Child Care
Choosing a Child Care Provider
If you need help providing child care for your child, contact your
local Early Learning Coalition
Finding a child care facility or family day care home for your child is a very important decision. The following questions and resources may help you as you talk to and visit child care centers before deciding on the right fit for your child:
- Is the facility licensed by the State of Florida?
- Are all teachers are up-to-date on training requirements?
- Does the facility meet all staff-to-child ratios?
Ratio for Center-Based Care 4 infants (less than one-year old) : 1 caregiver
6 one-year olds: 1 caregiver
11 two-year olds : 1 caregiver
15 three-year olds : 1 caregiver
20 four-year olds : 1 caregiver
25 five-year olds and older : 1 caregiver
Ratio for Home-Based Care 4 infants (less than one-year old): 1 caregiver
3 infants + 3 additional children (6 children maximum) : 1 caregiver
6 pre-school children (if all are older than 1 year) : 1 caregiver
10 children (if no more than 5 are preschool age and of those 5, no more than 2 are under 1 year) : 1 caregiver
- What kind of curriculum do they offer? Is it developmentally appropriate?
- Does staff have positive, nurturing interaction with the children?
- Do the children appear to be happy and comfortable in their surroundings?
- Are the children constantly supervised? Is each staff member responsible for the same children each day?
- How do they keep parents informed about their child's progress and school updates? How frequently are communications sent to parents?
- Does the facility have clean, safe surroundings?
- Do they provide healthy, nutritious snacks and/or meals?
The Quality Checklist for Evaluating Early Learning Programs will be useful to take with you as you visit child care facilities and/or homes.
Additional information and requirements regarding all the above issues see the Laws & Requirements page.
