How to Start a Home Daycare in Tennessee

Tennessee makes you choose a provider category before anything else, and picking wrong means redoing paperwork. There are two home-based license types, and the line between them is the number of unrelated children in your care.

Family Child Care Home: 5 to 7 unrelated children. Total capacity tops out at 12 when you include your own children under age 9. One caregiver can manage up to 7 unrelated children as long as no more than 4 children are under age 2; if related children bring the total above 7, 2 educators are required when no more than 4 are under age 2, and 3 when 5 or more are under age 2.

Group Child Care Home: 8 to 12 unrelated children, with up to 3 additional school-agers during before/after school hours and summer (15 total max). Requires additional staff based on the age mix.

If you plan to care for four or fewer unrelated children, you do not need a license. But you also cannot accept CCAP subsidy payments or CACFP meal reimbursement, and you have no zoning protection under HB 1175.

The TDHS Pre-Licensure Process

The Tennessee Department of Human Services manages licensing through a 10-step sequential workflow. You cannot skip ahead — each step unlocks the next.

Steps 1–5: Onboarding (3 to 6 weeks)

Contact the Pre-Licensure Unit at [email protected]. They assign a Program Specialist who walks you through registration on the eLicensing portal, the 8-hour virtual Orientation (held monthly), and the 2-day Small Business Academy through the CCR&R Network. Both training courses are free.

While waiting for training sessions, get every household member aged 15 or older to their IdentoGo fingerprint appointment. TDHS covers the cost, but the screening must complete before you can advance.

Steps 6–7: Application and Inspections (4 to 10 weeks)

You enter your operational data — business structure, staffing plans, floor plans — into the eLicensing portal. Your Program Specialist then schedules an on-site measuring visit to calculate your child capacity using the 30-square-foot-per-child formula (excluding kitchens, bathrooms, hallways, and area taken up by cribs).

After the measuring visit, three inspections are triggered: State Fire Marshal, Environmental Health, and Choose Safe Places environmental screening. You also need a zoning clearance letter from your municipality. The inspection scheduling queues (14 to 30 days each) are the biggest timeline bottleneck.

Steps 8–10: Fee Payment and Walk-Throughs (2 to 4 weeks)

Pay the licensing fee ($100 to $200), pass a detailed compliance walk-through, then pass a joint final inspection with your Specialist, a Licensing Consultant, and a Field Supervisor. Provisional license approval arrives 5 to 10 business days later.

Preparing Your Home

Indoor space: Measure every room you will use for child activities or napping. Subtract kitchens, bathrooms, hallways, offices, storage, and floor area occupied by cribs or fixed furniture. Divide the remainder by 30 to get your maximum capacity — though the final number cannot exceed the statutory cap for your provider class.

Outdoor space: Your fenced play area needs at least 50 square feet per child using it at one time. Any pools, hot tubs, or water features require separate locked fencing.

Safety installations: Smoke alarms on every level, carbon monoxide detectors within 10 feet of sleeping areas, a fire extinguisher in the kitchen. Since April 2025, family homes qualify under Appendix AM of the 2021 International Residential Code — no commercial fire systems required.

Zoning: What Changed in 2025

The 2025 zoning preemption law (HB 1175/SB 1379, effective July 1, 2025) classifies family child care homes as standard residential properties. Local governments cannot impose special use permits or zoning restrictions beyond what applies to any residence. HOAs are also prohibited from enforcing covenants that ban licensed family or group child care operations.

This does not eliminate the zoning clearance requirement — you still need the letter — but it prevents your municipality from blocking you with special conditions. Nashville's local rules (6 AM to 6 PM operating hours, one daycare per block, no dogs) now conflict with the state preemption for family homes, and providers should understand these protections.

After You Open

Your provisional license allows immediate enrollment. TDHS conducts unannounced inspections at least four times per year to verify ongoing compliance. Daily requirements include health screenings at child arrival, sign-in/sign-out documentation, safe sleep checks every 15 minutes for infants, and maintaining current immunization records for every child.

After one year of licensed operation, you receive a Star Quality Program scorecard rating. A score of 80 to 89 earns a 15% CCAP subsidy bonus; 90 to 100 earns 20%.

The Tennessee Home Daycare Licensing Guide covers every step with fillable worksheets for the space calculation, background check tracking, and a licensing timeline planner.

See more Tennessee guides →