What Are the Home Daycare License Requirements in South Carolina?

South Carolina child care licensing runs through the Division of Early Care and Education at the SC Department of Social Services (SCDSS), which regulates providers through four regional offices.

A family child care home — a residence that cares for no more than six children, counting the operator's own and related children — must be registered, and may choose to become licensed; a group child care home must be licensed.

SCDSS says the provider must be registered before caring for a second unrelated child, so caring only for your own or related children plus one unrelated family does not require registration.

Programs open less than 4 hours a day can be legally exempt, but the agency notes that exemption is not available to family or group homes.

A South Carolina family child care home cares for no more than six children, and the count includes children living in the residence and children related to the operator.

Registration is issued for one year; a family child care license is issued for two years.

The two authorizations carry different health-and-safety rules: registered family child care homes are exempt from the requirement to have a caregiver with a current first aid and infant-child CPR certificate on the premises, while licensed family homes, group homes and centers must have one.

A residence occupied by the operator that regularly cares for seven to twelve children — counting children living in the home and children related to the caregiver — is a group child care home and must be licensed.

In a family child care home, an additional caregiver, household member aged 18 or older, staff member, emergency person or volunteer must be on the premises when four or more children in attendance are younger than 12 months.

A family child care home operator must be at least 18, live in the home, hold a high school diploma or GED, pass all comprehensive background checks and complete the required training.

Caregivers need at least 10 clock hours of training every year, at least 4 of them in child growth and development; a home serving infants 12 months and under must also cover 1 hour of safe sleep.

Up to 5 extra hours can carry over.

Caregivers aged 15 to 17 are allowed only if the operator supervises them at all times, and they can never be the person in charge.

The bar rises with the next tier: a group child care home operator must be at least 21 and meet the same degree, CDA and experience options as center directors, with 15 training hours a year for the operator and 10 for staff.

The fingerprint net in a South Carolina family child care home is wide: the operator, household members aged 15 and older, substitute and regular caregivers, emergency persons, staff regularly present during hours of operation, and volunteers all need state and FBI fingerprint checks, repeated every 5 years.

Central Registry checks for child abuse and neglect cover household members 18 and older, plus a check in each state the person lived in during the past 5 years.

South Carolina law behind these checks requires child care staff to complete a SLED state fingerprint check, an FBI fingerprint check, a DSS Central Registry check and sex offender checks, plus registry checks in every state of residence during the previous 5 years.

Before issuing a family child care registration, SCDSS visits the potential family child care home to determine compliance with the applicable regulations, and the visit comes with at least 2 business days' notice.

The department also phones the applicant's three references as part of the process.

The regulations we read describe the compliance visit and the reference calls; for the details inspectors check inside the home, contact your regional SCDSS licensing office.

The first step to becoming registered or licensed is a New Applicant Orientation session run by your regional SCDSS licensing office; sessions are held separately for family child care homes and for centers and group homes, and the agency lists virtual sessions.

The regulations require a prospective family child care home operator to attend orientation to obtain the application packet, and the application includes a zoning approval letter from the city or county.

After the application, SCDSS visits the home and phones your three references before issuing a registration.

Registration runs one year and a license two years.

The agency pages and regulations we read do not state an application fee for family child care homes or a processing timeline; ask your regional licensing office about current costs.

The family child care rules let you bring in help, but they set who and how.

Caregivers may be as young as 15, yet 15-to-17-year-olds must be supervised by the operator at all times and can never be the person in charge.

Every caregiver, emergency person, regularly present staff member and volunteer needs the same fingerprint checks described above, repeated every 5 years, and caregivers owe the 10 annual training hours.

When four or more children in attendance are younger than 12 months, an additional caregiver, household member aged 18 or older, staff member, emergency person or volunteer must be on the premises.

And when attendance grows toward the group-home tier, the rules step up: a group child care home needs an additional teacher/caregiver when attendance reaches nine children or when four or more of the children are younger than 2.

South Carolina rewrote its family child care home regulations, effective May 24, 2024.

The current rules set operator qualifications at age 18 with a high school diploma or GED, require fingerprint checks for household members aged 15 and older on a 5-year renewal cycle, and set the 10-hour annual training requirement described on this page.

Summaries written before that date may be out of date, so check the current regulations or ask SCDSS rather than relying on them.