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Home Daycare License Requirements in Indiana (2026)

Opening a home daycare in Indiana means getting a family child care home license from the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA), Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning (OECOSL). 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 Indiana

Indiana does not license anything called a "family child care home." The statutory object is a CHILD CARE HOME, and it comes in exactly two licensed grades — a CLASS I CHILD CARE HOME and a CLASS II CHILD CARE HOME — plus one enormous unlicensed lane, the REGISTERED CHILD CARE MINISTRY, which is where most of the traffic to this page is actually headed. The regulator is the Family and Social Services Administration, Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning (OECOSL); the rules sit in Title 470 IAC because they were promulgated by the Division of Family Resources, and the statutes sit in IC 12-17.2 (Day Care Regulation). If you were told to read the definitions at IC 12-7-2, stop: that chapter is dead. The 2026 Indiana Code carries the line "IC 12-7-2 Chapter 2. Repealed. Note: This version of chapter repealed by P.L.145-2026, SEC.62," and the Revisor's Note under the surviving stub says, verbatim, "P.L.145-2026 repealed IC 12-7-2 and relocated the chapter to IC 12-7-2.1, effective July 1, 2026." Every child care definition you need now lives in IC 12-7-2.1, each section tagged "As added by P.L.145-2026, SEC.63." FSSA's own laws-and-rules page still says in prose that the definitions are "as contained in IC 12-7-2" while the links underneath point at IC 12-7-2.1-54, -55, -57, -58, -68 and -69. The agency page is behind its own hyperlinks.

Summarised from the state’s own rules. Every figure above is quoted from the regulation cited on this page.

How many children you can care for in Indiana

Indiana licenses family child care in two classes and the numbers that separate them are not in the licensing chapter you will be told to read. IC 12-17.2-5 governs the regulation of child care homes but it sets no headcount. The headcounts live in the definitions chapter, IC 12-7-2, and the licensing chapter simply points at them and attaches penalties. Applicants who read only IC 12-17.2-5 and only 470 IAC 3-1.1 will come away with the wrong ceiling, the wrong trigger for needing a licence at all, and an out-of-date exemption list. Here is what each number is, where it is written, and where the codified rule has fallen behind the statute. The Class I ceiling. IC 12-7-2-33.7 provides: "(a) As used in this chapter, 'class I child care home' means a child care home that serves any combination of full-time and part-time children, not to exceed at any one (1) time twelve (12) children plus three (3) children who are enrolled in at least full-day kindergarten. (b) A child: (1) for whom a provider of care in the child care home is a parent, stepparent, guardian, custodian, or other relative and who is at least seven (7) years of age; or (2) who is at least fourteen (14) years of age and does not require child care; shall not be counted in determining whether the child care home is within the limit set forth in subsection (a)."

Summarised from the state’s own rules. Every figure above is quoted from the regulation cited on this page.

Adult-to-child ratios

Indiana does not publish a single ratio chart for family child care. It publishes one ratio rule, 470 IAC 3-1.1-36.5, written for the Class I child care home, and then pulls the Class II home into that same rule by cross-reference. Everything you will be cited on during an unannounced licensing visit comes out of that one section, out of the definitions that sit in front of it in 470 IAC 3-1.1, and out of a statutory counting rule in IC 12-7-2-33.7 that is not printed in the rule at all. Read the rule first and read it whole, because the ratio table is the part applicants photograph and the four subsections above the table are the part that actually costs them the license. The operative text of 470 IAC 3-1.1-36.5 reads, subsection by subsection: "(a) The maximum capacity in a Class I child care home shall be twelve (12) children at any one (1) time plus three (3) children during the school year who are enrolled in at least Grade 1. The addition of three (3) school age children may not occur during a break in the school year that exceeds four (4) weeks. (b) Children shall not be left unattended and shall be supervised at all times. (c) Only direct child care providers shall be counted in determining the child to staff ratio. (d) The ratio shall include all unrelated children present in the home. (e) The following child to staff ratios apply:" and then the table, which has exactly three rows.

Summarised from the state’s own rules. Every figure above is quoted from the regulation cited on this page.

Training you must complete before licensure

Indiana does not give you a pre-service clock-hour number, and the first money most family child care applicants waste in this state is spent chasing one. There is no "40 hours before you open" in Indiana law for a family child care home. What exists instead is a scattered checklist held in three different places at once — a statute (IC 12-17.2-5, Regulation of Child Care Homes), an administrative rule (470 IAC 3-1.1, Child Care Homes, plus 470 IAC 3-1.3 for Class II), and a federal condition of the Child Care and Development Block Grant that Indiana implements through an online module set rather than through its licensing rule — and each of those three has its own deadline clock. Miss the clock, not the hour count, and your license stalls. Understand at the outset which document controls which requirement and you will not pay twice for the same class. Start with a correction that matters, because the state's own reference material is arranged in a way that misleads. It is commonly written, including in briefing material handed to researchers, that 470 IAC 3-1.1 covers "Class I and Class II family child care homes."

Summarised from the state’s own rules. Every figure above is quoted from the regulation cited on this page.

Ongoing (annual) training

Read the rule that governs your licence and you will find something that almost no Indiana child care guide will tell you: 470 IAC 3-1.1 imposes no annual continuing-education hour count on a licensed family child care home at all. Not twelve hours, not twenty, not any number. The training section of the home rule, 470 IAC 3-1.1-33.5, is titled "Staff orientation, training, and development" and contains four subsections, every one of which is a start-of-employment deadline or a certification-currency obligation. There is no clock-hour requirement anywhere in it, and there is none anywhere else in Rule 1.1, in 470 IAC 3-1.2, or in 470 IAC 3-1.3. If someone quotes you "twelve hours a year" as an Indiana licensed home requirement, they are quoting a different statute, written for a different kind of provider, and they may be quoting it at you at a moment when it costs you money to believe them.

