The Google Play Families policy applies to every app whose declared target audience includes children, and Google treats "could plausibly be used by children" as in scope even when your primary audience is adults. The first practical step is to be honest in Play Console: set Target audience and content correctly, and if any part of your audience is under 13 (or the applicable age in your market), answer the Families policy questions in full rather than leaving them unanswered.
Advertising is where most failures happen. Only ad SDKs that are certified under the Google Play Families Self-Certified Ads SDK Program may serve ads in a Families app, and the ad content itself must be rated for children. Interest-based advertising and remarketing to children are not allowed, and you must not pass persistent identifiers such as the Advertising ID to ad or analytics SDKs in a child-directed context.
Data collection limits follow the same logic: the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) in the US, GDPR-K in the EU and equivalent rules elsewhere prohibit collecting personal information from children without verifiable parental consent. Collect only what the core feature needs, never sell or share it for advertising, and document why each field is necessary.
Parent gates, chat and social features need real controls. A parent gate must require a genuine action a young child cannot complete (an arithmetic or reading challenge, not a simple tap or drag), and any social or user-generated content feature must give parents a way to restrict or disable it. Teacher-approved programs and content ratings must match what the app actually does.
Enforcement is not limited to the listing: a Families policy violation can mean removal from the Families program, app removal, and repeated violations escalate to account termination. When remediating, update the target audience answers, remove or replace uncertified SDKs, adjust ad formats, and explain each change in the appeal notes, because reviewers verify the change rather than the promise.