Opening a Child Care Business

Thinking of staring your own child care program?

A number of resources are available for opening a child care business, whether it is a Family Child Care Home or center-based program.

Family Child Care Home:

To open a Family Child Care program, providers are required to be licensed. For licensing information, contact the Sacramento County Department of Health and Human Services at (916) 875-2808 or visit their website at www.sacdhhs.com.

Child Action, Inc. offers an eight part workshop series in how to open and operate a Family Child Care program, including information on licensing requirements and establishing a business plan and managing your business. Workshops are offered in English, Spanish and Russian. For information on these workshops visit the Child Action, Inc. event calendar at www.childaction.org or contact a member of the Resource Team at (916) 369-0191.

Center Based Child Care:

Child care centers must meet state licensing requirements. Contact Community Care Licensing, River City Regional Office at (916) 2290-4530.

Need help with the process? A good place to start is with the Resource Guide, developed by the Constructing Connections project. The guide provides resources and information on steps necessary for meeting not only program licensing requirements, but also zoning, fire marshall and business permit requirements. For questions or more information on the Resource Guide, contact Jigna Shah at (916) 369-0191.

Child Action, Inc. also offers assistance through a Facilities Coordinator. Contact Emma Baier at (916) 369-0191 for more information.

Statisical Detail By Zip Code

Statistical data denoting population characteristics such as family income, ethnicity and ages of children, as well as data on child care supply and cost for each area is available for Sacramento County zip codes.

Take me to the zip code data sheets