The Child Development Associate (CDA) credential for the family child care setting, awarded by the Council for Professional Recognition, documents competence in a home-based program serving children from birth through age 5. Candidates complete 120 hours of professional education across eight subject areas, 480 hours of experience, and a Professional Portfolio, then demonstrate competence through the CDA Exam and, where required, a Verification Visit. PassProfessor’s family child care program is in the works.
This program is part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog — join the notify list and we’ll email you when enrollment opens.
A family child care home runs on one person’s shoulders. The provider who greets an infant at seven is the same professional who plans the toddler’s morning, cooks, cleans, keeps the records, and sits with a parent at pickup to talk through a hard week — with a mixed-age group moving through a home that is also a workplace. That blend of educator, operator, and family partner is what the family child care CDA is built to recognize. PassProfessor’s CDA Family Child Care program is in the works as part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog, organized on the Council’s own architecture — six Competency Standards, thirteen Functional Areas, eight subject areas — with the setting’s defining facts at the center: one home, children from birth through age 5 learning together, one provider accountable for all of it.
Which credential is this?
This page covers one credential only: the Child Development Associate credential in the family child care setting, awarded by the Council for Professional Recognition. Its setting terms differ from the center settings in kind. A family child care setting is a home-based early learning program where the candidate can be observed working with at least two children 5 years old or younger who are not related to the candidate by blood or marriage; it must meet at least the minimum of applicable state and/or local regulations, and settings are also eligible in localities where family child care is not regulated. There is no enrollment floor and no second-caregiver condition, because the provider may work alone — what the Council tests is whether unrelated young children are genuinely educated and cared for there, across the full birth-through-5 span, in a program the candidate runs. Two name collisions deserve a plain statement. This CDA is not the Certified Dental Assistant credential administered by the Dental Assisting National Board (DANB) — a different body and profession. And this program is not a college course in child development: a course can contribute toward the 120 hours below, but no single course is the credential itself.
What will the program cover?
Original practice material, written to the family child care competencies. The program is being built from scratch against the Council’s published Competency Standards for this setting, from the safe, healthy learning environment through professionalism. No practice item is an actual CDA Exam item or another provider’s material; items are written as the decisions a provider actually faces — a mixed-age conflict at the water table, a safety call in a lived-in home, a family conversation that is also a business conversation — because that is the shape competent practice takes here.
The whole assessment, not only the exam sitting. The family child care CDA is decided on multiple sources of evidence: the Professional Portfolio, the CDA Exam at a Pearson VUE test center, and the Verification Visit by a PD Specialist in the candidate’s own home where the Council requires one. Preparation that drills only test items leaves the portfolio and the visit unrehearsed — and here the visit examines the entire operation, care and business together. This program prepares candidates across all three demonstrations.
Results you can read by competency. Practice is organized by the six Competency Standards and their Functional Areas, so results can be read standard by standard — a provider strong on child-facing practice but thin on program management sees that split while there is still time to repair it.
Preparation only. This program prepares candidates for the Council’s assessment. It is not a Council for Professional Recognition or Pearson VUE product, carries no credit from either body, and does not satisfy any credentialing requirement — including the 120 hours of professional education, which must be earned through an agency or organization with expertise in early childhood teacher preparation. The Council states that it does not provide training and does not specifically endorse any training program. PassProfessor is an independent preparation provider, not affiliated with the Council for Professional Recognition or Pearson VUE.
What are the verified facts of the credential?
| Fact of record | Detail |
|---|---|
| Credential | Child Development Associate (CDA) — Family Child Care setting, CDA National Credentialing Program |
| Awarding body | Council for Professional Recognition |
| Setting | Home-based early learning program; candidate observed with at least two children aged 5 or younger not related to the candidate by blood or marriage; meets at least the minimum of applicable state/local regulations, and is eligible where family child care is not regulated |
| Education baseline | High school diploma or GED, or enrollment as a junior or senior in a high school career and technical program in early childhood education |
| Professional education | 120 clock hours of formal early childhood education training covering the growth and development of children ages birth to 5 years, with no fewer than 10 hours in each of the eight CDA subject areas, completed any time before applying |
| Experience | 480 hours of professional work experience in a family child care setting with children ages birth to 5, obtained within 3 years before submitting the application; paid or volunteer hours count |
| Professional Portfolio | Prepared within 6 months before applying, following the blue Family Child Care edition of the Competency Standards book: education documentation, Family Questionnaires, a ten-resource Resource Collection, six Reflective Statements of Competence, and a Professional Philosophy Statement |
| Application | Online through YourCouncil, after selecting a PD Specialist; the Council’s application fee is $525 (third-party fee, paid to the Council with the application; the Council describes it as non-refundable and non-transferable) |
| CDA Exam | 65 multiple-choice questions, taken at a local Pearson VUE test center after the Council issues the first Ready to Schedule notice; scheduled only after the application is approved |
| Verification Visit | Conducted by the candidate’s PD Specialist in the family child care home where the Council requires one, after the exam, on the second Ready to Schedule notice: portfolio review, observation of the candidate with the children, reflective dialogue, and score recommendations to the Council |
| Decision | The Council reviews the assessment results and renders the credentialing decision; the exam alone does not award the credential |
| Currency | The credential is valid for three years from the date of award and is renewed through the Council; the Council’s renewal fee is $250 (third-party fee) |
How does preparation map to the Competency Standards?