Here is section 33.5 as the index serves it today, in full, so you can see for yourself that it contains no hours. "(a) Direct child care providers, including volunteers, shall receive training in fire prevention and safety procedures within one (1) week after starting employment or volunteer work. (b) Direct child care providers, including volunteers, shall receive training in the following within thirty (30) days after starting employment or volunteer work: (1) The child care home inspection checklist. (2) Confidential treatment of personal information about children in care and their families. (3) Procedures for preventing, detecting, and reporting suspected child abuse and neglect. (4) Universal precautions. (c) Direct child care providers shall complete a first aid course every three (3) years that includes training for the emergency treatment of poisoning, seizures, hemorrhaging, and choking. The course must also include training in artificial respiration. Training shall be completed within ninety (90) days after starting employment or volunteer work. (d) At least one (1) direct child care provider shall maintain current certification in pediatric cardiopulmonary resuscitation and be on the premises at all times."

Summarised from the state’s own rules. Every figure above is quoted from the regulation cited on this page.

Background checks

Start by throwing away the chapter number you were probably given. Indiana licenses a family child care home under IC 12-17.2-5, "Regulation of Child Care Homes," and the minimum standards live at 470 IAC 3-1.1, "Child Care Homes." IC 12-17.2-3.5 is a different chapter with a different job — the Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning's own index page names it "Chapter 3.5. Eligibility of Child Care Provider to Receive Reimbursement Through Voucher Program," and IC 12-17.2-3.5-1(a) says outright that "except as provided in section 4(b) of this chapter, a child care provider that is licensed under IC 12-17.2-4 or IC 12-17.2-5 is considered to be in compliance with this chapter." If you read chapter 3.5 as your licensing law you will screen the wrong people to the wrong standard and still be out of compliance with chapter 5. Chapter 3.5 matters to you only in two situations: you are not licensed and want CCDF voucher money, or you are licensed and your license is under an enforcement action, in which case IC 12-17.2-3.5-4(b) makes you voucher-ineligible "until the outcome of any proceeding under IC 4-21.5 reflects a final determination that the provider's license or eligibility is in good standing."

Summarised from the state’s own rules. Every figure above is quoted from the regulation cited on this page.

