
• NOT POSTED, BUT KEPT AT THE HOME AND PRODUCED ON DEMAND — the documents an inspector will ask for. The written substitute plan, kept current with name, address and telephone number, plus 12 months of documented substitute hours and the operator’s signed monthly attestation (Handbook 3.2.B, C, E). Daily attendance records showing the time each child enters and departs, kept 12 months (Handbook 8.4.A, D). Accident, incident and observed-health-symptom records, documented the day they occur and kept 12 months (Handbook 7.20.D, E). Fire drill records, monthly, kept 12 months (Handbook 7.21.D). Emergency preparedness drill records, kept 12 months (Handbook 7.22.D). Transportation logs, kept 12 months (Handbook 2.4.2). Parental permission slips for planned and unplanned activities, kept 12 months from the date of the activity (Handbook 2.4.4.H). Daily indoor and outdoor play area inspection logs, kept 12 months (Handbook 7.A). Monthly playground equipment maintenance checks of “all supports above and below the ground, all connectors, and moving parts,” kept 12 months (Handbook 7.6.J). Carbon monoxide detector testing and maintenance records, kept 12 months (Handbook 7.D). Annual mechanic’s vehicle inspection documentation, “maintained in the vehicle” (Handbook 2.4.4.A), and current vehicle insurance documentation (2.4.4.E). Medication administration records, kept 12 months after the last dose (Handbook 7.24.G). The written discipline and expulsion policies (Handbook 2.3.E). The written emergency preparedness plan (Handbook 7.22.A). The written plan for reporting and managing incidents, covering lost or missing child, suspected maltreatment, injuries or illness requiring hospitalization or emergency treatment, death of a child or of child care personnel, and “[p]resence of a threatening individual who attempts or succeeds in gaining entrance to the home” (Handbook 7.20.H). The written exposure plan for blood and infectious fluids, with 12 months of annual refresher documentation (Handbook 7.23). The written routine schedule for cleaning, sanitizing and disinfecting equipment, materials, furnishings and play areas (Handbook 7.10.C). The written plan outlining sleeping arrangements, produced “to the licensing counselor upon request” (Handbook 7.8.J). Weekly written meal and snack menus (Handbook 7.14). The written shaken-baby/abusive-head-trauma policy where infants are in care (Handbook 2.3.G). Each child’s enrollment, immunization and health examination records (Handbook 8.1–8.3). And the personnel screening and training file for every person in scope (Handbook 4.1.I, 4.3).
• NOT POSTED, BUT GIVEN TO PARENTS — and the December 2025 edition shortened this list. Still required: written notice if anyone living in the home smokes, including e-cigarettes and vaping (Handbook 7.3.A); written notice of all animals on the premises, which “may be provided by way of a parent flyer, a notification statement, or a statement included in the child’s enrollment form” (Handbook 7.1); the written disciplinary and expulsion policies, evidenced by the parent’s signature on the enrollment form (Handbook 2.3.C); the Department’s brochure CF/PI 175-28, Selecting a Family Day Care Home Provider, with the parent’s signed statement of receipt (Handbook 8.3.D); and, for licensed and registered family child care homes alike, the annual health and safety home inspection self-evaluation checklist required by s. 402.313(7), F.S., which “shall be signed by the operator of the family child care home and provided to parents as certification that basic health and safety standards are being met.” NO LONGER REQUIRED: the annual influenza information each August and September, and the distracted-adult information each April and September. Chapter 2026-140, Laws of Florida, section 2, repealed former s. 402.313(14) and (15), F.S. (and section 3 repealed the parallel s. 402.3131(9) and (10) for large homes), effective July 1, 2026. The December 2025 Handbook as PROPOSED still carried both duties at 8.3.E and 8.3.G, citing brochures CF/PI 175-70 and CF/PI 175-12; the Notice of Change published June 29, 2026 records their removal in one line — “In section 8.3 completely removed E. and G. F. is redesignated E.” — and the two brochures, which the proposed rule would have incorporated at 65C-20.008(9)(c) and (d), are absent from the adopted rule text effective September 1, 2026. Any Florida guidance still listing the flu notice and the distracted-adult notice is describing repealed law.

