Idaho law sets the basic framework for daycare licensing, which is administered by the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare in conjunction with local fire departments and health districts. Local city and county governments can establish and enforce their own daycare licensing regulations, as long as the licensing requirements are equal to or more stringent than state license provisions.
Click here for Daycare Licensing Contact Information.
Provide care for seven (7) or more children and receive compensation for even one of those children.
Note: You may have local ordinances or participate in programs which require you to be licensed.
See the exemptions below.
The following are exempt from State daycare licensing:
- 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 daycare;
- The operation of a private school or religious school for educational purposes for children over
four 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 twelve 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 (father, mother, step-father, step-mother, grandparents and their spouses, uncles and aunts and their spouses, first cousins and their spouses, nephews and nieces and their spouses, bothers and sisters and their spouses);
- Daycare facilities licensed by a city or county, not requiring state licensing.
Is there anything you should do before starting the application process?
The answer is "yes"...
As a provider of daycare services, we would like to make you aware of recent changes to Idaho rules governing standards for child care licensing. There were three significant changes impacting child/staff ratios, licensing fees and local options for licensure that went into effect July 1, 2011.
