Broward County daycare licensing: the complete guide for 2025

Last updated 2026-07-10

Who actually issues daycare licenses in Broward County?

The Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) issues every daycare license in Broward. The county has no authority to license childcare on its own. DCF runs licensing through regional offices, and Broward falls under the DCF Southeast Region, which also covers Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. ^[1]

Your practical contact point is the Southeast Regional Office in Miami. Inspectors get assigned locally, so the person walking your facility usually works out of Broward. You can reach licensing staff through the DCF main line at 1-866-467-4400 or through the state's Office of Child Care Regulation online. ^[1]

The law behind all of it is Chapter 402 of the Florida Statutes. The detailed rules live in Florida Administrative Code Rule 65C-20 for child care facilities and Rule 65C-22 for family day care homes. Every requirement in this article traces back to those two documents. ^[2]

What types of licenses are available and which one do you need?

Three license types cover almost every Broward operator. Which one you need comes down to where you operate and how many children you take.

Family Day Care Home (FDCH). You care for children in your own home. The cap is 10 children total, including your own kids under 13, with no more than 5 under kindergarten age and no more than 2 under 12 months. ^[2]

Large Family Child Care Home (LFCCH). A step up: up to 12 children total, including your own, with at least one full-time paid assistant on site at all times and an extra bathroom. ^[2]

Child Care Facility (Center). Any non-residential setting, or a home run as a business with more than 12 children, is a center. Centers operate in churches, storefronts, office buildings, standalone daycare buildings. ^[2]

Here is the edge case that trips people up. If you care only for children related to you, or for one other family's children plus your own, Florida generally exempts you from licensing. Add a second unrelated family and the license requirement kicks in immediately. ^[2]

Not sure where you land? Read DCF's eligibility guidance before you sink time into an application.

For a wider view of what licensing means across facility types, start with Daycare center: what it is, what it costs, how it's licensed.

What are the step-by-step application requirements for a Broward County daycare?

The DCF application runs on several tracks at once. You don't finish them in strict order. Most people run the background check, the training, and the facility prep in parallel to save weeks.

Step 1: Complete the DCF application. Download the right form (CF-FSP 5017 for a center, CF-FSP 5018 for a family day care home) from the DCF portal and submit it to the Southeast Region office. It asks for the facility address, owner and director information, hours, and age groups served. ^[1]

Step 2: Pass background screening for everyone. Every person 12 or older who lives in a family day care home, and every employee or regular volunteer at any licensed facility, must clear a Level 2 background check through the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) and the FBI. ^[3] This is a national fingerprint screen, not a quick county lookup. Florida tracks results in the Clearinghouse system, and a clean result stays valid for five years.

Step 3: Finish the required pre-licensing training. A family day care home provider needs at least 40 clock-hours of introductory training before licensure, covering child development, health and safety, and first aid/CPR. Center directors have their own credential path (see below). ^[2]

Step 4: Show proof of liability insurance. Family day care homes need a minimum of $100,000 in liability coverage. Center requirements vary by capacity. ^[2]

Step 5: Pass the pre-licensing inspection. A DCF inspector visits to verify physical space, emergency evacuation plans, and environmental safety. No passing inspection, no license.

Step 6: Pay the fee and get your license. Florida sets fees on a sliding scale by capacity (see the table below). Once the fee clears and every requirement is confirmed, DCF issues the license. Licenses run one year. Renewal takes continued compliance plus the renewal fee.

What are the staff-to-child ratios required in Broward County daycares?

