Child Care Licensing

The Early Childhood Licensing Unit is responsible for licensing child care programs in North Dakota. The team includes:

• Licensing specialists
• Licensing supervisors
• A resource and referral specialist
• A licensing administrator

They are your first contact when applying for a license or certification. This team also sets policies and health and safety standards for licensed and certified child care programs.

Find a Licensing Specialist Near You

According to state law, anyone providing care, supervision, education, or guidance to children in exchange for money (or other goods or services) may need a license.

You must be licensed if you care for:

• More than 5 children total, or
• More than 3 children under 24 months old

You can choose to become a self-declared provider if you care for:

• 5 or fewer children total, of which no more than 3 are under 24 months old

Learn More About Types of Care

Licensing ensures child care providers meet important health and safety requirements under both state law and the federal Child Care and Development Fund.

The Child Care and Development Fund helps low-income families in North Dakota afford child care while they work toward financial stability. More than 4,100 children from 2,600 families receive support through this program.

To receive these federal funds, providers must meet health and safety standards in 11 key areas. All licensed and self-declared providers must follow these rules.

The state conducts announced and unannounced visits each year to check that providers are following the rules.

Monitoring Visits

To help keep children safe and healthy, licensing specialists visit each licensed and self-declared child care program at least twice a year:

• One scheduled (announced) visit
• One drop-in (unannounced) visit

These visits check whether programs are meeting health and safety rules.

See Monitoring Results Online

You can view a program’s monitoring results from the past three years in a program’s profile using North Dakota’s online child care search tool.

Correction Orders

If a program is out of compliance with a licensing rule or law, a Correction Order may be issued. This order tells the provider:

• What the problem is
• What needs to be fixed
• How much time they have to fix it

Program owners or directors can dispute a Correction Order through the online Child Care Licensing system.

View Correction Orders Online

You can view Correction Orders from the past three years, including those related to substantiated complaints, in a program’s profile using North Dakota’s online child care search tool.

Compliance Plans

When a child care program continues to have trouble meeting laws and rules, a Compliance Plan may be put in place to support improvement.

These plans are based on the issues listed in the Correction Order and may include:

• Simple fixes with minimal support
• More complex changes that need ongoing help and monitoring

Each Compliance Plan is tailored to what the program needs to get back on track.

Child care providers are mandated reporters. This means they must report any suspected child abuse or neglect right away.

To report suspected child abuse and neglect, call the statewide toll-free Child Abuse & Neglect Reporting Line 1-833-958-3500, 711 (TTY), between 8 a.m.–5 p.m. CT, Monday-Friday (7 a.m.– 4 p.m. MT).

• A dedicated team of specialized child protection intake professionals will answer and gather all needed facts so local CPS workers in the human service zones can act more quickly to protect children.
• Please know that calls to local human service zone offices to report suspected child abuse and neglect are rerouted to the centralized Child Abuse & Neglect Reporting Line.

IMPORTANT: If it's an EMERGENCY and a child is in immediate DANGER, CALL 9-1-1 NOW.

You do not need a food license if your program is:

• In a home you live in.
• Licensed for 30 or fewer children.

You may need a food license if your program is:

• Licensed for more than 30 children, and
• In a building that is not a private home.

Before starting any construction or changes to your facility, contact your local food licensing authority to find out what’s required.

Learn More About Food Service Requirements