Home Daycare Insurance: Why Your Homeowners Policy Won't Save You
Short answer: Homeowners insurance excludes business activity — if a daycare child is injured in your home, the claim will almost certainly be denied, and running an undisclosed daycare can jeopardize your entire homeowners policy. Family child care — also called in-home daycare — needs its own policy. The good news: home daycare packages start around $450–$1,200 per year, and we quote them same day.
The Gap Most Home Providers Don't Know About
Every homeowners policy contains a business-activity exclusion. Watching six children for pay, five days a week, is unambiguously a business. That means:
- A child injured on your stairs or backyard swing set? Denied.
- A parent sues over an incident during care hours? No defense provided.
- Your daycare equipment damaged in a fire? Business property is capped or excluded.
- Worse: some carriers treat an undisclosed in-home business as grounds for non-renewal of the whole homeowners policy.
A few homeowners carriers sell small daycare endorsements, but they're typically capped low, exclude abuse & molestation, and only allow a handful of children. Licensed family child care needs a real child-care policy.
What a Home Daycare Policy Includes
- General liability — injuries to children and visiting parents, typically at the $300K–$1M limits your state license requires.
- Professional liability — claims about supervision, feeding, medication, and care decisions.
- Abuse & molestation coverage — essential, and excluded from cheap alternatives. We include real limits, in writing.
- Business property — cribs, toys, high chairs, supplies, and daycare-dedicated spaces.
- Accident medical — no-fault payment of a child's medical bills, which keeps small injuries from becoming lawsuits.
- Optional: hired & non-owned auto if you ever drive daycare children, and comp if you have a helper.
What It Costs
| Program Size | Typical Annual Premium |
|---|---|
| Small family child care (up to 8) | $450 – $1,200 |
| Large/group home daycare (9–16) | $800 – $1,800 |
That's roughly $40–$125/month — usually less than one family pays for a week of care. Full pricing factors in our cost guide.
Licensing, Food Programs, and Landlords
Most states require proof of liability insurance to issue or renew a family child care license, and CACFP food-program sponsors and landlords often ask for certificates too. We issue licensing-ready COIs the same day you bind — deadlines don't slip because of paperwork.
Renters Can Be Providers Too
Running family child care in a rented home or apartment? Same exclusion problem — your renters policy won't respond, and your landlord will want to be an additional insured. A home daycare policy handles both, and we quote renters' programs every week.
Get Covered This Week, Not Next Month
Tell us your enrollment and state — that's genuinely all we need to start. Same-day quotes, 100% placement (including first-year providers), and an average 30% savings for providers switching from another policy. Get your quote.