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Home Daycare License Requirements in South Carolina (2026)

Opening a home daycare in South Carolina means getting a family child care home license from the South Carolina Department of Social Services (SCDSS), Division of Early Care and Education (Child Care 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 South Carolina

WHAT COUNTS AS A "FAMILY CHILD CARE HOME" IN SOUTH CAROLINA, WHAT FALLS OUT OF THE DEFINITION, AND THE FIVE TESTS THAT DECIDE IT South Carolina defines the family child care home twice, in identical words, once in the statute and once in the regulation. The statute states it in two places. Section 63-13-20(13): "'Family childcare home' means a facility within a residence occupied by the operator in which childcare is regularly provided for no more than six children, unattended by a parent or legal guardian, including those children living in the home and children received for childcare who are related to the resident caregiver. However, an occupied residence in which childcare is provided only for a child or children related to the resident caregiver or only for the child or children of one unrelated family, or only for a combination of these children, is not a family childcare home." Section 63-13-810(A) repeats the same sentence at the head of Article 7 ("As used in this chapter, 'family childcare home' means a facility within a residence occupied by the operator in which childcare regularly is provided for no more than six children...").

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 South Carolina

CAPACITY: SIX CHILDREN, COUNTED IN A WAY THAT TAKES PAYING SEATS OFF THE TABLE The number is six, and the operative sentence is R.114-533C(1): "The operator may have up to six (6) children in the home at any given time, including children living in the home and children related to the operator who are under the age of twelve (12), unless zoning restrictions further limit the number of children." Three clauses in that one sentence do all the work, and each of them costs the operator money or flexibility. CLAUSE ONE: "AT ANY GIVEN TIME", NOT "ENROLLED". South Carolina caps the instantaneous population of the house, not the roll. That means a family child care home may enrol more than six children provided that no more than six are physically present at any instant — a home serving a morning cohort of six and an after-school cohort of four is lawful if they never overlap, and unlawful the moment a morning child's parent is late and a school bus arrives. It also means the cap is enforceable on an unannounced visit by headcount alone, which is exactly how DSS enforces it: § 63-13-80(A) authorises the Department's representative to "visit a childcare center, group childcare home, or family childcare home anytime during the hours of operation without prior notice once a year for purposes of investigations and inspections", and R.114-531G(1)(b) tells the inspector what to look for — "health and safety of children; no evidence of child abuse; and enrollment within the limits set forth on the license."

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

Adult-to-child ratios

RATIOS: SOUTH CAROLINA DOES NOT HAVE THEM FOR FAMILY CHILD CARE HOMES — IT HAS A CAP, ONE TRIGGER, AND A SUPERVISION STANDARD This is the single most commonly mis-stated feature of South Carolina family child care law, so it is worth stating flatly before the citations: there is NO age-banded staff-to-child ratio table for a South Carolina family child care home. Nothing in R.114-530 through R.114-537 says "1:4 for infants" or "1:6 for preschoolers" or anything of that shape. What South Carolina has instead is (a) a hard six-child ceiling, (b) a single numeric trigger that forces a second adult onto the premises, (c) a requirement that at least one caregiver be present at all times, and (d) a long, unusually specific behavioural definition of adequate supervision that functions as the real constraint. Any product that publishes an age-band ratio table for a South Carolina family child care home is either importing the group child care home table or inventing it. (A) THE CEILING AS RATIO. R.114-533C(1): "The operator may have up to six (6) children in the home at any given time, including children living in the home and children related to the operator who are under the age of twelve (12), unless zoning restrictions further limit the number of children."

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

PRE-SERVICE: THE DIPLOMA IS THE REAL GATE, ORIENTATION IS COMPULSORY, AND THE 15-HOUR CERTIFICATE IS SUBSIDY-CONDITIONAL South Carolina's pre-service requirements for a family child care home operator are easy to state wrongly because they are split across four instruments with different force: a regulation that imposes an educational credential and an attendance duty; a statute that imposes a fifteen-hour training rule which does NOT reach family child care homes; a CCDF-driven certificate that binds only providers taking public money; and a 1993 manual that binds only licensed homes. Here is each, with the text. 1. THE EDUCATIONAL CREDENTIAL: HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA OR GED. This is new with the 2024 regulation and it is the single most consequential pre-service requirement in South Carolina, because it is an absolute bar rather than a training course. R.114-532A(2): "An operator shall have the following qualifications: (a) Be at least eighteen (18) years of age; (b) Shall have a high school diploma or a General Educational Development (GED); (c) Favorable completion of all comprehensive background check requirements; and (d) Shall have the required training."