Florida sets child-to-staff ratios statewide in FAC Rule 65C-22 for family day care and Rule 65C-20 for centers. Broward adds nothing local on top. The ratios are the same in Fort Lauderdale as they are in Pensacola. ^[2]

For child care centers:

Age group	Maximum ratio (children per staff member)	Maximum group size
Birth to 1 year	4:1	8
1 to 2 years	6:1	12
2 to 3 years	11:1	15
3 to 4 years	15:1	20
4 to 5 years	20:1	25
Kindergarten and above	25:1	25

^[2]

For family day care homes, you count as one caregiver and stay inside the overall cap of 10 (or 12 for a large family home with an assistant). The practical limit on infants is two under 12 months at a time, because that load alone pins a solo provider. ^[2]

Ratios apply every minute you're open, including nap and outdoor time. Outdoor time trips people up constantly. You can't leave half the group inside with one aide while you take the rest outside if either group breaks ratio. Inspectors check this on purpose.

What are the physical space and safety requirements for a Broward County daycare?

Florida requires at least 35 square feet of usable indoor activity space per child, not counting bathrooms, hallways, kitchens, or storage. ^[2] For a 20-child center, that's 700 square feet of clear floor before you count anything else, which surprises operators sizing a commercial lease.

Outdoor play space is also required for centers: at least 45 square feet per child for the largest group using it at one time. The play area needs a fence or natural barrier at least 4 feet high. ^[2]

Other things a DCF inspector checks during the licensing visit:

• Working smoke detectors on every level and a fire extinguisher staff can reach
• Safe drinking water (municipal supply or a tested well)
• A posted and practiced emergency evacuation plan
• No lead paint hazards (buildings from before 1978 may need a lead inspection)
• Adequate lighting (at least 20 foot-candles in activity areas)
• A diapering area separated from food prep
• Age-appropriate toilets (centers serving children under 5 need child-sized toilets or safe step access)

Broward layers its own building and zoning rules on top of DCF's. Before you sign a lease for a center, confirm with Broward County's permitting and building code office that the zoning allows a childcare use and the building can meet fire code occupancy. ^[4] This is the step people skip, and then they spend months fixing it.

What does a Broward County daycare license cost?

Florida sets licensing fees by statute in Section 402.315 of the Florida Statutes. The annual fee runs on licensed capacity. ^[5]

Licensed capacity	Annual fee
1-20 children	$75
21-40 children	$100
41-60 children	$125
61-100 children	$200
101 or more children	$275
Family day care home	$35
Large family child care home	$35

^[5]

Those fees are cheap next to most states. The real money in Broward is everything around the license. Background screening through FDLE runs about $70 to $75 per person. Liability insurance for a small center typically starts around $1,200 to $2,500 a year, though the range swings hard by carrier and coverage. Pre-licensing training runs from free through Florida's state portal to several hundred dollars through private vendors. ^[3]

Child Care Aware of America's 2023 cost report put Florida's center-based infant care at an average of $10,116 per year. ^[6] Broward sits at or slightly above that average given its cost of living. Keep that number in mind when you set your own tuition, because your fees have to clear real overhead.

If you plan to take families on Florida's childcare subsidy, funded through the federal Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), you also register with the Early Learning Coalition of Broward County. That registration is separate from your DCF license but requires an active one. See the childcare subsidy overview and the childcare tax credit article for the family-facing side.

What training and credentials do Broward County daycare staff need?

Florida runs a tiered training system that applies to every licensed facility in the state, Broward included. The floor is 40 hours before you open and 10 hours a year after.

Family day care home providers complete 40 clock-hours of DCF-approved introductory training before the license issues, then 10 in-service hours every year after. CPR and first aid certification stays current and on file. ^[2]

Center staff requirements split by role:

• Child care personnel (frontline teachers and aides): Complete the 40-hour introductory training within 90 days of hire, then 10 annual in-service hours. ^[2]
• Child care facility directors: Hold a Child Development Associate (CDA) credential, an associate's degree in early childhood education, or a bachelor's in a related field, OR carry at least two years of experience plus 30 DCF-approved training hours. The state has phased in director credential rules over several years, so check current DCF guidance for the exact threshold that applies to you. ^[2]

The CDA credential guide walks through exactly what getting credentialed takes, which is worth knowing before you hire a director.

