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

Missouri child care licensing sits with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), Office of Childhood.

Centers and group child care homes follow 5 CSR 25-500, the chapter that replaced 19 CSR 30-62 effective Aug. 30, 2021, and family child care homes follow 5 CSR 25-400.

When a summary on this page and the current rulebook disagree, the rulebook governs — confirm the details for your site and license type with the Office of Childhood.

Missouri's statute exempts from licensing anyone caring for 6 or fewer children, including no more than 3 under age 2, at the same address, and the caregiver's own school-age children are not counted toward that total (RSMo 210.211, effective Aug. 28, 2024).

Above that line, a licensed family child care home may care for up to 10 children, and a licensed group child care home up to 20 — the center rules define a group child care home as care by a licensed group home provider for not more than 20 children.

Programs larger than that operate as child care centers under 5 CSR 25-500, the chapter that carries the director, staffing and ratio rules below.

The license type you choose decides which director and staffing rules apply to you.

All three license types share the opening step: applicants must complete the licensing orientation on DESE's website before they apply.

With that done, you submit your application to the Office of Childhood, and a licensing inspection follows receipt of the application.

The family child care chapter adds site-specific requirements: a family home application must include a safety plan if a sex offender lives within 1,000 feet of the home, and family homes need at least 35 square feet of usable indoor space and 75 square feet of outdoor play area per child.

Center applicants should ask the Office of Childhood what their packet requires beyond the application form.

Center directors must be DESE-certificated and on duty at least 40 hours a week during peak attendance.

Director education scales with licensed capacity, every band with an experience route: 30 college semester hours with 6 child-related up to 20 children, rising to 120 with 24 child-related at 100 or more, or four years' experience plus 24 child-related hours; group home providers meet the up-to-20 floor.

The center and group home rules set no caregiver education or credential requirement.

Caregivers hired on or after Aug. 30, 2019 need facility orientation within 7 days of employment and before being left alone with children.

Directors, group home providers, caregivers and ratio-counted volunteers need at least 12 clock hours of department-approved training each calendar year.

Providers must request criminal background checks and screen any new hire with a qualifying result against the Family Care Safety Registry before employment.

First aid and CPR coverage must reach one certified caregiver per 20 children of licensed capacity, with at least one on site whenever children are present.

At facilities licensed for infants under 1, staff and volunteers complete AAP safe sleep training within 30 days of starting and every 3 years.

Missouri sets center and group home ratios and maximum group sizes in 5 CSR 25-500.112, amended effective Jan. 30, 2024: children birth through 36 months staff at 1:4 with a maximum of 8, groups of only 2-year-olds at 1:8 with a maximum of 16, ages 3 and 4 at 1:10 with a maximum of 20, and ages 5 and up at 1:16 with a maximum of 32.

Mixed groups get their own rows: a group with up to 4 two-year-olds runs 1:10 (maximum 20); with more than 4, 1:8 (maximum 16).

The rule flexes: naptime groups of children 2 and older need not maintain the ratio inside the napping area if it holds on the premises and group size is kept; outdoor play may run at 1½ times the indoor ratio when no child 2 or younger is in the outdoor play space; and staff doing clerical, housekeeping, cleaning or maintenance tasks don't count in ratio while doing them.

Centers with more than 30 children at meals need separate meal staff, and in centers with more than 50 in attendance the director doesn't count in ratio except at naptime or as an emergency substitute.

The confirmed sequence is the timeline skeleton: the online licensing orientation first, then the application, then a licensing inspection after DESE receives it — the chapters we read set no processing clock for any of the three steps.

Our research also did not confirm a Missouri license application fee in 5 CSR 25-400 or 5 CSR 25-500, so ask DESE's Office of Childhood about current fees before you budget.

No dollar figures for rent, build-out, insurance, equipment or staffing showed up in the rule text we read either; price those from your own site and staffing plan rather than from this page.

T.E.A.C.H.

Missouri, administered by Child Care Aware of Missouri, offers scholarship models covering the CDA, college credit and degrees — CDA Through College Credit, One/Two Semester, Entry Associate, Associate, Bachelor's, Pre-Certification, Student Teaching and Master's Certificate — a route to the credentials and college hours the director rules above accept.

DESE's Quality Assurance Report (QAR), the state's voluntary quality system for community-based programs, school-based preschools and family child care, gives participants free professional development including the CDA credential, individualized CLASS-based training and Practice-Based Coaching; DESE contacts programs when space is available, so participation is capacity-limited.

Caregivers obtain a Missouri Professional Development Identification (MOPD ID) number, and their clock-hour training is recorded in DESE's professional development system.

Our research did not confirm a Missouri startup grant or facility fund for new operators — ask the Office of Childhood what is currently available.