Michigan Daycare License Renewal

When Renewal Happens

Michigan home daycare licenses follow a two-step cycle. Your first license is an "Original License" valid for six non-renewable months. Before it expires, you submit a renewal application and pass a second on-site inspection to transition to a "Regular License" valid for two years. Every two years after that, you renew again.

The renewal window matters: start your renewal paperwork early enough to complete the paper packet and second inspection before expiration.

Renewal Fees

The fees are straightforward:

• Family Child Care Home (1–6 children): $25 renewal fee
• Group Child Care Home (7–12 children): $50 renewal fee

These are paid with a paper renewal application packet, not through CCHIRP. The original application was digital; the renewal is paper-based and submitted to your assigned licensing consultant.

What the Renewal Inspection Covers

The renewal inspection is conducted by your MiLEAP licensing consultant and covers the same territory as the original inspection, using the BCAL-4601 Compliance Record:

• Physical space measurements and exit compliance
• Fire safety equipment (smoke detectors, CO detectors, 2A-10BC fire extinguisher)
• Childproofing and hazardous material storage
• On-site record-keeping (personnel files, child enrollment records, the Licensing Notebook)
• Training verification (CPR/First Aid current, annual professional development hours logged)
• Heating system inspection documentation (must be current within 12 months)

The consultant also reviews your compliance history since the last inspection — any corrective action plans or special investigation reports from the intervening period.

Ongoing Requirements Between Renewals

Renewal is not the only compliance checkpoint. Between renewal cycles, you must maintain:

• 10 hours of annual professional development (licensee) and 5 hours (staff), tracked through MiRegistry
• Current CPR and First Aid certification — if yours lapses, you are out of compliance immediately, not at renewal
• Heating inspection — must be current within 12 months at all times, not just at renewal
• Radon retesting — if your home required radon mitigation, you must retest every 4 years
• CCBC clearances — any new household member must be cleared through CCBC, and new staff members must clear CCBC before contact with children

What Happens If You Miss the Deadline

If your license expires before renewal is processed, stop operating and contact CCLB for instructions before resuming care. Do not assume that a lapse can be reinstated without a new application process.

Renewal as a Maintenance Routine

Providers who treat renewal as a once-every-two-years scramble consistently run into problems — expired CPR cards, outdated heating inspections, incomplete personnel files for staff hired since the last cycle. The providers who pass renewal smoothly treat compliance as a continuous process: update files when they change, schedule inspections proactively, and log professional development hours throughout the year.

If you are working through the initial licensing process and want to understand the full lifecycle — from original application through ongoing renewal — the Michigan Home Daycare Licensing Guide covers both the first-time process and the maintenance requirements.

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