Moving From Home Daycare To Center? In CA
 

Hi all-

Has anyone moved their home daycare to another location? I know in CA you would no longer be considered a "home daycare" if you do not live in the actual residence you are providing care. I am considering renting a rental and moving my daycare there. It is a home, but I wouldn't live there. I am having trouble finding info on this process. I just emailed my licensing analyst. Can anyone steer me in the right direction? Anyone have experience doing this?
Thank you!

(h) (1) "Home" means the licensee's residence as defined by Government Code Section 244.

Government Code Section 224 states:
In determining the place of residence the following rules shall be observed:

• (a) It is the place where one remains when not called elsewhere for labor or other special or temporary purpose, and to which he or she returns in seasons of repose.
• (b) There can only be one residence.
• (c) A residence cannot be lost until another is gained.
• (d) The residence of the parent with whom an unmarried minor child maintains his or her place of abode is the residence of such unmarried minor child.
• (e) The residence of an unmarried minor who has a parent living cannot be changed by his or her own act.
• (f) The residence can be changed only by the union of act and intent.
• (g) A married person shall have the right to retain his or her legal residence in the State of
• California notwithstanding the legal residence or domicile of his or her spouse.

http://www.cdss.ca.gov/ord/entres/ge...pdf/fccman.pdf

Hi Black Cat.

Sorry I wasn't clear. Yes, I know it wouldn't be considered a home daycare. It would be considered a center. I am trying to find info on making this switch. Thanks!

Oops, sorry...I misread your original post.

I am not in CA but from what I understand from reading the rules/regulations, it looks like a license is not transferable and you will need to re-apply for a center license as if you are a new provider.

Also the only other "roadblocks" or issues I see that are different than family care is that many facilities licensed for center care require commercial fire safety equipment and/or some other commercial things.

You'd need to fully read up on those requirements though to find out for sure...

Here is the link to all the center rules: https://www.daycare.com/california/c...irements1.html

Hope that helps! :)

Regardless of it being a new construction, remodeling a commercial building, or a residential house the requirements will be similar. Not in CA but when we started a center converted from a duplex we stripped the place down to the studs. It was easier to tear it all out and rebuild than it was to try to retrofit everything we would have needed.

Originally Posted by mandy2552:
Hi all-

Has anyone moved their home daycare to another location? I know in CA you would no longer be considered a "home daycare" if you do not live in the actual residence you are providing care. I am considering renting a rental and moving my daycare there. It is a home, but I wouldn't live there. I am having trouble finding info on this process. I just emailed my licensing analyst. Can anyone steer me in the right direction? Anyone have experience doing this?
Thank you!

First, you need a degree to be director of a center. In addition to your ECE units, you'll need a certain number of business management units. I'm not sure how many. The only thing that transfers with you is your background check and your immunizations. You may need a new TB test as well..but that's not a big deal and will depend on where you live.

Hi! Thanks! Yes I’m already qualified for that. I have a masters degree in ECE. I’m just trying to find info on making the switch. Thanks :)

It's not really a switch, more like starting over from scratch. Do you have the business classes as well?

Regulations for centers are very different than FCC. You will need to attend the Director Orientation (I believe three sessions). Staffing ratios are 1:12 preschool and school age. 1:4 infants. You must have qualified staff. You can not have mixed age groups. Infants are up to 2. Preschool is 2-5. School age is 5 and up.

You must have 35 square feet indoors per child. 75 square feet outdoors per child. Again, outdoors you cannot mix age groups.

You will have to be permitted by the city/county, in addition to your facility license, which is more expensive than FCC license.

There are alot of other regs, but I wanted to give you a general idea.

I work for the CA Dept. of Ed. If you'd like to talk more about it, PM me and I will give you my work number. (I am traveling next week, but will be in the office the following week.)

This is one path I am considering to take as well so I am glad you are asking these questions...

My understanding is you are starting from scratch - leave the workd of FCC and entering the world of a Childcare Center. The educational requirements for a Director (both in terms of ECE and Business are significantly more but not so difficult - if you do not have them you could hire a director as an employee while working to complete them yourself).

The challenge I see in your scenario is running the program out of a home.... if the home is not already zoned commercial use for children it could take a lot of money and time to get it to that point. I personally love the idea of expanding my program to a home I do not live in but watching a friend going thru that process she has now shifted to trying to lease a commercial space already zoned (i.e. a prior large home daycare closing, a church with a nursery school not in use Monday - Friday, etc.) That would likely be the easiest.

Best of luck and keep us updated.

I am in CA. If it is a residential home then you can only operate as a family child care home and therefore have to live in the home. If you find a building that is a home and want to run a licensed facility without having to live there then you would have to change the zoning from residential to commercial for that home. It's doable, just not sure what the process is to change the zoning. You'd have to speak to the owner also and the owner I'm assuming would have to give his permission and sign the official documents. You would of course do all of the leg work and pay the fees. There are however many older homes that have been converted into offices/commercial spaces that are already re-zoned. If the house you have in mind is one of these then you can apply and operate a daycare center because it has already been rezoned.

Family child care is one of the few business types that can be run in a residential home only family child care homes are protected. A child care center license would not qualify you to be able to run a center in a rented residential home in this state.

I recommend speaking to your local Community Care Licensing office and asking them what they would require, they can give you a more clear answer. Also take the daycare center orientation which will answer a lot of questions and will cover the basics of running a center. That way you can get a better feel for whether it's doable in a "house" or not and whether you feel up to the added regulations. It should be available online (FCC orientations are now available online so I'm assuming DCC have them too) but if there is an in-person one you may want to go that one instead so you can ask specific questions afterwards.

MarinaVanessa, thanks for all that helpful info about CA homes as centers! I didn’t know jones would have to be refined, if they weren’t already. I’m planning on running my daycare out of my home, but it’s nice to know what it would take to have an operation like BlackCat’s in CA.

Btw, I grew up in Ventura, on (in?) the east side. My parents’ house narrowly escaped burning down. I’m so glad you escaped and are fine. I’m in the Bay Area, the South Bay, and the smoke here from the Napa fires was so bad, I couldn’t even imagine how terrible it must have been for you who were right in it. Anyway, hi from a (former) Venturan!

Hello back!! I'm so glad that your parents' home was saved. I took a drive around upper Andolando and above Foothill yesterday and it's so tragic. One home is fine, another home is fine, the next one is just a lot that has already been bulldozed, the next is fine, the next is a pile of burnt rubble ... just like that over and over, street after street. It's so sad and tragic. PS, I live on the east side also ;)

Originally Posted by TooManyKitties:
MarinaVanessa, thanks for all that helpful info about CA homes as centers! I didn’t know jones would have to be refined, if they weren’t already. I’m planning on running my daycare out of my home, but it’s nice to know what it would take to have an operation like BlackCat’s in CA.

Btw, I grew up in Ventura, on (in?) the east side. My parents’ house narrowly escaped burning down. I’m so glad you escaped and are fine. I’m in the Bay Area, the South Bay, and the smoke here from the Napa fires was so bad, I couldn’t even imagine how terrible it must have been for you who were right in it. Anyway, hi from a (former) Venturan!

Wow, thanks for the update. I haven’t been back since before the fire, so I haven’t seen anything first hand. I can’t imagine how devastated everything must be. My parents have moved away, so they weren’t in the house, but still. Their place is close to Victoria and Foothill, and houses just on the other side of Foothill burned. The church I grew up going to was a fire command center too. It’s so strange seeing so much devistation come so close to places I knew so well.