Starting up a church daycare involves following state licensing requirements in order for the business to be operated legally. These requirements set professional standards for daycares and help protect children, their families, and the daycare itself. While each state’s licensing specifications differ, many include similar requirements within certain categories. Following your state requirements will allow your church daycare to qualify for licensing.

Staff

Workers in a church daycare must meet certain age qualifications, which vary for volunteers and paid staff. Workers must have had a pre-determined number of hours in classroom training and in areas such as First-Aid, fire-safety, lifeguard, and water safety. In many states, volunteers under the age of 18 must still have the appropriate education, experience, and competencies to be allowed to work for a daycare, even within a church. The group supervisor must hold a degree in early childhood education and have experience working with children.

Provider/Child Ration

Maximum child group sizes must be followed for each age level, and there are a certain number of workers who must be required for a given group size and age level. The older the children are, the larger the group can be with fewer required workers present. Many infants and young children require close supervision, and with all children, a high level of supervision is required for licensed daycare centers.

Physical Space

The indoor child care area has to meet measurement and safety requirements. Furniture, shelves, equipments, and cupboards all count in the measurements. The center must have dedicated places for play and sleep, and the indoor temperature needs to be appropriate with working ventilation and heating. If the facility has stairs, precautions need to be taken to prevent children from falling.

Procedures

Certain procedures need to be followed to admit children, and requirements need to be met for the application process, admission interview, and client-daycare agreement. If more families are interested than your church daycare can accommodate, procedures need to be set for how to handle the waiting list. Also, emergency contact information must be kept on file so that proper action can be taken in the event of an emergency.

Nutrition

Food that is stored, prepared, and served needs to meet health and sanitation standards. Attention must be given to the kinds of meals that are served since requirements are in place for serving a balance of food groups and for providing appropriate sizes of food servings. Requirements differ according to the age of the children in your church daycare.