South Dakota DSS Child Care Services
South Dakota has the widest unregulated band in the country. SDCL 26-6-14.8 describes an unregistered family day care home as a family home caring for twelve or fewer children, including children under six living in the home, without payment directly or indirectly of any public funds, and 26-6-14.2 requires nothing of it. Care paid from public funds is family day care under 26-6-14.1 and needs a registration certificate from the Department of Social Services, still capped at twelve. Thirteen to twenty children in any facility, including a family home, is a group family day care home, and twenty-one or more is a day care center; both need a child welfare agency license under 26-6-9.
| Tier | Children | Age limits | Your own kids |
|---|---|---|---|
| Family day care home (registration certificate)registration | up to 12 |
| Count |
| Group family day care homelicense gfdch | 13 to 20 |
| Count |
Age limits and totals for every tier, with row-level citations, live on the South Dakota home daycare ratios page.
Registration attaches to care paid for directly or indirectly out of public funds. A home paid only by parents stays unregistered up to twelve children. A home that wants child care assistance payments must register, and a registered home follows ARSD 67:42:17.
Every statutory tier counts children under the age of six living in the home. Children six and older who live there are not in any counting sentence.
Under ARSD 67:42:17:23 a registered provider working alone may have no more than four children under two, and no more than three of those under one. With a family day care assistant present, up to eight may be under two.
Operating a child welfare agency without a license, or receiving children for care without a registration when 26-6-14.2 requires one, is a Class 2 misdemeanor under SDCL 26-6-9.
Twelve, counting children under six who live in the home, as long as no public funds pay for the care, per SDCL 26-6-14.8. Thirteen or more requires a group family day care home license.
When care is paid for directly or indirectly out of public funds. SDCL 26-6-14.1 calls that family day care and 26-6-14.2 requires a registration certificate.
A provider alone in a registered home: four under two, three of them under one, per ARSD 67:42:17:23. In a group home each provider may have four under two with no more than two under one, per 67:42:17:22.
A licensed home for thirteen to twenty children, including children under six living in the home, under SDCL 26-6-14(5), staffed at ten children to one adult in a mixed age group.
SDCL 26-6-27 excludes casual care by a baby sitter that is irregular or intermittent, not the person’s vocation, and no more than twenty sitter hours to no more than six children a week.
DaycareRules is an informational reference about home child care licensing rules in the United States. It reprints thresholds, capacity limits, ratios and citations from state statutes and regulations, together with the date each state was last verified. Nothing on this site is legal advice, and rules change. Confirm with your state licensing agency before acting on any number printed here.