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Home Daycare License Requirements in Ohio (2026)

Opening a home daycare in Ohio means getting a family child care home license from the Ohio Department of Children and Youth (DCY). 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 Ohio

Both classes are the permanent residence of the provider, who must live in the home where the care is given (OAC 5180:2-13-07(A)(1)(d)); the license is tied to the person and the address, and only one family child care provider license is issued per address, and never at an address already licensed as a child care center (OAC 5180:2-13-02(E)). OAC 5180:2-13-01 defines a 'type A home' as the permanent residence of the provider in which child care is provided for eight to fourteen children at one time, and a 'type B home' as the permanent residence of the provider in which child care is provided for one to seven children at one time. ORC 5104.01(XX) adds the infant variant for type A homes — a type A home is also a residence caring for four to fourteen children at one time if four or more of them are under two years of age — and requires that an additional adult be present whenever more than three children are under two or the total exceeds seven. ORC 5104.01(YY) caps a type B home at one to seven children at one time with no more than three under two at one time.

Both classes are now state-licensed by DCY; the historical distinction where a county agency 'certified' type B homes while the state licensed type A homes no longer describes the current scheme (ORC 5104.02(A)). Practically, the type A home is a business run out of a residence — it needs a building department inspection, a fire inspection and written zoning approval, may be owned by a corporation or partnership with a named administrator who also resides in the home, and may not simultaneously be certified for foster care; the type B home needs none of those three approvals and may hold a regular (not specialized or treatment) foster care certification (OAC 5180:2-13-02(B), (F) and (H)(4)). Care in the child's own home is not a family child care home at all — that is an 'in-home aide' under ORC 5104.01. Some programs escape Chapter 5104 entirely under ORC 5104.02(B): care for two consecutive weeks or less and no more than six weeks a year, care during religious activities with a parent readily available, single-subject instruction a child attends eight hours a week or less, and programs where a parent is on the premises and care does not exceed two and one-half hours a day per child, among others.

How many children you can care for in Ohio

Type B home: seven children at one time, of whom no more than three may be under two years of age (ORC 5104.01(YY); OAC 5180:2-13-18(A)(3)). Type A home: fourteen children at one time (ORC 5104.01(XX); OAC 5180:2-13-18(A)(2)); a residence caring for four or more children under two falls in the type A class from four children upward. The license itself carries a 'license capacity' — the maximum number in each age category who may be cared for at one time, set by the director of children and youth taking account of building occupancy limits set by the Department of Commerce, available indoor floor space and outdoor play space, and available play equipment, materials and supplies (ORC 5104.01(DD)). Unless the licensee, the local certified building department, the Department of Commerce, the state fire marshal or the local fire safety inspector asks otherwise, a new license is issued at the maximum allowable capacity (OAC 5180:2-13-02(C)). The provider may never exceed license capacity during operating hours, and an increase in capacity must be requested and approved through the Ohio statewide licensing system before the additional children are served (OAC 5180:2-13-18(A)(4); 5180:2-13-02(H)(3)(a)).

Counting is broader than paid enrollment: under OAC 5180:2-13-18(B)(1) the group includes all children under six years old present at the home, including the provider's own children and children who reside there; children six through fourteen who are not related to the provider; children six up to fifteen who are related to the provider and whose care is privately or publicly funded; children fifteen through seventeen authorized for publicly funded child care; and foster children, counted as related to the provider. A child whose parent is present and caring for the child does not count, unless that parent is the provider, a resident of the home, an employee or a child care staff member.

Adult-to-child ratios

OAC 5180:2-13-18(A): each child care staff member cares for no more than seven children at any one time, and no more than three of those children may be under two years of age. In a type A home, care may be provided for no more than fourteen children at one time, with no more than three children under two years of age per child care staff member. In a type B home, care may be provided for no more than seven children at one time, with no more than three under two at any one time. The statute states the staffing trigger from the other direction: in the type A definition at ORC 5104.01(XX), if more than three children at one time are under two, or the total number of children at one time is more than seven, an additional adult must be present. Ratios must be maintained at all times, including on routine trips and field trips (OAC 5180:2-13-18(A)(5)). Note that the pre-2026 text of this rule (as 5101:2-13-18, effective October 29, 2021) set the per-staff-member figure at six children rather than seven — Ohio raised the family child care numbers, so guidance repeating '6 and 12' is out of date.