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

Ongoing (annual) training

ANNUAL TRAINING: TEN CLOCK HOURS, FOUR OF THEM IN CHILD GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT, PLUS ONE HOUR OF SAFE SLEEP IF INFANTS ARE SERVED — AND A DSS TOPIC GRID THAT CONTRADICTS THE REGULATION THE REGULATION, WHICH IS THE CONTROLLING TEXT. R.114-532H: "(1) All caregivers shall participate in at least ten (10) clock hours of training annually. At least four (4) clock hours shall be in child growth and development. If serving infants 12 months and under, one hour of safe sleep is required. The remaining hours shall come from the following areas: program administration, safety, health, nutrition, physical activity, guidance, infant/child CPR and first aid, and Blood Borne Pathogen training or other areas approved by the Department. (2) Caregivers who receive training in excess of ten (10) hours per year may carry five (5) of those hours to the following year in the category earned." Every clause matters. The duty runs to "all caregivers", not merely the operator — and "caregiver" is defined broadly at R.114-530A(2) as "The operator of a family child care home and any person, including household members, whose duties include direct care, supervision, and guidance of children in a family child care home", so an adult household member who regularly helps with the children carries the ten-hour duty too.

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

Background checks

THE SOUTH CAROLINA SCREENING REGIME HAS TWO HARD EDGES THAT ARE NOT WHERE APPLICANTS LOOK: THE AGE THRESHOLD REACHES DOWN TO FIFTEEN, AND THE DISQUALIFYING LIST IS NOT A LIST OF CHILD CRIMES BUT THE ENTIRE FELONY CODE PLUS TWO WHOLE CHAPTERS OF MISDEMEANOURS. The authority question decides which text you obey. On 26 August 2026 the regulator is the Department of Social Services and the operative rules are Regulations 114-530 through 114-537 of the South Carolina Code of Regulations, Chapter 114, Article 5, headed "FAMILY CHILD CARE HOMES (PROVIDE CARE FOR NO MORE THAN SIX CHILDREN)". Each of those eight sections closes with the same line, "HISTORY: Added by SCSR 48-5 Doc. No. 5229, eff May 24, 2024," and nothing has been added since. That is measured, not assumed: the Legislative Council's index states the file "is now current through State Register Volume 50, Issue 3, effective March 27, 2026," and the four issues published after that date were read one by one. The only child care document in them, No. 5314, "Regulations for the Licensing of Child Care Centers," was tolled and then, in Issue 6, "Withdrawn."

