What Are the Home Daycare License Requirements in Kansas?

Yes, once care passes the part-time line described in the exempt-care section below — a line our research records only from a legislative summary of HB 2045: Kansas licenses family child care homes, and a licensed home may serve up to 12 children under 16, with limits on the number under 5.

Since July 1, 2026 the agency is the Kansas Office of Early Childhood (KOEC), which took over the child care licensing functions previously housed within the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE).

KOEC says all existing licensing policies remain in effect during the transition, so the family home rules are still K.A.R. 28-4-113 to 28-4-133, last broadly amended effective August 2, 2024.

Our research records one licensed home category in Kansas, the licensed family child care home, capped at 12 children under 16 with limits on children under 5 (K.A.R. 28-4-113).

Capacity then runs through age tables in K.A.R. 28-4-114.

With one provider and no infants, the table allows up to 8 children aged 12 months through 5 years plus 2 school-age children, 10 in total; with 1 infant the mix is 6 plus 3 school-age (10 total); with 2 infants, 5 plus 2 (9 total); with 3 infants, 3 plus 2 (8 total).

When every child is older the table lifts: all children between 2.5 and 10 years, one provider may serve 10; all between 3 and 10, 11; all between 5 and 10, 12.

With two providers, the table allows a group of 12 including up to 5 infants, and the provider's own children under 10 count toward capacity.

A family child care home applicant or licensee must be at least 18, and the rule caps a provider at no more than 18 hours in a 24-hour period across child care and any other employment combined (K.A.R. 28-4-114).

The path starts before the paperwork: applicants complete a pre-application orientation from the licensing designee serving their county, then complete the state health and safety training not later than 30 calendar days after submitting an application, plus pediatric first aid and CPR (K.A.R. 28-4-114a).

For each licensure year, HB 2045 sets 8 to 10 hours of professional development for licensure years beginning after July 1, 2025, plus 3 infant-specific hours for one provider serving 4 infants; the 2024 regulation text still reads 16 clock-hours and is being updated to match the statute.

A legislative summary of the bill also states that Kansas may not require a licensee to live in the child care home as a condition for licensure, though our research did not confirm how that is implemented.

Kansas family child care fingerprint background checks cost $48 each and cover the owner or operator, providers, substitutes, unsupervised volunteers and residents 18 and older.

Residents 10 through 17 years are checked without a fee, so the screening our research records spans the owner or operator, providers, substitutes, unsupervised volunteers and every resident from age 10 up.

That is the coverage our research records; ask KOEC to confirm who must be screened in your household and when, before anyone starts work or moves in.

Kansas licensing surveys are conducted by KOEC licensing staff and by 17 local health departments under contract serving more than 30 counties.

Facilities receive an initial survey, unannounced annual surveys, and complaint and compliance surveys.

Our research records the survey system at that level and did not confirm a home-specific inspection checklist for family child care homes, so ask KOEC what an inspector looks at in a home before your application.

The application path starts with the county pre-application orientation described above; the application then goes to KOEC, which has run child care licensing since July 1, 2026, and the state health and safety training is due not later than 30 calendar days after you apply.

On cost, our research did not verify Kansas family child care application or license fee amounts: the agency fee schedule could not be read at the time of research, and a 2026 proposal before the state would eliminate licensing fees (its adoption was not confirmed as of our October 2026 research).

Processing timelines were not established in our research either, so ask KOEC what to expect after you apply.

The capacity tables are keyed to the number of providers — Table I, one provider; Table III, two providers — and with two providers the table allows a group of 12, including up to 5 infants.

The background-check coverage our research records spans the owner or operator, providers, substitutes, unsupervised volunteers and residents 18 and older.

Our research did not record a separate qualification or training standard for a hired assistant in a licensed Kansas home, nor which of those background-check categories an assistant falls into, and the center rules for assistant teachers belong to a different license type, so ask KOEC what applies to an assistant, substitute or volunteer before they start.

A legislative summary of HB 2045 (2025) directs that licensure is not required for an individual caring fewer than 35 hours a week for 4 or fewer children, with no more than 2 unrelated infants, or for irregular friend-and-neighbor care in their own home.

The summary is secondary to the statute text, and our research did not confirm the implementing regulation or whether any conditions attach to care inside that line, so treat it as pending detail and confirm it with KOEC before you plan around it.