What Are the Home Daycare License Requirements in Kentucky?

Kentucky's term for home-based child care is certification: the state certifies family child-care homes under 922 KAR 2:100 rather than issuing them a license, and the Cabinet for Health and Family Services administers the system alongside the center licenses it issues.

Under KRS 199.8982, a family child-care provider caring for 4 to 6 unrelated children must apply for certification; with 3 or fewer it is optional.

Once a home grows past six unrelated children it leaves the certification track, because a Type II child-care center is the licensee's primary residence caring for 7 to 12 children, including children related to the licensee.

That Type II category is a center license under 922 KAR 2:090, so the certified-home rules stop applying and the center rules take over.

Kentucky sets one capacity for a certified family child-care home: at most 6 unrelated children at any one time, plus 4 related children, for a maximum of 10 children.

The same rule line sets the point where a provider can no longer work alone: an assistant is required above 4 infants or 6 children under age six.

Above the certified-home capacity the home becomes a different category altogether, because a Type II child-care center is the licensee's primary residence caring for 7 to 12 children including related children.

Type II homes are licensed under the center rules in 922 KAR 2:090 rather than certified under 922 KAR 2:100, so a provider weighing growth past six unrelated children is really weighing a move into center licensure.

Kentucky sets four baseline requirements for a family child-care home applicant: be at least 18 years old, hold a high school diploma or GED or the Commonwealth Child Care Credential, carry commercial liability insurance of at least $50,000 per occurrence, and pay the $10 certification fee.

The credential named as an alternative to the diploma is Kentucky's own: the Commonwealth Child Care Credential requires being at least 18, working in a licensed or certified Kentucky facility, and completing 60 hours of approved instruction within two years, with annual renewal that adds 15 more training hours.

Training for a certified provider runs on the home's own clock: 6 hours of pre-service orientation within three months of applying, 3 hours of training in the first year, and 9 hours each year after.

Kentucky's child care background checks combine a fingerprint-supported Kentucky State Police and FBI criminal record check with rap back, a search of the child abuse and neglect central registry, and checks of the National Sex Offender Public Website and the state sex offender registry.

An applicant who lived in another state within the last five years also gets that state's criminal, sex offender registry and child abuse checks, with the employer paying the other state's fee.

Adults living in the household must complete background and TB checks, and a new adult household member must complete them within 30 days of moving in.

Federal CCDF rules in 45 CFR 98.43 set the floor for licensed, regulated or registered providers and subsidy-eligible providers: checks are requested before the person becomes a staff member and repeated at least once every 5 years, and in a family child care home any household member age 18 or older counts as a child care staff member.

Each state must publish its background check policies and how to submit a request, so the cabinet's process is the authority on where to start.

Kentucky's certification requirements for a family child-care home sit in 922 KAR 2:100, which is where the capacity, insurance, qualification, training and household-check rules on this page come from.

What our research did not capture is the inspection process itself: we have no record of how the Cabinet for Health and Family Services inspects a home before certification or at renewal, or on what schedule.

Ask the cabinet what its certification process involves for a family child-care home before you apply.

A certified family child-care home pays a $10 certification fee, and certification renews every two years for a $10 renewal fee.

Training deadlines attach to the application: 6 hours of pre-service orientation are due within three months of applying, then 3 hours of training in the first year and 9 hours each year after.

The background-check process carries its own costs, since the Kentucky NBCP processing fee is capped at $30 on top of other fees.

Our research did not capture a published processing timeline for a family child-care certification, so ask the Cabinet for Health and Family Services what to expect when you apply.

Kentucky's rule sets the threshold directly: an assistant is required above 4 infants or 6 children under age six in a certified family child-care home, so a provider planning to grow past those lines is hiring, not just caring.

Vetting comes from two directions.

Kentucky's child care background checks under 922 KAR 2:280 are the fingerprint-supported state and FBI checks and registry searches described above.

The federal CCDF rules in 45 CFR 98.43 add that a new hire may start work once they have a qualifying result on either the FBI fingerprint check or the in-state fingerprint criminal check, but must be supervised at all times by a staff member with a qualifying background-check result until every component is complete, with checks repeated at least once every 5 years.

Confirm what the cabinet requires for a paid assistant in a certified home before you post the job.

Kentucky's 2026 House Bill 6 became law without the Governor's signature on April 14, 2026 (Acts ch. 146), and it touches certified family child-care homes in two ways.

It amended the certification threshold statute, KRS 199.8982, which is where the 4-to-6-child trigger on this page comes from.

It also requires 2 of a certified family child-care home's annual training hours to focus on working with children with special needs, where licensed providers owe at least 3 hours.

The bill carried an emergency clause and its implementing regulations may lag the statute, so confirm the current training requirement with the cabinet.