The standards are shared across the CDA settings, but in a family child care home one person carries all six at once, with a mixed-age group — and the Functional Area definitions for this setting are written for that reality.
| Competency Standard | Functional Areas | What it covers in a family child care home |
|---|---|---|
| I. To establish and maintain a safe, healthy learning environment | Safe; Healthy; Learning Environment | Making a lived-in home safe for children from birth through 5 at once; health, nutrition, and illness practice in a home kitchen and bathroom; arranging home space into a learning environment serving an infant and a four-year-old in the same morning |
| II. To advance physical and intellectual competence | Physical; Cognitive; Communication; Creative | Supporting development across a five-year span in one group: first steps and pre-writing in the same room; curiosity and problem solving at every level; language and early literacy from babble to storytelling; creative play |
| III. To support social and emotional development and to provide positive guidance | Self; Social; Guidance | Giving each child security in a small, family-like group; helping children of different ages build social competence together; guidance that teaches self-discipline across ages |
| IV. To establish positive and productive relationships with families | Families | Partnering with the small roster of families the provider knows closely — daily communication, respect for each family’s goals, and candour |
| V. To maintain a well-run, purposeful program responsive to participant needs | Program Management | The whole operation, carried by the provider: planning, records, contracts and communication, food and rest logistics, and accountability to families and regulators |
| VI. To maintain a commitment to professionalism | Professionalism | Deciding from knowledge of early childhood practice while working alone — staying current, connecting to the wider profession, and upholding quality without colleagues in the next room |
A home that is also a workplace
Standard I is this setting’s daily negotiation: the space must be a functioning home and a safe, healthy learning environment at once — the kitchen that feeds the provider’s family also produces the children’s meals. Competence shows in the systems holding the two together: safety checks that account for mixed ages, sanitation scaled to one adult, an arrangement where an infant’s floor space and a preschooler’s project space coexist. An observing specialist reads those systems, not a staged classroom.
Mixed-age is the curriculum problem
Standard II in a center is written for one age band; here it spans five years in one group. The provider advances a nine-month-old’s cruising and a four-year-old’s early literacy in the same hour, pitched at several levels at once. Preparation treats that span as the setting’s core intellectual demand: developmental knowledge broad enough to read every child in the room, and planning that layers one activity into several depths.
Guidance and families, without a buffer
Standard III’s guidance and Standard IV’s family partnership both run without institutional buffer here: there is no director to escalate a difficult behaviour pattern or conversation to, so the provider’s own judgement and relationships carry both. That is also the setting’s strength — families choose a home for continuity and closeness — and the Family Questionnaires capture it directly.
Program management is the second job
Standard V weighs heavier here than in any center setting, because nothing is shared: enrollment, fees, records, and regulator communication are all the candidate’s own management, performed around the edges of a care day. Candidates who treat it as paperwork discover at the visit that the specialist treats it as half the profession. The reflective statements for this standard should show the operation’s systems honestly, including the ones still being built.
Who earns this credential — and where does the assessment sit?
The family child care candidate population is the home-based provider workforce: licensed and registered providers, providers in localities where family child care operates without regulation, and assistants in larger home programs building toward running their own. Providers pursue the credential for quality-system ratings, parent confidence, and career ladders — and because working alone makes a national, observed standard one of the few external measures of their practice available to them. The assessment is the Council’s national structure, and its setting definition already accounts for both regulated and unregulated localities; state rules sit outside the credential.
How is the assessment approached — and what happens after it?
