What is a Family Child Care center?

Child care facilities in Maryland are not regulated the same way across the board.  Instead, these facilities, which are overseen by the Maryland Department of Education, are broken into different categories. 

In this state, three categories of child care exist: Family Child Care Homes, Letter of Compliance facilities and Child Care Centers.

Each of these categories is regulated by its own code and has its own set of items that get reviewed during their required inspections. 

So you can better understand the state system, here is a breakdown of what defines each type of facility.

FAMILY CHILD CARE HOME

According to the state, family child care homes are programs operated by professional caregivers in private homes. 

The regulations say as many as eight children can be cared for at the home at the same time, although no more than two of these children, including the caregiver's own, may be under two years old unless additional staff are present. 

And the state says no more than four children under the age of two can be cared for at the same time.