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Licensed Child Development Home Checklist


Thursday, October 20, 2016

If you need to find care for your child, one possibility is a licensed Child Development Home (CDH). CDH caregivers:

  • Have to be licensed if they provide care to at least one unrelated child but no more than six children, including the caregiver’s own children; and1
  • Provide care in their home.

Licensed CDH caregivers are much more than babysitters. CDHs offer a safe, learning environment that supports children’s development, education, and growth. Through various indoor and outdoor activities and learning opportunities, CDHs promote children’s social, emotional, physical, and intellectual development. For example, through positive and nurturing interactions with caregiver(s) children’s emotional development is supported. While reading, playing, arts, and other activities support their social, intellectual, and physical development.


Some parents are also more comfortable with CDHs because they offer a home‐like style type of care. In addition, since care is provided in the caregiver’s home they may offer a more flexible schedule, which may not be available at some Child Development Centers. CDHs may also allow the parent‐caregiver relationship to be less formal and more personal.

When choosing a licensed CDH, it is important to find a setting you are comfortable with and a caregiver who shares your attitudes and values about children. Using this checklist, plan to visit the CDH to talk and observe the caregiver with the children.


1Caregivers can care for their own children, if they are under the age of four; however, they count towards the maximum number of children that can be care in a CDH setting.


Related Content: Early Learning Services for Parents - Choosing Child Care