The application, step by step

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

1. STEP ZERO, PROVE YOU ACTUALLY NEED THE LICENSE. Indiana does not license you because you are paid to watch children; it licenses you when you cross a headcount. 470 IAC 3-1.1-7 defines a "child care home" as a residential structure in which at least six (6) children, "not including the children for whom the provider is a parent, stepparent, guardian, custodian, or other relative," receive care from a provider while unattended by a parent, legal guardian or custodian, for regular compensation, and for more than four (4) hours but less than twenty-four (24) hours in each of ten (10) consecutive days per year. 470 IAC 3-1.1-26 states the flip side as an exemption: licensing is not required if…
2. ORIENTATION IS THE ENTRY DOOR, AND THERE ARE TWO OF THEM. The regulation itself is terse: 470 IAC 3-1.1-28(a)(1) requires that an applicant for a child care home license "attend an orientation training arranged or approved by the CDFC." What that single sentence means in practice, as the FSSA Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning describes its own process on its "Become a Child Care Provider" page, is two separate courses taken in order inside Indiana Learning Paths on the I-LEAD portal: "Complete Orientation 1: Training for childcare providers (start-up process and information)," then "Complete Orientation 2: Training for child care home providers (preparation for…
3. CLASS I VERSUS CLASS II IS NOT A CHOICE ON YOUR FIRST APPLICATION. Indiana licenses child care homes in two classes and the difference is a building code difference dressed up as a capacity difference. IC 12-7-2-33.7 defines a class I child care home as one serving "any combination of full-time and part-time children, not to exceed at any one (1) time twelve (12) children plus three (3) children who are enrolled in at least full day kindergarten," excluding from that count children at least seven years old who are related to the provider and children fourteen years or older who do not require child care. IC 12-7-2-33.8 defines a class II child care home as one that "serves more than twelve…
4. FILE THE APPLICATION IN I-LEAD, NOT AT THE COUNTY OFFICE THE RULE STILL NAMES. This is the single clearest place where Indiana's codified rule describes a world that no longer exists, and an applicant who follows the rule literally will mail paper to an office that was abolished. 470 IAC 3-1.1-27 provides that "Application for a license to operate a child care home must be submitted by the applicant every two (2) years to the COFC on forms provided for that purpose by the CDFC," and 470 IAC 3-1.1-7.3 defines COFC as "the county office of family and children in the county in which the child care home is located." County offices of family and children were folded into the Division of Family…
5. THERE IS NO LICENCE APPLICATION FEE FOR AN INDIANA CHILD CARE HOME, AND THAT IS THE MOST EXPENSIVE MISUNDERSTANDING IN THIS FIELD. Indiana's fee authority is not in the licensing chapter for homes at all; it sits in IC 12-17.2-2-2, the powers-of-the-division section, and it is a closed list. Under IC 12-17.2-2-2 the division may charge "a reasonable processing fee for each license application and renewal for a child care center license" at two dollars ($2) per licensed child capacity; a fee not to exceed five dollars ($5) for a child care CENTER new inquiry application packet; a fee not to exceed five dollars ($5) for a child care HOME new inquiry application packet; and a fee not to…
6. THE EDUCATION GATE IS STATUTORY AND IT HAS A CLIFF EDGE AT THREE YEARS. IC 12-17.2-5-6.3(a) sets out what a person must do to qualify for a class I child care home licence: "(1) Provide documentation to the division that the licensee has received a high school diploma or a high school equivalency certificate"; (2) provide documentation that the licensee has completed, is enrolled in, or "agrees to complete within the next three (3) years" a child development associate credential program or a similar program approved by the division; and (3) "Complete the training course taught or approved by the division concerning safe sleeping practices for a child within the person's care as described…
7. EVERY ADULT UNDER YOUR ROOF GETS FINGERPRINTED, NOT JUST YOU. IC 12-17.2-5-3(d) requires an applicant to submit "the necessary information, forms, or consents; and the fingerprints of the applicant and the applicant's spouse" for a national, FBI-based criminal history check. IC 12-17.2-5-3(e) extends that obligation outward: the applicant must require employees, volunteers, household members who are at least eighteen years of age, and certain minors, to submit fingerprints for a national criminal history check before employment or volunteering and every three years afterward. IC 12-17.2-2-1 makes it the division's own duty to "ensure that a national criminal history background check" is…
8. THE SIXTY-DAY DECISION CLOCK DOES NOT START WHEN YOU HIT SUBMIT. 470 IAC 3-1.1-28(c) is the promise every Indiana applicant quotes back at the state: "The CDFC shall approve or deny the application for child home care licensure within sixty (60) days of the date the application is received by the COFC." FSSA's own Interpretative Guide for Child Care Home Rules states the qualification that empties much of that promise: "The application is considered complete once the application, all of the attachments listed on the front of the application, and the results of the FBI fingerprints are received by the Bureau. The 60 days to process the completed application starts at that time." The clock…
9. THE MEDICAL PACKET IS FOUR SEPARATE DOCUMENTS PER ADULT, WITH FOUR DIFFERENT CLOCKS. 470 IAC 3-1.1-28(a)(5) requires the applicant, "within thirty (30) days of application," to "submit a written medical statement, including proof of a Mantoux tuberculin test or chest x-ray, signed by a physician or a certified nurse practitioner." 470 IAC 3-1.1-32(a)(1) requires the licensee to keep on file a "Record of initial physical examination of direct child care providers documenting that they are free of communicable disease," and 470 IAC 3-1.1-32(a)(2) a "Record of annual Mantoux tuberculin test or chest x-ray of direct child care provider which documents that they are free of tuberculosis." At…
