Licensed child care providers are approved to operate under a combination of state and local requirements designed to ensure the safety of children. In this brief, we examine how state and local regulations shape the process of starting a licensed child care facility in Georgia and highlight recent provider experiences. We explore the barriers and supports potential providers encounter when opening new facilities—family child care learning homes (FCCLHs) and child care learning centers—by documenting the number of agencies involved, as well as the timelines, fees, and facility modification costs.

We include actionable recommendations for the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL) and other state and local government agencies, and for prospective providers, to reduce start-up challenges while still prioritizing and preserving child safety.

Why This Matters

There are 4,354 centers and FCCLHs in Georgia that support thousands of families and local economies, yet many parents remain on waiting lists for child care. Understanding start-up processes and experiences is critical for policymakers, local planners, and funders aiming to expand affordable, safe care. With a shared commitment, they can help create a more vibrant, accessible, and supportive child care landscape for families across the state.

Key Takeaways

From the regulatory review of local child care permitting procedures and survey responses from providers who opened a licensed facility in the last two years, we found the following:

• Providers must work with multiple agencies but still face potential coordination gaps: Prospective providers commonly interact with four to nine state and local departments, including DECAL; local planning/zoning; fire marshal; building; business/tax office; and sometimes public health, water, transportation, and environmental health. The state sets care, health, and food standards, while local governments set land use, building, and business requirements. Sometimes the rules set by different levels of government conflict with each other in their requirements or in the order in which approvals must be obtained.
• Licensing and set-up process can take months with regional variation: Of the 96 provider survey respondents who opened a new facility in the last two years, half reported the licensing and set‑up process took more than 6 months (average is 7 to 9 months), with most single‑site centers reporting longer timelines. Rural providers also tended to face somewhat longer timelines.
• Fees and modification costs vary widely: Most FCCLHs paid less than $800 in local fees, while nearly half of centers paid more than $4,000. Rural providers showed a larger share paying over $2,000. Facility modification costs ranged from about $150 to $1.3 million (most paid less than $15,000); single‑site centers reported average modification costs above $100,000, while FCCLHs averaged less than $3,000.
• Some of the steps in the licensing process are consistently rated as being more difficult than others: Planning/zoning, building, and fire marshal reviews were consistently rated as harder than expected; over 80 percent of providers rated DECAL’s requirements as easy or neutral. Fire safety–related upgrades (e.g., sprinklers) were frequently noted as being unexpected and costly (around $2,000 to $30,000).

Based on this research, we recommend that government agencies reduce providers’ burden while maintaining an emphasis on child safety; improve access to clear, jurisdiction‑specific guidance (e.g., DECAL start‑up guide and local one‑page road maps); increase state‑local alignment (e.g., local updates that start by reviewing DECAL rules); create one‑stop permitting or bundled verifications; and consider fee reductions or targeted financial supports for start‑ups, such as for fire safety modifications.

How We Did It 

We analyzed DECAL’s publicly available child care licensing data from January 2025 and conducted a web‑based Urban Institute Georgia Child Care Needs and Services Survey (February to March 2025). The survey was sent to 3,129 child care learning centers and 1,108 FCCLHs, and 808 centers and 284 homes (or 26 percent) participated. Ninety‑six providers who had opened a licensed site in the last two years answered start‑up questions.

We also reviewed permitting documents from 25 Georgia jurisdictions (April to May 2025) and interviewed state and local officials (January to May 2025) to map typical permitting pathways and identify common pain points and variations across communities. We shared and received feedback on preliminary findings from DECAL staff across multiple departments, which we used to improve the interpretation and clarity of this study.

For additional findings and a deeper explanation of our research methods for this study and other studies done in partnership with the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning, visit https://www.urban.org/projects/partnering-georgia-department-early-care-and-learning-strengthen-georgias-early-care-and.