Is Your Child Care Legal

Wisconsin State Law

No person shall for compensation provide care and supervision for 4 or more children under the age of seven for less than 24 hours a day unless he obtains a license to operate a day care center from the WI Department of Children and Families. THE LAW APPLIES WHEN…There are 4 or more children at any one time under the age of seven Care is outside of the child’s own home. The caregiver is a non-relative/non-guardian by state definition. The child care is for compensation. The parents are off the premises. The child care is less than 24 hours per day.

Choosing child care is one of the most important decisions families make, but all too often they must rely on word-of-mouth, or more recently, the internet. Social media (Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube) and other advancements in technology have created an easy platform for private marketing companies to disguise themselves as sources of unbiased child care information. These companies claim to provide free “referrals” to local child care programs, but only refer to child care programs that pay a membership fee. In addition, do-it yourself sites including CRAIGSLIST make it easy for unregulated and/or unscrupulous child care providers to prey on unsuspecting families. Unregulated, illegally operating child care is not monitored and can even be dangerous to the health and safety of young children. Help us educate families and the community about legally operating, regulated (State Licensed or County Certified) child care.