Iowa Code

Iowa Code § 237.4 (2026)

License required — exceptions

✓ current as of July 2026

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An individual or an agency shall not provide child foster care unless the individual or agency is a licensee. However, a license under this chapter is not required of the following: 1. An individual providing child foster care for a total of not more than twenty days in one calendar year. 2. A residential care facility licensed under chapter 135C which is approved for the care of children. 3. A hospital licensed under chapter 135B. 4. A health care facility licensed under chapter 135C. 5. A juvenile detention home or juvenile shelter care home approved under section 232.142. 6. An institution listed in section 218.1. 7. A facility licensed under chapter 125.

Tue Dec 09 22:20:40 2025 Iowa Code 2026, Chapter 237 (45, 2) 5 CHILD FOSTER CARE FACILITIES, §237.5A\n\n 8. An individual providing child care as a babysitter at the request of a parent, guardian, fictive kin, or relative having lawful custody of the child. [C27, 31, 35, §3661-a49; C39, §3661.063; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, §237.8; C81, §237.4; 82 Acts, ch 1016, §2] 84 Acts, ch 1050, §1; 87 Acts, ch 44, §2; 2023 Acts, ch 19, §728; 2025 Acts, ch 135, §15, 16 Unnumbered paragraph 1 amended Subsection 8 amended

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 1 case, 2020–2020 · leading case: In the Interest of E.F., Minor Child (Iowa Ct. App. 2020).

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In the Interest of E.F., Minor Child (Iowa Ct. App. 2020). · cites it 2× “See Iowa Code § 237.4 (requiring parties providing foster care to have a valid foster care license).”

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