Becoming a Child Care Provider

Information for those interested in learning how to become a licensed child care provider in Idaho.

Idaho law sets the basic framework for licensing, but city and county governments can establish and enforce their own licensing requirements. Local ordinances or participation in certain programs may require you to be licensed even if you meet exemption criteria.

Need a license

• Provide care for seven or more children
• Receive compensation for providing care for one or more of those children

Exempt from a license

• The occasional or irregular care of a neighbor’s, relative’s, or friend’s child or children by a person not ordinarily in the business of child care
• The operation of a private school or religious school for educational purposes for children older than 4 years of age, or a religious kindergarten
• The occasional care provided exclusively for children of parents who are simultaneously in the same building
• The operation of day camps, programs, and religious schools for less than 12 weeks during a calendar year or not more often than once a week
• Providing care for children who are related to you within the second degree of relationship (parents, step-parents, grandparents and their spouses, uncles and aunts and their spouses, first cousins and their spouses, nephews and nieces and their spouses, siblings and their spouses)
• Facilities licensed by a city or county, and not requiring state licensing

State licenses are issued by the Department of Health and Welfare. Customer support specialists with IdahoSTARS collect the documentation and assist the applicant through the state licensing process.

If you are interested in becoming a state-licensed provider, review all of the information required for both the application process and ongoing as a licensed provider. Contact your city or county planning and zoning office to see if there are requirements that may prohibit your ability to comply with local ordinances and complete the licensing process.

Upon receipt of your application by IdahoSTARS, a referral will be made to your local public health district for the collection of the licensing fee. Your health district will then contact you with information on how to make your fee payment. The fee amount is determined by the criteria outlined below.

If you have questions or need more information, call the Idaho CareLine by dialing 2-1-1 (Idaho) or 800-926-2588 (outside of Idaho).

IdahoSTARS processes all state licensing applications for child care and can answer your questions.

For state licensing, each owner or operator of a center licensed by the department must receive and ensure that each staff member receives and completes four hours of ongoing training every 12 months after the staff member’s date of hire.

“Training” means continuing education in child development areas relating to child care. Child care providers participating in the Idaho Child Care Program (ICCP) are required to complete a series of free online courses designed to cover a variety of health and safety topics for providers in Idaho.

For state licensing, the training will count if the staff member takes the training after their hire date. It will be credited for the licensing period in which the training was taken and will only count one time. Providers licensed by their city should check with the city to determine if trainings will meet local ordinances.

The IDAPA standards require each owner, operator, and applicant seeking licensure for a daycare center, group daycare facility, or a family daycare home must submit evidence that is satisfactory to the department that owners, operators, staff, and all other individuals 13 years of age or older who have unsupervised direct contact with children or are regularly on the premises have successfully completed and received a clearance for a department criminal history and background check under the provisions of sections 39-1105 and 39-1113, Idaho Code.

A background check clearance completed within the last three years can be transferred to a new employer. When using a transferred department criminal history check clearance for licensing, the transferred clearance must be an enhanced clearance and the new employer must also ensure that a new Idaho State Police name-based record check is completed with no disqualifying crimes found.