If you are a parent considering placing your child in the care of a child care center, you are bound to have plenty of questions. Knowing the requirements that licensed child care centers in Temple Terrace may help put you at ease and give you some comfort in knowing that if you leave your child at any of the child care centers in Temple Terrace, your children are safe and in good hands.

First, it may be unclear as to exactly what child care means. The term may have different meanings in different contexts, but in terms of child care centers, child care is defined as the ?care, protection and supervision of a child for a period of less than 24 hours a day on a regular basis which supplements parental care" by city ordinance. Similarly, child care centers are facilities that perform child care for more than five children who are not relatives of the facility director who receives payment, in the form of fees, grants, services, or any other agreed-upon compensation, for any of the children receiving child care.

You may also wonder what the facility requirements are for child care centers in Temple Terrace. City and county regulations require a minimum size of indoor and outdoor space on a per-child basis. These minimums include 35 square feet of usable, dedicated indoor child care space per child receiving care, and 100 square feet of dedicated outdoor play space for at least half of the indoor capacity (or roughly 50 square feet per child). Even for a small facility with only a few children, 1000 square feet is the absolute minimum for outdoor play space. The only exception to this is in regards to drop-in child care facilities. Drop-in child care centers in Temple Terrace are defined as facilities such as those inside a mall or other business where child care is provided for no more than 4 hours, during which time a parent or guardian is on the premises. These drop-in facilities must meet all requirements of any of the child care centers in, with the exception of an outdoor play area.

As a parent, however, you are probably more concerned about the staff that will be caring for your child than the facilities themselves. As such, you may be curious about the licensing and certification requirements on child care staff. In Temple Terrace, all child care centers are required to have a director certified with a Florida Director's Credential. Additionally, one staff per each 20 children (or fraction thereof) must have a CDA credential. As child safety is of the utmost importance, one staff member per each 50 children under the facility's care must have a child/infant CPR certification, and one must have a child First Aid certification. It is required for these staff to be on the premises of the facility at all times when child care is given.

Child Care Centers in Temple Terrace