Miami-Dade County, FL Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)
Key Facts
- Training before opening
- 30-clock-hour course plus competency examination
- Annual training
- 1 continuing education unit or 10 clock hours
- Registration
- Annual, with the state department, if not licensed
- Licensing trigger
- County ordinance or board of county commissioners resolution
- Household screening
- Everyone over 12; ages 12 to 18 not fingerprinted
- Utility rate
- Licensed homes pay residential, not commercial, rates
Summary
A family child care home in Miami-Dade County must be licensed if the county licenses such homes by ordinance or the Board of County Commissioners passes a resolution requiring it. Any home not subject to license registers annually with the state department. Operators must pass a 30-clock-hour course before caring for children.
(1) Family child care homes shall be licensed under this act if they are presently being licensed under an existing county licensing ordinance or if the board of county commissioners passes a resolution that family child care homes be licensed. (a) If not subject to license, family child care homes shall register annually with the department, providing the following information: 1. The name and address of the home. 2. The name of the operator. 3. The number of children served. ... (4) Operators of family child care homes must successfully complete an approved 30-clock-hour introductory course in child care, as evidenced by passage of a competency examination, before caring for children. (5) In order to further develop their child care skills and, if appropriate, their administrative skills, operators of family child care homes shall be required to complete an additional 1 continuing education unit of approved training or 10 clock hours of equivalent training, as determined by the department, annually.
Full Breakdown
Section 402.313 of the Florida Statutes sets the floor for every home daycare in Miami-Dade County. Subsection (1) splits homes into two tracks. A family child care home is licensed if it is presently being licensed under an existing county licensing ordinance, or if the board of county commissioners passes a resolution that family child care homes be licensed. A home that is not subject to license must register annually with the department.
The annual registration packet has eight parts: the name and address of the home, the name of the operator, the number of children served, a written plan naming at least one other competent adult (with name, address and telephone number) who can substitute for the operator in an emergency, proof of screening and background checks, proof of passing the 30-hour training course, proof that immunization records are kept current, and proof of the required continuing education units or clock hours. A registered home can also volunteer to be licensed under the act.
Training comes first. Under subsection (4), an operator must pass a competency examination for an approved 30-clock-hour introductory course before caring for children. The course covers state and local child care rules, health, safety and nutrition, identifying and reporting child abuse and neglect, child development, observation of developmental behaviors, and early literacy and language development from birth to 5 years. After that, subsection (5) requires 1 continuing education unit or 10 clock hours every year, and subsection (6) adds a one-time 0.5 unit (5 clock hours) in early literacy, which counts toward that year's annual training.
Screening under subsection (3) reaches beyond the operator. Anyone over 12 years old in the operator's family, or living in the home, is covered. Household members between 12 and 18 are screened for delinquency records but are not fingerprinted. Each year the operator completes and signs the department's health and safety home inspection self-evaluation checklist and hands it to parents (subsection (7)). Subsection (12) bars charging a licensed home commercial utility rates: it pays the residential rate.
Violations & Fines
Section 402.313 prints no dollar fine or jail term. The consequence is structural: a home that skips the annual registration, cannot show the 30-hour course and competency examination, or lacks the substitute plan and screening records is not in compliance with the state requirement to operate, and the department's brochure program steers parents to the department or the local licensing agency to check a home's compliance. Penalty and enforcement standards come through the department's minimum standards rule under subsection (13), not this section's text.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a home daycare in Miami-Dade County have to be licensed or just registered?
What training must the operator finish before taking in children?
Who in my household gets screened?
Do I pay commercial utility rates for a licensed home daycare?
What ongoing paperwork does the operator keep up each year?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Miami-Dade County
Florida rules heatmap·Compare Miami-Dade County to another location·View the Florida home business overview
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