Guide to Expanding Child Care Seats in Davidson County
Starting the TDHS Process

First Steps

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Starting the TDHS Process

After you have a location identified and have preliminary information on if it will pass codes, contact TDHS to work with a Program Specialist. TDHS provides a 15-step guide to the pre-licensure process for expanding child care centers, linked here: Understanding the Pre-Licensure Process PDF. Child care providers found this document to provide a helpful overview of the steps involved in working with TDHS, with two main caveats: it does not outline any requirements or processes outside TDHS (working with other regulatory offices) and it does not reflect the order of steps that child care sites which have completed this process experienced. The latter is primarily because multiple processes happen simultaneously, or according to the cadence of other regulatory offices. Below is the advised route, as informed by TDHS’s steps and the experiences of child care centers which have expanded.

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Contact the TDHS Pre-Licensure Unit to start the process.

TDHS STEP 1

Email childcareprelicensure.dhs@tn.gov or call (615) 906-0517.

You will receive a phone call from a TDHS Program Specialist, who will contact you to give information about the entire Pre-Licensure process, answer your questions, and give information on potential grants available to you. Please be advised you may experience high wait times for a response, so plan accordingly and don’t be discouraged.

Connect with a TDHS Program Specialist.

TDHS STEP 2

TDHS STEP 3

Register for Orientation/Intake Training.

There are specific TDHS requirements that you must complete to expand seats, even if you are an existing child care operator who has completed these steps before.

  1. Orientation/Intake training (8 hour training, virtual). Offered monthly, registration will be sent to you by a Program Specialist.

  2. Small Business Academy (two day, virtual training provided by Tennessee Child Care Resource and Referral Network) Small Business Support – Tennessee Child Care Resource & Referral Network

Pro Tip: Trainings

It is not necessary to rush to complete the Orientation and Small Business Academy before moving to the next steps. Rather, you can work on these trainings alongside the next steps. These trainings focus on opening a center, and are different from the trainings your staff will be required to complete before opening.

TDHS STEP 4, 5

Once you complete your trainings, your information will be provided to the TDHS Pre-Licensure Unit. At this point you may be assigned a different Program Specialist, based on your new status.

Complete required trainings.

TDHS STEP 6, 7

Get an assigned Program Specialist.

Once you complete your trainings, your information will be provided to the TDHS Pre-Licensure Unit. At this point you may be assigned a different Program Specialist, based on your new status.

Obtain a list of regulatory contacts.

You will be working with a number of different people throughout this process, often referred to as “regulatory contacts.” These include the offices of TN State Fire, Metro Nashville Fire, Health Department, Metro Nashville Zoning, and others. Though your Program Specialist will help you schedule meetings with these offices, it is helpful to have this list so you can be clear about these offices. Please be advised you will not be able to reach out to any of them directly until your Program Specialist has put you and your center in the TDHS system.

From this point forward, you will be working simultaneously with your TDHS Program Specialist, representatives from the Metro Nashville Zoning office, TN State and Metro Nashville Fire Marshalls, and additional Metro Nashville regulatory staff. These offices will communicate across each other. This part of the journey is the least linear and most iterative. You will see the remaining TDHS steps listed throughout the rest of this Guide, so you can easily cross-reference as you move forward in your process.

General guidance about working with TDHS

  • There will be high wait times! The TDHS Program Specialists serve the entire state. Anticipate a considerable gap between putting in an application and working with a Program Specialist.

  • Be persistent. If your TDHS Program Specialist is not communicating in a timely manner, continue to reach out and share updates about your progress.

  • Reach out directly when appropriate to the codes, fire, and health code regulatory offices to keep the process moving.

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