The Council describes the route as a three-step process: prepare, apply, and demonstrate. Preparation for a solo provider is fitted around a care day that never pauses — the education hours, the 480 experience hours gathered within the three years before applying, and the portfolio prepared within the six months before applying, working from the blue Family Child Care edition of the Competency Standards book. The candidate selects a PD Specialist through YourCouncil before applying, and applies online with the Council’s fee. On approval, the first Ready to Schedule notice authorizes the CDA Exam at a Pearson VUE test center; the Verification Visit, in the candidate’s own home, follows the exam under a second notice, where the Council requires one. Under the Council’s enhanced credentialing decision process, a candidate whose exam performance demonstrates the Council’s qualifying level of competence, with every other requirement met, may receive a decision without a visit; the Council publishes no numeric level, and this page states none. At a visit, the specialist reviews the portfolio and Family Questionnaires, observes the program running in the home, and reflects with the candidate before submitting score recommendations. The Council then renders the decision. The companion exam guide walks the detail in full.
What makes this credential demanding?
Three features, and they compound. First, the breadth of the group: competence across the entire birth-through-5 span in a single small program, where a center candidate is assessed inside one age band. Second, the solitude of the operation: every standard, including the management and family standards centers distribute across a staff, rests on one person’s systems and judgement. Third, the portfolio writing: reflective statements must show the provider reasoning about their own home, group, and operation — evidence that cannot be borrowed from a center’s shared documentation, because none exists.
An honest note on format
PassProfessor practice works in the formats this assessment uses — multiple-choice items in the exam’s style, and structured reflective writing practice for the portfolio statements. The Council does not release its examination questions, and no provider can offer them. Practice results are a study gauge, not a prediction of a credentialing outcome.
How should you use this page while the program is in the works?
- Join the notify list today. Enrollment is not open yet, and the notify list is how you hear the moment it is. While you wait, read the exam guide — it walks eligibility, the standards, the portfolio, the exam, the visit, and a preparation plan in full.
- Confirm your setting before anything else. If your program is not home-based care for children 5 or younger who are not related to you, a different CDA setting fits your work.
- Start the portfolio clock correctly. The portfolio is prepared within the six months before you apply, so gather education documentation and distribute Family Questionnaires on that timetable.
- Select your PD Specialist early. The specialist is chosen before the application is submitted, through YourCouncil.
Frequently asked questions
What is the family child care CDA? The Child Development Associate credential in the family child care setting, awarded by the Council for Professional Recognition. It documents that a provider educating children from birth through age 5 in a home-based program meets the Council’s national Competency Standards, demonstrated through education, experience, a Professional Portfolio, the CDA Exam, and — where required — a Verification Visit.
Is this the same CDA as the dental assisting credential? No. DANB’s Certified Dental Assistant is a dental profession credential administered by the Dental Assisting National Board. This page covers only the Child Development Associate credential of the Council for Professional Recognition; the two share an abbreviation and nothing else.
Who is eligible for the family child care CDA? A candidate with a high school diploma or GED — or a high school junior or senior in an early childhood career and technical program — who has completed 120 clock hours of professional education covering ages birth to 5 with at least 10 hours in each of the eight subject areas, and 480 hours of experience in a family child care setting within the three years before applying.
What counts as a family child care setting? A home-based early learning program where the candidate can be observed working with at least two children 5 years old or younger not related to the candidate by blood or marriage, meeting at least the minimum of applicable state and/or local regulations — and eligible in localities where family child care is not regulated.
Does passing the CDA Exam award the credential? No. The exam is one source of evidence among several; the Council decides after reviewing the full record, including the portfolio and, where a visit is required, the PD Specialist’s scores.
What is in the Professional Portfolio? Education documentation, Family Questionnaires, a Resource Collection of ten resources, six Reflective Statements of Competence — one for each Competency Standard — and a Professional Philosophy Statement, prepared within the six months before applying under the instructions in the blue Family Child Care edition of the Competency Standards book.
What happens at the Verification Visit? The PD Specialist comes to the family child care home, reviews the portfolio, training records, and Family Questionnaires, observes the candidate with the children, and holds a reflective dialogue on strengths and growth — the Council’s Review-Observe-Reflect model — then submits score recommendations.
What does the CDA application cost? The Council’s application fee is $525, paid to the Council for Professional Recognition with the online application through YourCouncil — a third-party credentialing fee, separate from any PassProfessor program. The renewal fee, three years after award, is $250.
How long is the credential valid? Three years from the date of award. Renewal through the Council requires continued professional education, continued work with young children, and a recommendation, under the Council’s renewal procedures; the application must reach the Council by the expiration date.
When will the PassProfessor family child care program open? The program is in the works and enrollment is not open yet. Join the notify list and you will be emailed when enrollment opens; the companion exam guide is available to read now.
Is PassProfessor affiliated with the Council for Professional Recognition? No. PassProfessor is an independent preparation provider, not affiliated with the Council for Professional Recognition or Pearson VUE. The Council owns the credential and the decision; this program is preparation only.