Texas

Permit types

Texas uses the categories below. Your numbers decide which one applies, and the category sets the fee and the inspection schedule.

Fees

State fees are listed below. Local inspections, fingerprint vendors and tests can add costs that the state does not set.

Forms index

The forms the agency publishes for this path. Links open the official form or the agency’s form page. Confirm the current version with your licensing office before you submit.

Background checks

Checks run through the Centralized Background Check Unit before a person provides care, and continue on a recurring basis.

CCR performs name-based Texas criminal history checks, fingerprint-based Texas and FBI checks, Texas Central Registry checks, multi-agency reportable conduct checks, out-of-state checks and sex offender registry checks.

The provider page states the rule plainly: checks must be completed before a person provides direct care or has direct access to children in care, and on a recurring basis thereafter.

• Fingerprints are submitted for the fingerprint-based Texas and FBI check.
• A person with a history of abuse, neglect or certain criminal history may be prohibited from being at the operation.
• The background check fee is $2 per request; the fingerprint vendor charges separately.

Training hours

Texas separates pre-service safety training from the annual clock-hour requirement.

• Pediatric first aid with rescue breathing and choking, plus pediatric CPR: primary caregiver before registration or licensing, substitutes before being counted in ratio, assistants within 90 days.
• Orientation to the home: within 7 days of employment and before unsupervised access to a child.
• 30 clock hours of annual training for the primary caregiver, within 12 months and each 12-month period after.
• 15 clock hours of annual training for a substitute or assistant in a registered home, and 24 hours in a licensed home, when counted in ratio more than 10 times in a training year.
• At least 6 of the annual hours must cover child growth and development, guidance, health, safety, nutrition, emergency preparedness or child abuse reporting.

Space and capacity

The licensed home needs both indoor activity space and outdoor play space measured per child.

• At least 30 square feet of indoor useable activity space for each child in care.
• At least 80 square feet of outdoor activity space for each child using the outdoor area at one time.
• Indoor space is measured wall to wall at floor level. Bathrooms, hallways, storage, the cooking area of a kitchen and fixed fixtures are excluded.
• Licensing limits the number of children to the indoor space available, so a 12-child permit still depends on the room.

Child to caregiver ratios

One caregiver can supervise up to 12 children, but the mix of ages lowers that number. The table shows the main combinations from the licensed-home rule.

Inspections

Inspection frequency follows the permit type, not the size of the home.

• Licensed child care home: at least one unannounced monitoring inspection each year.
• Registered child care home: at least one unannounced inspection every one to two years.
• Listed family home: not routinely inspected unless a complaint alleges a violation of the minimum standards.
• After the application inspection, CCR issues an initial or full permit once the home demonstrates compliance.

Renewal and the annual cycle

Texas does not put a fixed expiry date on the face of the home permit in the materials reviewed. The permit stays valid through the renewal process and the annual obligations repeat on the anniversary.

• Annual fee due on the anniversary of permit issuance.
• Proof of liability insurance provided each year by the anniversary.
• At least one unannounced inspection a year for a licensed home.
• 30 clock hours of annual training for the primary caregiver.
• Report a change in the operation, such as capacity, to CCR before acting on it.

Contacts and complaints

Who to call for the application, a complaint about a home, or a question about the license.