What Are the Home Daycare License Requirements in Michigan?

Michigan's child care licensing statute defines a family child care home as a private home caring for 1 to 6 unrelated children, and a group child care home as a private home in which more than 6 but not more than 12 minor children are given care.

Under MCL 722.111, anyone caring for an unrelated child more than 4 weeks a year needs a license.

The Child Care Licensing Bureau of the Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential (MiLEAP) licenses family homes, group homes and centers under 1973 PA 116.

Michigan issues two home licenses.

Under the home rules effective April 27, 2026, a family child care home may care for up to 6 unrelated children and a group child care home up to 12.

After at least 29 consecutive months of licensed operation, the licensee may request increased capacity — 7 for a family home and 14 for a group home — from the department (R 400.1925).

Capacity works together with the staffing rule: a home runs at 1 staff member to 6 children, or 1:7 with increased capacity, with no more than 4 children under 24 months per staff member and no more than 2 of those under 12 months (R 400.1927-.1928).

The licensee must be at least 18 and have a high school diploma or GED, or complete the MiRegistry approved training track for home providers.

The licensee must live in the home, hold pediatric first aid and CPR, carry abuse-reporting and infectious disease training, and attend an orientation provided by the department (R 400.1902).

Training does not stop at licensure: the licensee completes at least 10 clock hours of professional development per calendar year, and other staff at least 5 hours (R 400.1924).

Yes.

The Michigan home rules require a comprehensive background check eligibility determination before unsupervised contact with children for the licensee, every adult household member, staff and unsupervised volunteers.

On the federal side, the CCDF rules in 45 CFR 98.43 require a comprehensive background check for every child care staff member of a licensed provider, and any household member age 18 or older in a family child care home counts as a child care staff member.

The check combines an FBI fingerprint check, a national sex-offender-registry search, and state criminal, sex-offender and child-abuse-and-neglect registry checks for the current state and every state the person lived in during the past 5 years.

Checks are requested before the person becomes a staff member and repeated at least once every 5 years, and states must complete a request within 45 days of submission.

Each state publishes its background-check policies and how to submit a request, so the state's site is the authority on where to get fingerprinted.

Michigan statute requires the department to make an on-site visit before it issues or renews the license for a center, a group child care home or a family child care home (MCL 722.115m).

Our research captured the on-site-visit requirement but not an itemized checklist of what the department looks at during a home inspection.

Specific questions about what an inspection covers go to the Child Care Licensing Bureau.

The requirements the Michigan rules and statute set out include an orientation provided by the department (R 400.1902), the license application and its statutory fee (MCL 722.115m), and an on-site visit that must happen before the license is issued (MCL 722.115m).

Fees are set in statute: a family child care home license is $50 for an original license and $25 for a renewal, and a group child care home license is $100 for an original license and $50 for a renewal (MCL 722.115m).

Our research did not capture a published processing timeline for a Michigan home license, so ask the Child Care Licensing Bureau for current timelines and the application packet.

Michigan's home rules let a home employ 14- and 15-year-old child care assistants, who must be directly supervised at all times, get CPR and first aid within 90 days, and never substitute for staff.

Other staff complete at least 5 hours of professional development per calendar year (R 400.1924), and staff and unsupervised volunteers need the comprehensive background check eligibility determination before any unsupervised contact with children.

Under the federal CCDF rules, a check must be requested before the person becomes a staff member and repeated at least once every 5 years, and a new hire may start work with a qualifying result on one of the two fingerprint checks but must be supervised at all times by a fully checked staff member until every component is complete.

Our research did not capture separate Michigan qualification rules for adult assistants in homes beyond these, so confirm any additional duties with the Child Care Licensing Bureau.

The license trigger the statute states is caring for an unrelated child more than 4 weeks a year (MCL 722.111).

Our research captured that threshold but did not confirm how the statute treats arrangements outside it — for example care limited to children related to the caregiver — so no exemption should be assumed from this page.

The Child Care Licensing Bureau administers the statute and can confirm which arrangements fall outside licensure.

This page cites the home rules effective April 27, 2026 (R 400.1901 et seq.), the current rulebook for family and group child care homes.

The increased-capacity option — 7 for a family home and 14 for a group home, after at least 29 consecutive months of licensed operation (R 400.1925) — is part of those rules.

Confirm any requirement that matters to a decision against the current rulebook or ask the Child Care Licensing Bureau, rather than an older copy of the home rules.