Kauai County, HI Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)
Key Facts
- Child capacity
- 6 or fewer children under 18
- Location
- Must operate in a private dwelling unit
- Licensing
- Requires State of Hawai'i child care license
- Zoning status
- Permitted home business, no separate Use Permit
- Larger threshold
- 7+ children becomes a day care center
Summary
Kaua'i County Code § 8-1.5 caps a home-based "family child care home" at six or fewer children under 18, cared for in a private dwelling without overnight stays, under a State of Hawai'i child care license. The same section names a family child care home as one of the professional-type uses the zoning ordinance allows as a lawful home business on Kaua'i (Kaua'i County).
"Family child care home"means providing child care services and other similar uses consistent with this definition where six or fewer children under the age of 18 are cared for in a private dwelling unit without overnight accommodations at any location other than the children's normal place of residence and which complies with State of Hawai'i licensing requirements. ... "Home business"means any use customarily conducted entirely within a dwelling and carried on solely by the inhabitants thereof ... The office, studio, or occupational room of an architect, artist, engineer, lawyer or other similar professional person; a family child care home; business conducted entirely by phone or by mail (not involving frequent bulk shipments); and an office for "homework" of a person in business elsewhere; all shall be permitted as home businesses
Full Breakdown
On Kaua'i (Kaua'i County), a provider caring for six or fewer children in their own dwelling operates under the "family child care home" definition in Kaua'i County Code § 8-1.5, distinct from the larger, seven-or-more-child "day care center" classification that carries separate zoning treatment under Table 8-2.4. Both categories require the operator to hold a current State of Hawai'i child care license; the county code does not issue its own separate childcare license, but it does control where and how the use may operate on the property.
Section 8-1.5's "home business" definition expressly lists "a family child care home" alongside professional offices, such as those of an architect, artist, engineer, or lawyer, phone- or mail-based businesses, and remote "homework," as a use permitted as a home business so long as it remains incidental to the dwelling's residential use. That means a licensed family child care home operating within these limits does not need a separate Use Permit the way a larger day care center might, because it is classified by right as an allowed home business under Table 8-2.4(c), which states that home businesses are permitted in all zoning districts on the island.
Exceeding the six-child cap, or otherwise operating outside the family child care home definition, moves the provider into the day care center category and its different table entry and permit treatment.
Violations & Fines
A family child care home that exceeds six children, or that otherwise fails to meet the § 8-1.5 definition, is no longer classified as a permitted home business and instead operates outside the zoning district's approved use table. That is a zoning violation under § 8-3.5, punishable as a misdemeanor with a fine of up to $2,000 per day, plus Planning Director civil fines of up to $10,000 and $10,000 for each additional day of noncompliance.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many children can a home daycare care for on Kaua'i without becoming a 'day care center'?
Does a licensed home daycare need a Use Permit on Kaua'i?
What happens if a Kaua'i home daycare exceeds six children?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Kauai County
Compare Kauai County to another location·View the Hawaii home business overview
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