Wisconsin Department of Children and Families - Division of Early Care and Education

Bureau of Early Care Regulation

Child Care Certification Policy Manual

Certified in-home care is provided in the child’s home, rather than the operator’s home. The application process for these operators is almost identical to the family operators, however, when a certified operator cares for children in the children’s own home, the requirements marked with a star / asterisk (*) on the Standards and Checklist do not apply. See DCF 202.08(4)(b) for a list of requirements for the in-home operator.

See Certification Policy Module 3 -Certification Application Process – Family / In-Home Child Care for more information regarding the application process for in-home certified operators.

The licensing law does not apply to in-home child care. This means that the in-home operator may care for more than three (3) children under age seven (7) years, unrelated to the operator. Also, the group size can be more than six (6). The operator may not bring other children to the in-home child care setting.

Note: When certifying the in-home operator in the child’s home, the WISCCRS location address must be the physical address where the care is provided. This address must be on the certificate of approval. If the operator wants mail to be sent to his / her own address, the certifier can enter the mailing address in the Alternate Address screen in WISCCRS. An exception may be a parent/client who is participating in the Safe at Home program. The program is for victims of acts or threats of abuse who fear for their safety or the safety of their child or ward. The program, which is administered by the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ), provides participants with an Assigned Address, which is a forwarding mailing address that they may use for all purposes instead of their actual address. The program went into effect on April 1, 2017. The state statute that created Safe at Home, which includes details regarding program eligibility and administration, is Wis. Stat. § 165.68.  The Safe at Home Assigned Address is the same for all participants, with a unique identifier at the end: 3902 Milwaukee St., #S__, PO Box 7188, Madison, WI 53707.

The in-home operator is certified under one of the following categories:

• In-Home Provisional (level II) – meets all certification standards*, but has not yet completed the required department-approved entry level/pre-service training.

• In-Home Regular (Level I) – meets all standards* and has completed the department-approved entry level/pre-service training.

This page last updated 01/2020.