What Are the Home Daycare License Requirements in Washington?

A Washington family home license is required when you care in your own home, on a regular and ongoing basis, for one or more children who are not related to you — a single unrelated child is enough — or when you care for preschool-age children more than four hours a day.

DCYF licenses child care and early learning services for children birth through 12 under chapter 110-300 WAC, the foundational quality standards that cover family homes and centers alike.

An exemption in RCW 43.216.010(2) removes some arrangements from that licensing duty; the pages our research read set the licensing standards rather than the exemptions, so ask DCYF how the exemptions treat a specific arrangement before you apply.

Washington licenses home daycares as family home early learning programs, and state law defines a family day care provider as someone regularly providing early childhood education and early learning services for not more than 12 children at a time in the provider's own home.

Capacity is not the full 12 from day one: a licensee with less than one year of experience may care for up to six children, no more than three of them under age 2; at one to two years of experience, up to eight children alone or nine with an assistant; at two or more years, up to 12 children with an assistant.

DCYF can also waive the 12-child cap to allow 13 to 16 children for a provider with at least three years of experience operating under a full, nonexpiring license, applied for in writing.

A family home licensee must be at least 18, hold a high school diploma or equivalent, and complete the pre-service requirements.

Before working unsupervised, staff register in DCYF's MERIT workforce registry and complete Child Care Basics; required trainings cover recognizing and reporting child abuse and neglect, emergency preparedness, serving children experiencing homelessness and blood-borne pathogens, with abusive head trauma and annual safe sleep training in infant programs.

Anyone counted, or potentially counted, in ratio needs adult and pediatric first aid and CPR with a live hands-on component, plus infant CPR where applicable, and each group needs at least one certified person in ratio.

The education bar rises after licensure: licensees need an ECE Initial Certificate or equivalent by August 1, 2030 or within five years of licensure, whichever occurs later, and an ECE Short Certificate within two years after that.

After 12 months of cumulative employment, 10 in-service hours a year apply, and licensees hired on or after August 1, 2019 also complete DCYF's EQEL training within 36 months.

The licensee must be on-site for 50 percent or more of weekly operating hours, or designate a person who meets the licensee qualifications.

Your household is part of the licensing picture: early learning providers and household members in a family home program must complete and pass a DCYF background check, and household members age 14 and over must also provide TB documentation.

DCYF's background checks under chapter 110-06 WAC include a fingerprint process and must be renewed at least once every three years, with fingerprints redone when the person has lived outside Washington since the previous check.

The Portable Background Check is applied for through MERIT, which requires a STARS ID number first.

Washington also disqualifies anyone registered, or required to register, on a state or national sex offender registry from child care employment.

DCYF licenses family homes against the chapter 110-300 WAC standards this page summarizes, and an applicant who cannot meet the department's requirements, and does not withdraw, is denied rather than licensed.

What our research did not capture is a stand-alone DCYF checklist of what a family home licensing visit covers, or how often visits happen — the rule chapters we read set standards, not a walkthrough list.

Ask DCYF what its licensing visit involves before you apply.

Applying starts with orientation: Washington applicants, co-applicants and family home licensees must complete the DCYF-provided orientation for their program type.

The annual license fee for a family home program is $30, due with the initial application and each year 30 days before the license anniversary.

The application and licensing process runs on a 90-day clock: an applicant who cannot complete it within 90 days may withdraw and reapply, and an applicant who cannot meet the requirements and does not withdraw will be denied.

The Portable Background Check application goes through MERIT, which requires a STARS ID number first.

Two staff are required whenever more than 6 children are in care and any child is under 2, more than 8 are in care and any child is under 3, or more than 10 are in care and any child is under school age.

The capacity tiers point the same way: a licensee with one to two years of experience may care for up to 8 children alone or 9 with an assistant, and the 12-child cap at two or more years of experience comes with an assistant.

Aides as young as 14 may work in the program with a high school diploma or current high school enrollment, but they count in ratio only under the continuous oversight of a lead teacher, assistant teacher, director, program supervisor or family home licensee.