How to Start a Daycare in Florida: Licensing Steps, Costs and Staffing

The Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) Child Care Regulation licenses child care facilities under the child care licensing statute, chapter 402, Florida Statutes, and Rule 65C-22, Florida Administrative Code, with the Child Care Facility Handbook incorporated by reference in Rule 65C-22.001, the rule that was most recently amended effective September 1, 2026.

Some counties license child care locally, and those counties may charge their own license fees.

The statute draws the line early: a licensable child care facility is one caring for more than five children unrelated to the operator that receives a payment, fee or grant for any child.

The child care facility is the state's licensable center, defined as care for more than five children unrelated to the operator that receives a payment, fee or grant for any child.

The family child care home (renamed from 'family day care home' by ch. 2026-140) is licensed only where the county requires it, through an existing ordinance or county commission resolution; elsewhere the home registers annually with DCF.

Capacity counts household children under 13 and follows age mixes: up to 4 infants under 12 months, up to 3 infants plus others to a total of 6, up to 6 preschoolers all older than 12 months, or up to 10 children with no more than 5 preschoolers and no more than 2 of those under 12 months.

The large family child care home, with at least two full-time child care personnel on site, may care for up to 8 children under 24 months, or up to 12 with no more than 4 under 24 months.

It is not an entry tier: the home first operates 2 consecutive years as a licensed family child care home, under an operator who has held a CDA or equivalent for 1 year.

Florida child care facility licenses are applied for on CF-FSP Form 5017, online through DCF's CARES system, and the license renews annually — the renewal must be filed at least 45 days before the current license expires.

Before DCF issues a license, or a change-of-ownership license, the applicant documents that the facility director holds an active Director Credential.

Personnel screening runs on Level 2 standards: employment history checks, criminal history, sex offender registries and the child abuse registries of any state the worker lived in during the preceding 5 years.

A fire inspection is part of the process our research captured.

What it did not capture is a DCF processing timeline for new applications; ask the licensing authority what to expect for your license type and county.

The director: DCF will not issue a facility license until the director's active Director Credential is documented.

The three-level credential (Level I, Level II and Advanced) rests initially on a high school diploma or GED, the 30-hour Part I DCF introductory training, at least 8 hours of in-service training on children with disabilities and an active Staff Credential; Level I adds an approved Overview of Child Care Management course or another state's director credential.

It is active for five years; the director must be on site a majority of operating hours, excluding weekends and evenings.

The staff: all child care personnel take the 40-clock-hour introductory course, starting within 90 days and finishing within 1 year by passing a competency exam, then complete 10 in-service hours every year.

A facility operating 8 or more hours per week needs one credentialed staff member per 20 children, a CDA, Florida Child Care Professional Credential (FCCPC) or equivalent, working at least 20 hours a week excluding naptime; 19 or fewer are exempt.

With children in care, at least one person with current first aid and one with in-person pediatric CPR (possibly the same person) must be present, with higher minimums for larger staffs.

Center ratios sit in statute and set your hiring math room by room: 1:4 for infants, birth through 1 year; 1:6 for 1-year-olds; 1:11 for 2-year-olds; 1:15 for 3-year-olds; 1:20 for 4-year-olds; and 1:25 for age 5 and older.

In mixed groups with children age 2 and older, the ratio follows the age group with the largest number of children in the group — not the youngest.

Our research found no maximum group sizes in the statute's ratio section, and the handbook was not fully searched for group size, so confirm room sizes with DCF before you set them.

On the home side, the family child care home's age-mix capacity groups and the large home's ceilings — 8 children under 24 months, or 12 with no more than 4 that young — are the numbers you will staff to.

Florida's license fees are set in statute: a child care facility pays $1 per child of licensed capacity, with a $25 minimum and a $100 maximum per facility; a registered family child care home pays $25, a licensed family child care home $50 and a large family child care home $60.

Counties that license locally may charge their own fees.

Child care facility licenses renew annually, and the renewal must be filed at least 45 days before expiration.

Beyond the license fee, our research captured no Florida startup-cost figures — facility build-out, equipment, insurance and payroll were not researched — so build your budget from DCF's and your county agency's current schedules rather than from our numbers.

The documented supports run through quality designation and the School Readiness program.

Gold Seal Quality Care — now housed in the Florida Department of Education — designates child care facilities and family or large family child care homes accredited by a DOE-approved accrediting association.

Gold Seal facilities in the School Readiness program receive at least a 20 percent rate differential per enrolled School Readiness child, and Gold Seal facilities qualify as educational institutions for ad valorem property tax exemption.

School Readiness providers can also draw a quality-based differential of up to 15 percent per care level and unit of care; providers below the minimum program assessment score are ineligible.

For the people you hire, T.E.A.C.H.

Early Childhood Florida and INCENTIVE$ Florida — the state's WAGE$-model salary supplement — are administered by Children's Forum, Inc. of Tallahassee, the DCF 40-clock-hour introductory course articulates into community college credit in early childhood education, and the Florida DOE's Child Care Apprenticeship Certificate (CCAC) and Early Childhood Professional Certificate (ECPC) count as Birth Through Five credentials for the staff credential rule.

Our research did not confirm a Florida startup grant for new operators — ask DCF and your county licensing agency what is currently available.

Two changes help you date any Florida guidance you read.

Rule 65C-22.001, Florida Administrative Code — the licensing rule whose handbook carries the working detail — was most recently amended effective September 1, 2026, so handbook pages and checklists printed earlier can lag.

And ch. 2026-140 renamed the 'family day care home' to the 'family child care home' throughout the Florida Statutes; older pages and forms still use the retired term, so read 'family day care home' on an old form as the family child care home license.