California Form LIC 279B, “Current Children In Your Home,” is a one-page roster you submit with your Family Child Care Home license application. To fill it out, list every child who currently lives in your home and, for each one, enter the child’s full legal name, date of birth, sex, and relationship to you. The form must be typed or completed in ink. That is the whole form — but the entries you make on it directly affect how many outside children the California Department of Social Services will let you care for, so accuracy matters more than the simple layout suggests.
What Each Column Asks For
LIC 279B has four columns. Fill in one row per child:
- Child’s full name, exactly as it appears on a birth certificate or other official document. Don’t use nicknames.
- Date of birth, with month, day, and year.
- Sex, as recorded on official documents.
- Relationship to you — biological child, stepchild, grandchild, foster child, and so on.
Pencil is not accepted. Type the entries or write them in ink, and keep a copy of the completed form for your own records before you send the packet in.
Which Children You Have To List
List every child living in the home. Not just the young ones, not just your biological children, not just the children you plan to include in your care operation. If a child resides in the household, the child belongs on the form. That includes stepchildren, grandchildren living with you, and foster children.
The form’s job is to give the Community Care Licensing Division a full picture of who already lives with you, so leaving anyone off — even an older teenager who has nothing to do with the child care operation — creates a discrepancy with the household information you provided on the main LIC 279 application.
Why Your Answers Change Your Licensed Capacity
California counts your own children under age 10 toward the licensed capacity of your family child care home. The children you list on LIC 279B, if under 10, occupy slots that would otherwise be available for the children you take in.
A small family child care home can care for up to six children at a time, with no more than three infants. That total can rise to eight without an additional attendant only if the conditions in Health and Safety Code Section 1597.44 are met, which generally requires that some of the children be school-age. Under no circumstances can a small home exceed a capacity of eight, and that ceiling includes your own children under 10.1Justia Law. California Health and Safety Code Chapter 3.6 – Family Day Care Homes
A large family child care home can care for up to 12 children, or up to 14 if at least one child is enrolled in kindergarten or elementary school, a second is at least six years old, and no more than three infants are present when the count exceeds 12. Providers running a large home must notify parents that up to 14 children may be present, and renters must obtain written consent from the property owner.1Justia Law. California Health and Safety Code Chapter 3.6 – Family Day Care Homes
Here is what that means in practice. If you list three children under 10 on LIC 279B, a small FCCH license leaves room for only three to five additional children in your care, depending on their ages. If your LIC 279 requests a capacity that ignores your own kids, the numbers won’t add up and licensing will hold your application until they do.
Getting Dates Of Birth Right
Because age drives the capacity math, the date of birth column deserves extra care. A child listed as under 10 today may cross that threshold during the license period, but you fill the form out with today’s information. Copy the date from a birth certificate rather than working from memory, especially for foster or step-relationships where you may not have raised the child from birth.
Where LIC 279B Fits In The Application Packet
LIC 279B is not a standalone submission. It travels with the rest of your Family Child Care Home application packet, which also includes:2California Department of Social Services. License Application and Instructions for Family Child Care Homes
- LIC 279, the main Application for a Family Child Care Home License.
- LIC 508, a Criminal Record Statement signed under penalty of perjury by every adult in the home.
- LIC 610A, your Emergency Care and Disaster Plan.
- LIC 9108, an acknowledgment of your mandated reporter obligations.
- LIC 999A, a sketch of the home.
Renters also submit LIC 9151 (Property Owner/Landlord Notification) and, depending on the situation, LIC 9149 (Landlord Consent).3California Department of Social Services. LIC 279A – License Application and Instructions for Family Child Care Homes Every form can be downloaded from the CDSS Forms and Publications page under the alphabetical “I–L” listing.4California Department of Social Services. Forms and Publications (I-L)
The complete packet goes to the CCLD Regional Office that covers your county. CDSS publishes a directory of Child Care Regional Offices with the counties each one serves.5California Department of Social Services. Community Care Licensing Filing with the wrong office slows everything down. Include your application fee: $73 for a small home (capacity 1–8) or $140 for a large home (capacity 9–14). Both are nonrefundable.6California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code HSC 1596.803 – Child Day Care Facility Licensing Fees
What Makes A LIC 279B Get Kicked Back
A few small mistakes account for most returned packets:
- Filling it out in pencil. Only typed or inked entries are accepted.
- Using a nickname or informal spelling instead of the legal name on the birth certificate.
- Leaving off a child who lives in the home but isn’t part of your care plans — an adult child, a teenage stepchild, a foster placement.
- Guessing at a date of birth rather than copying from an official document.
- Household information on LIC 279B that doesn’t match the household roster on LIC 279.
Cross-check the two forms side by side before you seal the envelope. The information on LIC 279B needs to line up with the adults-and-children list on LIC 279 and with the capacity you’re requesting, or the regional office will send the packet back and you’ll start the clock over.
What The Form Does Not Ask
LIC 279B is only about children who live in your home. It is not the place to list the children you plan to enroll in care, staff members’ children, or children who visit the home occasionally. It also does not collect information on adults — those go on LIC 279 and, for the criminal record clearance, on LIC 508 for each adult resident.7California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code 1596.871 – Criminal Record Clearance
Keep the scope narrow, keep the entries accurate, and match every name and date to an official document. That is what turns a one-page form from a stumbling block into a formality.