Illinois DCFS child care licensing requirements apply any time you regularly care for more than three unrelated children for less than 24 hours a day, whether in your home or a commercial space. The Child Care Act of 1969 gives the Department of Children and Family Services authority to set the minimum standards, and two administrative rules do the detailed work: Rule 406 for day care homes operated inside a private residence, and Rule 407 for day care centers in non-residential buildings.1Justia. 225 ILCS 10 – Child Care Act of 1969
Who Has to Get Licensed
The threshold is more than three unrelated children in your care. The count includes foster and adopted children in your household who are under 12, so a provider with two young children of their own has fewer open slots than someone without young children at home.1Justia. 225 ILCS 10 – Child Care Act of 1969
Illinois sorts residential providers into two categories. A day care home allows one caregiver to watch up to eight children total, counting the caregiver’s own children under 12. A group day care home raises the ceiling to twelve but triggers added staffing, space, and documentation requirements. Day care centers operate in non-residential buildings and have no fixed enrollment cap as long as staffing ratios and square-footage rules are met.2Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. Licensing Standards for Day Care Homes
What Rule 406 Requires for Day Care Homes
Caregiver Qualifications and Who Can Be in the Room
Every caregiver in a day care home must be at least 18. Anyone licensed after January 1, 2011, also needs a high school diploma, GED, or a degree from an accredited institution. When one caregiver is working alone with a mixed-age group of up to eight children, no more than two of those children may be under 30 months old.2Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. Licensing Standards for Day Care Homes
Indoor and Outdoor Space
Group day care homes licensed for more than eight children need at least 35 square feet of usable floor space per child. If children under 30 months nap in the same room where they play, add 20 square feet per child unless portable bedding is used and stored away before and after nap time.3Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Administrative Code Title 89 – Section 406 Standard day care homes with eight or fewer children have no fixed per-child minimum, but the licensing representative evaluates whether the child care areas are adequate during the site visit.
Outdoor space must be safe for active play and can include yards, nearby parks, or playgrounds under adult supervision. Fences, tree lines, or other physical barriers must protect children from water hazards, heavy traffic, and construction sites. In-ground swimming pools must be enclosed by a locked fence at least five feet high.2Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. Licensing Standards for Day Care Homes
Safety and Environmental Standards
First aid supplies, medications, cleaning products, sharp objects, plastic bags, matches, lighters, and other hazardous materials must be stored where children cannot reach them. Tools and gardening equipment belong in locked cabinets when possible. For infants and toddlers, the hazardous list expands to include choking risks like coins, balloons, marbles, and small sponge or rubber toys.3Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Administrative Code Title 89 – Section 406
Every level of the home used for child care needs working smoke detectors and carbon monoxide monitors. Temperature must stay between 65°F and 75°F during the heating season. Rooms where infants and toddlers are present have a summer range of 68°F to 82°F. Basement space used for child care must have two exits, with at least one door opening directly outside at ground level.2Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. Licensing Standards for Day Care Homes
Lead-based paint hazards must be evaluated and addressed in any home built before 1978. Separately, facilities serving children under six that were built on or before January 1, 2000, must test every drinking and cooking water source for lead, with action required when results exceed 2.0 parts per billion.4Illinois Department of Public Health. Testing Schools and Child Care Facilities for Lead in Water Only the Illinois EPA laboratory or EPA-certified labs can perform the testing.5Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. FAQ on Lead Testing for Day Care Centers, Day Care Homes and Group Day Care Homes
What Rule 407 Requires for Day Care Centers
Director and Teacher Credentials
Every day care center needs a designated director. Directors hired on or after July 1, 2017, must hold at least an associate degree in child development or early childhood education, or the equivalent of 64 semester hours in any discipline with a minimum of 21 semester hours in child development or early childhood education, plus either an Illinois Director Credential or coursework in child care administration.6Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Administrative Code Title 89 – Section 407.130 Qualifications for Child Care Director
Early childhood teachers need either 60 semester hours of college credit with at least six hours in child development, or a combination of one year of supervised child development experience plus 30 semester hours with six hours in child development.7Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. Licensing Standards for Day Care Centers – Rules 407 Assistants have lower thresholds but cannot be left alone with children without a qualified teacher present.
Staff-to-Child Ratios
Ratios tighten as children get younger:
- Infants, 6 weeks through 14 months: 1 staff per 4 children, maximum group size 12
- Toddlers, 15 through 23 months: 1 staff per 5 children, maximum group size 15
- Two-year-olds: 1 staff per 8 children, maximum group size 16
- Three- and four-year-olds: 1 staff per 10 children, maximum group size 20
- Five-year-olds and school-age: 1 staff per 20 children, maximum group size 20 (or 30 when kindergartners are present)
When children of different ages share a room, the ratio defaults to the youngest child in the group.8Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Administrative Code Title 89 – Section 407.190 A qualified teacher with an assistant may supervise up to 30 children if every child is at least five years old. During nap time, centers can drop to 50 percent of the required qualified staff in the room as long as the full ratio is maintained on the premises, but this exception does not apply to infant and toddler rooms.
