Michigan Child Care Licensing Application Requirements

To operate legally in Michigan, you need a child care license from the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) under the Child Care Organizations Act, Act 116 of 1973.¹ Michigan child care licensing requirements fall into three categories based on where you operate and how many children you serve, and each category sets its own fees, staffing ratios, training deadlines, and facility standards. The license is tied to a specific person or organization at a specific address and cannot be transferred.

Which License You Need

Pick the wrong category and you will pay the wrong fee, build out the wrong space, and hire the wrong number of staff. Michigan recognizes three:

Family child care home: a private residence serving one to six children, not counting children related to adults in the household. This is the simplest license with the fewest facility demands.¹
Group child care home: a private residence serving seven to twelve children, with added staffing and facility requirements.¹
Child care center: any facility that is not a private residence and receives one or more children under age 13 while parents are not immediately available. Centers include day care centers, nursery schools, preschools, before- and after-school programs, and drop-in centers.¹

A common misunderstanding is that a center must serve a large number of children. The statute sets no minimum beyond one child. The distinction is the location: if you are not in a private residence, you need a center license no matter how small your enrollment.

Application and Fees

You start the application on the LARA website, submitting details about your proposed facility, program structure, and staff qualifications. A LARA licensing consultant then conducts an on-site inspection to confirm your facility meets health and safety standards.²

Fees are set by statute and are non-refundable, so confirm your license type before submitting:

Family child care home: $50 original, $25 renewal.
Child care center, capacity 1–20: $150 original, $75 renewal. Fees scale up with larger capacities.¹

Background checks are billed separately at $64.25 per person for applicants who have lived in Michigan for the past five years.³

Your initial license comes with a six-month follow-up inspection. If you are compliant at that point, LARA converts it to a regular license.²

Background Checks for You and Your Staff

Everyone who will have contact with children in your facility must clear a background check before working. As the licensee, you enter each person into the Child Care Background Check (CCBC) System, and each person signs a consent and disclosure form.⁴

The check covers fingerprinting at an Idemia location (bring a government-issued photo ID), Michigan State Police and FBI criminal history records, the National Sex Offender Registry, and Michigan’s Child Abuse and Neglect Registry and Disciplinary Action Registry. Anyone found ineligible cannot be on the premises or have any contact with children in care.⁴

Providers who accept federal Child Care and Development Fund subsidies have extra duties. Federal rules require checks in every state where a staff member has lived during the previous five years, and the checks must be repeated at least every five years for existing staff. Convictions for murder, child abuse, sexual assault, kidnapping, arson, and certain drug offenses permanently or conditionally disqualify someone from working in a subsidized facility.⁵

Training Before You Open and Within 90 Days

Michigan splits training into two phases. Before anyone cares for a child, you and your staff must complete training on safe sleep practices to prevent sudden infant death syndrome, recognition and reporting of child abuse and neglect, and prevention of shaken baby syndrome and abusive head trauma.⁶

The second phase is due within 90 days after you receive your license or hire a staff member. It covers child development, medication administration, emergency response to food and allergic reactions, hazardous materials, transportation safety, building and premises safety, and all-hazards emergency preparedness planning.⁶

CPR and first aid certification must stay current according to the expiration dates on the certification cards. Lapsed certifications are one of the most common inspection findings.

Staff-to-Child Ratios and Space

Ratios are where new providers routinely underestimate staffing costs. For child care centers, Michigan ties required staff to the ages of the children in each room:

Infants and toddlers (birth to 30 months): 1 staff per 4 children, maximum group size 12.
Preschoolers (30 months to 3 years): 1 staff per 8 children, maximum group size 24.
Preschoolers (3 to 4 years): 1 staff per 10 children, maximum group size 30.
Preschoolers (4 years to school age): 1 staff per 12 children, maximum group size 40.
School-age children: 1 staff per 18 children, maximum group size 54.⁷

Whenever three or more children under age 3 are present, at least two adults must be in the facility, and at least one must be a qualified child care staff member. The two-adult rule also kicks in whenever seven or more children over age 3 are on site.⁷

Indoor space minimums vary by age. Centers must provide at least 42 square feet per child for infants and toddlers, and at least 35 square feet per child for preschoolers and school-age children. Usable square footage excludes hallways, bathrooms, kitchens, offices, storage, and rooms used exclusively for sleeping or eating (with an exception for infant and toddler rooms).⁸ Measure before you sign a lease. A room that looks big enough on a walk-through can come up short once you subtract excluded areas.

