Certified Child Care

Certified family child care provides care in the providers own home. This type of regulation allows you to care for 1 to 3 unrelated children under age 7. The maximum group size for certification is 6 children.

Example: If a provider has two children ages 2 years and 5 years, she can care for three unrelated children under the age of 7 years and one unrelated child over the age of 7 years. This gives her a total of six children.

Certification standards are established under DCF 202- Child Care Certification.

Interested in Certification?
Call us, we are here to help!

Childcaring provides certification in the following counties:

Adams, Clark, Langlade, Lincoln, Marathon, Marquette, Portage, Taylor and Waushara. If you reside outside of the counties above, you can find your local agency here.

Benefits of becoming certified:

  • Listed in the Childcaring referral database
  • Eligible to participate in the Child and Adult Care Food Program to receive reimbursement by serving children healthy food
  • Eligible to receive Wisconsin Shares, program to help families pay for child care
  • Eligible to participate in YoungStar, WI's state quality and improvement program

If you have any questions while navigating the process of becoming certified, please contact Childcaring!  To learn more visit our Starting a Child Care Business page. 

  1. Expression of Interest (EOI): You can submit your interest in certification by setting up your account in the Child Care Provider Portal. The Expression of Interest form will collect basic information, like name, address, email, and what type of child care you are interested in. Select Certified Family, when you submit the EOI to be connected to your local certification agency. They will contact you within a few days to support you along your journey to becoming a regulated child care provider. Click here to view a detailed guide. 
  2. Application: Each counties process may vary slightly, but you can anticipate an application, completing and submitting required paperwork, and a certification fee may be needed. Additional required materials include Background Check Request forms, educational documentation, verification such as well water results, tuberculosis screening results, and pet vaccinations, if applicable. The Certification Agency will provide you with the required paperwork that must be COMPLETED before a home visit can be scheduled.
  3. Home Visit: The local Certification Agency will make an appointment and complete a home visit to verify all standards are met prior to certification being granted.
  4. Decision: Upon successful completion of all required paperwork, background checks, and home visit the Certification Agency will make a determination to approve or deny the application.