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 — BEFORE YOU APPLY FOR ANYTHING, ESTABLISH THAT SOUTH CAROLINA REGULATES YOU AT ALL, BECAUSE THE MOST EXPENSIVE PAPERWORK IS THE PAPERWORK YOU NEVER OWED. The gate is S.C. Code of Laws Section 63-13-20(2), which defines "childcare" as "the care, supervision, or guidance of a child or children, unaccompanied by the parent, guardian, or custodian, on a regular basis, for periods of less than twenty-four hours per day, but more than four hours, in a place other than the child's or the children's own home or homes." Three numeric filters live in that sentence and any one of them will put you outside the chapter: more than four hours a day, less than twenty-four hours a day, and not…
2. STEP ONE — CHOOSE YOUR REGIME, AND UNDERSTAND THAT IN SOUTH CAROLINA REGISTRATION IS THE DEFAULT AND THE LICENCE IS OPTIONAL — THE EXACT REVERSE OF MOST STATES. Section 63-13-810(B) makes registration compulsory for every family child care home: "An operator of a family childcare home shall register with the department." Licensure is an election, and the statute names the only reason to make it: Section 63-13-810(C)(1), "A family childcare home which elects to participate in a federal program which requires licensing as a prerequisite to participation may elect to be licensed under the procedures in Section 63-13-820. A family childcare home electing licensing shall demonstrate compliance…
3. STEP TWO — ATTEND THE REGIONAL ORIENTATION, BECAUSE IT IS THE ONLY DOOR TO THE APPLICATION PACKET AND IT IS THEREFORE THE REAL START DATE OF YOUR FILE. The regulation puts orientation before everything on both tracks and uses mandatory language on both. R.114-531A(1): "A potential operator of a family child care home may obtain information about the registration or licensure process by contacting the Department's regional child care licensing office." R.114-531A(2): "A potential operator of a family child care home must attend orientation to obtain an application packet and instructions regarding the registration process." R.114-531D(2) repeats it for the licence track in the imperative:…
4. STEP THREE — GET THE ZONING LETTER MOVING THE DAY AFTER ORIENTATION, BECAUSE IT IS THE LONGEST-LEAD ITEM IN THE FILE AND IT IS ENTIRELY YOUR BURDEN, NOT THE DEPARTMENT'S. Zoning is a statutory precondition, not an administrative courtesy. Section 63-13-90: "At the time of initial licensing, approval, or registration a childcare facility must provide proof of conformity or authorized nonconformity with county or municipal zoning ordinances or resolutions. The department may impose conditions on the license, approval, or registration consistent with restrictions imposed by zoning authorities." The regulation converts that into a document you must produce on both tracks. R.114-531A(5)(k),…
5. STEP FOUR — INVENTORY YOUR HOUSEHOLD ON DSS FORM 2927 AND INSTALL A LISTED TELEPHONE, BECAUSE THESE TWO SMALL ITEMS DECIDE HOW BIG AND HOW EXPENSIVE THE NEXT STEP WILL BE. The household member list is not a formality; it is the instrument that defines the population to be screened, and getting it wrong is the single most common cause of a South Carolina file being reopened months later. R.114-530A(11) defines the term broadly: "Household member: A person who resides in a family child care home, maintains clothing and personal effects at the household address, and/or eats or sleeps at the household address on a regular basis." Read the disjunctions. A partner who keeps clothes at your…
6. STEP FIVE — SUBMIT THE BACKGROUND SCREENING, AND START THE CLOCK THAT KILLS MORE SOUTH CAROLINA APPLICATIONS THAN ANY OTHER PROVISION. Four separate checks are required, on every person your household list produced, and they do not run at the same speed. R.114-531A(5)(b): "The operator, household members fifteen (15) years of age and older, substitute and regular caregivers, emergency persons, and staff who are regularly present during the hours of operation, and volunteers shall undergo a state fingerprint-based background check to be conducted by the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) to determine any state criminal history and a fingerprint-based background check to be conducted by…
7. STEP SIX — READ THE DISQUALIFIER LIST BEFORE YOU PAY FOR THE CHECKS, BECAUSE IN SOUTH CAROLINA A DISQUALIFYING CONVICTION ANYWHERE IN THE HOUSEHOLD ENDS THE APPLICATION AND APPLYING ANYWAY IS ITSELF A MISDEMEANOR. The disqualifiers are absolute. Section 63-13-820(E)(1): "No applicant may be registered as an operator if the person, an employee, a caregiver, or a person fifteen years of age or older living in the family childcare home has been convicted of an offense included in Section 63-13-40(A)(1)" — which covers all of Chapter 3 of Title 16 (offences against the person), all of Chapter 15 (offences against morality and decency), contributing to the delinquency of a minor, unlawful…
8. STEP SEVEN — LINE UP THREE UNRELATED REFERENCES, AND NOTICE THAT THE TWO TRACKS ASK FOR DIFFERENT THINGS UNDER THE SAME NAME. On the registration track the instrument is a Department form and the applicant does not write it: R.114-531A(5)(f), "Submit three (3) original DSS 2908, Child Care Reference Release Statements completed by the person to be used as a reference. Persons providing references must be unrelated by blood or marriage to the applicant." On the licence track the regulation asks instead for free-form letters: R.114-531D(4)(e), "Submit three (3) original reference letters from people unrelated by blood or marriage to the applicant." Same count, same relationship bar,…
