(a)  No person shall receive or place children in child daycare services, including daycare arrangements, without a license issued pursuant to this chapter. This requirement does not apply to a person related by blood, marriage, guardianship, or adoption to the child, unless that arrangement is for the purposes of day care.

Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 42-12.5-4

  • Child: means any person less than eighteen (18) years of age. See Rhode Island General Laws 42-12.5-2
  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • Department: means the department of human services (DHS). See Rhode Island General Laws 42-12.5-2
  • Family daycare home: means any home, other than the child's home, in which child day care in lieu of parental care and/or supervision is offered at the same time to four (4) or more children who are not relatives of the caregiver. See Rhode Island General Laws 42-12.5-2
  • person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6
  • Related: means any of the following relationships, by marriage, blood or adoption, even following the death or divorce of a natural parent: parent, grandparent, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, and first cousin. See Rhode Island General Laws 42-12.5-2

(b)  The licensing requirement does not apply to shelter operations for parents with children, boarding schools, recreation camps, nursing homes, hospitals, maternity residences, and centers for developmentally disabled children.

(c)  No person, firm, corporation, association, or agency shall operate a family daycare home without a registration certificate issued by the department, unless they hold an unexpired registration certificate issued by the department of children, youth and families prior to January 1, 2020.

(d)  No state, county, city, or political subdivision shall operate a child daycare agency or center, program, or facility without a license issued pursuant to this chapter.

(e)  No person shall be exempt from a required license by reason of public or private, sectarian, non-sectarian, child daycare program, for profit or nonprofit status, or by any other reason of funding, sponsorship, or affiliation.

History of Section.
P.L. 2019, ch. 88, art. 4, § 15.