Florida's free training portal carries most of the required introductory modules at no cost, which knocks out one upfront expense. ^[7] Keep every staff training record on file and ready for inspection.

How does the DCF inspection process work in Broward County?

DCF conducts at least two unannounced monitoring visits a year for every licensed facility, on top of the initial pre-licensing inspection. ^[2] Broward has historically run one of the busier inspection schedules in Florida because of its population and the number of licensed facilities, though DCF doesn't publish county-level inspection frequency separately.

Inspection records are public. The DCF Child Care Facility Search tool lets anyone pull a facility's license status, inspection history, and violations. Broward parents check this before enrolling, so your record moves enrollment.

The violations that show up most in Broward reports are the boring ones. Ratio slips during transitions like outdoor play or nap. Missing background screening paperwork for a new hire. Outdated emergency plans. Thin supervision documentation. None of it is exotic. It's the stuff that piles up when you're slammed.

What happens after a violation depends on how bad it is. Minor paperwork gaps get a correction order with a deadline. Ratio breaks or safety hazards can bring a civil fine. Repeat violations or a serious incident can trigger suspension or revocation. Florida Statutes Section 402.310 spells out the enforcement ladder. ^[2]

Want to stay ahead of the inspector? DCF's self-assessment checklist is the same tool the inspector uses. Run it quarterly and you'll catch your own problems first.

How do you renew a Broward County daycare license?

Florida daycare licenses last one year. DCF mails a renewal notice to the address on file roughly 60 to 90 days before expiration. Don't wait for it. Track your own date.

Renewal takes the renewal application, the annual fee, confirmation that every staff background screening is current (the Clearinghouse flags anyone whose five-year window has closed), and proof that required training hours were done during the license year. ^[1]

Operating with an expired license, even for one day, violates Florida Statutes Section 402.305 and can bring a fine. DCF gives no informal grace period. Miss the window by too much and you may have to file a fresh initial application instead of a renewal, which restarts the whole inspection and review. That can mean weeks with your doors closed.

Changing ownership, moving the facility, or changing licensed capacity all require a modification application before the change happens, not after. DCF treats those as material changes to the license.

How does Broward County fit into Florida's Gold Seal Quality Care program?

Gold Seal Quality Care is Florida's voluntary quality designation, administered by DCF. You earn it by getting accredited through a DCF-approved national body like NAEYC, the National Accreditation Commission (NAC), or the National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC). ^[8]

Gold Seal matters in Broward for two concrete reasons. Gold Seal facilities get a higher reimbursement rate from the Early Learning Coalition of Broward County for School Readiness subsidy children. ^[8] And Gold Seal status shows in the DCF facility search, where a lot of Broward parents use it as a quality filter.

Gold Seal isn't required to be licensed or to take subsidies. It's a business call. Accreditation takes one to three years and costs money in application fees and prep time. Whether it pays off depends on your market and whether the higher reimbursement covers the overhead.

For a Broward center serving a mix of private-pay and subsidy families, the math often works. For a small family day care home, it's harder to justify.

ChildCareComp's compliance tracker includes a Gold Seal readiness checklist next to the standard DCF requirements, so you can see where you stand before you commit to accreditation.

What resources exist specifically for Broward County childcare providers?

The Early Learning Coalition of Broward County (ELC of Broward) is your main local resource beyond DCF. The ELC runs Florida's School Readiness program and Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten (VPK) program locally, and both are big funding streams for Broward providers. ^[9]

To take School Readiness or VPK money, you hold an active DCF license AND sign a provider agreement with the ELC of Broward. The ELC has its own eligibility and contracting requirements sitting on top of your DCF license. The ELC office is at 6750 N. Andrews Avenue, Suite 300, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309, and the main line is (954) 377-2188. ^[9]

Other resources worth having on hand:

• Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) for Broward: Housed within the ELC, it provides training, technical assistance, and referrals for providers and families. ^[9]
• Florida's Child Care Training Portal: Free and low-cost online training that satisfies DCF's in-service hours. ^[7]
• FDLE Background Screening: Processes all Level 2 screenings. ^[3]
• Broward County Permitting and Licensing: Handles building permits and zoning confirmations for center spaces. ^[4]

Once you're licensed and running, the preschool curriculum guide is a practical next step. Leaning toward a home-based program? preschool homeschool curriculum covers the home-specific pieces.

