Ohio makes a family child care home carry $100,000 or hand every parent a form saying it does not.

For family child care, yes or a signed form. 5180:2-13-07(A)(3) makes a type A or type B provider either carry liability insurance of at least $100,000 per occurrence and $300,000 aggregate, with proof kept at the home, or give the parent of every child form DCY 01933 saying the home is uninsured. For a center, the application rule and the administrator and staffing rules ask for no policy at all, so the number a center carries is set by its lease and its subsidy agreements rather than by the Department.

General liability, explained

Yes, and Ohio’s licensing rule does not ask for it, so nobody else will until the claim arrives. A general liability policy without the endorsement excludes it. It is written as a sublimit, often below the general liability figure, and sometimes on a claims-made form, which stops responding the day the policy lapses, unlike occurrence. Every carrier conditions it on screening, and the background check Ohio already requires of you is most of that condition met.

Abuse and molestation coverage, explained

One or more employees. Every Ohio employer must either buy state fund coverage or be granted self-insured status. (Ohio Rev. Code §§ 4123.01 and 4123.35). A daycare is staffed by ratio, so an assistant hired for the afternoon toddler room counts the same as a full-time lead teacher, and paying someone as a contractor does not change what the state calls them when you set the hours. Ohio is monopolistic, so the policy comes from the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, not a private carrier.

Workers compensation in Ohio, in full

Because it is the claim that ends businesses, and because an allegation is expensive whether or not it is founded. Coverage is usually written with its own limit, and the important questions are whether defense costs sit inside or outside that limit, and whether the form covers allegations against volunteers and parent helpers as well as employees. Expect underwriters to ask hard questions about background checks, two-adult rules, sightlines, camera coverage and bathroom procedures — those answers determine whether you can be written at all.

How this coverage is structured

Yes, and hired and non-owned auto if staff ever use their own cars. Field trips, an emergency run and a school pickup all count, and a personal auto policy excludes carrying children for business. No exposure is more likely to produce a catastrophic claim from an otherwise low-severity business, so the limits should be set with that in mind rather than at the minimum.

Coverage for staff cars used on business

No, and this is the most common uninsured position in the sector. Homeowners policies exclude business pursuits, so a child injured in your home daycare is not covered, and in some cases the business use itself can jeopardize the whole policy. Home childcare needs a commercial policy — it exists and is affordable — alongside a disclosure to your home insurer that the business is being run there.

Almost everything, because the state ratios and standards are what an underwriter uses as a baseline. Being licensed and in good standing widens the market substantially; operating over ratio, with lapsed staff clearances or with an open licensing complaint narrows it fast. Insurers commonly ask for the current license, recent inspection reports and your staff-to-child ratios by age group, so have those to hand at quote.