# Do I Need a Licence to Open a Home Day Care in Alberta?

> In Alberta, no personal licence is required to care for six or fewer children in your home, not counting your own. A licence is only required once you provide child care to more than six children. The Early Learning and Child Care Act (s 3) sets this threshold.

Published 2026-08-13 · Last reviewed 2026-08-09 · [Canonical page](https://canadalegalcenter.ca/articles/do-i-need-a-licence-to-open-a-home-day-care-in-alberta/)

Legal information, not legal advice.

## Verdict: no licence needed for six or fewer children

**Usually no, you do not need a licence, as long as you care for six or fewer children in your home, not counting your own.** This threshold comes directly from Alberta's Early Learning and Child Care Act (also called the ELCCA), which states that no person shall provide child care to more than six children, not including the person's own children, except under a facility-based licence (s 3). Government guidance for home-based caregivers confirms the same six-child line: anyone caring for more than six children in addition to their own requires a child care licence issued by the Government of Alberta.

In practice, this means a small, informal home day care in Alberta operates outside the licensing system entirely, right up to that six-child cap. Cross the line to a seventh child (again, excluding your own kids), and the exemption disappears.

## What flips the answer: exceeding six children

The six-child figure is not a soft guideline, it is the statutory line the whole licensing system hinges on. A few conditions determine whether it applies to you:

- **Counting method.** Only children you are caring for count toward the limit; your own children do not count, regardless of how many you have.
- **"Child care" definition.** The Act's threshold applies to child care you offer or provide, so informal arrangements (occasional babysitting, swaps between neighbours) are assessed against the same six-child rule if they amount to ongoing child care.
- **Multiple caregivers in one home.** The sources reviewed do not confirm how the count is applied where more than one adult provides care in the same household; if this affects your situation, it is worth confirming directly with Alberta Children's Services before assuming the exemption applies.

If you want to operate above six children, the pathway is to become licensed as a facility-based child care program under the Act, which brings you into the full licensing and inspection regime that unlicensed home day cares sit outside of.

## The agency-affiliation option, even under six children

Some home-based caregivers in Alberta want a formal government-recognized status even while staying under the six-child threshold. The route for this is not a personal licence, it is a contract with a licensed family day home agency. Under this model, a caregiver becomes an "approved family day home educator" working with that agency, which allows care for up to six children (not including the caregiver's own) with some flexibility and autonomy, without the caregiver personally holding a licence.

It is the agency, not the individual home-based caregiver, that applies for and pays for the licence, currently a $100 non-refundable application fee payable to the Government of Alberta. However, Alberta is not currently accepting applications for new family day home agency licences, which limits how available this affiliation route is for new agencies (it does not, on the facts available, affect whether an individual caregiver can still be affiliated with an already-licensed existing agency).

## Enforcement if you exceed the limit

Alberta's government can investigate complaints about unlicensed child care providers specifically when there is reason to believe the provider is caring for more than six children at a time (not including their own). Two categories of consequence follow from a substantiated breach:

- **Administrative penalty.** Unlicensed providers who fail to meet the Act's requirements, such as exceeding the six-child cap, can be issued a stop order along with an administrative penalty, a financial penalty imposed without a criminal proceeding.
- **Offence-level fines.** Certain contraventions of the Act, such as operating without required certification or obstructing enforcement, are true offences carrying a fine of up to $10,000, imprisonment of up to 12 months, or both.

The distinction matters: an administrative penalty is a regulatory financial consequence, while the $10,000/12-month exposure applies to the more serious offence-level contraventions under the Act.

## What you can do next

If you are planning a home day care in Alberta, the practical starting point is confirming which side of the six-child line your plans fall on. If you expect to stay at six or fewer children, no provincial licence applies, though contacting a licensed family day home agency is an option if you want the "approved educator" status. If you expect to exceed six children, the facility-based licensing process through Alberta Children's Services is the route required by the Act, and that process (application steps, required documentation, applicable fees for a facility-based licence) was not confirmed within this article's sourcing and should be checked directly on Alberta's child care licensing pages before proceeding.

## Frequently asked questions

**Do my own children count toward the six-child limit in Alberta?**

No. In Alberta, the six-child threshold under the Early Learning and Child Care Act counts only children you are caring for outside your own family, so your own children are excluded from that count.

**Is there a fee to run an unlicensed home day care in Alberta?**

No personal application fee applies if you stay at or under six children in Alberta, since no licence is needed. The $100 non-refundable fee found on Alberta.ca applies to family day home agencies applying for their own licence, not to individual caregivers.

**Can I still get some form of government recognition without exceeding six children?**

Yes. In Alberta, a caregiver who contracts with a licensed family day home agency can become an 'approved family day home educator' and care for up to six children with that affiliation, though this is a contractual status rather than a personal government licence.

**What happens if I care for more than six children without a licence in Alberta?**

In Alberta, exceeding six children without a facility-based licence can trigger a government investigation, a stop order, and an administrative penalty (a financial penalty). Certain contraventions of the Act are also offences carrying fines up to $10,000, imprisonment up to 12 months, or both.


## Sources

1. [Early Learning and Child Care Act, SA 2007, c E-0.1, s 3](https://www.canlii.org/en/ab/laws/stat/sa-2007-c-e-0.1/latest/sa-2007-c-e-0.1.html), Early Learning and Child Care Act, SA 2007, c E-0.1, s 3 (retrieved 2026-07-17)
2. [Providing Child Care in Your Home - Alberta Open Government](https://open.alberta.ca/publications/providing-child-care-in-your-home), Government of Alberta, Providing Child Care in Your Home (Edmonton: Children's Services, updated Dec 2023) (retrieved 2026-07-17)
3. [Approved family day homes - Alberta.ca](https://www.alberta.ca/approved-family-day-homes), Early Learning and Child Care Act, SA 2007, c E-0.1, ss 18.2-18.3 (retrieved 2026-07-17)
4. [Licensed family day home agencies - Alberta.ca](https://www.alberta.ca/licensed-family-day-home-agencies), Early Learning and Child Care Act, SA 2007, c E-0.1, s 18.3 (retrieved 2026-07-17)
5. [Childcare - Lookup tools - Alberta.ca](https://www.alberta.ca/childcare-lookup-tools), Early Learning and Child Care Act, SA 2007, c E-0.1 (retrieved 2026-07-17)
6. [Understand Alberta's childcare system - Alberta.ca](https://www.alberta.ca/understand-albertas-childcare-system-for-parents-and-families), Early Learning and Child Care Act, SA 2007, c E-0.1, s 26.1; Child Care Licensing Regulation, Alta Reg 143/2008, s 14.3 (retrieved 2026-07-17)