Types of Regulated Care
Child Care Centers provide care for 13 or more children. The number and ages of children enrolled determine the number of adult staff. The Department of Human Services licenses over 2400 centers, which care for over 190,000 children each day.
Family Child Care Homes provide care for at least five but not more than seven children. Children under ten years of age, who are related to the caregiver, must be included in the total number. Approximately 750 family homes are licensed by DHS each year.
Group Child Care Homes provide care for at least 8 but not more than 12 children. Up to 3 additional school age children may receive care before and after school, on school holidays and snow days, and during summer vacation. If the group home is in an occupied residence, related children under the age of nine should be included in the total number.
DHS licenses over 600 group care homes each year.
Drop-In Centers provide care for 15 or more children not to exceed 14 hours per week and for not more than 7 hours per day for any individual child during regular working hours, Monday - Friday 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Drop-in centers can also provide up to 6 additional hours of care per week during evening (after 6 PM) and weekend (until 10 PM on Sunday) hours, as long as the total number of hours per week does not exceed 20 hours for any individual child, exclusive of snow days.
Examples of child care which do not require licensure ;
- Care provided in a child's own home
- Program which operate no more than 2 days a week
- Occupational Child Care/Teen Parenting Labs
- Summer Day Camps
- Programs which operate less than three hours a day
- Boys and Girls Clubs
- Programs which care for four or fewer children
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