Enrollment forms for each child

• CF-FSP Form 5133, May 2019 — Application for a License to Operate a Family Day Care Home. Incorporated by reference in Rule 65C-20.008(1), F.A.C.; reference file Ref-10482 on flrules.org, adopted document dated 5/2/2019. Nine sections plus an instruction page. Section 3 collects every other household member by name, relationship, date of birth and social security number; section 4 is the substitute plan and must be completed in its entirety, including “Number of Hours Substitute Works in the Home Monthly” and whether the substitute works in another home; section 5 identifies the owner of the real property as named on the deed; section 6 is an attestation covering any licence denied, revoked or suspended “in any state or jurisdiction,” any disciplinary action, any fine, and any other state licence ever held “other than a driver’s license”; section 7 acknowledges HIPAA, the smoking prohibition of s. 386.204, F.S., the immunization record duty, the annual in-service training duty, the one-time literacy course, and receipt of the Rilya Wilson Act reporting and educational stability provisions under s. 39.604, F.S.; section 8(a) or 8(b) elects whether your address appears on the Statewide Child Care Licensing Information System, with 8(b) reserved for people entitled to public-records confidentiality under s. 119.071, F.S.; and section 9 carries two signed statements — the annual mandated-reporter affidavit under s. 402.319(3), F.S. and a s. 435.05(3), F.S. attestation of Chapter 435 compliance “under penalty of perjury.” CAUTION ON THE FORM’S OWN CITATIONS: it cites “Section 402.313(13), Florida Statutes” both for the substitute plan (the duty is at s. 402.313(1)(a)4., F.S.) and for the 10-hour annual in-service requirement (the duty is at s. 402.313(5), F.S.), and it cites “paragraph 65C-20.008(3), F.A.C.” for the late-renewal violation (it is 65C-20.012(3)(d), F.A.C.). The form is still captioned “Family Day Care Home” although ch. 2026-140, effective July 1, 2026, renamed the program “family child care home” in statute; the September 1, 2026 rule text calls the same form “Application for a License to Operate a Family Child Care Home.” The form itself has not been reissued.
• CF-FSP Form 5238, May 2019 — Application for a License to Operate a Large Family Child Care Home. Incorporated by reference in Rule 65C-20.008(2), F.A.C.; reference file Ref-10580. Same filing rules: submitted initially and annually, or online through CARES, and it may be used to operate a family child care home when the number of children in care falls to the family-home definition, but a family child care home licence “cannot be used to operate a large family child care home.”
• THE LICENSURE FEE, payable with the application from September 1, 2026 — Rule 65C-20.008(3), F.A.C.: “Each completed CF-FSP Form 5133 or CF-FSP Form 5238 must be submitted with the licensure fee pursuant to s. 402.315, F.S.” Section 402.315(3), F.S. fixes the amounts: $25 for a family child care home REGISTERED under s. 402.313; $50 for a family child care home LICENSED under s. 402.313; $60 for a large family child care home licensed under s. 402.3131. (For comparison, a child care facility pays $1 per child of licensed capacity, minimum $25 and maximum $100.) Section 402.315(1), F.S. also allocates cost where a county licenses locally: “If the county designates a local agency to be responsible for the licensing of child care facilities, the county shall bear at least 75 percent of the costs involved,” and s. 402.315(4), F.S. permits any county to collect its own fee for licences it issues under s. 402.308.
• CF Form 5268A, October 2017 — In-Service Training Record, Family Day Care Home/Large Family Child Care Home. Incorporated by reference in Rule 65C-20.008(9)(a), F.A.C. effective September 1, 2026 (subsection (8)(a) until then); reference Ref-08750. Handbook 5.8.C requires the annual ten hours to be recorded on it, requires “[a] new in-service training record… each licensing year,” and — carrying a citation the September 2026 renumbering left behind — still cites the form to “65C-20.008(7)(a), F.A.C.” Handbook 5.8.D requires the two previous licensing years’ records to be kept at the home as well.
• CF/PI 175-28, September 2007 — Selecting a Family Day Care Home Provider. Incorporated by reference in Rule 65C-20.008(9)(b), F.A.C. effective September 1, 2026 (subsection (8)(b) until then); reference Ref-08751. Handbook 8.3.D requires “signed statements from the custodial parents or legal guardian that the family child care home or large family child care home has provided them with” this brochure. The statutory basis is s. 402.313(9), F.S., which also requires the brochure to list “those counties that require licensure of family child care homes.”
• CF-FSP Form 5219 — Child Care Application for Enrollment. Incorporated by reference in Rule 65C-22.001(7)(f), F.A.C. Handbook 8.3.A requires enrollment information to be obtained “prior to accepting the child into care,” documented on CF-FSP 5219 “or an equivalent that contains all the information required by the Department’s form.” Handbook 8.3.C requires the enrollment information to include written permission to release the child, with “[t]he name, address and phone number of authorized persons,” and 8.3.E requires “parental/guardian consent for child care personnel to have access to child’s records.”
