Guide
Three legal categories that sound alike and are not. Which door you are behind decides what the state can ask of you.
Almost every state sorts home child care into the same three doors, even though the names on the doors change. Understanding the doors matters more than memorizing any single number, because the number that applies to you is decided by which door you are standing in.
Care the law does not reach. Everywhere, that includes your own children and, nearly everywhere, your relatives' children. Beyond family, states draw the line differently: California counts families (your kids plus one other family's kids, any number); Florida's family day care definition also starts at two unrelated families; Illinois counts heads — three children including your own under 12 — with a single-household exemption; Texas and Kansas have essentially no exempt tier for regular paid care at all. Exempt does not mean invisible: some states still expect exempt homes that take subsidy children to register, and zoning, HOA rules and your lease still apply.
The light-touch middle. Texas lists family homes (up to 3 unrelated children) and registers homes (up to 6 unrelated plus school-age). Florida registers family day care homes in the counties that do not require a license. Registration usually means: the state knows you exist, your adults passed background checks, you meet a shorter list of standards, and inspections are lighter or complaint-driven. It is a real legal status — not a loophole — and operating above the registered tier's caps without upgrading is treated exactly like operating unlicensed.
The full status: application, training hours, home inspection before you open, posted capacity by age mix, unannounced monitoring visits. Pennsylvania calls it a certificate of compliance; the legal weight is identical. Licensing is also the door that unlocks the money side — subsidy families can usually only use licensed or registered care, and the federal food program (CACFP) pays licensed homes.
Providers get in trouble not by choosing the wrong door but by drifting through one: one more child, one more family, a schedule that quietly becomes regular. Each state's line is a trigger with a definition behind it. Run the checker with your real numbers — including your own children, counted the way your state counts them — and re-run it every time the facts change.
Every rule in this guide bends by state. Run your facts through the free checker and read your verdict with its citations.