Daycare Insurance in California: Requirements & Cost

Last updated: August 13, 2026

California gives family child care homes three ways to satisfy its insurance rule — and gives centers no rule at all. Health & Safety Code §1597.531 requires every family day care home to carry $100,000/$300,000 liability insurance, OR a $300,000 bond, OR a file of signed parent affidavits acknowledging the home is uninsured — reviewed at every licensing inspection. Title 22’s center regulations, by contrast, never demand liability coverage.

What California Actually Requires

Coverage	California requirement
Family child care homes	$100,000/occurrence + $300,000 aggregate insurance, OR $300,000 bond, OR signed parent affidavits on the state form, reviewed at each inspection (H&S §1597.531)
Renter’s disclosure	A provider who doesn’t own the home must also tell parents the property owner’s insurance likely does NOT cover daycare losses
Child care centers	No Title 22 liability-insurance mandate — leases and subsidy contracts fill the gap
Workers’ compensation	Required at 1+ employees (Labor Code §3700) — cash-paid and part-time workers count; stop-work orders enforce it

The Affidavit Is the Choice Most Parents Never See Made

California’s tri-option looks permissive until you read what the affidavit does: it converts an uninsured home into a stack of signed acknowledgments, one per family, on the state’s own form, checked by the licensing analyst at every inspection. A provider who rents adds a second admission — that the landlord’s policy probably won’t cover a daycare claim. Against that paperwork, the $100,000/$300,000 policy is the quiet option, which is why most providers carry it.

Centers live in the inverse world: the most heavily regulated daycare licence in the country’s biggest market simply never asks about liability coverage. What asks instead is every commercial lease and every subsidy contract — and California’s first-employee workers’-comp rule, which arrives with the first aide and is enforced with stop-work orders.

The Coverages Every Daycare Carries Regardless

• General liability with abuse & molestation coverage. The playground injury and the allegation are different claims; a daycare policy without A&M cover is missing the exposure the business is actually judged on.
• Commercial auto if you transport children — a personal policy excludes business use.
• Workers’ compensation once you employ staff (required in California from the first employee — cash-paid workers count).
• Property and contents for the build-out, equipment and food stock.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is liability insurance required for a California daycare?

For family child care homes, effectively yes with alternatives: Health & Safety Code §1597.531 requires $100,000 per occurrence / $300,000 aggregate liability insurance, or a $300,000 bond, or a file of signed parent affidavits acknowledging the home is uninsured — reviewed at every inspection. Child care centers have no Title 22 liability-insurance mandate.

What must renting California family child care providers tell parents?

If the provider doesn’t own the home, the affidavit must also state that the property owner’s or HOA’s insurance may not cover losses arising from the family day care operation — an explicit statutory disclosure under §1597.531.

Comparing states? See daycare insurance requirements in every state, or the full guide to starting a daycare in California.

Sources

Source	What it confirms
Cal. Health & Safety Code §1597.531	The insurance/bond/affidavit tri-option and renter disclosure
Cal. Labor Code §3700	The first-employee WC duty