Texas Child Care Licensing: Rules

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) Child Care Regulation (CCR) regulates child care in Texas. Whether you list, register or get a license depends on how many unrelated children you care for, where, and how often. Homes and centers hold one of three permits: a listing (listed family home), a registration (registered child care home) or a license (licensed child care home or licensed child care center), as HHSC Handbook 2110 sets out. In your own home, you must list if you give regular care for pay to 3 or fewer unrelated children (a home that cares for 3 or fewer may register instead), and register if you care for 4 or more (Human Resources Code (HRC) 42.052).

Texas Child Care Permit Types

Who each permit covers is from HHSC Handbook 2110, and the fees are from Handbook 5210. All four cover children from birth through 13.

CCR charges $2 for every background check. Fingerprinting costs $40.00 for a paid employee or $38.00 for an unpaid person, paid at the appointment (HHSC background check fees).

For the step-by-step opening process, see Opening a Daycare in Texas: Complete Guide.

Who Needs a Child Care License in Texas

You need a license to operate a child-care facility (HRC 42.041(a)). Listed and registered family homes are exempt from that section (HRC 42.041(b)(10)) and hold their own permit instead.

The listing and registration rules apply to regular care: at least 4 hours a day, 3 or more days a week, for 3 or more consecutive weeks, or 4 hours a day on 40 or more days in 12 months (HRC 42.002(17)). A home that cares only for children related to you needs no listing or registration (HRC 42.052(d)). Related means your "children, grandchildren, siblings, great-grandchildren, first cousins, nieces, or nephews," by blood, marriage or court decree (HRC 42.002(16)).

Other exemptions in HRC 42.041(b) include programs open less than 3 consecutive weeks and less than 40 days in 12 months, summer religious classes of two weeks or less, youth camps licensed by the Department of State Health Services, and accredited educational facilities. Care while parents shop, attend religious services or join another activity nearby is exempt when the program does not advertise as child care, tells parents it is not regulated by the state, and keeps each child no more than 4.5 hours a day and 12 hours a week, among other conditions (Handbook 2331).

Texas Ratios and Training

When 13 or more children are in care, a center uses this chart, based on the "specified age" of the children in each group (26 TAC 746.1601 and 746.1609). Two or more caregivers together may not go past the maximum group size (746.1607). When 12 or fewer children are in care, a mixed-age chart applies (746.1701).

A registered home may have up to 12 children at once only when 6 are school-age children there after school and none is younger than 18 months, and the cap falls to 6 when four are that young (26 TAC 747.1701). A licensed home may have up to 12 with no children under 18 months, and fewer when infants are in care (747.1801).

Training from the center and home standards:

• Center staff: orientation within 7 days of employment. Caregivers also need 24 clock hours of pre-service training unless exempt, 8 of them before counting in the ratio and the rest within 90 days, plus pediatric first aid and CPR within 90 days (746.1301).
• Each year, center caregivers need 24 clock hours, at least 1 of them on child maltreatment, and directors need 30 (746.1309, 746.1311).
• In registered and licensed homes, the primary caregiver needs pediatric first aid and CPR before the permit is issued, then 30 clock hours a year (747.1303).

Texas Child Care Rules Changing

HHSC proposed changes to the center rules in the August 14, 2026, Texas Register (HHSC notice). Outdoor activity space would drop from 80 to 75 square feet per child using the area at one time (746.4301). Every center employee would need at least 2 hours of annual training on preventing, recognizing and reporting child abuse, neglect or exploitation, up from at least 1 hour for caregivers now (746.1309). Comments closed in mid-September (HHSC's notice says September 13, and the Register's 31-day wording works out to September 14). The Register lists September 13, 2026 as the earliest possible adoption date, and nothing had been adopted as of the October 16, 2026, issue.

Two House Bill 2789 (2025) changes already apply by statute while the rule text catches up. Since September 1, 2025, an initial license is valid for 12 months and may be renewed for 6 more (HRC 42.051(b)), and HHSC says it regulates by the statute until its rules are updated (HHSC 89th Legislature bill summary). Since January 1, 2026, a license or registration holder must carry $100,000 of liability insurance per occurrence of negligence, down from $300,000 (HRC 42.049(a); HHSC PGL-26-11001). Listed family homes also need $100,000 of coverage, and one that cannot get it must tell parents and HHSC in writing (HRC 42.0495). HHSC proposed matching rules (26 TAC 745.249 and 745.347) in the August 28, 2026, Texas Register, not adopted as of October 16.

Texas Child Care Licensing FAQ