9. STEP EIGHT — FILE THE CORE APPLICATION FORMS, AND KNOW THAT THE FORM YOU SIGN CERTIFIES COMPLIANCE WITH A REGULATION SOUTH CAROLINA REPEALED IN 2024. Three originals carry the application on both tracks. R.114-531A(5)(a), registration: "Complete, sign, and submit originals of the following forms: Application to Operate a Child Care Facility (DSS 2902), Original or Renewal of Registration of Family Child Care Home (DSS 2922), Household Member List (DSS 2927) and any additional forms required by the Department." R.114-531D(4)(a) requires the identical three for licensure — note that even a licence applicant files DSS 2922, the form whose title says "Registration," because DSS never built a…
10. STEP NINE, LICENCE TRACK ONLY — CLEAR THE MEDICAL PAPER: TB, A STAFF HEALTH ASSESSMENT AND A MEDICAL STATEMENT, ON THREE DIFFERENT POPULATIONS THAT THE REGULATION DEFINES INCONSISTENTLY. R.114-531D(4) imposes three separate health documents and gives each a slightly different roster, and the mismatch is not a typographical accident you can safely ignore. Subsection (g): "Obtain a health care professional's certification that operator, household member(s) fifteen (15) years of age or older, staff, and emergency person(s) are free from Tuberculosis." Subsection (h): "Submit an original Staff Health Assessment (DSS 2926) attesting to the health of the operator, household member(s) fifteen…
11. STEP TEN, LICENCE TRACK ONLY — REQUEST THE FIRE AND HEALTH INSPECTION ON DSS FORM 2905, AND UNDERSTAND THAT THE FAMILY CHILD CARE HOME REGULATION ITSELF CONTAINS NO FIRE CODE. The requirement is one line: R.114-531D(4)(f), "Submit a Fire/Health Inspection Report (DSS 2905)." The Department's own duty is R.114-531D(5)(a), "Prior to issuing a license, obtain and review report(s) from health and fire officials who have inspected the home to determine compliance with appropriate regulations." Who those officials are comes from Section 63-13-80(A): "The inspection of the health and fire safety of childcare centers and group childcare homes must be completed upon the request of the department by…
12. STEP ELEVEN — TEST THE WATER IF YOU ARE ON A PRIVATE WELL, EVEN THOUGH THE FAMILY CHILD CARE HOME REGULATION NEVER SAYS THE WORD "WELL". The whole of South Carolina's water rule for a family child care home is three sentences, R.114-534D: "(1) The water supply shall meet bacteriological, chemical, and physical requirements for water quality and testing in accordance with DHEC. (2) If water is unavailable for four (4) hours, an operator shall contact the Department and may be required to close. (3) Safe drinking water shall be available to children at all times and there shall be no use of common drinking cups. If disposable cups are used, they shall be stored to prevent contamination prior…
13. STEP TWELVE — PASS THE ON-SITE VISIT, WHICH IS SOUTH CAROLINA'S HOME STUDY AND WHICH YOU WILL SEE COMING BY EXACTLY TWO BUSINESS DAYS. Both tracks require it and both use the same formula. Registration, R.114-531A(6)(b): the Department shall, "Prior to issuing a registration, visit the potential family child care home to determine compliance with applicable regulations, giving the applicant at least two (2) business days' notice prior to the visit." Licensure, R.114-531D(5)(b), identical: "Prior to issuing a license, visit the potential family child care home to determine compliance with applicable regulations, giving the applicant at least two (2) business days' notice prior to the…
14. STEP THIRTEEN — WRITE THE POLICIES AND BUILD THE PARENT PACKET, BECAUSE SOUTH CAROLINA NEVER USES THE WORD "HANDBOOK" AND THEREFORE APPLICANTS NEVER WRITE ONE. There is no parent-handbook requirement anywhere in R.114-530 through R.114-537. What there is instead is a scattered list of documents that must exist in writing and be given to parents at admission, and assembling them into one handbook is the only sane way to comply. R.114-532D(2) requires a written "policy for the safe release of children," "communicated to parents/guardians upon admission." R.114-532D(3) then lists six items "Parents shall be provided with ... upon admission": the right of free and full access to their child;…
15. STEP FOURTEEN — SETTLE THE LIABILITY INSURANCE QUESTION, BECAUSE SOUTH CAROLINA DOES NOT REQUIRE INSURANCE AT ALL — IT REQUIRES A CONFESSION IN WRITING FROM EVERY PARENT IF YOU DO NOT CARRY IT. This is one of the few places where South Carolina statute is more explicit than the regulation, and both say the same thing. Section 63-13-210(A): "An owner or operator of a childcare center, group childcare home, or family childcare home, as defined by Section 63-13-20, who does not carry liability insurance for the operation of his childcare business, shall ... obtain signed statements from the custodial parent or parents or guardian or guardians of each child currently enrolled ... indicating…
16. STEP FIFTEEN — HAVE THE CPR, FIRST AID, DIPLOMA AND TRAINING CERTIFICATES IN HAND BEFORE ISSUANCE, AND NOTICE THAT REGISTERED HOMES ARE EXPRESSLY EXEMPTED FROM THE ONE THAT PARENTS CARE ABOUT MOST. The CPR requirement is a licence-track precondition stated as a document: R.114-531D(4)(l), the applicant shall "Obtain infant/child CPR and first aid certificate that covers all hours of operation." Read the last five words as a staffing constraint rather than a certificate rule — if you operate twelve hours and your certificate holder is present for eight, you are not compliant, and a second certificated adult is required. The continuing duty is R.114-532A(5): "During the hours of operation…
17. STEP SIXTEEN — TAKE ISSUANCE, THEN DIARY THE RENEWAL CLOCK, AND KNOW THAT THE REGULATION AND THE STATUTE NOW DISAGREE ABOUT HOW LONG A FAMILY CHILD CARE HOME LICENCE LASTS. Issuance is by mail on both tracks. R.114-531A(6)(e): "If all regulatory requirements are met, the Department shall issue a regular registration and mail the regular registration directly to the operator." R.114-531D(5)(d) is the licence equivalent, and note its oddity — it says the Department shall "Issue a PROVISIONAL license if all regulatory requirements were met," which on its face makes the first family child care home licence provisional even for a fully compliant applicant, with R.114-531F(4) providing that "A…