Training you must complete before licensure

Before licensure the applicant must (OAC 5180:2-13-07(A) and 5180:2-13-10(A)): be at least eighteen years old and, for type B providers certified or licensed after April 1, 2003, have completed a high school education, verified per appendix A to rule 5180:2-13-07; hold current certification in first aid and in cardiopulmonary resuscitation appropriate to all the ages and developmental levels of the children in care; hold current training in management of communicable disease; and hold current training in child abuse and neglect recognition and prevention (the ODJFS course or an equivalent meeting appendix A to rule 5180:2-13-10). CPR may not be met by audiovisual or electronic media training unless the course also has an in-person component. Separately from the health trainings, the applicant must register through the Ohio Professional Registry (OPR) and complete the required family child care prelicensing training, taken within the five years before the application (OAC 5180:2-13-02(A)(2)), and must complete the DCY rules review course — for a provider or type A administrator named on the license on or after July 1, 2026, within one year of appointment and every five years thereafter, documented in the OPR (OAC 5180:2-13-07(A)(1)(g)).

Written evidence of MMR and Tdap immunization, or a signed exemption for reasons of conscience or medical reasons, must be on site within thirty days of the start of operation (OAC 5180:2-13-07(B)). Child care staff members must complete CPR, first aid, communicable disease and child abuse recognition training before being left alone with children and within the first ninety days of hire (OAC 5180:2-13-10(C)).

Ongoing (annual) training

A minimum of six clock hours of professional development each fiscal year, the fiscal year running July 1 through June 30, in the categories of appendix B to OAC 5180:2-13-10 (rule 5180:2-13-10(E)(1)). A provider licensed, or a child care staff member hired, between January 1 and June 30 is not required to meet the requirement until the following fiscal year. The health trainings — first aid, CPR, management of communicable disease, child abuse and neglect recognition and prevention — may not be counted toward the six hours, and all four must be kept current for as long as the home operates (5180:2-13-10(B) and (E)(4)). Audiovisual or electronic media training may be used for the six hours. A designated substitute child care staff member is exempt until used more than ninety days in a fiscal year, and the provider must document the number of days a substitute worked for eighteen months. Completion is documented by the OPR, by the JFS 01276 'Health Training Documentation for Child Care' or training cards for the health trainings, and by the OPR, a college transcript (one quarter credit hour = ten clock hours, one semester credit hour = fifteen), the JFS 01307 'Professional Development Documentation for Child Care', CEU certificates (one CEU = ten clock hours) or Ohio child welfare training center certificates for the six hours (5180:2-13-10(F)).

Background checks

Required before licensure and kept current under OAC 5180:2-13-09 and ORC 5104.013. The check comprises Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) records, FBI records, the national sex offender registry, the state sex offender registry and Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System (SACWIS) records. It covers the provider and applicants to be providers, every adult aged eighteen or older residing in the home, every employee, and every child care staff member including substitutes and high school students and graduates under eighteen working as staff. Visitors, volunteers, residents under eighteen and people with no assigned duties who are not counted in ratio do not need a check but may never be left alone with children. Timing: at application; within ten business days after a resident of the home turns eighteen or an adult moves in; before an employee's or staff member's first day; and every five years from the date of the most recent BCI check. Process: create an OPR profile, submit fingerprints electronically through the BCI/AG WebCheck process with results sent directly to DCY, and submit the request for a background check for child care in the OPR — if only one of those two components is submitted and the other is not completed within forty-five days, the process ends without a determination.

Disqualifiers: a conviction or guilty plea to an offense listed in ORC 109.572(A)(5) unless the rehabilitation criteria in appendix A to the rule are met (sealed convictions are included; an unconditional pardon or a conviction set aside is not prohibitive); being registered or required to be registered on a state or national sex offender registry; and being named in SACWIS as the perpetrator of a substantiated finding of child abuse or neglect in the previous ten years, or having had a child removed from the home in the previous ten years under ORC 2151.353 for court-determined abuse or neglect. DCY issues the DCY 01176 'Program Notification of Background Check Review for Child Care' to the program and the DCY 01177 to the individual; only staff with a DCY 01176 on file at the home or in the OPR may be left alone with children, and a person found ineligible must be terminated, or must cease living in the home, immediately on receipt. A review of the decision is requested on the DCY 01178 within fourteen business days of the date on the DCY 01177, and the individual may not be on site or reside in the home during the review.

