Provider Applications

Rhode Island has many different types of providers: child care centers, school-age programs, family child care and group family child care.

All have to fill out an application with DHS' Child Care Licensing team and be approved to operate in Rhode Island. Find out more about all and what a child care provider needs to do to serve families and children in the Starting RIght Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP). 

A little girl with a purple tutu sits in a rocking chair at a Rhode Island child care site.

Licensed child care refers to programs who are granted a license by DHS due to their demonstrated ability to comply with state licensing regulations in order to legally care for four or more unrelated children.

Child Care Center & School-Age Programs

Child care centers are usually located in commercial buildings. Centers are larger and care for more children than family child care providers. They are usually divided into groups or classrooms of similarly aged children.

Child care centers typically have many staff members who are overseen by a director. They may be privately operated for profit by chains or individual owners, or operated by nonprofit agencies such as churches, public schools, and government agencies.

To apply for a license in Rhode Island or renew an existing license, complete the following application and submit it along with all required documentation and fees that are detailed in the application to the address below. 

Group Family & Family Child Care

Family child care homes are known by many different names around the country. In Rhode Island, group family and family child care are used to describe these types of child care arrangements where the care for small groups of children are in a residential building such as a house, apartment, or condo unit. This may or may not be the same home that the provider lives in. Read more about a third, licensed exempt, below. 

To apply for a license in Rhode Island or renew an existing license, complete the following application and submit it along with all required documentation and fees that are detailed in the application to the address below. 

Service Employees International Union (SEIU) 1199 NE represents health care workers in the New England area and is the selected union representative for family child care providers participating in the Starting RIght Child Care Assistance Program. For more information, please connect to SEIU 1199 NE.

License Exempt Child Care 

License exempt providers must be a relative to the child receiving assistance from the Starting RIght Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) who is enrolled in their care and are not authorized to serve more than six (6) related children. If the license exempt provider is caring for their own children under six (6) years of age, this would be included in the maximum number of allowable children in care.

All the requirements for a DHS-approved Licensed Exempt Provider are listed in the application. They include: 

  • Be a current Rhode Island resident;
  • Be twenty-one (21) years old or older;
  • Have a working phone;
  • Live in a different household from the child for which you receive CCAP payments;
  • Prove that you have a stable residence. You cannot be a boarder in someone’s household;
  • Report all individuals living in your household.

To apply to a licensed-exempt child care provider, complete the following application and submit it along with all required documentation and fees that are detailed in the application to the address below. 

Submitting Your Application

Mail your provider application, fee and supporting documentation to:

Rhode Island Department of Human Services

Office of Child Care Licensing Team

25 Howard Avenue (Building 57)

Cranston, RI 02920

You can place it in the secure child care drop box at the entrance of that location. 

How to Serve Children in Starting RIght Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) 

DHS' Office of Child Care will reimburse for child care services provided care to children from eligible low-income households who are enrolled in the CCAP program. Within the applications for all provider types, the applicants must complete a CCAP Provider Agreement. 

The amount received is according to the time authorization for each individual child in accordance with the reimbursement rate established by law for your particular child care provider type.