Adult family home license requirements in Washington
There are six things the state checks before it licenses you, and two of them take months to build rather than days to file. Here is the full list in the order it actually happens, so nothing surprises you halfway through.
The short version
- Education. High school diploma or equivalency certificate.
- Caregiver credentials. The 75-hour orientation, safety and basic training plus Home Care Aide certification, unless you are exempt.
- Experience. 1,000 hours of caregiving, documented on the Caregiving Experience Attestation form.
- Administrator training. The 54-hour AFH Administrator course.
- Certifications. Current CPR and first aid, plus food safety. First aid is not required for licensed nurses.
- Your house. Local building code inspection, floor plans for every level, the state initial inspection, and a septic inspection if you are on septic.
- The long poles are the 1,000 caregiving hours and the 54-hour course. Everything else is paperwork by comparison.
What the state requires of you
These are the minimum qualifications for the provider. Get them in place before you spend money on a house.
| Requirement | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| High school diploma | Diploma or high school equivalency certificate. |
| Long-term care worker training | The 75-hour orientation, safety and basic training requirements, plus Home Care Aide certification. Some applicants are exempt, most notably licensed nurses. |
| 1,000 caregiving hours | Documented on the Caregiving Experience Attestation (CEA) form. This is the requirement that most often adds a year to somebody's plan, so start counting early and keep records. |
| 54-hour Administrator training | Required for applicants and entity representatives. Costs $729 to $885 depending on the school. See our side-by-side comparison. |
| CPR and first aid | Both must be current. First aid is not required if you are a licensed nurse. |
| Food safety | You must meet the food safety training requirements. You are cooking for residents every day. |
Extra training, only if you serve certain residents
These are conditional. You need them only if your home takes residents with the matching diagnosis, but they open up the residents most homes actually get referred.
- Specialty manager training for dementia, mental health, or developmental disabilities.
- Nurse delegation training, basic or insulin, so a delegating nurse can hand off specific tasks to your staff.
What the state requires of your house
A licensed adult family home is a normal residential house, but it has to pass inspection as a care setting.
- Local building code inspection. Completed by the jurisdiction where the home sits, using their checklist. Requirements vary city to city, which surprises people who move between counties.
- Floor plans for each level of the home.
- State licensing initial inspection. Use the Initial Inspection Preparation Checklist ahead of time. Do not wing this one.
- Septic inspection and documentation if the property is on septic rather than sewer.
Check zoning and the building code before you buy or sign a lease. This is the single most expensive mistake in the whole process. A house you have already committed to that cannot pass local inspection, or cannot be brought up to code affordably, is a five-figure error. Call the local permitting office with the address before money changes hands.
The application, in order
- Create your Secure Access Washington (SAW) account. The application lives behind it.
- Complete the AFH online license application.
- Submit the Disclosure of Services form, which sets out what care your home will actually provide.
- Complete your background check.
- Submit the Caregiving Experience Attestation form documenting your 1,000 hours.
- Pass the state licensing inspection.
- Get TB testing done within three days of the home being licensed.
- Obtain liability insurance.
Questions about the application itself go to the DSHS Business Analysis and Applications Unit at [email protected]. This guide is a plain-English summary and not legal advice; DSHS is the authority and requirements change.
What nobody warns you about
- The 1,000 hours is the real gate. Everything else can be bought or scheduled. Caregiving hours can only be earned, and they must be documented. If you are not already working in care, this is the thing that decides your timeline.
- Getting licensed is not the finish line. It is the starting line, and it is the point at which your costs begin and your revenue does not. A licensed home with no residents earns nothing while the mortgage, insurance and staffing all run.
- Your first resident is harder than your license. Most new operators expect referrals to arrive because they are licensed. They do not. Families and discharge planners have to be able to find you first.
- Budget for the quiet months. Plan for your beds to fill gradually, not on day one.
What to do the week you get licensed
The day your license is issued, you appear on the DSHS public list and almost nowhere else. Families searching for care in your city will not find you, because there is nothing to find. Three things fix that fast:
- Claim your Google Business Profile. Free, and it is how you appear on Maps when somebody searches "adult family home near me".
- List your open beds. Medicaid openings list free on marketplaces. See our guide to Room & Care.
- Get a website with your home's name on it. When a discharge planner mentions you, the family Googles that name the same night.
And get listed free on Dear Care Home, our Washington directory. It costs nothing and we never sell anyone's information.
Working through this list right now?
Every requirement here is about being allowed to open. None of it makes a family choose you. When you are ready for that part, I build the website, the Google profile and the photos that turn a licence into move-ins.
Common questions
What are the requirements to open an adult family home in Washington state?
A high school diploma or equivalent, the 75-hour long-term care worker training plus Home Care Aide certification unless exempt, 1,000 documented caregiving hours, the 54-hour AFH Administrator training, current CPR and first aid, and food safety training. Your house must also pass a local building code inspection and the state licensing inspection.
How many hours of caregiving experience do I need?
1,000 hours, documented on the Caregiving Experience Attestation form. This is usually the longest lead time in the whole process.
How many residents can an adult family home have?
Adult family homes are licensed for a small number of residents in a regular residential house, most commonly up to six. Your licensed bed count is set during licensing and depends on the home itself.
Do I need to be a nurse to open an adult family home?
No. Licensed nurses are exempt from some requirements, including the long-term care worker training and the first aid certificate, but you do not need to be a nurse to be licensed.
How long does it take to get an adult family home license in Washington?
It depends almost entirely on whether you already have the 1,000 caregiving hours and the 54-hour course. With both in hand, the application, inspections and background check are the remaining work. Without them, plan in months rather than weeks.
Do I need liability insurance?
Yes. Obtaining liability insurance is part of the licensing process.
Serving adult family homes across Washington
We work with licensed adult family homes throughout Snohomish, King, Pierce, Thurston, Spokane, Whatcom, Skagit, Kitsap and Clark counties, including Everett, Lynnwood, Edmonds, Marysville, Mill Creek, Seattle, Bellevue, Kent, Renton, Federal Way, Auburn, SeaTac, Shoreline, Kirkland, Tacoma, Lakewood, Puyallup, Olympia, Lacey, Spokane, Spokane Valley, Bellingham, Blaine, Vancouver and Mount Vernon.