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Child Care Center

Application Process  for a Child Care Center

The Division of Early Care and Learning is developing administrative guides to accompany rules regulating child care facilities. The guide serves to clarify, and ensure the proper and consistent interpretation and implementation of, child care rules. The guide also provides the rationale behind rules and links to resources to help programs comply with the rules.

Available Guides

Available Guides (Spanish)

Visit the Colorado Office of Early Childhood website for information on the application process for opening a child care center. Their website is also available in Spanish.

Getting Started

What is child care licensing?

Child care licensing standards set the minimum acceptable health, safety, and program standards for the legal operation of child care programs. Licensed care, sometimes referred to as regulated care, is a baseline below which it is illegal to operate. It is not an indicator of quality care. More on quality programming can be found on our website. A few topics to consider are listed below as you begin your journey to open a child care center. For details on all of the topics, click here.

  • Finding a Location for your Business
  • Physical Space
  • Health
  • Fire Prevention & Safety
  • Accessibility

Here are other general resources which can help you plan and build your business.  These are completely optional and meant to help support you as you build your business: