I want to know where i can get a day care license in Oregon?

Question

I am interested in starting an in home daycare and I am not sure if i need to be licensed or not and if I do where do i go to get one. Do you need to take in courses?

Answer 1

As for the licenses and requirements in your state, the Administration for Children and Families provide a state by state listing of contacts for licensing and regulations governing child care businesses:
http://www.nccic.org/statedata/dirs/regoffic.html

In Oregon, this is the agency that handles licensing of daycares

Oregon Department of Employment
Child Care Division
875 Union Street, NE
Salem, OR 97311
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Web site: http://findit.emp.state.or.us/childcare/
E-mail: [e-mail]

According to their website, some child care in Oregon does not require any registration or certification from the Child Care Division; http://egov.oregon.gov/EMPLOY/CCD/forProviders.shtml#Becoming_a_Child_Care_Provider

Child care is exempt from regulation if:

- The provider cares for three or fewer children in addition to the provider’s own children
- The provider cares for any number of children from the same family
- The care is provided in the home of the child
- The care is provided by the child’s parent or guardian or a relative
- The care is provided on an occasional basis by someone who does not usually provide child care
- The facility provides a preschool program that operates for less than four hours per day and provides education to children from age 3 through school age
- The facility provides training on a specific subject such as dancing, drama, music etc.
- The facility is an organized club or hobby group providing short athletic or social activities, such as soccer, scouts etc.
- The facility is operated by a governmental agency

If you are planning to start a daycare business, I suggest you first make a business plan. Even if you will not be applying for a bank loan, a business plan helps you to think through your business - what it needs, who it will benefit, how much it will cost, and what is its potential. Here are free business plans on childcare business that you may want to look into:

http://www.sba.gov/library/pubs/mp-30.doc
http://www.misbtdc.org/documents/BPWORKBK.pdf
http://www.misbtdc.org/documents/CDCPLAN.pdf
http://sbdcnet.utsa.edu/sbic/bplans.htm

You may want to read the free article "How To Start Your Own Day Care Center" http://www.powerhomebiz.com/vol40/daycare.htm It covers various aspects of starting and running a daycare center including the demand for daycare centers, how to start this business, shoestring strategies, how to operate a daycare center, tips on caring for the children, income potential, how to manage your daycare, marketing your business and other additional income potential. There are so many things to learn about the business that the first step is to read everything you can find.

Other articles you may want to read:

Starting a Child Day Care Business http://www.libsci.sc.edu/BOB/class/clis748/Studentwebguides/ss02/pollack2.htm
Childcare.net http://childcare.net/indexnew.shtml
Starting a child-care services business http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/0,4621,290241,00.html
HOW TO START A QUALITY CHILD CARE BUSINESS http://www.sba.gov/library/pubs/mp-29.pdf

For in-depth information, I suggest checking out the following books:

- Start and Run a Profitable Home Day Care
- The Daycare Provider's Workbook
- Start Your Own At-Home Child Care Business
- So You Want to Open a Profitable Child Care Center :
Everything You Need to Know to Plan, Organize and Implement a Successful Program

It is also important that you learn the tax rules affecting daycare centers, especially if you are going to open one from your home. Here is the IRS page on child care centers: http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/industries/content/0,,id=99878,00.html

Answer 2

Start with the Human Services Department (Welfare) in your area. You can also try Department of Health if they cannot help you they can refer you to an organization who can.
MML

Answer 3

Here's a good web site that should be able to help you with all of your questions:

http://www.daycare.com/oregon/