• CF Form 1649A — Child Care Attestation of Good Moral Character. Incorporated by reference in Rule 65C-22.001(7)(a), F.A.C. Handbook 4.3.B: completed “for all child care personnel at the time of initial screening or upon change in employers”; Handbook 4.1.R adds “or in accordance with the local licensing agency compliance” and requires it to be “maintained in the Department’s licensing file.” Its absence is CF-FSP 5318 item 6.5. DCF also includes an “Attestation of Good Moral Character” in the family child care home REGISTRATION renewal packet.
• CF-FSP Form 5131 — Background Screening and Personnel File Requirements. Incorporated by reference in Rule 65C-22.001(7)(b), F.A.C. Handbook 4.3.A: “Each personnel record must have a completed CF-FSP Form 5131.” Handbook 4.1.P requires, for large homes, that screening information for the employee and household members be documented on it and that initial screening clearance be in the Department’s licensing file.
• CF-FSP Form 5217 — Volunteer Acknowledgement. Incorporated by reference in Rule 65C-22.001(7)(e), F.A.C. Handbook 4.3.H: “Volunteers must complete a CF-FSP 5217 Volunteer Acknowledgement… prior to volunteering in the home. Written documentation of volunteer hours must be maintained at the home.” Its absence is CF-FSP 5318 item 6.7; missing hour records are item 6.8.
• CF-FSP Form 5211 — Florida Child Care Staff Credential Verification Application. Incorporated by reference in Rule 65C-22.001(7)(d), F.A.C. Required of a large family child care home operator to obtain and to renew the Staff Credential Verification that must appear on the Training Transcript for at least one year before licensure (Handbook 5.1.3.A.1, 5.9.B). Handbook 5.9.B lists the five qualifying routes recorded on the form: an active National Early Childhood Credential; Formal Educational Qualifications; an active Birth Through Five Child Care Credential (FCCPC, CCAC or ECPC); an active School-Age Child Care Credential (FCCPC or SAPC); or an Employment History Recognition Exemption, which “[e]ffective July 1, 2006, the Department discontinued issuing” and which will not satisfy the large-home requirement at all (5.1.3.A.3).
• CF-FSP Form 5270 — Florida Child Care Professional Credential Certificate. Incorporated by reference in Rule 65C-22.001(7)(j), F.A.C. Handbook 1.2: “Credentials must be documented on CF-FSP Form 5270… Active credentials are valid for five years from the date of issuance.”
• DH Form 680 (July 2010) — Florida Certification of Immunization, Parts A-1, B and/or C; or DH Form 681 (July 2008) — Religious Exemption from Immunization. Incorporated by reference in Rule 65C-22.001(7)(m) and (n), F.A.C. (the December 2025 Handbook re-lettered these from the October 2021 text’s (o) and (p)). Handbook 8.1.A requires a current, complete and properly executed form for each child “within 30 days of enrollment,” obtainable from the local health department; 8.1.B is categorical about the consequence: “If the custodial parents or legal guardians fail to provide the above required documentation within 30 days of enrollment, the home shall not allow the child to remain in the program.” Handbook 8.1.C: out-of-state immunizations are acceptable but “must be documented on the Florida Certification of Immunization form and must be signed by a physician practicing in the State of Florida.” Handbook 8.1.A also requires a general statement in the parent handbook or policies telling parents “that some children in care may not have current immunizations.”
• DH Form 3040 — Student Health Examination. Incorporated by reference in Rule 65C-22.001(7)(o), F.A.C. Handbook 8.2.A requires it, or “a signed statement by an authorized professional that indicates the results of the components of the form are included in the health examination,” within 30 days of enrollment; 8.2.C: “valid for two years from the date the physical was performed and must be on file as long as the child is in care”; 8.2.D repeats the exclusion consequence; 8.2.E exempts school-aged children attending public or nonpublic schools “as such records are on file at the school”; and 8.2.G: “Medical records in this section are the property of the custodial parent or legal guardian and must be returned when the child is no longer in care.”
• AN EMERGENCY CARE PLAN, per child where indicated — Handbook 8.2.H: “Any child who has or is at an increased risk for a chronic physical, developmental, behavioral or emotional condition and require additional services must have a current Emergency Care Plan, prepared by the parent/guardian or physician, included in the child’s file and readily accessible for those caring for the child. Child care personnel caring for a child with an Emergency Care Plan must be trained to recognize and respond appropriately to a medical emergency.” Handbook 2.4.3.B sets out the required contents for an allergy plan: the allergen and avoidance steps, “[a] detailed treatment plan… including the names, doses, and methods of prompt administration of any medications,” and the specific symptoms that indicate the need to administer. Handbook 2.4.3.D: “Child care personnel shall contact 911 immediately whenever epinephrine has been administered.”
