Indiana has many kinds of child care programs.

Program Safety Requirements

• Health & Safety Checklist

  There are many kinds of child care programs. Some programs may operate in large centers with many classrooms, while others may take place in someone's home or within a church or faith-based location. Regardless of which you choose for your family, your child should be healthy and safe throughout the day.

  As you visit a new program or send your child to their current program, here are the essential questions you should ask and items to keep in mind focused on child health and safety.

  Health & Safety Checklist (English)

  Health & Safety Checklist (Spanish)

• Home Settings

  Home settings are called “family child care homes” in Indiana’s regulatory system. They may be required to be licensed by the Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning. However, some home settings may be exempt from this regulation. There are three primary types of family child care homes:

  • Licensed family child care home
  • Not licensed family child care home approved for CCDF vouchers
  • Not licensed – this setting must care for fewer than five unrelated children
• Religious Settings

  This type of care is offered as an extension of a church or not-for-profit religious organization. Registered ministries are not licensed care, and they may or may not use a faith-based curriculum. Registered ministries can fall within three regulatory options:

  • Registered ministries with a voluntarily certified program designation, often called VCP
  • Registered ministries approved for CCDF
  • Registered ministry
• Centers

  A facility designed to provide child care for one or more children in a building that is not a home is called a licensed child care center in Indiana’s regulatory system. Child care centers are required to be licensed unless their hours or the ages they serve allow them to be exempt.

• Preschool and Before- or After-School Programs

  Many of these programs are exempt from licensing. This means that they are not regulated by the Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning. Both preschool and before- or after-school care may be offered in licensed settings such as licensed centers. However, programs that operate less than four hours a day or provide only before- and after-school services are not always regulated or licensed. These programs may choose to become licensed. If they choose to be licensed they would be a licensed center.

• Public or Private Schools Offering Preschool

  Schools offering kindergarten through 12th grade may offer preschool and pre-kindergarten. These programs may meet additional health and safety requirements, but these requirements are not overseen by the Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning unless programs accept funding from the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF).

• School-Based Programs

  These programs are operated by a local school corporation or private school. They may or not be regulated by the Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning. These programs are not required to have a license in order to operate, unless they choose to consistently serve infants or toddlers.