Federal Rules Michigan Licensing Doesn’t Cover

Clearing LARA is not the whole picture. A few federal requirements apply directly to child care operations and are easy to miss because they sit outside the state licensing checklist.

Privately run child care centers must comply with Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and government-run programs must comply with Title II. You cannot exclude a child solely because of a disability, and you must make reasonable changes to policies and practices to integrate children with disabilities unless doing so would fundamentally alter the program. The ADA requires an individualized assessment of each child based on consultation with parents and professionals. You generally cannot refuse to administer medication a child needs to participate, and if your center provides toileting assistance to younger children, you must extend that help to older children who need it because of a disability.⁹ You are not required to hire a dedicated one-on-one aide, but if a personal assistant can be provided at no cost to the center, you cannot exclude a child who needs that support.

New construction and alterations must meet the 2010 ADA Standards, which set requirements for accessible routes, 32-inch minimum clear door widths, ramp slopes, and restroom dimensions. Play areas for children ages 2 and older must have at least one of each type of ground-level play component on an accessible route, and at least 50 percent of elevated components must be accessible.¹⁰

Every crib must comply with Consumer Product Safety Commission standards under 16 CFR 1219 (full-size) or 1220 (non-full-size). Ask the manufacturer or distributor for a Certificate of Compliance, and verify each crib has a label showing its date of manufacture. If you have older cribs that do not meet current standards, disassemble them before discarding so they cannot be reassembled and used elsewhere.¹¹

If your facility was built before 1978, the EPA’s Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule requires that any work disturbing painted surfaces be done by EPA-certified firms using lead-safe work practices. This rule applies to child care facilities specifically, not just residences, and routine maintenance like sanding a windowsill can trigger it.¹²

Inspections and Staying Licensed

LARA consultants inspect on a scheduled basis, unannounced, and in response to complaints. Annual inspections review your premises, staff training records, staff-to-child ratios, emergency preparedness plans, and background check documentation.² Deficiencies must be corrected within the timeframe LARA sets, and the consultant may increase inspection frequency to confirm problems are actually fixed.

When a licensed facility falls out of compliance, LARA has intermediate tools before revocation. The most common is a provisional license, issued when a facility is temporarily unable to conform to the rules. A provisional license lasts six months, during which you must submit and follow an acceptable correction plan. LARA can issue up to three in a row. At the end of each six-month period, LARA will issue a regular license, refuse to renew, or issue another provisional license if progress is being made.¹³ For serious or persistent violations, LARA can revoke or suspend the license entirely.

Penalties for Operating Without a License

Running a child care organization without a license is a misdemeanor. Penalties are a fine of $100 to $1,000, up to 90 days in jail, or both.¹ That range applies to general violations of the Act; violations involving direct harm to children can carry steeper consequences. The practical takeaway: the application fee, the training time, and the facility work cost less than one unlicensed-operation conviction, and the license is the only way to run the business lawfully.

1
Michigan Legislature. Child Care Organizations Act 116 of 1973
2
Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA). Get Licensed as a Child Care Center
3
State of Michigan. FAQs on Background Checks for Licensed Child Care Facilities
4
State of Michigan. Process for Completing a Child Care Background Check
5
eCFR. Part 98 Child Care and Development Fund
6
Cornell Law School. Michigan Admin Code R 400.1905 – Training
7
Cornell Law School. Michigan Admin Code R 400.8222 – Capacity, Ratio and Group Size
8
State of Michigan. Licensing Rules for Child Care Centers
9
ADA.gov. Commonly Asked Questions About Child Care Centers and the Americans with Disabilities Act
10
U.S. Access Board. ADA Accessibility Standards
11
Consumer Product Safety Commission. Child Care Providers Guide to New Crib Standards
12
EPA Lead-based Paint Program. EPA Lead-based Paint Program
13
Michigan Legislature. MCL Section 722.117a