Effective 28 Aug 2019

210.211. License required — exceptions — written notice of licensure status, when. — 1. It shall be unlawful for any person to establish, maintain or operate a child-care facility for children, or to advertise or hold himself or herself out as being able to perform any of the services as defined in section 210.201, without having in effect a written license granted by the department of health and senior services; except that nothing in sections 210.203 to 210.245 shall apply to:

(1) Any person who is caring for six or fewer children, including a maximum of three children under the age of two, at the same physical address. For purposes of this subdivision, children who live in the caregiver's home and who are eligible for enrollment in a public kindergarten, elementary, or high school shall not be considered in the total number of children being cared for;

(2) Any person who receives free of charge, and not as a business, for periods not exceeding ninety consecutive days, as bona fide, occasional and personal guests the child or children of personal friends of such person, and who receives custody of no other unrelated child or children;

(3) Any graded boarding school, summer camp, hospital, sanitarium or home which is conducted in good faith primarily to provide education, recreation, medical treatment, or nursing or convalescent care for children;

(4) Any child-care facility maintained or operated under the exclusive control of a religious organization. When a nonreligious organization, having as its principal purpose the provision of child-care services, enters into an arrangement with a religious organization for the maintenance or operation of a child-care facility, the facility is not under the exclusive control of the religious organization;

(5) Any residential facility or day program licensed by the department of mental health pursuant to sections 630.705 to 630.760 which provides care, treatment and habilitation exclusively to children who have a primary diagnosis of mental disorder, mental illness, intellectual disability or developmental disability, as defined in section 630.005; and

(6) Any nursery school.

2. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection 1 of this section, no child-care facility shall be exempt from licensure if such facility receives any state or federal funds for providing care for children, except for federal funds for those programs which meet the requirements for participation in the Child and Adult Care Food Program pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Section 1766. Grants to parents for child care pursuant to sections 210.201 to 210.257 shall not be construed to be funds received by a person or facility listed in subdivisions (1) and (4) of subsection 1 of this section.

3. Any child care facility not exempt from licensure shall disclose the licensure status of the facility to the parents or guardians of children for which the facility provides care. No child care facility exempt from licensure shall represent to any parent or guardian of children for which the facility provides care that the facility is licensed when such facility is in fact not licensed. A parent or guardian shall sign a written notice indicating he or she is aware of the licensure status of the facility. The facility shall keep a copy of this signed written notice on file. All child care facilities shall provide the parent or guardian enrolling a child in the facility with a written explanation of the disciplinary philosophy and policies of the child care facility.

­­--------

(RSMo 1949 § 210.230, A.L. 1955 p. 685 § 210.210, A.L. 1982 H.B. 1171, et al., A.L. 1989 S.B. 241, A.L. 1993 H.B. 376, A.L. 1999 H.B. 490 & H.B. 308, A.L. 2004 H.B. 1453, A.L. 2012 H.B. 1323, A.L. 2014 H.B. 1064 merged with H.B. 1831 merged with S.B. 869, A.L. 2019 H.B. 397)