What Are the Home Daycare License Requirements in Louisiana?

Louisiana does not license family child care homes that care for up to six children as centers; it registers them.

A provider caring for no more than six children who are under age 13, or children with special needs who are under age 18, in a residence is a family child care provider registered and CCAP-certified by the Louisiana Department of Education under R.S. 17:407.61 et seq. and Bulletin 139.

From seven or more children the definition changes: an early learning center is any place providing care, supervision and guidance to seven or more children not related to the caregiver, on a regular basis for at least 12.5 hours in a continuous 7-day week, and Louisiana requires every early learning center to be licensed before it begins operating.

So the practical line for a home provider sits between six and seven children.

Louisiana's home track, as our research read it, has one category: the registered family child care provider.

The rule describes care in a residence for no more than six children under age 13, or children with special needs under age 18, with a maximum group of six and a maximum child-to-staff ratio of 6:1.

Registration and CCAP certification both run through LDE under Bulletin 139.

The license in Louisiana's child care system belongs to the center tier: once a home reaches the early learning center definition, the Bulletin 137 center licensing system, not the family child care registration, governs.

The registration rule sets the provider's baseline: at least age 18.

Before initial certification, the provider completes four hours of pre-service orientation training that includes the LDE Key Orientation Training Modules 1, 2 and 3 plus the DCFS Mandated Reporter training.

Every year, the provider must complete 12 clock hours of training in safety and health topics and job-related subject areas approved by the LDE, plus annual Mandated Reporter Training.

The rule also requires current infant, child and adult CPR, pediatric first aid and medication administration training.

Louisiana's child care criminal background check (CCCBC) combines fingerprint-based state and federal (FBI) criminal history searches, the state central registry, and the Louisiana and national sex offender registries, and it also searches criminal history, sex offender and child abuse registries in every state the person lived in during the past five years, the interstate search 45 CFR 98.43 requires.

The federal CCDF rules set a floor: every child care staff member of a licensed, regulated or registered provider must have a comprehensive background check, 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 who needs the check.

States must complete a background check request within 45 days of submission.

On the Louisiana rule's own terms, the provider pays for the required background checks and must annually check the Louisiana sex offender and child predator registry for the rule's required persons; our research did not capture the rule's full list of who those persons are, so confirm with LDE who must be checked in your household.

The inspection item the registration rule names is fire safety: the provider must provide written verification of current State Fire Marshal approval for the residence where care is being provided.

That approval comes from the State Fire Marshal rather than from LDE's registration paperwork itself.

Our research did not capture whether LDE also visits the home before initial certification or on a schedule afterward, or what the Fire Marshal's approval covers; ask LDE and the State Fire Marshal what a registered family child care home should expect.

The registration and the CCAP certification are LDE processes under Bulletin 139.

The pieces the rule ties to certification, as our research read it: written verification of current State Fire Marshal approval for the residence, background checks the provider pays for, and four hours of pre-service orientation before initial certification.

Federal rules require states to publish their background-check policies and how to submit a request on the state's website, so Louisiana's own site is the authority on where to get fingerprinted, and federal rules cap state background-check fees at the actual cost of processing and administration.

Our research did not capture an application or registration fee for a Louisiana family child care registration, or a published processing timeline; ask LDE for the current steps, forms and any fees.

A registered family child care home is capped at six children with a maximum child-to-staff ratio of 6:1, so a single provider meets the ratio at full enrollment.

Our research captured the provider's own registration requirements but no separate Louisiana qualification set for a hired assistant in a registered home; confirm the training and supervision rules that apply to additional caregivers with LDE.

What the federal rule settles is the check: a comprehensive background check applies to every child care staff member of a licensed, regulated or registered provider, and 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 until every component is complete they must be supervised at all times by a fully checked staff member.