What you must post on your walls

• THE REGISTRATION CERTIFICATE — THE ONLY POSTING SOUTH CAROLINA PUTS IN A STATUTE, AND THE ONLY ONE WITH A SECOND HALF THAT LEAVES THE HOUSE. R.114-531C(3) states the rule in one sentence: "The current registration shall be displayed in a prominent location at all times and the registration number shall be stated in all advertisements of the family child care home." The statute says the same thing in § 63-13-830(A): "A statement of registration must be issued when the family childcare operator satisfactorily completes the procedures prescribed by this chapter. The current statement must be displayed in a prominent place in the facility at all times and the registration number must be stated…
• THE LICENCE CERTIFICATE — SAME DISPLAY DUTY, BUT NO STATUTE BEHIND IT, AND A TWO-YEAR LIFE. R.114-531F(5): "The current license shall be displayed in a prominent location at all times and the license number shall be stated in all advertisements of the family child care home." R.114-531F(6) fixes its contents: "The license shall state the name of the operator, the address, and type of family child care home, the date on which the license was issued and will expire, and the maximum number of children to be present during operating hours." R.114-531F(1) gives it a two-year life "unless revoked by the Department or voluntarily surrendered by the operator", and R.114-531F(7) makes the printed…
• THE INSPECTION REPORT IS NOT POSTED IN A SOUTH CAROLINA FAMILY CHILD CARE HOME — AND NEITHER ARE YOUR VIOLATIONS. This is the single most commonly asserted false posting requirement for this state, and the regulation disproves it by contrast rather than by silence, which is the strongest form of disproof available. Read what South Carolina wrote for its other facility types in the same Article 5 of Chapter 114, all adopted or maintained alongside the family child care home rules. Child care centres, R.114-503A(1): "The center shall display the current license/approval, AS WELL AS ANY VIOLATIONS, in a prominent public place in the center. THE BACK OF THE LICENSE/APPROVAL SHALL BE DISPLAYED…
• THE WRITTEN EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS AND EVACUATION PLAN — POSTED, IN TERMS, FOR TWO AUDIENCES. This is the second and last genuine posting duty in the family child care home regulation, and unlike the certificate it is a document you author. R.114-534F(1): "Family child care homes shall have a WRITTEN emergency preparedness plan to evacuate the home in case of fire, natural disaster or threatening situation that may pose a health or safety hazard THAT IS POSTED FOR ALL STAFF AND PARENTS TO SEE. This plan shall be REGULARLY TESTED." Take the elements one at a time, because each is separately citable. It must be WRITTEN — an evacuation routine everybody knows is not a plan. It must cover…
• EMERGENCY TELEPHONE NUMBERS AND THE EMERGENCY PERSON'S CONTACT DETAILS — POSTED, BUT WITH NO LIST AND NO LOCATION. R.114-534F(3) is one sentence long: "Emergency telephone numbers and information shall be posted, including the name/contact information of the emergency person." That is the whole of it, and two things are missing from it that operators assume are there. First, there is NO ENUMERATED LIST. The family child care home rule does not name police, fire, ambulance or poison control. Compare what South Carolina wrote for centres at R.114-503J(2): "Emergency telephone numbers for the police, fire department, ambulance service and poison control center shall be posted BY EACH…
• KEPT AVAILABLE, NOT POSTED: THE EMERGENCY MEDICAL PLAN AND THE FIRST AID CHART. Conflating "available" with "posted" is the classic error in this field, and South Carolina hands you a clean example of each in adjacent subparagraphs, so there is no excuse for merging them. R.114-534G(1): "The family child care home shall have an emergency medical plan IN WRITING providing for emergency medical care of children requiring treatment away from the child care setting." Written — yes. Posted — no. The regulation says "have ... in writing", full stop. This plan is a different document from the evacuation plan at R.114-534F(1) and from the emergency plan at R.114-534F(2): its subject is the child…
• PARENTS' RIGHT OF FREE AND FULL ACCESS — DELIVERED ON ADMISSION, NOT POSTED, AND STRONGER THAN MOST STATES' VERSION. Many states require an unannounced-access notice on the wall. South Carolina requires the right itself and requires it to be COMMUNICATED, and it never says post. R.114-532D(1): "The operator shall permit the parent of a child in the family child care home FREE AND FULL ACCESS to their child WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE while the child is receiving care; unless there is a court order limiting parental access. This free access shall not disrupt instructional activities and classroom routines." Note how the exception is drawn: the only thing that defeats the right is a COURT ORDER —…
• NO ABUSE AND NEGLECT HOTLINE POSTING — SOUTH CAROLINA NEVER WROTE ONE, AND WHAT IT WROTE INSTEAD. Search the whole family child care home regulation, R.114-530 through R.114-537, for a hotline, a reporting number, a Child Protective Services telephone line or a mandated-reporter poster, and you will find none. Search Title 63, Chapter 13 of the Children's Code, the statute the regulation implements, and you will find no posting duty of any kind — the only display sentences in the entire chapter are § 63-13-440 for centres and group homes, § 63-13-830(A) for registered family child care homes, and § 63-13-1030 for church and religious centres, all three about the licence or registration…
• NO MENU POSTING IN A SOUTH CAROLINA FAMILY CHILD CARE HOME — THE CONTRAST IS EXPLICIT IN THREE SISTER RULES. Posting the week's menus in public view is a near-universal centre requirement in the United States and it is a real one in South Carolina — for everyone except the family child care home. Child care centres, R.114-508A(1)(a): "Daily menus shall be DATED AND POSTED IN A CONSPICUOUS LOCATION IN PUBLIC VIEW." Group child care homes, R.114-518: the same sentence. Registered church or religious child care centres, R.114-527: the same sentence again. Three facility types, one identical instruction, drafted into the same Article 5 of Chapter 114. Now read R.114-536, the entire food…
• NO POSTED DISCIPLINE POLICY AND NO POSTED SAFE SLEEP POLICY — BOTH ARE SIGNATURE DUTIES INSTEAD. The discipline policy in a South Carolina family child care home is signed twice and posted never. R.114-533G(1) requires it to exist and sets its content: "The family child care home's discipline policy shall outline methods of guidance appropriate to the ages of the children. Positive, non-violent, non-abusive methods for managing behavior shall be implemented. Children shall not be inappropriately handled with force." R.114-533G(2) requires the internal signature: "All operators/caregivers/household members shall sign an agreement to implement the discipline and behavior management policy,…
• NO POSTED RATIO CHART AND NO SEPARATE CAPACITY OR AGE-RANGE SIGN — THE CERTIFICATE IS THE CAPACITY POSTING. Centres in South Carolina must hang their staff-to-child ratios on the wall of every room. R.114-504B(1): "The following staffing ratios apply at all times children are present on the premises and during activities away from the center and SHALL BE PROMINENTLY POSTED IN ALL CLASSROOMS", followed by the ratio table itself. The family child care home has no equivalent rule, and it could not sensibly have one, because it has no ratio table: what it has is a single global cap. R.114-533C(1): "The operator may have up to six (6) children in the home at any given time, including children…
• THE LIABILITY-INSURANCE NOTICE AND THE PROVISIONAL-EMPLOYMENT NOTICE — TWO WARNINGS THAT MANY STATES POST AND SOUTH CAROLINA FILES. Both of these are consumer-protection disclosures, both are mandatory, and both are discharged by a signature in a file rather than by a notice on a wall. Get this wrong in either direction and you either hang a sign nobody asked for or, worse, hang a sign and skip the signatures that actually count. The insurance notice is statutory and predates the current regulation by sixteen years. Section 63-13-210(A) provides that an owner or operator of a childcare center, group childcare home, or family childcare home "who does not carry liability insurance for the…
• THE FULL POSTING INVENTORY, STATED AS A CLOSED LIST, AND THE SEVEN CLAIMS TO REJECT. On 26 August 2026, under the family child care home regulation added by SCSR 48-5 Doc. No. 5229 effective 24 May 2024 and untouched by any subsequent State Register volume, a South Carolina family child care home must physically display exactly three things and must publish one thing outside the home. Displayed: (1) the current registration under R.114-531C(3) and § 63-13-830(A), or the current licence under R.114-531F(5), "in a prominent location at all times", carrying the operator's name, the address, the type of home, the issue and expiry dates and the maximum number of children; (2) the written…

