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What does a licensed daycare or family child care home in California usually shop?
Published 2026-10-15 by Insurance City Agency, LLC, CA License #6003045. Leer en español
A licensed family child care home, small or large, or a child care center usually asks us to shop a program, not a single piece of paper. The usual pieces are general liability for injury to children and guests, a separate question on abuse and molestation (often excluded, or written to its own sublimit — ask, and do not assume), contents the homeowners form may leave out of a home that is also a business, workers' compensation once an assistant is paid, and commercial or hired auto if anyone transports children. The Community Care Licensing Division enforces the family-home rule in the Health and Safety Code and in Title 22. Shopping a market is not the same thing as a promise that the home can be insured. Insurance City Agency, LLC shops markets that write child care. This page names no carrier and does not promise a policy.
What liability form does a family child care home shop under the licensing rule?
According to Health and Safety Code section 1597.531(a), all family day care homes for children shall maintain in force either liability insurance covering injury to clients and guests in the amount of at least $100,000 per occurrence and $300,000 in the total annual aggregate, sustained on account of the negligence of the licensee or its employees, or a bond in the aggregate amount of $300,000. In lieu of the insurance or the bond, the home may keep a file of affidavits on a form the department provides. Source: California Legislative Information. Checked October 15, 2026.
Title 22, California Code of Regulations, section 102417(m) repeats that menu for operating a family child care home: liability insurance kept in force at those same amounts, a bond of $300,000 in the aggregate, or the affidavit file, reviewed at each licensing inspection. The Community Care Licensing Division points providers to Title 22 and the Health and Safety Code on its child care laws page. The bond path and the affidavit path, and the additional-insured conditions in section 1597.531(b), are on the Title 22 requirements guide. This page is the program we shop when the provider wants a liability policy. A center's limit is usually whatever the lease or a funding contract writes down. That contract is not the family-home statute. The product page is general liability.
Why is abuse and molestation its own shopping question?
A general liability occurrence limit and an abuse-and-molestation sublimit are two numbers. Many liability forms drop allegations that a child was abused, or that the provider failed to supervise or to screen an assistant, unless an endorsement puts the allegation back. When the endorsement exists, the sublimit is often smaller than the liability limit on the declarations, and it may name the organization, the provider, an assistant, or only some of them. Ask which of those the form actually does. We shop that question with the liability submission. We do not promise the endorsement, the sublimit, or that a market will offer it on a home.
A subsidy contract or a church that rents you a room may mark a certificate with its own wording. Send that marked page. The mark is a request. It is not proof that a market will match it. Compare the request with the form before anyone signs an enrollment packet.
Where do the cribs, the food, and the house itself sit?
In a family child care home the dwelling is still a homeowners question, and the business use is a different one. Residential forms often leave out liability from the daycare and often leave out business contents: cribs, play equipment, food stores, and improvements bought for the children. The rule that a residential property policy may not cover liability arising from a family day care home is Insurance Code section 676.1, and the longer explanation is the Title 22 guide, not this page. Tell the homeowners company in writing that the home is licensed. We will not promise that the company keeps the dwelling.
A center in a leased suite shops commercial property for contents and for improvements the lease makes the tenant carry. A home does not become a suite because the living room holds cribs. Say which building it is on the form so we do not shop the wrong property form.
When does one paid assistant change the program?
California Labor Code section 3700 requires an employer to secure workers' compensation. An assistant on payroll is that fact. A provider who pays no one should say so, so we do not open a compensation filing that the operation does not have. The moment someone is paid, the filing belongs with the liability submission, not after the first injury. The product page is workers' compensation, and the employment rule is do I need workers' compensation in California. This page does not print a class code or a premium.
What if a van or a personal car carries children across the Central Valley?
Visalia, Fresno, Stockton, and Merced follow the same statewide licensing rule. The city guides we have published are daycare insurance in Stockton and daycare insurance in Merced. Fresno and Visalia do not have a separate daycare city page; providers there use this page and the Stockton office. A vehicle the operation owns or leases is a commercial auto question. An assistant who uses a personal car for pickup is a hired and non-owned auto question. A personal auto policy is a poor place to assume that paid transport of children is covered. We shop the auto fact with the rest of the program. We do not promise a market will accept child transport.
What should you send before we shop markets?
Send the license type (small family child care home, large family child care home, or center), whether care is in the residence or a leased suite, whether anyone is paid, whether anyone transports children, and any certificate a landlord or a subsidy contract already marked up. Insurance City Agency, LLC reads that packet on the quote form. The sister-site note for home child care, when you want the personal-lines brand's page, is daycare and home child care on Via Rapida.
Frequently asked questions
Will Insurance City promise that an in-home daycare can be insured?
No. We shop markets that write child care. Whether a family child care home in a residence is acceptable is an underwriting decision on that submission. A decline is possible. This page does not name a carrier and does not promise a policy.
Is abuse and molestation the same limit as the general liability occurrence limit?
Often it is not. Many general liability forms exclude abuse and molestation allegations, or they bring the allegation back on a separate sublimit. Ask for the form. We do not promise that an endorsement is available or what limit a market will offer.
Do Visalia and Fresno family child care homes follow a different California rule than Stockton or Merced?
No. The family child care home rule is statewide: Health and Safety Code section 1597.531 and Title 22, section 102417. Stockton and Merced have city guides. Fresno and Visalia providers use this page and the Stockton office.
What should I send before you shop markets?
Say whether the license is a small family child care home, a large family child care home, or a center; whether care is in the residence or a leased suite; whether anyone is paid; whether anyone transports children; and attach any certificate a landlord or subsidy contract already marked up.
Sources
- Health and Safety Code section 1597.531. Family day care home liability insurance, bond, or parent affidavits. Checked October 15, 2026.
- 22 CCR section 102417(m). Operation of a family child care home; the same insurance, bond, or affidavit menu, reviewed at each licensing inspection. Text checked October 15, 2026, on the Cornell Legal Information Institute publication of the regulation.
- CDSS Community Care Licensing, child care laws and regulations. CCLD's index to Title 22 and the Health and Safety Code.
- Insurance Code section 676.1. Residential property liability and a family day care home.
- Labor Code section 3700. Workers' compensation when there is an employee.
Related
- Title 22 childcare insurance requirements
- Daycares, churches, and community
- Daycare insurance in Stockton
- Daycare insurance in Merced
- General liability
- Via Rapida: daycare and home child care
Insurance City Agency, LLC. Reviewed by Santo Militello, California-licensed Property & Casualty agent (CA License #1737723) and owner of Via Rapida Services — CA Insurance License #6003045. Our licensed team brings more than 70 years of combined insurance experience. Phone (209) 670-1556. Insurance City, 956 W Robinhood Dr, Stockton, CA 95207. Last reviewed 2026-10-15.
Send the license type and whether anyone is paid
Insurance City Agency, LLC shops markets that write child care. Use the quote form. A submission is not a promise of coverage.