Facility Standards
Plumbing scales with enrollment. A center serving 1 to 10 children (excluding infants) needs at least one toilet and one sink. From 11 to 25 children, the minimum rises to two of each, with another toilet and sink added for roughly every 25 children after that. Potty chairs used during toilet training do not count toward the required number.9Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Administrative Code Title 89 – Section 407.340 Diapering and Toileting Procedures
Windows or mechanical ventilation must circulate fresh air through classrooms and restrooms. Food preparation areas must be separate from play spaces and comply with local health department sanitation codes. Centers also need a dedicated isolation area for children who become ill during the day.10Legal Information Institute. Illinois Administrative Code Title 89 – Section 407.370 Physical Plant/Indoor Space
Insurance
Day care centers must carry public liability insurance of at least $300,000 per occurrence before DCFS will issue even a temporary permit. Any vehicle used by the center that requires a school bus driver permit must carry at least $1,000,000 in combined single-limit liability coverage per accident.7Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. Licensing Standards for Day Care Centers – Rules 407 Proof of coverage, meaning a copy of the policy, binder, certificate of insurance, or a letter from the carrier, must be on file before operations begin.
Background Checks for Everyone Involved
Every adult connected to the operation has to clear a background check. Illinois runs two tiers. A partial check covers the Illinois Child Abuse and Neglect Tracking System (CANTS) and the Illinois Sex Offender Registry, plus equivalent registries in any state where the person has lived in the past five years.11Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. Background Check Process
The comprehensive check adds an Illinois State Police criminal history search, the National Sex Offender Registry, a fingerprint-based FBI criminal records search, and the National Crime Information Center database. For staff who have lived out of state in the past five years, each of those states’ criminal repositories, sex offender registries, and child abuse databases are checked as well. Form CFS 718-B-DC authorizes the checks and is available on the DCFS provider forms page.12Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. Commonly Used Provider Forms
What the Application Packet Includes
The application begins with Form CFS 597, the Application for Child Care Facility License.13Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. CFS 597 Application for Child Care Facility License Form CFS 508 lists every person employed at the facility and their roles. Medical reports for all staff confirming freedom from communicable diseases and current immunizations complete the personnel paperwork.12Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. Commonly Used Provider Forms
Scaled floor plans showing room dimensions, exits, fire extinguishers, and play areas are required. For buildings serving children under six that were built on or before January 1, 2000, lead testing results from an EPA-certified laboratory are required for every sink and fountain used for drinking, cooking, or preparing formula. Any result at 2.01 parts per billion or higher triggers a written mitigation plan that must be posted at the facility and submitted to the licensing representative.5Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. FAQ on Lead Testing for Day Care Centers, Day Care Homes and Group Day Care Homes Character references and a statement of financial stability round out the packet, and centers add their proof of liability insurance.
Inspection, Permit, and Full License
Mail the completed packet to the DCFS Regional Office serving your county. A licensing representative is assigned and will schedule an initial site visit to walk through the facility, verify it matches your floor plans, and check compliance with Rule 406 or 407.
If the facility passes, DCFS issues a six-month permit. You can begin operating while the representative continues to monitor compliance and staff performance. Providers who demonstrate consistent compliance across the permit period receive a full license valid for three years.1Justia. 225 ILCS 10 – Child Care Act of 1969
Unannounced inspections continue throughout the three-year term. Each inspection produces a formal report the provider must sign and keep on file. If deficiencies are found, the licensing representative issues a corrective action plan with a deadline, typically no more than 30 days, though serious violations may require immediate correction or action within a few days.14Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. The Monitoring Process for Licensed Day Care Facilities Failing to correct violations can result in denial of the full license or revocation of the temporary permit.
Written Emergency Plan
DCFS expects facilities to maintain written emergency plans covering evacuation, shelter-in-place, and lockdown procedures. The components recognized as best practice include a risk assessment identifying hazards specific to your location, assigned emergency roles for each staff member, coordination with local first responders, stocked emergency supply kits, and regular drills including tabletop exercises.15Head Start Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center. Emergency Preparedness Manual for Early Childhood Programs Plans must account for children with disabilities and special health care needs, including how they will be evacuated or sheltered. Licensing representatives will want to see the plan during inspections and may ask to review drill logs.
Federal Rules That Sit on Top
DCFS licensing is the state layer. Two federal requirements apply alongside it.
Privately run child care centers must comply with Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act. You cannot exclude a child based on assumptions about their disability; you must make an individualized assessment of whether you can meet the child’s needs without fundamentally altering your program. ADA compliance covers three areas: reasonable modifications to policies and practices, auxiliary aids for effective communication unless the cost is an undue burden, and removal of architectural barriers when readily achievable. Any facility built for first occupancy after March 15, 2012, must fully comply with the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design.16ADA.gov. Commonly Asked Questions about Child Care Centers and the Americans with Disabilities Act You cannot charge a surcharge to cover accommodations, and higher insurance premiums are not a valid reason to refuse enrollment. Small child care businesses may qualify for a federal tax credit covering 50 percent of eligible accessibility expenditures up to $10,250 per year, plus a separate deduction of up to $15,000 per year for barrier removal.
You also need a federal Employer Identification Number before hiring employees or filing business taxes. If you are forming an LLC, partnership, or corporation, register the entity with Illinois first; applying for an EIN before the state entity exists can create delays. The IRS online application is free, must be completed in a single session (it times out after 15 minutes of inactivity), and issues the EIN immediately upon approval.17Internal Revenue Service. Get an Employer Identification Number Print the confirmation letter right away. You will need the EIN for your DCFS paperwork, bank accounts, and payroll setup.