Enrollment forms for each child

• THE THREE-FORM APPLICATION CORE, IDENTICAL ON ALL FOUR TRACKS. Whether you are registering for the first time, renewing a registration, applying for a licence, or renewing a licence, South Carolina asks for the same three originals. R.114-531A(5)(a) states it for the initial registration: the applicant shall "Complete, sign, and submit originals of the following forms: Application to Operate a Child Care Facility (DSS 2902), Original or Renewal of Registration of Family Child Care Home (DSS 2922), Household Member List (DSS 2927) and any additional forms required by the Department." R.114-531B(3)(a) repeats the sentence word for word for registration renewal, R.114-531D(4)(a) repeats it…
• THE BOLD-TYPE CRIMINAL WARNING THAT THE STATUTE FORCES ONTO THE TOP OF THE FORM, AND WHY IT IS YOUR AUTHENTICITY TEST. South Carolina is one of the few states that legislates the typography of its own application form, and it does so four separate times inside Article 7 of the Children's Code. Section 63-13-820(F) provides: "Application forms for registration issued under this section must include, at the top of the form in large bold type, a statement indicating that a person who has been convicted of a crime included in Section 63-13-40(A)(1) who applies for registration as operator or a person who applies for registration as an operator who has a person fifteen years of age or older…
• DSS FORM 2924, CENTRAL REGISTRY FOR RELEASE OF INFORMATION AND COMPLIANCE STATEMENT — ONE ORIGINAL PER PERSON, ONE FEE PER STATE. This is the consent form, and it is the one that costs money more than once. R.114-531A(5)(e) requires, for the initial registration: "An original DSS 2924, Central Registry for Release of Information and Compliance Statement on the operator, household members eighteen (18) years of age or older, substitute and regular caregivers, emergency persons, and staff who are regularly present during the hours of operation, and volunteers along with the appropriate fee for South Carolina and paid for each state where such staff or household member resided during the…
• THE FINGERPRINT PAPERWORK — SLED AND FBI, NO DSS FORM NUMBER, AND A FIVE-YEAR CLOCK THAT NEVER STOPS. R.114-531A(5)(b) sets the population: "The operator, household members fifteen (15) years of age and older, substitute and regular caregivers, emergency persons, and staff who are regularly present during the hours of operation, and volunteers shall undergo a state fingerprint-based background check to be conducted by the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) to determine any state criminal history and a fingerprint-based background check to be conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to determine any other criminal history." Volunteers are inside that list, and…
• DSS FORM 2908 REFERENCE RELEASE STATEMENTS VERSUS PLAIN REFERENCE LETTERS — THE SAME NUMBER THREE, TWO DIFFERENT INSTRUMENTS. This is a genuine fork between South Carolina's two tracks and the regulation is explicit about it, so do not carry paperwork across. On the REGISTRATION track, R.114-531A(5)(f) requires the applicant to "Submit three (3) original DSS 2908, Child Care Reference Release Statements completed by the person to be used as a reference. Persons providing references must be unrelated by blood or marriage to the applicant." The reference completes the form; the applicant does not write it and does not sign it. Three originals, on the Department's numbered form. On the…
• THE ORIGINAL ZONING APPROVAL LETTER — NOT A DSS FORM, AND THE ONE PIECE OF PAPER THAT DIES WHEN YOU MOVE. R.114-531A(5)(k) requires the registration applicant to "Submit an original zoning approval letter from the city or county zoning office", and R.114-531D(4)(d) repeats the requirement verbatim for the licence applicant. It is not a Department form, there is no number, and DSS will not chase it for you: it is a letter you must extract from a municipal or county planning office that has no interest in your registration deadline. The statute behind it is § 63-13-90: "At the time of initial licensing, approval, or registration a childcare facility must provide proof of conformity or…
• THE SUGGESTED STANDARDS PAPER TRAIL — THE OPERATOR'S OWN SIGNED STATEMENT AND ONE SIGNED STATEMENT FROM EVERY PARENT, BEFORE REGISTRATION. South Carolina's oddest structural feature generates two documents that applicants routinely skip because they look like formalities. Section 63-13-180(A) gave DSS power to promulgate binding regulations for centres and group homes but only to "develop suggested standards which shall serve as guidelines for the operators of family childcare homes and the parents of children who use the service." DSS nonetheless promulgated a binding regulation for family child care homes in 2024 — and kept the suggested standards alive as a separate document with its…
• DSS FORM 2909, CONSUMER PARENT STATEMENT — THE ONLY FORM YOU MAIL TO COLUMBIA EVERY TIME A CHILD ENROLS. Most child-level paperwork in a South Carolina family child care home stays in the home. DSS 2909 does not. R.114-532D(7) is unambiguous: "Once a child is enrolled in the family child care home, a DSS Form 2909, Consumer Parent Statement, shall be completed by a parent/guardian and the operator shall send the completed form to the Department." Not filed, not retained — SENT. Every enrolment, all year, not just at application and not just at renewal. Operators who treat DSS 2909 as a renewal-packet item accumulate a year's worth of unsent statements and then discover the Department has…
• THE MEDICAL AND TUBERCULOSIS PAPERWORK — THREE FORMS ON THE LICENCE TRACK, NONE AT REGISTRATION APPLICATION, AND YET ALL OF IT OWED IN EVERY HOME'S STAFF RECORD. Here is the sharpest asymmetry in the South Carolina packet, and reading only one half of the regulation will cost you either money or a citation. The LICENCE application list at R.114-531D(4) contains three health items that the REGISTRATION application list at R.114-531A(5) does not contain at all: "(g) Obtain a health care professional's certification that operator, household member(s) fifteen (15) years of age or older, staff, and emergency person(s) are free from Tuberculosis; (h) Submit an original Staff Health Assessment…