10. PRE-SERVICE TRAINING IS A STACK OF SIX CERTIFICATES, NOT A COURSE. Indiana does not express its pre-licensure training as a single hour count; it expresses it as a set of named certifications that must be in the file before the licence issues. 470 IAC 3-1.1-33.5(a) requires that direct child care providers, including volunteers, "receive training in fire prevention and safety procedures within one (1) week after starting employment or volunteer work." 470 IAC 3-1.1-33.5(b) requires instruction within thirty days on "The child care home inspection checklist," on "Confidential treatment of personal information about children in care and their families," on "Procedures for preventing,…
11. FIRE SAFETY IN AN INDIANA CLASS I HOME IS A NOTIFICATION, NOT A FIRE MARSHAL SIGN-OFF. This is where guides written for other states mislead Indiana applicants most expensively, by sending them to schedule and pay for a fire marshal inspection that the rule does not require. 470 IAC 3-1.1-46(u) states the actual obligation: "The licensee shall notify the local fire department at the time of application or relicensure of the licensed capacity and the hours of operation of the home." FSSA's interpretative guide explains the purpose — "To allow the local fire department to know that the home has vulnerable children" — and tells the worker to establish compliance by interview, adding that at…
12. THERE IS NO SEPARATE HEALTH DEPARTMENT INSPECTION FOR AN INDIANA CHILD CARE HOME. Sanitation is inspected by the same OECOSL licensing consultant who does everything else, against 470 IAC 3-1.1-47, and it is a short rule. 470 IAC 3-1.1-47(a): "The licensee shall provide and maintain screens for windows and exterior doors when windows and doors are kept open for ventilation." 470 IAC 3-1.1-47(b): "The licensee shall ensure that the child care home has hot and cold running water and at least one (1) toilet and sink accessible to children on each floor of the home where services are provided. Water from a source other than a regular municipal water supply shall be tested annually for…
13. IF YOU ARE ON A WELL, START THE WATER TEST FIRST — IT IS THE LONGEST LEAD TIME IN THE PACKET. 470 IAC 3-1.1-28(a)(6) makes a water quality test a required attachment to the initial application, and 470 IAC 3-1.1-47(b) supplies the standard: "Water from a source other than a regular municipal water supply shall be tested annually for compliance with water quality requirements." 470 IAC 3-1.1-29(a)(5) repeats it at relicensure and 470 IAC 3-1.1-28.5(c)(6) at the annual inspection, so a private well converts an occasional errand into a permanent annual obligation. FSSA's Interpretative Guide for Child Care Home Rules fixes both the substance and the shelf life of the result: the consultant…
14. THE ON-SITE VISIT IS ONE PERSON WITH ONE CHECKLIST, AND IT DECIDES THE APPLICATION. 470 IAC 3-1.1-28(b)(3) requires the licensing office to "Schedule a visit to the home during normal business hours and complete a child care home inspection checklist," and 470 IAC 3-1.1-28(b)(4) requires it to "Submit a written recommendation for child care home licensure to the CDFC based upon the home inspection checklist and the documents submitted by the applicant." The checklist is a numbered state document — the Child Care Home Licensing Report, State Form 46739 — and Indiana publishes a separate Inspection Checklist Class II Home, State Form 53959, most recently revised in January 2025. FSSA's…
15. ZONING WILL NOT STOP YOU IN INDIANA, BUT THE BUSINESS PERMIT PAPER WILL. Indiana is one of the states whose legislature took the zoning question away from local government, and applicants who budget for a special exception hearing are budgeting for something the law forbids. IC 36-7-4-1108(a) applies to any child care home used as the primary residence of the person who operates it, "regardless of whether the child care home meets the definition set forth in IC 12-7-2-28.6." IC 36-7-4-1108(b) then provides that a zoning ordinance may not "(1) Exclude a child care home from a residential area solely because the child care home is a business," may not "(2) Impose limits on the number of…
16. INDIANA DOES NOT REQUIRE A LICENSED CHILD CARE HOME TO CARRY LIABILITY INSURANCE — AND CARRY IT ANYWAY. Read the whole of 470 IAC 3-1.1 section by section, from 470 IAC 3-1.1-0.5 (minimum standards) through 470 IAC 3-1.1-49 (variances and waivers), and no section imposes a general liability insurance requirement on a child care home, and no section provides the written-notice-to-parents-in-lieu-of-insurance mechanism that several other states use. The only insurance word in the entire rule is in 470 IAC 3-1.1-40(b), on transportation, which requires that a child be transported only by a person at least eighteen years old holding "a valid driver's license" and operating "a properly licensed…
17. WRITE THE PARENT PAPERWORK BEFORE THE LICENCE ARRIVES, BECAUSE IT IS DUE BEFORE THE FIRST CHILD. 470 IAC 3-1.1-37 governs admission and it is drafted as a sequence of things that must happen "prior to accepting a child," which means the documents must already exist. The caregiver must have the parent or guardian "complete and sign an enrollment form for the child," "complete and sign a release for emergency medical care," and "sign a copy of the licensee's written discipline policy," and must let the parent "see all areas of the home and property to be used for child care." Within thirty days of admission the file must hold a written statement from a physician or certified nurse…
18. PROVISIONAL, PROBATIONARY AND REGULAR ARE THREE DIFFERENT LICENCES, AND ONLY ONE IS GOOD NEWS. Indiana's home licence, once granted, runs on a two-year cycle: IC 12-17.2-5-12 provides that "A license for a child care home expires two (2) years after the date of issuance, unless revoked, modified to a probationary or suspended status, or voluntarily returned," and 470 IAC 3-1.1-29.5(a) repeats it. The licence is not transferable, applies only to the licensee and the location stated in the application, remains the property of the division, and must be publicly displayed under 470 IAC 3-1.1-29.5(c) and (d) and IC 12-17.2-5-12(c). Where a renewal application is timely filed, IC 12-17.2-5-12…

