Plant City, FL Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)

Section 402.313 sets the baseline for anyone running a family child care home in Plant City. The statute applies statewide, so the rules below govern a Plant City home directly. Subsection (1) splits homes into two tracks. A home is licensed under the act if it is presently 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, and under paragraph (1)(b) a home can volunteer to be licensed.

Registration is a full file, not a one-page form. The operator reports the name and address of the home, the operator's name, and the number of children served. The operator also supplies a written plan naming at least one other competent adult, with name, address and telephone number, who is available to substitute in an emergency. Proof of screening and background checks, proof that immunization records are kept current, and proof of the required continuing education units or clock hours complete the file. The department publishes this information annually in a directory that tells the public which child care facilities are available.

Training comes before the first child. Under subsection (4), the operator must pass a competency examination on 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 for children from birth to 5 years of age. Subsection (5) then requires 1 continuing education unit, or 10 clock hours of equivalent training, every year. Subsection (6) adds a one-time 0.5 continuing education unit in early literacy and language development, which also counts as 0.5 unit or 5 clock hours of that year's annual training.

Screening reaches past the operator. Under subsection (3), the screening provisions of ss. 402.305(2) and 402.3055 cover any member of the operator's family over the age of 12 and any person over 12 residing in the home. Household members between 12 and 18 are not fingerprinted but are screened for delinquency records.

Each year, under subsection (7), the operator completes the department's health and safety home inspection self-evaluation checklist, signs it, and gives it to parents as certification that basic health and safety standards are being met. Subsection (12) protects the home's budget: a licensed home is charged residential utility rates, and a utility cannot bill it commercial rates. The section was most recently amended by chapter 2026-140, which is why the statute now says "family child care home" throughout.