Keeping Children Safe: Child Care Options & State Licensing Rules
Some Colorado families choose a licensed child care center or a licensed family child care home. Other families choose license-exempt care provided by a family member, friend, or neighbor. It’s important for families to understand the difference between licensed and license-exempt child care and what type of child care situations require a child care license.
Licensed Child Care Centers - A Child Care Center license is required when caring for 5 or more children. The care takes place in a dedicated building. The license should be posted to show the ages and number of children the program is licensed for.
Licensed Family Child Care Homes - A Family Child Care Home (FCCH) license allows a provider to care for up to 6 children with no more than 2 children under 18 months. There are other types of Family Child Care Home licenses with different capacities. The license should be posted in the home.
License-Exempt Child Care - License-exempt child care includes care provided by a family member, friend or neighbor. License-exempt providers can care for up to 4 unrelated children with no more than 2 children under age 2. Can care for more than 4 children if children are siblings from the same family.
Keep in mind that nanny shares and other informal types of care may be required to be licensed.
- Is your child’s provider required to have a child care license? (English)
- ¿Debe tener el proveedor de cuidado infantil de su hijo una licencia? (español)
Research Licensed Child Care Programs
At ColoradoShines.com, you can find information about every licensed child care program in the state and its history. The search results show what ages the program serves, languages spoken, if the program can support children with special needs, if the program accepts the Colorado Child Care Assistance Program (CCCAP), and other information.
Click on the VIEW DETAILS button to review the program’s inspection reports and any complaints filed against the program.
If you want details about an investigation into a child care program or would like more information on a program's licensing history, submit a request for a public file review or call 1-800-799-5876.
Use the Child Care Checklist to Assess the Quality and Safety of a Program or Provider
Once you’ve decided that a program or provider looks like a good fit for your family, it’s important to visit the program in person so you can see for yourself where your child will be cared for and talk to the provider.
Depending on the child care setting you are visiting, download and print a child care checklist. It has a list of the most important things to look for in a child care program or provider and questions to ask.
Child Care Centers
Family Child Care Homes
License-Exempt Child Care
At ColoradoShines.com you can find detailed information about every licensed child care program in the state.
You will notice that each program has a Colorado Shines quality rating, Level 1 to 5. All licensed child care programs in the state automatically receive a Colorado Shines Level 1 rating. Programs can voluntarily choose to participate in a process to demonstrate quality and earn a higher quality rating.
In the search results on ColoradoShines.com, click on the blue VIEW DETAILS button to review all of the reports of inspection about a program.
- Inspection Report (ROI) - The first report listed in this section is the report from the annual monitoring visit. All the other reports are investigations of potential licensing violations.
- Complaints Made Against the Program - This is an important section for families to review. Read through the linked reports to understand how severe the complaint was and whether it was founded or unfounded.
- Investigations Following Child Abuse/Neglect Assessments (Stage II) - If there are reports linked in this section, it means there was an incident that was referred to the county to investigate possible child abuse or neglect. This is the Stage I investigation. Stage II investigations are conducted by the Colorado Department of Early Childhood to determine if any violations of child care rules and regulations occurred as a result of the reported incident. This is a very important section to review. Call 1-800-799-5876 for assistance reading these reports.
- Investigations of Reported Injuries at the Program - When a child is injured at a program, an investigation is performed and a report is created. This is another important section to review carefully.
- Actions Impacting the Status of the Program License (Adverse Action) - If there are reports linked in this section, that means that the program’s license has been negatively impacted due to licensing violations. If you see that a program was on probation more than six months ago and there is nothing listed after, that means the program is back on a permanent license.
If you want more details about investigations into a program or more information on a program's history, submit a request for a public file review.
If you need help understanding inspection reports about a program, call 1-800-799-5876.
The Colorado Shines Resource & Referral Line helps families find licensed child care programs and providers. Child Care Navigators respond to phone calls, email and online inquiries. This is a free service for families.
Families can call 1.877.338.2273, complete the online intake form, or email childcarereferrals@unitedwaydenver.org.
The State of Colorado recognizes only three situations where child care providers are exempt from licensing requirements. Providing care without a license outside of these three situations is considered unlicensed, illegal child care.
Providing child care that requires a license without a license is against the law. Those responsible will face legal consequences. Download the fact sheet for more information.
Consequences for providing illegal child care (English)
Las consecuencias por ofrecer cuidado infantil ilegal (español)
The Colorado Safe Child Care Task Force was formed to recommend necessary reforms in child care settings to keep children safe, inform parents and care providers about licensed and unlicensed care options, and work to help prevent illegal child care. The task force reviewed local laws and regulations as well as national best practice models to make recommendations for reforms in Colorado.
Click here for a list of voting members of the Safe Child Care Task Force. Members were chosen based on a variety of qualifications and were carefully reviewed to ensure they are a fair representation of Coloradans and the people providing, needing and accessing child care across the state.
Read the final report of the Safe Child Care Task Force. Read the updates of the report recommendations.