What are the most common reasons Broward County daycare applications get delayed?

Most stalled applications die from the same handful of avoidable mistakes. Here's what actually holds people up, based on DCF enforcement patterns and licensing timelines.

Background screening delays. A prior record, even a minor or expunged one, drags out the Clearinghouse process. FDLE says complex records can push screening past 90 days. Start screening the day you decide to open, not after you sign a lease. ^[3]

Incomplete applications. A missing signature, a missing insurance certificate, or an unlisted household member (for family day care homes) sends the file back. DCF won't process an incomplete application.

Zoning and building issues. A center space that fails fire code occupancy or isn't zoned for childcare can sit in limbo for months while you work through county permitting. The DCF pre-licensing inspection won't pass a building that fails local code.

Training not finished before inspection. DCF expects the 40-hour introductory training done before the pre-licensing inspection for family day care providers. Schedule the inspection before you finish and you force a reschedule.

Fee payment problems. Fees go by check or money order made out to the Florida Department of Children and Families. A check that bounces stalls the whole thing.

From initial application to license in hand, Broward runs somewhere between 60 and 120 days when nothing goes wrong, roughly matching the Florida-wide pattern. Hit any of the snags above and it stretches to six months or more. Plan for the long version. ChildCareComp's licensing checklist tool is built to catch these gaps before you submit.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a license to watch two neighborhood kids at my Broward County home?

It depends on how many unrelated families are involved. Florida exempts providers caring for children from only one other family in addition to their own. Add children from a second unrelated family and you need a Family Day Care Home license from DCF, regardless of the total count. Watching one family's children alongside your own keeps you inside the exemption.

How long does it take to get a family day care home license in Broward County?

With background screenings, training, and the application all in order, DCF typically processes a family day care home license in 60 to 90 days. Incomplete background checks, unfinished training, or application errors can push it to four to six months. Starting the Level 2 background screening through FDLE as early as possible is the single best move to protect your timeline.

What background check is required for Broward County daycare providers?

Florida requires a Level 2 background screening for all daycare providers and staff, processed through FDLE and the FBI using fingerprints. It checks both state and national criminal history. Every household member age 12 and older in a family day care home must also clear it. Results live in Florida's Clearinghouse system and stay valid for five years.

Can a church in Broward County operate a daycare without a DCF license?

No. Florida ended the religious exemption from child care licensing in 2022. Churches and faith-based organizations that run child care facilities must hold an active DCF license and meet all Chapter 402 requirements, including inspections, staff training, and background screenings, the same as any other operator.

How many children can a family day care home in Broward County watch at once?

A licensed Family Day Care Home cares for up to 10 children total, including the provider's own children under age 13. No more than 5 can be under kindergarten age, and no more than 2 can be under 12 months old. A Large Family Child Care Home with a paid assistant can serve up to 12 children under similar age-group limits.

What is the Gold Seal Quality Care program and do I need it to operate in Broward County?

Gold Seal is Florida's voluntary quality designation for facilities that earn accreditation from an approved body like NAEYC or NAFCC. It's not required to be licensed or to operate. But Gold Seal facilities get a higher reimbursement rate from the Early Learning Coalition of Broward County for School Readiness subsidy children, a real financial incentive for centers serving subsidy families.

What is the minimum square footage per child required in a Broward County daycare center?

Florida requires at least 35 square feet of usable indoor activity space per child, excluding bathrooms, hallways, kitchens, and storage. Outdoor play space must be at least 45 square feet per child for the largest group using it at one time, enclosed by a fence or barrier at least 4 feet high. These are state minimums. Broward building codes can add more.