What you must post on your walls

• THE LICENCE ITSELF, PUBLICLY DISPLAYED IN THE HOME. This is the only item that 470 IAC 3-1.1 — the rule that governs Indiana Class I child care homes — affirmatively orders you to put on a wall. Section 29.5(d) reads, in full, "The license shall be publicly displayed in the home." and carries a parenthetical cross-reference to the statute, IC 12-17.2-5-12(c), whose own words are "A current license shall be publicly displayed." Read the two words that are NOT there: the homes rule never says "conspicuous place", never says "at eye level", never says "regularly viewed by parents". Those phrases belong to the child care CENTER rule, where 470 IAC 3-4.7-3(c) commands that "The center shall…
• CHANGES IN LICENCE STATUS, THE DIVISION'S COMPLAINT NUMBER AND WEBSITE, AND YOUR COUNTY CCR&R NUMBER — POSTED AND ALSO HANDED OUT. This is the posting requirement Indiana home providers miss most often, because it lives nowhere in 470 IAC 3-1.1: it is pure statute. IC 12-17.2-5-12(e) provides that "A licensee shall publicly display and make available, as a handout, written documentation of: (1) any changes in the status of the licensee's license; and (2) a telephone number and an Internet site where information may be obtained from the division regarding: (A) the current status of the licensee's license; (B) any complaints filed with the division concerning the licensee; and (C) violations…
• EMERGENCY TELEPHONE NUMBERS — KEPT BY THE TELEPHONE, NOT POSTED IN A CONSPICUOUS PLACE. The homes rule is precise and narrow. 470 IAC 3-1.1-44(e) says: "The caregiver shall keep the phone numbers of the ambulance, police, fire department, poison control center, and nearest hospital by the telephone." Five numbers, one location, and the operative verb is KEEP BY, not POST IN A CONSPICUOUS PLACE. The distinction is not academic. For centres, 470 IAC 3-4.7-19(c) says "Staff shall post by the telephone the name and address of the child care center and a list of emergency telephone numbers as follows: (1) Fire department. (2) Police department. (3) Ambulance. (4) Nearest hospital. (5) Poison…
• THE WRITTEN EVACUATION PLAN IS KEPT ON FILE, NOT POSTED, AND INDIANA NEVER ASKS A HOME FOR A FLOOR DIAGRAM. Two provisions of 470 IAC 3-1.1 carry the entire obligation and neither one contains the word "post". 470 IAC 3-1.1-46(r) says "The caregiver shall have a written plan for evacuating in case of fire or other emergencies." 470 IAC 3-1.1-32(a) then lists what "The licensee shall maintain ... in the child care home for review by the COFC", and item (14) of that list is "Written plan of evacuation for the child care home in case of emergency." Maintained in the home, for review by the county office of family and children consultant — that is a records duty, discharged by a plan in your…
• THERE IS NO TORNADO SHELTER PLAN AND NO TORNADO DRILL IN THE INDIANA HOMES RULE — SAY IT PLAINLY BEFORE YOU PRINT ONE. Search 470 IAC 3-1.1 end to end and the word tornado appears nowhere. 470 IAC 3-1.1-46 is titled "Fire prevention" and its drill provision, 46(s), is one sentence: "The caregiver shall conduct and document quarterly fire drills." Fire drills. Quarterly. Nothing about severe weather, nothing about a designated shelter area, nothing about a shelter-in-place procedure and therefore nothing to post about any of them. Tornado enters Indiana child care regulation in exactly one place relevant to a home, and it is not a posting: 470 IAC 3-4.8-1(a)(1)(C) lists building damage due…
• THE FIRE DRILL LOG AND EVERY OTHER RECORD IN SECTION 32 ARE KEPT FOR THE CONSULTANT, NOT DISPLAYED FOR PARENTS. 470 IAC 3-1.1-32(a) opens with the controlling verb: "The licensee shall maintain the following documentation in the child care home for review by the COFC". Fourteen numbered items follow, and not one of them is a posting. The drill log is item (13), "Record of dates of quarterly fire drills which shall be maintained for at least two (2) years", and it pairs with 470 IAC 3-1.1-46(s), "The caregiver shall conduct and document quarterly fire drills." Read the cadence carefully, because it is where money is lost: QUARTERLY, meaning four drills a licence year, not the monthly cycle…
• THE DISCIPLINE POLICY IS HANDED TO THE PARENT AND SIGNED BY THE PARENT — IT IS NOT POSTED. Three provisions of 470 IAC 3-1.1 act together and every one of them describes a transaction with an individual parent rather than a display. 470 IAC 3-1.1-41(a): "The licensee shall provide the parent or legal guardian with a written copy of the discipline policy of the child care home." 470 IAC 3-1.1-37(a), which governs what must happen "Prior to acceptance of children", requires the caregiver to have the parent or legal guardian "(3) sign a copy of the licensee's written discipline policy". 470 IAC 3-1.1-32(a)(10) then makes the signed artefact a record you maintain in the home for the…
• THE SMOKE-FREE AIR SIGNS ARE THE ONE REAL SIGN A LICENSED INDIANA HOME MUST HANG THAT DOES NOT COME FROM 470 IAC 3-1.1. The homes rule contains no prohibition-posting requirement at all. That is a genuine gap against the centre rule, where 470 IAC 3-4.7-19(a)(5) requires a centre to prominently post, in a place regularly viewed by parents, the "Prohibitions against: (A) smoking; (B) use of alcohol; (C) use or possession of firearms, unless required as a condition of employment; and (D) use or possession of illegal substances or unauthorized potentially toxic substances; in the child care center", and where FSSA's own threshold of compliance makes failure to post that statement evidence of…
• THERE IS NO ILLNESS EXCLUSION POLICY AND NO COMMUNICABLE DISEASE NOTICE TO POST IN AN INDIANA LICENSED HOME. What 470 IAC 3-1.1 requires when a child falls sick is three actions, not a document and not a display. 470 IAC 3-1.1-44(d): "If a child is ill, direct child care providers shall: (1) care for the child in an area separate from the other children; (2) notify the child's parent or legal guardian; and (3) monitor the child until the parent or legal guardian arrives." That is the whole of it. The rule never defines an excludable condition, never sets a fever threshold, never sets a return-to-care interval, and never requires you to write an exclusion policy — still less to post one…
• NO MENU HAS TO BE POSTED WHERE MEALS ARE SERVED IN AN INDIANA LICENSED HOME — THE NUTRITION RULE IS TWO SENTENCES LONG. 470 IAC 3-1.1-42 reads, in its entirety: "(a) Appropriately timed, nutritious meals and snacks shall be made available in such quantity as to meet the needs of each child. (b) Drinking water shall be available at all times." There is no weekly menu, no advance planning period, no posting location, no serving-size disclosure and no requirement to keep menus on file. The menu duty everyone quotes belongs to centres, and it is worth reading in full so you can see precisely how far it is from the homes rule: 470 IAC 3-4.7-76(a) provides that "A current weekly menu shall be…
• NO DAILY SCHEDULE MUST BE POSTED, AND NO CHILD-TO-STAFF RATIO CHART EITHER. Both are centre requirements that consultants and template vendors routinely graft onto homes. The homes provision on programme is 470 IAC 3-1.1-38, and it asks for activities, not paperwork: "(a) The caregiver shall provide activities according to the age, developmental needs, interests, and number of children in care while including both active and quiet play which may consist of safe, age-appropriate toys, games, and equipment for both indoor and outdoor play. (b) Opportunity shall be provided for children to play outdoors daily except when: (1) the severity of the weather poses a safety or health hazard; or (2)…
• THERE IS NO MANDATED REPORTER NOTICE TO POST — AND THE RULE THAT CREATES THE REPORTING DUTY CITES A STATUTE REPEALED IN 1995. 470 IAC 3-1.1-35(a), as served today, reads: "The caregiver shall report immediately suspected physical abuse, sexual abuse, child neglect, or child exploitation as required by IC 31-6-11-3 to child protection services (CPS) or local law enforcement." IC 31-6 was repealed by P.L.268-1995, section 17, effective 1 July 1995; the codified rule has carried a dead cross-reference for three decades and was readopted with it intact on 13 November 2019 (20191211-IR-470190490RFA). The live duty is Indiana's universal mandatory reporting law at IC 31-33-5, which obliges any…
• "INDIVIDUAL CHILD'S FOOD ALLERGIES SHALL BE POSTED PROMINENTLY" IS NOT A RULE IN INDIANA — IT IS A BEST-PRACTICE LINE THE AGENCY'S OWN GUIDE DISCLAIMS. This sentence appears verbatim in FSSA's Interpretative Guide for child care home rules, and it is quoted back at home providers constantly, usually with the implication that an unposted allergy list is a citation. Read where it sits. The guide is divided, and its own opening page says so: "The final section of the Interpretative Guide is the Best Practice Training Resource section. This section provides information for licensees who wish to exceed the minimum standards set in the rule. The Best Practice section is not intended to be used…
• THE INSPECTION REPORT AND THE CONSULTANT'S FINDINGS ARE PUBLISHED BY THE STATE ONLINE — YOU ARE NOT ORDERED TO POST THEM ON YOUR WALL. Neither 470 IAC 3-1.1 nor the child care home chapter of the statute, IC 12-17.2-5, contains any provision requiring a licensed home to display its most recent inspection report, its plan of correction, or a consultant's visit summary. What the rules require is an inspection and a response. 470 IAC 3-1.1-28.5 governs the annual inspection; FSSA's published description of the monitoring process states that "Once the inspection is completed, the program will receive a copy of the inspection report and a customer service survey via email", that where the…
• THE REGULATIONS THEMSELVES DO NOT HAVE TO BE POSTED, SHOWN TO PARENTS, OR EVEN KEPT ON THE PREMISES — AND ONLY ONE PUBLICATION IS COMPULSORY. Nothing in 470 IAC 3-1.1, 470 IAC 3-1.2, 470 IAC 3-1.3 or the child care home chapter IC 12-17.2-5 requires a licensed Indiana home to hold a copy of the licensing rules, to display them, or to make them available to a parent on request. That is a genuine and slightly surprising gap — several states impose exactly that duty, and Indiana does not. The nearest thing is a training obligation aimed at your staff rather than at parents: 470 IAC 3-1.1-33.5(b)(1) requires every direct child care provider, including volunteers, to be trained within thirty…
• TWO POSTINGS THAT EXIST OUTSIDE THE LICENSED-HOME RULE ENTIRELY: THE CCDF CERTIFICATE, AND THE UNLICENSED REGISTERED MINISTRY NOTICE. Search 470 IAC 3-1.1 for either and you will find nothing, which is exactly why they surprise people. The first binds you if you take vouchers. FSSA's published description of the monitoring process for child care programmes in Indiana states that all programmes must document CCDF provider eligibility, that "Once in compliance, the program may be issued a CCDF certificate to display in their programs", and then, in the sentence that matters, "Providers are required to post the certificate in a place that is visible for parents to see in the home/facility."…

