Broward County, FL Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)

Section 402.313 sets two tracks for a family child care home. A home presently licensed under an existing county licensing ordinance, or a home in a county where the board of county commissioners passes a resolution that family child care homes be licensed, is licensed under the state act. Broward County runs its own child care licensing program, so Broward homes sit on that track. A home that is not subject to license registers annually with the department and supplies eight items: the home's name and address, the operator's name, the number of children served, proof of a written plan naming a substitute adult (with name, address and telephone number) for emergencies, proof of screening and background checks, proof of the 30-hour course passed by competency exam, proof that immunization records are kept current, and proof of the required continuing education units or clock hours. A home can also volunteer to be licensed.

The competency examination covers state and local child care rules, health, safety and nutrition, identifying and reporting child abuse and neglect, child development, observation of developmental behaviors with a checklist, and early literacy and language development for children from birth to 5 years of age. The operator must pass it before caring for any child.

Screening reaches past the operator. Under subsection (3), any family member over age 12, and any person over age 12 living in the home, counts as child care personnel for screening under ss. 402.305(2) and 402.3055. Household members between 12 and 18 are not fingerprinted, but they are screened for delinquency records.

Each year the operator completes 1 continuing education unit or 10 clock hours of approved training. Every operator also completes a one-time 0.5 unit course in early literacy and language development for children from birth to 5, and in the year it is finished it counts as 0.5 unit or 5 clock hours of that annual requirement. Each year the operator fills out and signs the health and safety home inspection self-evaluation checklist developed by the department and hands it to parents as certification that basic health and safety standards are being met.

Licensed homes get one financial protection. Under subsection (12), a home licensed under the chapter or under a county ordinance is charged the utility rates of a residential home, and a licensed family child care home cannot be charged commercial utility rates. Subsection (2) puts registered homes in a directory the department publishes each year for the public.