How often does DCF inspect licensed daycares in Broward County?

DCF must conduct at least two unannounced monitoring visits a year for every licensed facility. Facilities with prior violations or complaints may draw additional visits. All inspection results are public and searchable through the DCF Child Care Facility Search tool online, which means Broward families regularly read them before choosing care.

How do I accept childcare subsidy payments from families in Broward County?

To take Florida's School Readiness subsidy payments, you need an active DCF license and a signed provider agreement with the Early Learning Coalition of Broward County. The ELC processes payments and sets reimbursement rates. Gold Seal-accredited providers get higher rates. Contact the ELC of Broward at (954) 377-2188 to start provider contracting once you have your DCF license.

What happens if my Broward County daycare license expires?

Operating with an expired license violates Florida Statutes Section 402.305 and can bring a fine. DCF offers no informal grace period. If the lapse runs long enough, you may have to reapply as a new applicant instead of renewing, restarting the inspection and review timeline. Track your own expiration date and submit renewal paperwork at least 60 days ahead.

Do daycare staff in Broward County need CPR certification?

Yes. Florida requires that at least one staff member present at the facility at all times holds current CPR and first aid certification appropriate for the ages in care. Family day care home providers must personally hold current CPR and first aid certification. Certificates stay on file at the facility and available during DCF inspections.

What is the VPK program and how does it work for Broward County daycare providers?

Florida's Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten (VPK) program provides free pre-K instruction to every 4-year-old in the state. Licensed centers and family day care homes can apply to deliver VPK through the Early Learning Coalition of Broward County. Providers meet additional quality and curriculum standards and receive a per-child reimbursement from the state for VPK slots.

What training hours do Broward County daycare providers need to complete each year?

After the initial 40-hour pre-licensing training, both family day care home providers and center staff complete 10 hours of in-service training annually. Training covers DCF-approved topics such as child development, health and safety, or special needs inclusion. Florida's Child Care Training Portal offers free modules that satisfy these hours.

Sources

1. Florida Department of Children and Families (main agency site and Office of Child Care Regulation): DCF Southeast Region handles Broward County daycare licensing; application forms CF-FSP 5017 and 5018 are available through the DCF portal
2. Florida Legislature, Chapter 402 Florida Statutes and Florida Administrative Code Rules 65C-20 and 65C-22: All staff-to-child ratios, physical space requirements, training minimums, license types, and enforcement provisions for Florida childcare are set in Chapter 402 and FAC Rules 65C-20 and 65C-22
3. Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Background Screening: Level 2 background screening is required for all childcare staff and household members age 12 and older in family day care homes; screening fee is approximately $70-$75 per person and results are valid for five years
4. Broward County government (permitting, licensing, and zoning): Broward County zoning and building permits are required for child care center spaces in addition to DCF licensing
5. Florida Legislature, Section 402.315 Florida Statutes (licensing fees): Annual licensing fees range from $35 for family day care homes to $275 for centers with 101 or more children, as set in Section 402.315
6. Child Care Aware of America, 'Demanding Change: Repairing our Child Care System' 2023 report: Florida center-based infant care averaged $10,116 per year as of the 2023 Child Care Aware of America annual cost report
7. Florida Department of Education, Office of Early Learning: Florida's Child Care Training Portal offers free and low-cost online modules satisfying DCF's required training hours for family day care homes and child care center staff
8. Florida Department of Children and Families, Gold Seal Quality Care Program: Gold Seal designation requires accreditation from a DCF-approved body (NAEYC, NAC, NAFCC) and enables higher School Readiness reimbursement rates from local Early Learning Coalitions
9. Early Learning Coalition of Broward County: The ELC of Broward administers School Readiness and VPK programs locally, requires a provider agreement separate from DCF licensing, and operates the local CCR&R
10. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Child Care, Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF): Florida's School Readiness subsidy program is funded through the federal Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF); local administering entities like ELC of Broward distribute funds to licensed providers