Michigan Daycare Training Requirements

Pre-Licensing Training (Before You Get Your License)

Michigan requires four specific training milestones before MiLEAP will issue your child care home license. All four must be completed and documented before the licensing consultant conducts your on-site inspection.

Health and Safety Training

This is an online course available through MiRegistry, the state's professional development tracking platform. It covers health and safety standards specific to Michigan child care homes — illness policies, sanitation, supervision, and emergency procedures. The course is free and self-paced.

Safe Sleep Practices

Also available through MiRegistry, this course covers infant safe sleep standards, including back-to-sleep positioning, crib safety, and prohibited sleep surfaces. It also covers Shaken Baby Syndrome prevention. Free and self-paced.

Pediatric CPR and First Aid

You must hold a current certification in pediatric, infant, child, and adult CPR, plus pediatric first aid, from an approved training organization. The American Red Cross, American Heart Association, and other state-recognized providers offer courses. Unlike the MiRegistry courses, this one costs money — typically $40–$80.

The certification must be current before you care for children. If it lapses at any point during your licensed operation, you are out of compliance.

Licensing Orientation

A mandatory six-hour session led by MiLEAP licensing staff that covers administrative rules, inspection expectations, and the regulatory framework. MiLEAP offers both in-person and virtual (self-paced) options through the MiAEYC Knowledge Center.

MiRegistry: How It Works

MiRegistry is not optional — it is the state's official platform for tracking child care professional development. You must create an individual account, and your training transcript in MiRegistry is what MiLEAP checks to verify your compliance.

When you complete courses through MiRegistry's catalog, completion is recorded automatically. For external training (like CPR/First Aid from the Red Cross), you upload your certificate to your MiRegistry profile.

Staff members must also establish an active MiRegistry account within 30 days of employment.

Annual Professional Development (After Licensure)

Once licensed, ongoing training requirements apply every calendar year:

• Licensees: 10 clock hours of professional development per year
• Child care staff members: 5 clock hours per year

These hours can come from a range of sources: MiRegistry catalog courses, Great Start to Quality Resource Center workshops, college coursework, conferences, or approved external training. All must be logged in MiRegistry.

The annual health-and-safety refresher has a December 16 deadline. Keep your 10 or 5 professional development hours current through the calendar year and log them in MiRegistry.

Staff and Assistant Training

Child Care Staff Members (ages 16+) must be CCBC-cleared before contact with children, hold current CPR/First Aid certification before caring for children, establish a MiRegistry account within 30 days of employment, and complete mandatory new-hire health and safety training within 90 days.

Child Care Assistants (ages 14–15) must be CCBC-cleared before contact with children, obtain CPR/First Aid within 90 days of hire (not before), and work under direct supervision at all times.

What You No Longer Need

The April 2026 rules update eliminated the mandatory tuberculosis (TB) testing requirement that previously applied to all licensees, staff, assistants, and household members. If older guides tell you to schedule a TB test, that information is outdated.

Planning Your Training Timeline

The most common delay providers create for themselves is completing background checks and submitting their application before starting training. Since MiLEAP will not schedule your inspection until training is verified, starting the MiRegistry courses on day one — even before you receive your Launch Letter — saves weeks. CPR/First Aid certification availability can also be a bottleneck in some areas, so booking early helps.

The Michigan Home Daycare Licensing Guide maps the training requirements into the full licensing sequence so you complete each one at the right stage and nothing delays your inspection.

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