• THE CHILD'S GENERAL RECORD AND THE EMERGENCY-CONTACT DOCUMENT — MANDATORY CONTENT, NO PRESCRIBED FORM, NO RETENTION PERIOD. South Carolina does not issue an enrolment form for family child care homes. What it issues is a content list, and you build the form. R.114-532F(1): "The operator shall have a file for each enrolled child. This file shall be made available to the Department, upon request." R.114-532F(2) then fixes what the general half of that file must contain: "(a) Child's full name, address, date of birth, date of enrollment, date of discharge, if applicable; (b) Full name of both parents/guardians, the family's home address, parents' work address and telephone numbers where they…
• THE CHILD'S HEALTH RECORD AND THE IMMUNIZATION TRAP THAT TURNS ON WHETHER YOU ARE REGISTERED OR LICENSED. R.114-532F(3) lists what the health half of each child's file must hold: "(a) Parent's statement of the child's physical and mental condition at the time of his/her admission to the family child care home. (b) Copy of immunization card of the child indicating required immunizations are completed, in process, or that the child is exempt. (c) Written authorization from parent/guardian to administer medication, if applicable; (d) Authorization from parent/guardian to transport child either to/from school, on field trips, and for emergency treatment; (e) Authorization from parent/guardian…
• MEDICATION AUTHORIZATION AND THE MEDICATION LOG — A ONE-YEAR CEILING ON CONSENT, TWO LAWFUL SHORTCUTS, AND A LOG COPY THE PARENT GETS. R.114-532E(1) sets a wide definition before it sets the rule: "'medication' means any drug that may be obtained with or without a prescription, EXCLUDING a topical ointment obtained without a prescription." Supermarket paracetamol and an over-the-counter antihistamine are medication; only the non-prescription topical ointment is out. The prohibition then runs at R.114-532E(2): the operator, caregiver, staff or volunteer "shall not administer medication to a child under the care of the family child care home unless: (a) The parent/guardian of the child has…
• THE SIGNED POLICY AGREEMENTS — DISCIPLINE, ANNUAL PARENT-AND-STAFF, PROVISIONAL EMPLOYMENT, AND THE NO-INSURANCE NOTICE. Four separate signature obligations sit in R.114-532D and R.114-533G, they are collected from different people at different moments, and none of them is a numbered DSS form. First, the discipline agreement, signed by your side of the house. R.114-533G(2): "All operators/caregivers/household members shall sign an agreement to implement the discipline and behavior management policy, WITH A STATEMENT THAT SPECIFIES NO CORPORAL PUNISHMENT. Corporal punishment is prohibited and includes, but is not limited to: spanking, hitting, slapping, twisting, dragging, yanking,…
• ATTENDANCE RECORDS AND INCIDENT REPORTS — TWO DUTIES SOUTH CAROLINA IMPOSES WITHOUT GIVING YOU A FORM. Attendance first. The whole rule is R.114-533D(1): "Accurate records of daily attendance of each child shall be kept on file at the family child care home at all times." One sentence: no prescribed format, no DSS number, no sign-in/sign-out signature, no arrival-and-departure times, no retention period. Compare centres, where R.114-504A(3) requires "a written procedure to account for the presence of each child as the child enters and exits the premises, enters and exits a vehicle or moves to a new location"; the family child care home has no equivalent. The attendance record is…
• THE STAFF RECORD — EIGHT MANDATORY CONTENTS FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT YOUR EMPLOYEES. R.114-532G(1) opens by naming a population much wider than "staff": "Records shall be maintained on THE OPERATOR, ALL CAREGIVERS, OTHER MEMBERS OF THE HOUSEHOLD, and additional staff as follows". An adult son who lives upstairs and never enters the child care space has a staff record here. The eight required contents are: "(a) Names, positions, and hours of duty; (b) Results regarding current South Carolina State Law enforcement Division (SLED), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and National Crime Information Center National Sex Offender Registry criminal history background checks for the operator,…
• THE LICENCE-ONLY DOCUMENTS: DSS FORM 2905 FIRE/HEALTH INSPECTION REPORT AND THE CPR/FIRST-AID CERTIFICATE. Choosing the licence track over registration adds paperwork that no registered home ever files, and two items on that list involve third parties whose calendars you do not control. R.114-531D(4)(f) requires the licence applicant to "Submit a Fire/Health Inspection Report (DSS 2905)". The report is not something you fill in: § 63-13-80(A) provides that "The inspection of the health and fire safety of childcare centers and group childcare homes must be completed upon the request of the department by the appropriate agencies (i.e., Department of Health and Environmental Control, the…
• WHAT IS ACTUALLY OWED AT RENEWAL — AND THE FOUR THINGS THAT ARE NOT. Renewal is where South Carolina family child care home operators overpay, because they assume the renewal packet is the application packet again. It is not, and the regulation lists it exhaustively. R.114-531B(1) sets the cycle for registration: "Registered family child care homes shall apply for renewal of registration EVERY YEAR", against R.114-531F(1)'s two-year licence. The Department must start the clock for you: R.114-531B(2)(a) obliges DSS to "Advise the operator in writing of the date and requirements for renewal 120 DAYS PRIOR TO the expiration of the current registration", and R.114-531E(2) repeats the 120-day…