The application, step by step

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

1. Create a professional registry profile for the family child care applicant in the Ohio Professional Registry (OPR) and register there for the required family child care prelicensing training — the training must have been taken within the five years before the application (OAC 5180:2-13-02(A)(1)-(2)).
2. Complete the application online in the Ohio statewide licensing system and pay the twenty-five dollar fee to DCY. The fee is nonrefundable and non-transferable; the application is filed on the date it is received electronically and the payment clears; it is deleted after one hundred twenty days if the fee is not received, and deleted with the fee forfeited if the home is not ready to be licensed after twelve months (OAC 5180:2-13-02(A)(3)).
3. Request the background check for yourself and for every adult resident, employee and child care staff member — OPR profile, electronic fingerprints through WebCheck with BCI and FBI results sent directly to DCY, and the background check request in the OPR — and submit verification of the request with the application (OAC 5180:2-13-09; 5180:2-13-02(B)(1)).
4. Submit verification of high school education (for providers certified or licensed after April 1, 2003) and a detailed, labeled site plan of the space to be used for children, including an indoor floor plan and, where the outdoor play space is on site, an outdoor play space diagram (OAC 5180:2-13-02(B)(2)-(3)).
5. Type A homes only: obtain and submit documentation of a building department inspection and of a fire inspection under OAC 5180:2-13-04, written zoning approval, and articles of incorporation where applicable (OAC 5180:2-13-02(B)(4)-(7)).
6. Complete the preservice health trainings — first aid, age-appropriate CPR with an in-person skills component, management of communicable disease, and child abuse and neglect recognition and prevention — and keep the documentation on file (OAC 5180:2-13-10(A) and (F)).
7. Settle the liability question: either carry liability insurance covering the operation of the home for at least one hundred thousand dollars per occurrence and three hundred thousand dollars in the aggregate, with proof kept at the home (and the property owner named as an additional insured where the owner asks in writing, the addition does not cancel the policy and the owner pays the extra premium), or complete the DCY 01933 'Liability Insurance Statement for Family Child Care Providers' and have each parent sign and date it before the child's first day (OAC 5180:2-13-07(A)(3)).
8. Prepare the required policies and procedures (appendix C to OAC 5180:2-13-07), keep a copy on site, and give them to parents and employees along with appendix D to that rule.
9. Pass the prelicensing inspection: the county agency begins reviewing submitted documents within ten business days, recommends approval or denial to DCY within ninety days of a completed application, and completes the prelicensing inspection within ten business days after the application is complete and the documents are approved. At least one inspection is required before the initial provisional license is issued (OAC 5180:2-13-02(M); 5180:2-13-03(A)(1)).
10. Operate under the provisional license, which is valid for at least twelve months and until the continuous license is issued. During the provisional period at least two more inspections take place, children for whom you are compensated must be enrolled and attending, and the county agency must inspect with children present before recommending the continuous license; if no children were served the provisional period continues up to twelve additional months (OAC 5180:2-13-06; 5180:2-13-03(A)(2)).
11. After the continuous license is issued, expect at least one inspection in each half of the state fiscal year, with at least one inspection unannounced, plus any complaint investigations (OAC 5180:2-13-03(A)(3)-(5)), and complete the DCY rules review course within one year of being named on the license and every five years thereafter (OAC 5180:2-13-07(A)(1)(g)).

What you must post on your walls

• The license itself — ORC 5104.02(A) requires the current license to be posted in a conspicuous place accessible to parents, custodians or guardians and to employees at all times the home is in operation, and OAC 5180:2-13-02(D) requires it to be visible to parents at all times
• Emergency phone numbers, readily in view in every space used by children, including the emergency squad, hospital, police department, fire department, poison control and the local emergency management agency, with the seven-digit backup number and the area code where one must be dialed (OAC 5180:2-13-16(A)(1))
• A weather and fire alert plan posted in each space used by the children, including a diagram of the evacuation routes and any instructions needed to evacuate safely (OAC 5180:2-13-16(A)(2))
• The DCY 08087 'Communicable Disease Chart', posted where parents, child care staff members, employees and residents can readily see it, displayed in the size available in ODJFS forms central (OAC 5180:2-13-16(D)(2))
• Kept on site rather than posted: written documentation of the monthly fire drills, the monthly weather emergency drills in March through September and the quarterly emergency/lockdown drills; the attendance record with each child's name, birth date, group, weekly schedule and arrival and departure times to the minute, kept one year and never replaced by Ohio's automated child care system; proof of liability insurance or the signed DCY 01933 statements; the policies and procedures of appendix C to OAC 5180:2-13-07; and the DCY 01176 background check notifications (OAC 5180:2-13-16(A)(3)-(5); 5180:2-13-18(C); 5180:2-13-07(A)(3); 5180:2-13-09(I)(2))

