What Are the Home Daycare License Requirements in Pennsylvania?

Pennsylvania speaks of certification rather than licensing: the Department of Human Services's Bureau of Certification Services regulates child care centers, group child care homes and family child care homes, and anyone caring for four or more unrelated children must be certified.

The family child care home tier is a home in which four, five or six children who are not related to the caregiver receive care.

Our research confirmed the certification threshold at four or more unrelated children but did not examine how Pennsylvania treats care below that count, so ask the Department's regional office before you assume any exemption.

Pennsylvania certifies three facility types, and the capacity rules differ by type.

A family child care home may care for no more than six unrelated children at once, with two further caps on young ages that count related and unrelated children alike: no more than five infants and toddlers combined, and no more than two infants, at one time.

A group child care home cares for seven to twelve children unrelated to the operator, or up to fifteen when serving children from fourth grade through age 15, and it must also meet the staff-to-child ratios in 55 Pa.

Code §3280.52, which cap group size at 12 children — 15 in a facility serving older school-age children.

Child care centers, the third type, care for seven or more unrelated children and are certified under 55 Pa.

Code Chapter 3270 instead.

The family child care rule sets the operator's own qualifications: at least 18 years old, with a high school diploma or a general educational development certificate, and proof of that diploma or certificate is due to the appropriate regional office of the Department no later than the submission of the second renewal application.

Training runs on two clocks for family child care home staff: an annual minimum of 12 clock hours of child care training, and the rule's 10 health-and-safety topics within 90 days of hire.

Our research did not capture what Pennsylvania asks a family child care operator to complete before opening, so confirm that with the Department's regional office.

Pennsylvania requires child care employees to hold a PA Child Abuse History Clearance, a PA State Police criminal history check (PATCH) and an FBI fingerprint check, renewed every 60 months, and certified child care staff also need a National Sex Offender Registry check; the FBI fingerprints run through IDEMIA (IdentoGO), and applicants must pre-register.

Federal CCDF rules in 45 CFR 98.43 set the floor for licensed, regulated or registered providers: every child care staff member needs a comprehensive background check, requested before the person becomes a staff member and repeated at least once every 5 years, with state criminal, sex-offender and child-abuse-and-neglect registry checks for the current state and every state lived in during the past 5 years.

In a family child care home, any household member age 18 or older counts as a child care staff member.

Federal rules give states 45 days to complete a background check request once it is submitted.

A Pennsylvania certificate of compliance is issued in the manner described in Chapter 20, for a period not to exceed 12 months from the date of issue, and DHS conducts at least one unannounced inspection per year.

Our research confirmed that certificate term and the unannounced-inspection floor in the child care center chapter, 55 Pa.

Code Chapter 3270, not in the family child care chapter, so confirm with the Department's regional office how they apply to a family child care home.

Our research also did not catalog what DHS certification inspections examine in a family child care home or how visits are scheduled, so ask the regional office what its inspections cover.

Pennsylvania certifies a family child care home rather than licensing it; the 12-month certificate term our research found sits in the center chapter, so confirm the term for a home with the regional office.

On cost, our research found no application fee anywhere in 55 Pa.

Code Chapters 3270, 3280 or 3290 — the chapters for centers, group child care homes and family child care homes.

That is a gap in the research, not a statement that certification is free, so ask the Department's regional certification office about current fees.

Our research also did not capture a published processing timeline for a Pennsylvania home certification; the regional office can tell you what to submit and how long it is currently taking.

An assistant you hire for a certified family child care home falls under the state's staff rules: Pennsylvania requires child care employees to hold the child abuse, PATCH and FBI fingerprint clearances, renewed every 60 months, and certified child care staff also need the National Sex Offender Registry check, while family child care home staff complete an annual minimum of 12 clock hours of training with the 10 health-and-safety topics due within 90 days of hire.

In a group child care home, primary staff need a high school diploma or GED plus either 30 relevant credits, 15 credits and 1 year of experience with children, or 2 years of experience with children.

Federal CCDF rules let a new hire start work once they have a qualifying result on a fingerprint check, but the hire must be supervised at all times by a fully checked staff member until every component is complete.

Our research did not capture separate Pennsylvania qualifications for assistants in a family child care home, so confirm the requirements that apply to your hire with the Department's regional office.