VDOE Early Childhood Care and Education
Virginia draws the line at four: home-based child care serving one through four children, counted exclusive of your own children and children who live in your home, needs no license, and a voluntary registration exists for that range. From the fifth child through the twelfth you need a licensed home (the statute now calls it licensed home-based child care, the regulations still say family day home). Care where every child is related to you by blood or marriage sits outside the system entirely.
| Tier | Children | Age limits | Your own kids |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registered home-based child care (regulatory term: registered family day home)voluntary registration | 1 to 4 |
| Do not count |
| Licensed family day home (statutory term: licensed home-based child care)license | 5 to 12 |
| Do not count |
| Home-based child care provider that is a member of a licensed home-based child care system (regulatory term: family day system member)system membership | 1 to 12 |
| Do not count |
Age limits and totals for every tier, with row-level citations, live on the Virginia home daycare ratios page.
Both the statutory threshold and the licensing capacity rule count children exclusive of the provider's own children and children who reside in the home, per 8VAC20-800-40(B). They do count in the caregiver point system below.
Each child scores by age: 4 points through 15 months, 3 points through 23 months, 2 points for two through four years, 1 point for five through nine, 0 from ten up. One caregiver may not exceed 16 points, counting the caregiver's own and resident children under eight, per 8VAC20-800-570.
2025 and 2026 amendments renamed family day home to home-based child care in the Code of Virginia, while 8VAC20-800 and 8VAC20-850 still use the old term. Both names refer to the tiers on this page.
A provider in the one-to-four range may hold a certificate of registration through a contracting organization, with a fee of up to 50 dollars for two years, per 8VAC20-850-40. It stays voluntary; pending policy changes could make registration mandatory, so re-check before relying on it.
Up to four children, counted exclusive of your own children and children living in your home, under the home-based child care definition in Va. Code 22.1-289.02. The licensed tier starts at five.
No. The threshold and licensed capacity both count children exclusive of the provider's own children and resident children. Your own children under eight do count in the 16-point caregiver load system.
Five through twelve children under 13, exclusive of the provider's own and resident children, with the 16-point system deciding when a second caregiver must be present.
Four. Children from birth through 15 months score 4 points each and one caregiver is capped at 16 points, per 8VAC20-800-570(A).
Care in which all children are related to the provider by blood or marriage is exempt from the child day program framework, per the exemptions read with Va. Code 22.1-289.02 and 22.1-289.030.
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.