Enrollment forms for each child

• CHILD CARE HOME LICENCE APPLICATION — there is no paper State Form for it any more. 470 IAC 3-1.1-27 still reads "The application for a license to operate a child care home shall be submitted by the applicant every two (2) years to the COFC on forms provided for that purpose by the CDFR", and 470 IAC 3-1.1-28(a) still requires the applicant to "(1) Attend an orientation training conducted or approved by the CDFR", "(2) Comply with the application procedures required by this rule" and "(3) Submit to the COFC a completed and signed application for a child care home license, including attachments necessary to demonstrate compliance with this rule". Read that literally and you will look for a…
• ATTESTATION, STATE FORM 48629 — the sworn criminal-conviction statement that both the initial and the renewal application hang on. 470 IAC 3-1.1-28(a)(4) requires the applicant to "Submit a statement attesting that the applicant has not been: (A) convicted of a felony or a misdemeanor relating to the health or safety of a child; and (B) convicted of: (i) a felony; or (ii) a misdemeanor not relating to the health and safety of children during the pendency of this application." 470 IAC 3-1.1-29(a)(4) repeats the identical language for relicensure, so this is not a one-off document you sign at start-up — you sign a fresh one every two years alongside the renewal application. OECOSL publishes…
• CONSENT TO RELEASE INFORMATION, STATE FORM 53323 — one per adult, and the household is included. The OECOSL Background Check Requirements page, as it serves on 26 August 2026, states that "All child care staff members must complete and submit State Form 53323 - Consent to Release Information" for licensed child care centers, licensed child care homes, unlicensed registered ministries and CCDF legally licensed exempt providers, and defines a child care staff member as "prospective employees, current employees, contract employees, self-employed individuals, volunteers, and any individual whose responsibilities include caring for or supervising children or who has unsupervised access to…
• FINGERPRINT-BASED NATIONAL CRIMINAL HISTORY CHECK — an appointment, not a State Form, and the juvenile version is a separate document. OECOSL's Provider Fingerprinting Services page, as it serves on 26 August 2026, states that "As of June 1, 2013, all child care providers (including all applicants, staff, and volunteers) are required to get national criminal history checks" and that "Providers are required to go through IdentoGO by MorphoTrust to obtain these checks", the state having contracted with that vendor for statewide fingerprinting effective 8 May 2009. There is no Indiana State Form number for the fingerprint submission itself: what OECOSL publishes is a scheduling flyer…
• SUBSTANCE ABUSE SCREENING TEST CONSENT FORM — a statutory requirement that is not in 470 IAC 3-1.1 at all, which is exactly why applicants miss it. The form OECOSL publishes for licensed homes, headed "Substance Abuse Screening Test Consent Form" over the 402 W. Washington St., Room W362, MS02, Indianapolis address and bearing the 2025 revision label, recites its own authority on its face: "Indiana Code 12-17.2-3.5-12.1 (Legally Licensed Exempt & Child Care Ministries accepting CCDF), 12-17.2-5-3.5 (Licensed Homes), and 12-17.2-4-3.5 (Licensed Centers) requires each childcare provider to provide drug test results which do not show a presence of illegal controlled substances for themselves,…
• PHYSICAL FORM FOR ADULT CAREGIVER, STATE FORM 49970 — due within thirty days of application, and it covers people who are not staff. 470 IAC 3-1.1-34(a) provides that "direct child care providers who work in the home more than three (3) times a month and all household members having direct contact with children in care shall have an initial physical examination by a physician or certified nurse practitioner indicating they are free of communicable disease, have no physical illness or other condition that may endanger the health or welfare of children in care, and shall have an annual Mantoux tuberculin test or chest x-ray", and 470 IAC 3-1.1-34(c) fixes the deadline: "The above…
• ANNUAL TUBERCULOSIS DOCUMENTATION AND THE ANNUAL TUBERCULOSIS RISK/SYMPTOM SCREENING QUESTIONNAIRE — still required of licensed homes in August 2026, and the way out is a variance, not the new statute. 470 IAC 3-1.1-32(a)(2) obliges the licensee to keep in the home a "record of annual Mantoux tuberculin test or chest x-ray of direct child care provider which documents that they are free of tuberculosis", and 470 IAC 3-1.1-34(a) makes the annual Mantoux or chest x-ray part of the medical clearance for every direct child care provider working in the home more than three times a month and every household member in direct contact with children. 470 IAC 3-1.1-29(a)(2) then makes "written…
• PHYSICAL FORM FOR CHILD, STATE FORM 49969, AND THE SECTION 37(b) HEALTH STATEMENT — thirty days after admission, signed by a clinician, not by you. 470 IAC 3-1.1-37(b) provides that "within thirty (30) days after admission of the child, the licensee shall receive a written statement from the child's parent or legal guardian, signed by a physician or certified nurse practitioner, stating the following: (1) That the child may participate in the child care home activities. (2) That the child has received immunizations that are current for the child's age. (3) Whether the child has allergies or any chronic illness." 470 IAC 3-1.1-32(a)(8) turns that into a file duty — the licensee shall…
• IMMUNIZATION FORM, STATE FORM 49445 — the same number carries two names, and the deadline is the child's thirtieth day, not the first day. OECOSL lists it as "Immunization Form - State Form 49445" on the Licensed homes, Licensed centers and legally licensed exempt tabs of the OECOSL Forms page as it serves on 26 August 2026, and as "History of immunizations - State Form 49445" on the registered ministries tab; it is the same State Form under two headings, and providers who search the site for the ministry title and find nothing on the homes page routinely conclude a form has been retired when it has not. The requirement it evidences is 470 IAC 3-1.1-37(b)(2), which makes the…