What's specific about getting licensed in South Carolina

South Carolina is unusual in offering a ≤6-child home operator two parallel legal doors, and choosing wrong is the trap most people miss. REGISTRATION is a lighter, cheaper, one-year path: no fire/health inspection, no TB test or staff health assessment, and — critically — registered homes are the ONE tier explicitly exempt from the on-premises CPR/first-aid caregiver requirement (R.114-532A(5)). A LICENSE is a two-year credential that DOES require CPR/first aid, fire and DHEC health inspections, TB certification, and health assessments. The second, sharper trap: the 6-child cap is a TOTAL that INCLUDES the operator's own children under 12 living in the home, so a provider with three young kids of their own can legally enroll only three more — and the moment a seventh child appears, the home is no longer a 'family child care home' at all but a Group Child Care Home under an entirely different regulation and a license-only regime.

How long it takes and what it costs in South Carolina

Timeline: Plan on roughly 1-3 months. Registration is faster (orientation, forms, background checks, one home visit — often a few weeks to ~6 weeks once fingerprints clear). Licensing runs longer because it adds fire and DHEC health inspections, TB testing/health assessments, and a CPR/first-aid course, plus the zoning letter and reference turnaround. Background-check clearance and the zoning letter are the usual bottlenecks.

Cost: South Carolina does not set a registration or license application fee in the regulation itself. Real out-of-pocket costs are the SLED and FBI fingerprint background checks and the DSS 2924 central-registry/sex-offender fee for each state you lived in over the last 5 years, plus (License path) an infant/child CPR + first-aid course, a TB test, and any zoning-office fee. Exact current amounts vary — confirm the fingerprint, central-registry, and any inspection fees directly with SCDSS and SLED before budgeting.

Source: Sources officielles consultées pour South Carolina :

https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t63c013.php

https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/statmast.php

https://www.scstatehouse.gov/coderegs/Chapter%20114.pdf

https://www.scstatehouse.gov/coderegs/statmast.php

https://www.scstatehouse.gov/state_register.php?first=FILE&pdf=1&file=Sr50-4.pdf

https://www.scstatehouse.gov/state_register.php?first=FILE&pdf=1&file=Sr50-5.pdf

https://www.scstatehouse.gov/state_register.php?first=FILE&pdf=1&file=Sr50-6.pdf

https://www.scstatehouse.gov/state_register.php?first=FILE&pdf=1&file=Sr50-7.pdf

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