• WRITTEN MEDICATION AUTHORIZATION, per child per medication — Handbook 7.24.A: dated and signed by the custodial parent or legal guardian, containing “the child’s name; the name of the medication to be dispensed; and the date, time and amount of dosage to be given,” initialled or signed by the person who administered it, with additional written symptom criteria for any “as needed” medication. Handbook 7.24.G requires a per-child administration record — child’s full name, medication, date and time dispensed, amount and dosage, and the name of the person who dispensed — “maintained for a minimum of 12 months after the last day the child received the dosage.”
• THE ANNUAL HEALTH AND SAFETY HOME INSPECTION SELF-EVALUATION CHECKLIST — s. 402.313(7), F.S.: “Operators of family child care homes shall be required annually to complete a health and safety home inspection self-evaluation checklist developed by the department in conjunction with the statewide resource and referral program. The completed checklist shall be signed by the operator of the family child care home and provided to parents as certification that basic health and safety standards are being met.” DCF publishes it as the “Health and Safety Checklist” in the registration packet, and its registration page requires “[p]roof that each parent has been provided a copy of a completed Health and Safety Checklist.” This subsection survived ch. 2026-140 unamended, so the duty is current.
• THE REGISTRATION PACKET (registered family child care homes only), as published by DCF for renewal: Family Day Care Home Registration Renewal; Registered Family Child Care Home Application Checklist; Attestation of Good Moral Character; Health and Safety Checklist; Child Abuse and Neglect Report Form; List of Children in Care; Employment History; Zoning Building Code/HOA Attestation; and the Online Juvenile Records Check — mailed together with the $25 application fee to the Office of Child Care in Tallahassee. First-time applicants file an “Intent to Apply” instead.
• CF-FSP Form 5318, December 2025 — Family Child Care Home Standards Classifications Summary; and CF-FSP Form 5317, December 2025 — Large Family Child Care Home Standards Classification Summary. Incorporated by reference in Rule 65C-20.012(1)(h)1., F.A.C. effective September 1, 2026 (references Ref-19082 and Ref-19083, adopted documents dated 3/13/2026); the editions they replace are CF-FSP 5318 (May 2019, Ref-10486) and CF-FSP 5317 (October 2021, Ref-13927). These are not forms you file — they are the documents that decide what every violation costs you, mapping each Handbook section to Class 1, Class 2, or nothing. A standard with no class assigned is not unenforceable: Rule 65C-20.012(1)(h)3., F.A.C. defines a “Class III Violation” as “an incident of noncompliance that occurs at least three times within a 2-year period with an individual Class III standard,” and 65C-20.012(3)(e)3.a. provides that “[f]or the third violation of the same non-compliant standard that is not classified as a Class I or Class II, the Department shall deem the standard a Class III standard and impose a fine of $25.00 for each violation.” The Notice of Change published June 29, 2026 records what the December 2025 editions altered: “CF-FSP Form 5317: Changed ‘FDCH’ to ‘FCCH’. Changed ‘Day’ to ‘Child’. Deleted 34.5 and 34.11. Redesignating numbers accordingly. CF-FSP Form 5318: Changed ‘FDCH’ to ‘FCCH’. Changed ‘Day’ to ‘Child’. Deleted 33.5 and 33.10 redesignated numbers accordingly.” Two enforcement items were removed from each summary — in CF-FSP 5318 they sat in section 33, “Enrollment Information/Daily Attendance,” which is precisely where the repealed influenza and distracted-adult parent-notice duties had been cited.
• CF-FSP Form 5422 and CF-FSP Form 5421, October 2017 — Reconciliation of 2009 and 2017 Family Child Care Home / Large Family Child Care Home Standards Classification Summaries. Incorporated by reference in Rule 65C-20.012(3)(a), F.A.C. (Ref-08755 and Ref-08756). They exist for one purpose: to align violations cited under the 2009 classification scheme with the 2017 scheme “for purposes of progressive enforcement,” so an old citation can still count toward escalation. Relevant if you have a compliance history that straddles October 25, 2017.
• NO LONGER REQUIRED — CF-FSP Form 5337, Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Requirements. The October 2021 Handbook required that “[t]he operator, substitute, employee and/or volunteer must complete a CF-FSP 5337… signed prior to initial licensure and annually thereafter.” The coded December 2025 draft filed with the Department of State shows that requirement struck in full, and it does not appear in the adopted December 2025 Handbook. The underlying mandated-reporter duty now runs through the annual affidavit of compliance with s. 39.201, F.S. required by s. 402.319(3), F.S. and captured in section 9 of CF-FSP Form 5133. NO LONGER REQUIRED — CF/PI 175-70, What is Influenza? (Ref-19080) and CF/PI 175-12, Distracted Adult (Ref-19081). The Notice of Proposed Rule of December 23, 2025 would have incorporated both at 65C-20.008(9)(c) and (d), F.A.C.; ch. 2026-140 repealed the underlying parent-notice duties at former ss. 402.313(14) and (15) and 402.3131(9) and (10), F.S. effective July 1, 2026; and the rule as adopted, effective September 1, 2026, incorporates only paragraphs (a) and (b). Neither brochure appears in the Department of State’s list of references in the adopted version of 65C-20.008, F.A.C.

