Why Pick a Licensed Child Care Center?

When choosing a child care center one of the first things you need to consider is if you are going to go with a licensed, or unlicensed, sitter or child care center.

In the State of Ohio, a home sitter or child care facility must be licensed if there are more than 5 children on site at one time, with no more than 3 children under 2 years. The providers own children count in ratio if they are under the age of 6. All children who are not relatives of the sitter count in ratio until they are 15 years old. These rules protect your child by keeping your provider to child ratio low. There are some exceptions to this rule (see link below)

There are many benifits to finding a liscensed childcare provider. Each provider, either a home care provider, or one in a childcare center, must have health and safety training-including First Aid, CPR, and other training surrounding child Development. In addition new standards to rate centers based on the quality of education will create incentives to have employees with education/development degrees working within the program.

Licensed child care providers must have background checks, that are regularly updated to make sure your child stays safe. Monitoring inspections are also done frequently to spot check the environment, child's files, and basic care. After each inspection the inspection reports, for child care centers, are posted online for the public to view (see link below). Type A home care providers have inspections as well that are available upon requet from yoru local child care agency.



Information on licensed child care centers: http://jfs.ohio.gov/cdc/page2.stm

Find public licensing inspections: http://www.odjfs.state.oh.us/cdc/query.asp


World of Wonders is licensed through the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.