Enrollment forms for each child

• Online application for a family child care provider license, filed in the Ohio statewide licensing system with the twenty-five dollar fee (OAC 5180:2-13-02(A)(3)) — Ohio no longer uses a paper application form for this step
• OPR records: individual professional registry profile for the provider, each employee, each child care staff member and each resident over eighteen, plus the program's organization dashboard, kept current within ten business days of a change (OAC 5180:2-13-07(D))
• DCY 01176 'Program Notification of Background Check Review for Child Care' (kept by the program) and DCY 01177 'Individual Notification of Background Check Review for Child Care'; DCY 01178 'Request for Review of Background Check Decision for Child Care' where a decision is challenged, filed within fourteen business days (OAC 5180:2-13-09(I)-(J))
• DCY 01933 'Liability Insurance Statement for Family Child Care Providers', signed and dated by each parent before the child's first day, where the provider does not carry liability insurance (OAC 5180:2-13-07(A)(3)(b))
• DCY 01234 'Child Enrollment and Health Information for Child Care', or an equivalent in content, on file for each child by the first day of attendance, reviewed at least annually by the parent and initialled and dated by parent and provider when reviewed or updated, and sent with any child transported for emergency assistance (OAC 5180:2-13-15(A))
• Child immunization record, on file within thirty days of the first day of attendance and updated no more than every thirteen months, including for the provider's own children; children in kindergarten and above are exempt, and medical or conscience exemptions are accepted in writing (OAC 5180:2-13-15(B)-(C))
• DCY 01236 'Health Care Plan Documentation & Permission to Administer Medication', or an equivalent, for each child with a chronic condition or diagnosis, on file by the first day of attendance or on confirmation of the condition, reviewed annually, with a list of trained staff (OAC 5180:2-13-15(D))
• DCY 01299 'Incident/Injury Report for Child Care', completed and given to the parent the same day for injuries requiring first aid, transport for emergency assistance, any bump or blow to the head, and unusual incidents; copies kept at the home at least one year (OAC 5180:2-13-16(E))
• Serious incident report, filed in the Ohio statewide licensing system by the next business day (OAC 5180:2-13-16(G))
• Training documentation: JFS 01276 'Health Training Documentation for Child Care' or training cards for the health trainings, and JFS 01307 'Professional Development Documentation for Child Care', college transcripts or CEU certificates for the six annual clock hours, where not verified in the OPR (OAC 5180:2-13-10(F))
• Provider and staff immunization evidence (MMR and Tdap) or signed exemption statements, on site within thirty days of the start of employment or operation (OAC 5180:2-13-07(B))
• For type A homes at application: documentation of the building department inspection and the fire inspection, written zoning approval, and articles of incorporation where applicable (OAC 5180:2-13-02(B)(4)-(7))

What's specific about getting licensed in Ohio

Ohio is one of the states with a genuine two-tier home system, and that changes the whole path depending on your headcount: a Type B home cares for up to 6 children (historically certified through the county) while a Type A home covers 7-12 children and is state-licensed — most other states have a single home-license track. On top of that, Ohio just moved child care licensing to the brand-new Department of Children and Youth (DCY) in 2024, so a lot of the older ODJFS guidance floating around online now points to the wrong office. Knowing 'Type B vs Type A' and 'DCY, not ODJFS' is the Ohio-specific starting point.

How long it takes and what it costs in Ohio

Timeline: Realistically plan on about 2 to 4 months from starting to approval. The pacing is driven less by paperwork than by three things that run on their own clock: BCI and FBI fingerprint background checks for you and every adult in the household, completing Ohio-approved training, and getting your home inspection scheduled. Start the background checks and training early, since those are the most common bottlenecks.

Cost: Ohio's own application/certification fees for a home have historically been low, so the real out-of-pocket money goes to the surrounding requirements rather than a big single fee: BCI + FBI fingerprint background checks (typically on the order of a few tens of dollars each) for you and other adults in the home, first aid and CPR certification classes, and any supplies needed to pass inspection (safety gates, outlet covers, a working smoke/CO detector, fenced or secured outdoor area). Exact current state fee amounts should be confirmed on childcare.ohio.gov / the Department of Children and Youth, since I could not verify a live figure here.

Source: https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-administrative-code/chapter-5180:2-13 (full text of rules 5180:2-13-01 through 5180:2-13-26, effective July 1, 2026 — definitions -01, application -02, compliance inspection -03, building and fire inspection -04, provisional license -06, provider responsibilities and qualifications -07, employees and staff -08, background checks -09, training and professional development -10, child records -15, emergency and health-related plans -16, group size and ratios -18), https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-administrative-code/rule-5180:2-13-18 , https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-5104.01 (effective September 30, 2025, House Bill 96 of the 136th General Assembly — type A and type B definitions at divisions (XX) and (YY), license capacity at (DD)), https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-5104.02 (effective April 9, 2025 — licensing responsibility of the director of children and youth, posting of the license, exemptions), https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/ohio/Ohio-Admin-Code-5101-2-13-18 (superseded 5101:2-13 text, effective October 29, 2021, consulted to date the change in the ratio and capacity figures)

Verified 2026-08-16. General information, not legal advice and not a guarantee of licensure — confirm with your state’s licensing agency before applying.