Home child care in Hampshire County is licensed by the state Department of Early Education and Care, not the county. Massachusetts zoning law protects family child care homes: no city or town may zone them out.
Paid child care in a home is licensed by the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) under MGL c.15D, with background checks, ratios, and inspection; a family child care home serves up to 6 children and a large family child care home up to 10. Local zoning cannot stand in the way. MGL c.40A §3 makes a family or large family child care home an allowable use that no municipality may prohibit or regulate through its zoning bylaw. So in Northampton, Amherst, or any Hampshire County town, EEC licensing — not local approval — decides whether the home daycare may operate.
Operating a family child care home without an EEC license violates MGL c.15D; the state can order it closed, and each day of unlicensed care may be treated as a separate offense.
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Hampshire County, MA
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See how Hampshire County's home daycare rules stack up against other locations.
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