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

Daycares in Indiana are licensed by the Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning (OECOSL), part of the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA).

The center rulebook is 470 IAC 3-4.7; child care homes are licensed under 470 IAC 3-1.1 (Class I) and 470 IAC 3-1.3 (Class II), all under Indiana Code Title 12, Article 17.2.

OECOSL is also the body behind the required orientation trainings and the on-site inspection in its published path, so one agency runs both the training and the inspection visit.

Start from the agency's becoming-a-provider page for either license type.

Indiana licenses two settings: child care homes and child care centers.

A home needs a license once at least 6 children who are not the provider's own receive care for pay more than 4 hours a day for 10 consecutive days a year.

Licensed homes come in two classes: a Class I home serves up to 12 children at once, plus 3 school-age children (full-day kindergarten or older) during the school year, and a Class II home — the larger-home tier — serves more than 12 but no more than 16.

Centers are licensed under 470 IAC 3-4.7, the rulebook that sets the director, caregiver and training rules below; the current ratio chart itself is published by FSSA under IC 12-17.2-4-14.5.

Which setting an operation is licensed as decides its application steps and staffing rules.

Indiana puts training first in its published path.

Center applicants complete Orientation 1, the start-up course, and the center version of Orientation 2 — preparation for licensure — through Indiana Learning Paths on the I-LEAD platform, while home applicants take a home-specific version of Orientation 2 on the same platform.

The last step in the published center sequence is the on-site inspection: OECOSL's steps tell center applicants to pass an onsite inspection from the Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning.

For questions along the way, Indiana staffs an Emerging Provider Support team — a referral form connects a new center or home applicant to a specialist.

Our research captured the orientation and inspection steps but not a full application checklist or a processing timeline; confirm the current sequence with OECOSL before you commit to a site or an opening date.

Center directors must be at least 21 with one of: a bachelor's in ECE or elementary education (kindergarten endorsement), any bachelor's plus 15 early-childhood credit hours or a CDA, or an associate degree in ECE plus 3 years of early-childhood-program experience.

Caregivers counted in ratio must be at least 18 with a high school diploma or equivalency.

A lead caregiver needs a current CDA, a bachelor's in ECE or elementary education with kindergarten endorsement, any bachelor's with 15 credit hours in early childhood content, or an associate degree in ECE; without one: 8 extra in-service hours a year, a qualifying-program enrollment within 1 year, and at least 6 credit hours a year.

Directors and everyone counted in ratio add at least 12 clock hours of in-service training a year on top of first aid, CPR and universal precautions.

Since July 1, 2025, all Indiana child care staff and volunteers need pediatric CPR and pediatric first aid within 90 days of starting, and center infant/toddler staff must hold pediatric CPR certification.

Hires clear a fingerprint-based criminal history check and the Indiana Child Protection Index; fingerprints are redone every 3 years or after 180+ days out of Indiana child care.

Indiana replaced its center ratio chart effective December 1, 2025, so a printed chart from before that date no longer matches the rule.

The current chart staffs infants 6 weeks to 12 months at 1:5 in groups of 12, 18- to 23-month-olds at 1:6 in groups of 14, 3-year-olds at 1:11 in groups of 25, 4-year-olds at 1:13 in groups of 29, and children 6 and older at 1:20 in groups of 40 — the chart also carries the age bands in between.

The numbers are not fixed: SEA 463 requires FSSA to keep center ratios and group sizes no stricter than the average of Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio, to re-evaluate them yearly, and to post the chart by December 1 each year — so an Indiana staffing plan is an annual re-check, not a one-time setup.

Homes run on the home rules' own chart: where a home's group mixes in children under 24 months the ratio is 4:1, or 6:1 only if 2 of the 6 children are at least 16 months and walking, and 12:1 applies only when all children present are over 3.

Our research did not confirm an Indiana license application fee: the OECOSL becoming-a-provider page we read lists the orientation and inspection steps but shows no dollar amounts in our capture, so ask OECOSL for the current fee schedule before you budget.

The timeline is the same story — the agency names the center sequence (Orientation 1, Orientation 2, then the on-site inspection; home applicants take a home-specific Orientation 2) but our capture includes no processing time for a home or a center license.

No Indiana startup-cost figures for build-out, equipment or insurance turned up in our research either.

The agency's Emerging Provider Support team is the published route for new-applicant questions like these.

Start with OECOSL: its Emerging Provider Support team connects new center and home applicants to a specialist through a referral form.

Indiana's quality path is Paths to QUALITY (PTQ), run by FSSA/OECOSL, with four levels from health and safety to national accreditation.

Licensed centers earn PTQ cash awards of $1,000 at Level 2, $1,000 at Level 3 and $1,500 at Level 4, licensed homes earn $300 at Level 2 and at Level 3 and $500 at Level 4, and CCDF voucher reimbursement rates are tiered by PTQ level, so higher-rated programs are paid more.

Level 4 requires accreditation by an approved national body (the Council on Accreditation, NAC or NAEYC), and Indiana AEYC's Indiana Accreditation Project helps pay accreditation costs.

Enrolling takes the Introduction to Paths to QUALITY training on Indiana Learning Paths plus an enrollment packet to FSSA, and enrollment unlocks scholarships and professional development for staff.

T.E.A.C.H.

Early Childhood Indiana, run by Indiana AEYC, offers full-time scholarships for staff at 30 or more hours a week and part-time scholarships for 20 to 29 hours in licensed, registered or legally exempt programs, and Indiana AEYC ties the scholarships to education, compensation and retention.