• ENROLMENT FORM, EMERGENCY CONTACT, AUTHORISED PICK-UP LIST AND RELEASE FOR EMERGENCY MEDICAL CARE — no State Form exists for any of them, and all four must be signed before the child's first day. 470 IAC 3-1.1-32(a)(6) requires the licensee to maintain in the home an "enrollment form for each child receiving services which shall include the following: (A) Child's name and date of birth. (B) Name, address, home and work telephone numbers of the child's parent or legal guardian. (C) The telephone number of a responsible adult in case of emergency. (D) The names of adults authorized to pick the child up from the home." 470 IAC 3-1.1-32(a)(7) adds a "release for emergency medical care for each…
• WRITTEN DISCIPLINE POLICY WITH PARENT SIGNATURE — and the suspension and expulsion policy that now travels with it. 470 IAC 3-1.1-32(a)(10) requires the licensee to keep in the home a "written statement of the licensee's discipline policy signed by the child's parent or legal guardian"; 470 IAC 3-1.1-37(a)(3) puts the signature before admission, requiring the caregiver to have the parent "sign a copy of the licensee's written discipline policy" prior to acceptance of the child; and 470 IAC 3-1.1-41(a) obliges the licensee to "provide the parent or legal guardian a written copy of the child care discipline policy" — provide, meaning the parent keeps one, so the signed copy in your file is a…
• WRITTEN PARENTAL PERMISSION FOR ACTIVITIES AWAY FROM THE HOME — the transportation and field-trip consent, and the reason Indiana has no swimming permission form. 470 IAC 3-1.1-32(a)(9) requires the licensee to maintain in the child care home "written permission from a parent or legal guardian that the child may participate in activities away from the child care home", and 470 IAC 3-1.1-40(a) states the operational rule: "The caregiver shall obtain written parental permission prior to transporting a child away from the child care home for field trips or other activities." OECOSL publishes no State Form for it; the Home Child File Resource Sheet dated 9/13/2023 lists it in each child's file…
• MEDICATION PERMISSION, WRITTEN INSTRUCTIONS AND THE ADMINISTRATION LOG — three separate documents in one sentence of rule, plus State Form 49968 for over-the-counter orders. 470 IAC 3-1.1-44(f) is the whole of Indiana's medication law for a licensed family child care home, and it is worth reading as the consultant reads it: "Child care providers shall give or apply medicines only with prior written permission of a parent or legal guardian, and only with clear, written instructions on dosage, time, and reason the medication is to be given. Medications shall be labeled with the child's name, the name of the pediatrician, and the pharmacy. Over-the-counter medications shall also be labeled…
• DAILY ATTENDANCE RECORDS, BIRTH CERTIFICATE CONSENT STATE FORM 50548 AND THE MONTHLY REPORT OF ENROLLED CHILDREN — the record you must keep for two years, and the enrolment paperwork that has nothing to do with billing. 470 IAC 3-1.1-32(a)(11) requires the licensee to maintain "daily attendance records for children in the child care home which shall be maintained for at least two (2) years at the child care home site". Three constraints hide in that line. It is daily, so a weekly sign-in sheet with one signature per week fails. It is two years, so purging at licence renewal destroys the record the consultant is entitled to see. And it is "at the child care home site", so records boxed up…
• QUARTERLY FIRE DRILL RECORD AND WRITTEN EVACUATION PLAN — and no tornado drill, whatever you have been told. 470 IAC 3-1.1-32(a)(13) requires the licensee to maintain a "record of dates of quarterly fire drills which shall be maintained for at least two (2) years", and 470 IAC 3-1.1-32(a)(14) requires a "written plan of evacuation for the child care home in case of emergency". The operational twins sit in the fire prevention section: 470 IAC 3-1.1-46(r), "the caregiver shall have a written plan for evacuation in case of fire or other emergency", and 470 IAC 3-1.1-46(s), "the caregiver shall conduct and document quarterly fire drills". Four drills a year, dated, kept two years, plus a…
• INJURY REPORT - CHILD, STATE FORM 54265 — a live form whose authority is not where the rule's own heading points. OECOSL lists "Injury Report Child - State Form 54265" on the Licensed homes, Licensed centers, registered ministries and legally licensed exempt tabs of the OECOSL Forms page as it serves on 26 August 2026 — one number, all four programme types, and it is current. What it is not is the form that 470 IAC 3-1.1-35 requires. Read that section carefully, because its heading and its body disagree. The heading is "Reporting abuse, injury, illness, death, or emergency event". The body is two sentences: "(a) The caregiver shall report immediately suspected physical abuse, sexual abuse,…
• CAREGIVER AND HOUSEHOLD PERSONNEL RECORD — the Home Staff File Resource Sheet, dated 8/10/2026, is the checklist your consultant works from. OECOSL publishes a "Home Staff File Resource Sheet" stating that "Staff files will need to have the following records available on site" and listing, for each staff member or volunteer: facility name; staff or volunteer name; date of hire; documentation to the division that the licensee "has completed; is enrolled in; or agrees to complete within the next three years; a child development associate credential program or a similar program approved by the division"; national criminal history check and fingerprints; the consent form; drug test with MRO…
• INSPECTION CHECKLISTS, STRUCTURE CERTIFICATES AND THE BUSINESS PERMIT PROOF — the application attachments, each with its own State Form number. 470 IAC 3-1.1-28(b)(3) obliges the office to "schedule a home visit during regular hours of operation and complete a child care home inspection checklist", and (b)(4) to submit a written recommendation based on that checklist and on the applicant's documents; 470 IAC 3-1.1-29(b) repeats both for relicensure. The checklists are published, so you can pre-audit yourself: "Licensed Home Inspection Checklist - State Form 46739" and its Spanish counterpart State Form 57680, "Inspection Checklist - Pre-Licensing - State Form 49450" with Spanish State Form…

