What Are the Home Daycare License Requirements in New Hampshire?

New Hampshire licenses child care programs through the Department of Health and Human Services' Child Care Licensing Unit under Part He-C 4002, readopted with extensive amendments effective September 22, 2025.

The license line for homes sits in RSA 170-E:3: a private home is exempt when it cares for the provider's own children plus up to 4 additional children, and caring for more than that requires a license.

The practical edge is the fifth additional child.

Below that count the home sits outside the license system; above it, the home applies for one of the two licensed home types described next.

If your enrollment sits anywhere near the line, confirm with the Child Care Licensing Unit before you enroll more children.

RSA 170-E:2 defines the two home types.

A family day care home serves up to 6 children, plus up to 3 school-age children for up to 5 hours a day; a family group day care home serves 7 to 12 children, plus up to 5 school-age children.

He-C 4002 then caps how that capacity fills.

A family child care provider working alone may care for no more than 6 children plus 3 school-age children when school is out, with no more than 4 under 36 months and no more than 2 under 24 months.

A family group provider working with a worker or assistant may care for no more than 12 children plus 5 school-age when school is not in session, with no more than 4 under 36 months.

Watch the age caps as well as the total, because they can bind first.

The statute's definitions also include a small group child day care center, a program outside the licensee's residence that may serve no more than 12 preschool children.

He-C 4002 sets the provider floor: a family child care provider must be at least 21, or at least 18 with a high school diploma plus either a 2-year child care curriculum or 6 college credits, including a 3-credit child growth and development course.

Training continues after licensure.

Family child care providers complete professional development under He-C 4002.32, the same rule center staff follow: 12 hours within the first 12 months of hire and annually after that, at least 3 hours of it on health and safety.

College coursework counts toward the total at a fixed rate: one credit from a regionally accredited college or university equals 12 professional development hours.

He-C 4002 runs background checks through the state's NHCIS portal before employment or residency, as applicable, and every 5 years after that.

The rule's coverage reaches past the provider: staff, substitutes, other employees, certain volunteers and household members age 18 and older all sit inside it.

In a home program that means the adults living in the house are checked, not only the people on the payroll.

Our research captured the timing and who is covered, not the specific checks that make up a clearance, so ask the Child Care Licensing Unit what NHCIS requires of each person.

The clearest inspection requirement sits at the application stage: New Hampshire license applicants apply through the New Hampshire Connections Information System (NHCIS) and must submit local health officer, fire inspection and zoning approvals with the application.

Our research did not capture the on-site inspection a family child care home can expect before or after licensure, or a checklist of what a licensing visit covers, so ask the Child Care Licensing Unit what an inspection of your home involves and how the required approvals are obtained.

The application runs through NHCIS, the same portal the background checks use, with the local health officer, fire inspection and zoning approvals attached.

On cost, our research did not find a child care license application fee in He-C 4002, so no amount appears on this page; ask the Child Care Licensing Unit what fees apply before you budget.

We also did not capture a processing timeline, so ask what to expect when you apply.

The capacity rules draw the line an assistant sits on.

Working alone, a provider cares for no more than 6 children plus 3 school-age when school is out; a family group provider working with a worker or assistant may care for up to 12 children plus 5 school-age when school is not in session, with no more than 4 under 36 months.

An assistant is inside the rule's background-check coverage from the start: staff, substitutes, other employees and certain volunteers clear NHCIS before employment and every 5 years after, and staff may not interact with children until the program receives notice of eligibility from the unit, with provisional supervised presence allowed after a clean fingerprint result.

The rule also recognizes junior helpers, age 14 or older in family programs (12 or older in centers), who never count in staff-to-child ratios.

Our research did not capture a qualification standard written for family child care assistants specifically, so confirm with the Child Care Licensing Unit what the person you hire needs before you post the job.

New Hampshire readopted its child care licensing rules, Part He-C 4002, with extensive amendments effective September 22, 2025; the readopted rule expires September 22, 2035.

The rewrite moved requirements across sections, so an older checklist that cites the previous numbering can point to the wrong section even when it quotes the rule correctly.

Check the current rule text and confirm specifics with the Child Care Licensing Unit.