What's specific about getting licensed in Florida

Florida does NOT have one statewide 'license' for home daycares. Under Fla. Stat. 402.313 a family day care home REGISTERS annually with DCF unless the county board of commissioners has passed a licensing ordinance, in which case it must be licensed locally. That county-by-county split, combined with Florida's rule that your own household children under 13 count inside your capacity, is what makes Florida different from states with a single state license, and it is the exact thing first-timers get wrong.

How long it takes and what it costs in Florida

Timeline: Plan for roughly 6 to 12 weeks from decision to open. The two things that actually set the pace are finishing the mandatory 30-hour introductory course (self-paced, often several weeks) and getting your Level 2 fingerprint background screening cleared. If you live in a county that LICENSES (not just registers) family day care homes, add time for the required home inspection, which can push you past three months.

Cost: Your real costs in Florida are the mandatory 30-hour Introductory Child Care Training course fee, the Level 2 (fingerprint) background screening for you and any household member over 12, and the annual registration or license fee paid to DCF or your county. Note: I could not confirm the current exact dollar amounts from the official DCF page in this pass (the myflfamilies.com pages returned errors), so verify the training and screening fees and the annual registration fee directly on the DCF child care site before budgeting.

Source: PRIMARY — DEPARTMENT OF STATE RULE INDEX AND ADOPTED RULE TEXT (read from the index, not from a pinned URL).

Chapter index: https://www.flrules.org/gateway/ChapterHome.asp?Chapter=65C-20 , read 2026-08-25, showing 65C-20.008 (Application) and 65C-20.012 (Enforcement) as the only current rules, each with effective date 9/1/2026, and 65C-20.009, .010, .011 and .013 as “(Repealed)” effective 10/25/2017 and 65C-20.014 as “(Transferred)” effective 6/12/2019. Rule detail pages: https://www.flrules.org/gateway/ruleNo.asp?id=65C-20.008 and https://www.flrules.org/gateway/ruleNo.asp?id=65C-20.012 . Adopted rule text as filed: https://www.flrules.org/gateway/readFile.asp?sid=0&tid=31250410&type=1&file=65C-20.008.doc and https://www.flrules.org/gateway/readFile.asp?sid=0&tid=31250507&type=1&file=65C-20.012.doc (both files created 2026-08-13). Rulemaking record: Notice of Proposed Rule 30352190, published 12/23/2025, Vol. 51/247, with strike-and-underline text at https://www.flrules.org/gateway/readFile.asp?sid=2&tid=30352190&type=1&file=65C-20.008.doc ; Notice of Change 31067468, published 6/29/2026, Vol. 52/125, at https://www.flrules.org/gateway/readFile.asp?sid=3&tid=31067468&type=1&file=65C-20.008.doc ; Notice of Rule Development published 7/30/2025, Vol. 51/147 (29823249); public hearings noticed 3/20/2026 Vol. 52/55 (30670156) and 5/7/2026 Vol. 52/89 (30869006). PRIMARY — HANDBOOK AND FORMS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE. “Family Child Care Home and Large Family Child Care Home Handbook,” December 2025, incorporated by reference in Rule 65C-20.008(8), F.A.C. effective 9/1/2026; reference record Ref-19079 at https://www.flrules.org/gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-19079 , adopted document “Family Child Care Home Handbook.docx” dated 3/13/2026, downloaded from https://www.flrules.org/gateway/readRefFile.asp?refId=19079&filename=Family%20Child%20Care%20Home%20Handbook.docx .