What's specific about getting licensed in Indiana

Indiana defines a family home license purely by headcount and splits it into two tiers — Class I (up to 12, plus 3 school-agers during the school year) and Class II (13–16) — and the tier you fall into silently changes your staffing: because one caregiver may supervise 12 children ONLY when every child is 3 or older (12:1), any Class II home, and any home taking infants/toddlers, legally needs a second qualified caregiver on premises at all times. The trap most first-time providers miss is the capacity math around their OWN family: the provider's own and related children under age 7 count in the child-to-staff ratios, and ALL children under 11 present — including the provider's own kids — count against a hard cap of 15 children under 11 in a Class I home (470 IAC 3-1.1-24). So a provider with three young children of her own has already spent a big chunk of her license before enrolling a single paying family. The other classic misread is the licensing trigger itself: fewer than six unrelated children is exempt, but the sixth unrelated child makes a license mandatory (470 IAC 3-1.1-26) — there is no gentle on-ramp.

How long it takes and what it costs in Indiana

Timeline: Plan on roughly 3–6 months from orientation to license in hand. The rule promises a decision within 60 days of a COMPLETE application, but that clock only starts once FBI fingerprint results, the medical/TB statement, water test (if on a well), education verification, and the on-site inspection are all done — gathering those and completing the two orientations plus First Aid/CPR typically takes 2–4 months up front. Licenses renew every 2 years, with an annual unannounced inspection in between.

Cost: Indiana does not publish a fixed statewide license application fee for a child care home in the rule (state-administered) — confirm the current fee, if any, with OECOSL. Realistic out-of-pocket costs are for supporting items: fingerprint-based FBI/state background checks (roughly $20–$60 per adult in the household — confirm current vendor pricing with the fingerprint provider), CPR + First Aid certification (~$60–$120), a physician TB test/medical statement, and — for homes on a private well — a coliform water quality test (~$25–$75). Confirm all fees with OECOSL and your county office.

Source: Sources officielles consultées pour Indiana :

https://iar.iga.in.gov/code/current/470/3

https://iar.iga.in.gov/register/20260603-IR-470260159RAA

https://iar.iga.in.gov/register/20250604-IR-470240388FRA

https://iar.iga.in.gov/register/20241002-IR-470240269IFA

https://iar.iga.in.gov/rule-readopt

https://www.in.gov/gov/newsroom/executive-orders/

https://www.in.gov/fssa/carefinder/laws-rules-and-related-policies/

https://www.in.gov/fssa/carefinder/become-a-child-care-provider/

Verified 2026-08-26. General information, not legal advice and not a guarantee of licensure — confirm with your state’s licensing agency before applying.