The coded (strike-and-underline) draft of the same Handbook, dated 12/22/2025, at https://www.flrules.org/gateway/readRefFile.asp?refId=19079&filename=Family%20Child%20Care%20Home%20Handbook_Coded.docx , which is the source for every statement in this entry about what changed from the October 2021 edition. CF-FSP Form 5318, December 2025, Family Child Care Home Standards Classifications Summary, Ref-19082 (https://www.flrules.org/gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-19082), adopted document dated 3/13/2026. CF-FSP Form 5317, December 2025, Large Family Child Care Home Standards Classification Summary, Ref-19083. CF-FSP Form 5133, May 2019, Application for a License to Operate a Family Day Care Home, Ref-10482, adopted document dated 5/2/2019, downloaded from https://www.flrules.org/gateway/readRefFile.asp?refId=10482&filename=CF-FSP%205133%20Application%20for%20a%20license%20FDCH.doc .

Reference records also inspected for Ref-08750 (CF Form 5268A), Ref-08751 (CF/PI 175-28), Ref-10580 (CF-FSP 5238), Ref-08755 and Ref-08756 (CF-FSP 5422 and 5421), Ref-19080 (CF/PI 175-70) and Ref-19081 (CF/PI 175-12). PRIMARY — FLORIDA STATUTES, current text as published by the Legislature at leg.state.fl.us, read 2026-08-25, each with its history line checked for 2025 and 2026 amendments: §402.301 (legislative intent); §402.302 (definitions, capacity groups, household children) http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0400-0499/0402/Sections/0402.302.html ; §402.3025; §402.305 (licensing standards, screening, training, ratios for facilities, transportation, discipline); §402.3055 (referenced); §402.306 (designation of licensing agency) …/0402.306.html ; §402.308 (issuance of license); §402.309 (provisional license or registration) …/0402.309.html ; §402.310 (disciplinary actions, administrative fines); §402.311 (inspection); §402.3115 (elimination of duplicative and unnecessary inspections; abbreviated inspections) …/0402.3115.html ; §402.312 (license required; injunctive relief); §402.313 (family child care homes) …/0402.313.html ; §402.3131 (large family child care homes) …/0402.3131.html ; §402.315 (funding; license fees) …/0402.315.html ; §402.316 (exemptions); §402.318 (advertisement); §402.319 (penalties).

PRIMARY — SESSION LAWS, full text from the Department of State’s Laws of Florida service. Chapter 2025-181, Laws of Florida (Committee Substitute for Senate Bill No. 738), https://laws.flrules.org/2025/181 , approved by the Governor and filed with the Secretary of State June 25, 2025, effective July 1, 2025 — read in full, including sections 3 (s. 402.306), 4 (s. 402.3115), 5 (s. 402.316) and 6 (s. 1002.59). Chapter 2026-140, Laws of Florida (Committee Substitute for Committee Substitute for Committee Substitute for Senate Bill No. 1690), https://laws.flrules.org/2026/140 , approved by the Governor and filed with the Secretary of State June 12, 2026, effective July 1, 2026 — read in full, including sections 1 (s. 402.306), 2 (s. 402.313), 3 (s. 402.3131), 4 (s. 402.316), 5 (s. 627.70161) and 33 (effective date). SECONDARY, USED ONLY WHERE THE AGENCY IS THE ONLY PUBLISHER OF THE FACT AND FLAGGED AS SUCH. Florida DCF, “About Child Care Licensure,” https://www.myflfamilies.com/services/child-family/child-care/about-child-care-licensure , read 2026-08-25 (63 of 67 counties; the four local-licensing counties; CARES).

Florida DCF, “About Family Child Care Home Registration,” https://www.myflfamilies.com/services/child-family/child-care/child-care-providers-and-staff/about-family-child-care-home , read 2026-08-25 (the fifteen counties where registration is not permitted; the 35 hours before registration; the $25 fee; the renewal packet; the Tallahassee mailing address; (850) 488-4900). Florida DCF, “Child Care Laws and Requirements,” https://www.myflfamilies.com/services/child-family/child-care/child-care-laws-and-requirements , read 2026-08-25.

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